Learning to Eat

Gabs has been a real stinker about taking a bottle. So much so, that she actually goes on hunger strike the entire time I am away from her. Not terrible if I'm just taking a shower, or running to the store, but it's pretty awful when it's a full 8-hour day at work. It has made life so miserable for Mike and Bryn when they are home with her, that I decided to take a leave of absence from my job to help her learn to eat from a source other than me. She's not too pleased about it. We spent a little time with a Physical Therapist to see if she had any awesome tricks that I haven't tried, but to no avail. So, we are doing it the old-fashioned way, which means messy, messy, messy!

Of course the pictures are adorable...

It seems like each spoonful of cereal takes at least 4 tries to get down her mouth. The camera is much more interesting than the food...

Bryn is showing Gabs how to open wide, take a bite, and chew, chew, swallow!

Nope. Still not happening. Where does she come by this stubborn streak? :)

Sisters

Bryn is such an awesome big sister, and Gabby is in LOVE with her!!!

Halloween costume idea

I asked Bryn tonight what she wanted to be for Halloween.  Then it occurred to me that she had no idea what Halloween was, let alone what she'd want to be.  So I rephrased the question.  I said "Bryn, if you could dress up like anything in the whole world, what would it be?"

Her answer?  "Big girl panties."

Hmm.

In other words...

I've been telling myself for a long time that I need to write down some of the cute things Bryn says.  At some point, I'll go back through my emails to Mom to dig out all the funny stories.  For now, here are some of the ridiculously cute pronunciations she has:

Um-bla-la translates to vanilla, her favorite flavor of yogurt
Um-bla-la also translates to umbrella
Ja-wammies means pyjamas
Sa-wammich is a sandwich
Ef-a-lunt is an elephant
Uncle Jon is any tall, slender guy she sees
Maryweather is her cousin Mary, that lives in Massachusettes

What is his name?

So, at some point during their two hour day at preschool, the kids break up into groups and have snack.  Each kid is assigned a color at the start of the year, and they sit with their same color group all year for snack.  Bryn's snack buddy is Matteo, a cutie little guy that (so far) is pretty quiet.

Now, for you and I, Matteo might be easy to pronounce.  However, for a 2.5-year-old, it's a bit tougher.  If you were to ask Bryn who her snack buddy is, she would tell you either "Tow-mato" or "Ma-tay-to".  Either one sends me into giggle fits.  Matteo has forever secured a fond place in my heart.

Glued to the TV

Bryn insisted on holding Gabs this morning, but was way too interested in her dinosaur show to smile for the camera

First Day of Preschool!

Bryn had her first day of preschool today. She's been talking about it for weeks - ever since we drove past the church (it's in a church basement) and I told her that's where she gets to go to school. They have a big rainbow banner in one of the front windows, so she decided that it's called her Rainbow school. It's as good a name as any, so that's what we call it. What a cute kid!

All bundled up for the walk to Bryn's first day of preschool! Both Bryn and Gabby fell asleep about a half hour before we had to leave, and I had to wake them up. It went against ALL my instincts as a Mom... and is the reason for the cranky face below. "No pictures, Mom!"

Sweet Gabarino was all kinds of excited, and bundled up in her Cape Cod sweatshirt from Auntie Linda and Uncle Miles.

These next shots are after her two hours of fun, which included painting, drawing, climbing, sliding, stacking, stamping, water play, and general 2-year-old bliss. D'you think she had a great time?

"Mom, let's do Rainbow School again!"

Preschool Photo Shoot

I needed to get a good close-up on Bryn's face for her cubby at preschool, so here's a few of the pictures we ended up with...

Her "big smile" face

Her "I'd rather be watching TV" face

Her "happy face"

Overexposed, but my super-favorite. What a cute kid!!

Preschool Photo Shoot, part 2

Gabbie wanted in on the action, so here are a couple of sister shots. Bryn wasn't cooperating with the whole "look at the camera and smile" thing, but it certainly captures her energy and personality, doesn't it?

That's one cute baby...

And what 2-year-old's photo shoot is complete without the wholly inappropriate and yet oh-so-funny "finger up the nose" shot.

Rolling over

Gabs has been rolling over for a month or so, but this is the first video I've gotten of it. And she's still new to the front-to-back roll.

A side note - these are hand-me-down clothes from Bryn. When Bryn was wearing them, she was walking!!