The state of things...

So, today seems like as good a day as any to do a ‘State of the Brigid’ address, right? Here goes…

-Brigid still doesn’t really use words. Cars are vroom-vrooms. Monkeys, owls, chickens, and cows are all identified by their respective animal noises. For items that she does feel like identifying by name, the first sound is about all we can expect, which means that determining whether she wants a ball, balloon, or butterfly requires a little extra detective work on our part. My mother-in-law’s dog Olive is identified with a high-pitched ‘aw’ sound, while my dog Peyton is called something along the lines of ‘pay-pay-pay-pay’ and Steve’s black-sheep dog Riley doesn’t even get a name at all.* There are a few other words she uses that we can understand, but that would most likely sound like gibberish to an outside person. She can say M&Ms pretty clearly, though, and her bye-bye, night-night, no, mom-mom, and da-da-da-da-da are all very distinctive. And I’m not concerned with her development. I’m not. Really.

It’s just, well…shouldn’t we be farther along by now? We’re four months out from her 2nd birthday, and, I don’t know, shouldn’t we have all sorts of words we’re using? And shouldn’t we be putting them together in a coherent thought from time to time?

And yes, I’m just as tired of thinking about this whole situation as you are of reading about it. But it just won’t go away. It’s crazy-making, is what it is.

Oh, parenting…

-Brigid has, however, used her big-girl potty successfully. It was just one time, and I’m pretty sure it was just a really well-timed accident on my part (especially since, as a follow-up to her big moment, Brigid chose to pee on the carpet while I was trying to clean out the potty chair), but I reacted like she’d just aced the SATs or something. And I bought her a $15 ball to celebrate.**

-The kid’s eating habits leave a little something to be desired, as she spent all of dinner last night using her fingers to spoon ketchup into her mouth. Ketchup and tomatoes. That’s about it. She did eat a couple of bites of bread and a half a piece of cheese, though, so there’s that. It’s just so annoying. I mean, she looks like her dad. She acts like her dad. But she’s picked up her mom’s picky eating habits. Fantastic.

Seriously, of all of my awesome attributes she could have landed, my preferred diet of bread, cheese, and tomato is the one she went with? At least I am old enough to know that I have to branch out sometimes, whether I want to or not. Brigid hasn’t quite reached that point. Time to pull out the sneaky feeding cookbooks we have on the shelf, because someone is getting cauliflower puree in her next round of mac and cheese.

-Guys, toddlers have opinions. On everything. And they are shrill when they are voicing those opinions. And attitude! Toddlers have attitude. I’m pretty sure she rolled her eyes at me when I tried to pry a hug out of her at bedtime last night.

I am NOT ok with that. I am your mother! YOU WILL HUG ME!

-Her Uncle Greg has taught her how to knuckle-bump. And you’d better make that fist explode at the end of the bump, because she WILL BE EXPECTING IT. She is very particular, that kid.

-My parents bought her a Good Night, Florida Keys book when they were down there for spring break, and on one page, there is a picture of two cars driving along the 7-Mile Bridge, one of which bears a striking resemblance to my own car. Every night (and I do mean every night, as this book is on the current ‘must-read’ list, per Miss B), when we get to that page, Brigid points to that car and says mom-mom. And it cracks me up, every time. And I’m pretty sure that’s why she keeps doing it.

-We’ve successfully navigated the dentist’s office! And by we, I mean Steve and Brigid. Sorry I missed out on that one…


*I really just said that to annoy Steve. Peyton and Riley are both of our dogs. Riley just gets referred to as Steve’s dog whenever she’s in trouble. Which is pretty much whenever she’s awake. When she’s sleeping, she is totally my dog.

**I didn’t mean to buy her a $15 ball. She picked it out on the shelf at Target, and I just assumed it came from one of the $3-$5 bins in the area. Well, you know what they say about assuming, right? Except it just affected me, in this case.

No Words...

I'd just like to know who stole my baby, and replaced her with this...

...small person.

I know this is absolutely a mommy cliche, but I just don't know if I am o.k. with this right now.

Date Night

Of course, Steve and I would have to be different. 

Do our date nights involve a nice dinner? 

No.

Maybe we like to go to a movie of some sort? 

Nope.

Perhaps we settle for a trip to Home Depot, and maybe a little Bed Bath & Beyond? But only if there's time?

Of course not.

We'll take a six-pack of beer, an open tailgate, and a field full of cars, thank you very much. Oh, and maybe a little live music, if that live music happens to be played by Jimmy Buffett.

(Last year, while searching the car for a bottle opener, Steve found a pumice stone/foot brush,which just kind of freaked us both out. This year, he came prepared, while I hadn't even given it a second thought. Nice to see that one of us can learn from our mistakes, anyway.)

(Our tailgates used to include a full day off of work, mixed drinks of the Jimmy Buffett varieties, a tent, a grill, a baby pool, furniture, various games, and several more people. Now that we're too old to want to coordinate anything anymore? It involves leaving work at the end of the day, picking up the aforementioned six-pack, and sitting in the back of the Durango for about an hour before the concert starts, by ourselves. With whatever else may be in the back of the Durango at the time. And in this case, that would be diapers. We are wild and crazy.

Of course, after all of this fun on a Tuesday night, I was beyond exhausted on Wednesday. But it was definitely worth it. For me, anyway.

Although, now that I think about it, this may be why Steve and I don't really do date night all that often...

Renaissance Festival, Take II

I promise pictures, and my brother-in-law delivers.

I'm awfully glad he's getting all into this photography thing, because it takes the pressure off of me when we all go to events together.

 The awesome entrance...

 

The family photo...

 

 Humoring Uncle Greg...

 Striped socks and food. What more could I need?

 Apparently, when you tell Brigid to blow on the puffy dandelion to scatter the seeds, she hears stick it in your mouth. And then she then ends up with a mouthful of dandelion puff. Which is disgusting.

 So tired...

 So pretty...

 So, so, so pretty...

 

Yeah, I kind of love this kid.

Hot, sweaty, exhausted...I'd say that pretty much sums up the day, right there.

Renaissance Festival

Oh, you guys. This might destroy any shred of credibility I have with anyone, anywhere, but the renaissance festival? I kind of love it. Like, with every fiber of my being. I've wanted to go for a couple of years now, but it seems like something has always come up to prevent me from going.

This year, though? This year, my sister-in-law came through with some free tickets. This year, i was not going to miss the fun.

People dressing up? Awesome. Beer? Yes, please. Whole turkey legs for lunch?

Well, no, that's definitely one part I could do without. I tried a bite of Steve's, and let's just say I remember it tasting much better as a kid.

But crowns and queens and fairies and flowers? I am all over that. In fact, I had to talk myself out of buying a crown to wear around the house while I dust. It just seemed like such an awesome idea.

I can't wait to convince everyone to go back with me next year ;)







PS: I think I'll have more pictures to post later in the week, but they are currently on someone else's camera, and I haven't even seen them yet, so we'll all have to hold our breaths in anticipation together.

It's not all bad...

I think I've spent most of this week complaining about the crazy toddler that has taken over our lives, but I'd hate to give you all the impression that it's nothing but seat kicking and conference call screaming.

Because you know what?

We have some pretty good times around here, too.

As long as B is well rested, anyway...

(Please note that all of these pictures were taken on the way out to Indiana, before Nana and Papa got their hands on the little miss, and wore her out completely, leaving me with that seat kicker I may have mentioned once or twice before...)

Take Your Daughter to Work Day

My mother-in-law is out of town for a few days. My husband had an all day customer meeting yesterday. I had a systems meeting with IT that I couldn't really miss. So where did that leave Brigid?

Why, in the office with mommy, of course, because customer absolutely trumps IT in our world.

 

Brigid was  universally adored, because who can resist a curly-headed toddler in skinny jeans? Now, that may have ended once Brigid figured out how to open the door to my office and decided it would be funny to run down the hall, giggling like a loon, but I managed to barricade her in the office using three or four chairs so I could get done what I needed to get done.

After she screamed her way through a conference call (thank heavens for the mute button on the office phones...), we finished up with IT (our IT guy LOVED Brigid. B was a little less certain about him, though...), and I got the poor kid out of the office before she could hit full-on meltdown mode.

Unfortunately, she made up for it in the car on the way home, because I knew I couldn't let her fall asleep if I wanted her to nap at all in the afternoon, and I definitely wanted her to nap because I did have more work to do from home. And when I spent the twenty minute drive repeatedly ignoring her requests for her 'night-night', no matter how nicely she asked for it...well, she let her displeasure be known.

I'm just glad Steve can stay home with her today.


Yesterday was Tuesday, you know, so feel free to check out my Style Lush post on my new Land's End tote, if you're interested...

They learn so quickly...

Hey, Dad? Mom and I are running to the mall for a few hours. You’re the best!

Hugs!

B

Fly Baby

Brigid on the drive to the airport on Sunday:

Brigid on the tram in the airport from our gate to the baggage claim area:

 

Notice how there are no pictures of Brigid actually on the plane? That would be because I was too busy reading/singing/foot rubbing/M&M shoving to take any. And when I wasn't doing that, I was trying to prevent B from kicking the seat in front of her, without it all devolving into yet another screaming fit. I am tired.

And I am not getting on another plane with that kid for a very, very, very long time. It's going to take me some time to forget this one, that's for sure.

Our Lunch, In Pictures

Since we're in Indiana for a wedding this weekend, Steve wanted to eat lunch at Bub's Burgers in Carmel, a place he'd seen on the Travel Channel's Man vs Food. They have this 1lb burger challenge, and if you finish the whole burger, they put your picture on the wall. The more you eat, the bigger the picture is, and if you can manage to eat five of these burgers, they put up a life-size cut-out of you.

I don't think anyone has made it to five...
















He's napping now, and whether I can get him up in time for the rehearsal dinner remains to be seen. It was totally worth it, though...I think.

It's the little things...

Brigid has this book. It's called Walter, the Farting Dog. And it's about Walter, a dog who farts a lot. Sounds lovely, yes?

Now Brigid, she happens to be slightly obsessed with this book at the moment. Well, to be fair, she's obsessed with all books right now, as we seem to have entered that toddler stage wherein the toddler no longer wants to go to bed at the end of the day, no matter how tired she actually is. And instead of getting into her crib with the seventeen various buddies she sleeps with on a nightly basis, she'd rather read every. single. book. that's currently on her bookshelf. And as I had a baby shower where it was suggested that each guest bring a book to start the new baby's new library, that's a lot of books.

But Walter, he's special. Because Brigid will ask for him specifically, by blowing raspberries in the general direction of the book. When she gets up in the morning and sees the book on her side table? Raspberry. When he's still in the same spot as we start getting ready for bath/bedtime at the end of the day? Raspberry.

When you ask her what Walter says? Raspberry.

Seriously. My 19-month old daughter, who up until yesterday refused to say the word daddy, no matter how many times we asked her, has been making unsolicited fart sounds for two weeks now.

Obviously, we must be doing something right.

(Did I mention I'm not even sure how she learned this little habit? At one point, I thought Steve must be reading the book to her with sound effects, but he swears it wasn't him. Same with his mother. Brigid seems to have picked this up all on her own. Could somebody please tell me where I went wrong here?!?!)

Stop judging me, Disney lady!

Apparently, there is a new Disney store concept going up around the country? Apparently, it started sometime in 2010? And it's just now hitting Atlanta? And it's ridiculously awesome?

Not that I would know, because I haven't been, yet, or anything, but it seems that Steve and Brigid made the trip on Monday. And it seems that what Brigid wants, Brigid gets.




Although, to be fair, Steve did tell her she could only get one item, when, he informs me, she actually had about six in her chubby little arms. So, there's that...

(Also, as they were checking out, Brigid didn't want to let Shock here go, so Steve had to remove the tag for the cashier to scan. And as the cashier was ringing them up, she asked Steve if Brigid really liked the Nightmare Before Christmas movie that much. And when Steve told her that it was, in fact, Brigid's favorite movie EVER, her response was something along the lines of, 'Oh, that's...odd'.

Guess it's a good thing she doesn't know about the Jack Skellington doll we got B for Christmas last year. Or the Jack Skellington blanket she got for Easter. Or the fact that Halloween has taken over EVER OTHER HOLIDAY EVER CELEBRATED in my house.

Not that I'm bitter, or anything.)

Procrastination

Hey, you know what's really stressful?

Trying to pack for a weekend away. Which you will be leaving for on a plane. For the first time with a mobile toddler. In the midst of some heightened airport security.

If you need me, I'll be curled up in the corner, playing on the internet.

If I ignore the empty suitcase, it will eventually fill itself up, in the most efficient way possible, yes?

 

Brigid absolutely agrees with me. With a wink, of course.

PS: I'm posting on Style Lush today! Go say hi! I'm much more coherent over there, I promise!

Help!

So, we've entered this stage...

I know she doesn't mean anything by it. I know she just wants to see what happens. I know she thinks it's funny when she does see my reaction. 

But that doesn't mean I want it to keep happening.

You see, Brigid is starting to become a hitter. When I'm getting her ready for bed, she thinks it's funny to clap my face between her hands, and she's not exactly gentle about it. She's got a pretty decent slap on her, in fact, which I will celebrate if she needs to use it on some dumb boy in the future, but which isn't too appealing to me right now. The moment she raises her hand, I involuntarily flinch, because I know what's coming...

...and she finds that hilarious.

And yet, I can't stop myself from doing it, because it stings a little when she makes contact. But I have no idea how to get through to her that hitting? It's not ok.

Any advice???

All by myself...

Steve is off conferencing in Memphis for work this week (Which apparently also translates into eating barbecue chicken nachos at Rendezvous, and then calling just to rub my nose in it a bit. Seriously, if you ever find yourself in Memphis? Go to Rendezvous and get the darn barbecue chicken nachos. I don't even like barbecue chicken, and those nachos are amazing. And now I'm hungry.), which means I am on my own with Brigid for a couple of nights. And, you know, no big deal or anything, I can totally handle it, right?

Yes, I absolutely handled it all right.

Right up until the point when I opened up the fridge to make B dinner, and she pulled a beer bottle out on top of herself. She may or may not be missing the slightest littlest bit of skin from right above her eye, where the bottle cap just grazed her as I pulled her out of the way.

That's both a parenting win and a parenting fail, all at the same time, huh? I am an over-achiever up in here.

Somebody's Sleepy...

My mother-in-law thinks she looks like she's posing for an Olan Mills portrait.

I think she just looks really, really pissed off.

Either way, it's a good look for her. Obviously...

Weekend Festival

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous, so when Steve mentioned on our way to church on Sunday that he'd like to stop by one of the local festivals on our way home for a short time, I was all for it. I mean, laundry can always wait, right?

So, we went to the festival. We wandered the booths, watched a little bit of a puppet show, and picked up some kettle corn (and learned that B can say 'pop', for popcorn, while we were at it...). I had a corn dog (my fair food downfall...), Steve ate some crawfish, and Brigid ignored all attempts we made to feed her some chicken.

She did get really excited about a free balloon, though.


All in all, I'd say the day was a success.

{Photo Credit: My brother-in-law}