As most two-year-olds seem to do, Brooke has begun to outsmart us. Here are some recent conversations:
Bryan: "How do you ask nicely?"
Brooke: "Nicely, Daddy"
When giving her candy...
Sarah: "What do you say?"
Brooke: "More."
Brooke: "Hi, Bryan. Hi, Sarah" at dinner.
Despite these smart-alec remarks, I still feel like we have the upper hand. Yesterday, she came out of the bathroom brushing her hair with the toilet brush!
Brooke was a bit timid at trick-or-treating. After we went to the required neighbors' houses, we came home and had Brooke help us pass out candy. She enjoyed it so much, that she stood at the door shouting, "More kids." Finally, we sat on the porch with her for a while and watched all the activity. She was a good helper and surprisingly was very willing to give other kids candy.
It's a boy!!!! Everything seems to be going well. Due date is March 15.
Brooke was initially very excited about carving pumpkins.
Then she saw the goo and decided it wasn't really for her.
Bryan did a good job on his own, though.
Today as I was reading through my Washington State Voter's Pamphlet, Brooke pointed at the state seal (which is of Washington's head) and declared, "Mr. Noodle!"
For those of you that don't get this reference, start watching Elmo on Sesame Street.
It was another beautiful day for the 4-6 CAV Uncasing Ceremony.
In typical fashion, Brooke danced through the playing of the Army song and snacked most the rest of the time. She really enjoyed seeing the helicopters up close afterwards.
Brooke had a great second birthday. We had three families over for pizza, cake, and a bit of play time. Luckily, we just had a new chair delivered and still had a huge box in our hallway. It was the favored play place for all the kids.
The birthday girl enjoyed cake and presents. So much so, that she was asking us, "More presents?" for the next two days.
The proposed Elmo cake turned into a pink blob with helicopters on top. Thankfully, Brooke's dad is a pilot and she loves helicopters.
We had one small mishap during the night; Gigi ended up with a bloody nose. But, we threw some bling on her and gave her cake and she was a happy girl again.
Brookie the present
Brooke and I spent Columbus Day weekend in Salem with the Smiths while Bryan was at home working. The ship with their stuff from Iraq arrived at the Port of Tacoma on Thursday, which meant Bryan would be up there for the unloading most of the weekend. Brooke and I were happy to have an excuse to get down to see the cousins (and Pam and Mac) again.
Uncle Mac pushing the three kids:
Playing with Megan's dress up clothes:
Fall Photo Op:
Brooke's birthday celebration:
Preparing for the new baby....
Brooke's love of stickers continues....
Today was our first day of story-time at the library. I was slightly stressed about this since Brooke doesn't sit still and doesn't really listen to stories. But, none of the kids really listen or participate so Brooke did just fine. The only trouble was that every time there was a lull, Brooke would tell me "Stinky Hiney" and "Tooted." Actually, these were all false alarms. Those of you that spend time with Brooke know that these are two of her most common phrases - the others being "I want it" and "have it?"
We have a new addition to our living room - temporarily.
Brooke love's getting under the covers and calling it a tent, so we decided to give her the real thing for a few weeks. Now her most common phrase is "In the tent?" She always wants one of us to go in with her. It is a great play place.
Today we went to a local Apple Festival. Aside from the cider and apple fritters, Brooke got to see lots of farm animals and birds. We gave her a turn feeding the goats and sheep, though she she pretty much jumped out of her skin when the goats would cry for more.
Brooke and Bryan
Perfect pumpkin photo op. If only we could get Brooke to look at the camera and smile at the same time.
One of Brooke's favorite activities is playing with stickers. Usually they end up on her or on our clothing:
Around 3am last Sunday, Bryan and I were woken up by a bat flying around our room. We jumped out of bed (quite literally for me - as Bryan attests that I got out of the room without putting my feet on the ground) and quickly figured a way to kill the bat.
The next day, we had our housing people pick up the bat. Then on Monday, there were calls from Preventative Medicine and Animal Control. Animal Control came out and said that yes we do have bat guana in our attic, but most likely the bat crawled through the screen of an open window. This has actually been happening a lot in our neighborhood. In fact, in one building they offered to move everyone out into new units.
Preventative Medicine declared that we needed the series of Rabies vaccines since bites can be invisible and bats can salivate into your mouth. Also, our bat was beaten a little too brutally for rabies testing. Unfortunately, they only do the first shots in the emergency room. On our third trip there, we finally found a slow period and were able to be seen in two and a half hours. The vaccine is a small shot, but the immune globulin is and thick and depends on your weight. Bryan and I both had two shots in the hip.
Now we are on to our series of 4 additional vaccine shots. So far, they have been pretty painless. And thankfully, we go straight to the immunization clinic and we are in and out in less than 20 minutes. Brooke has been doing really well with her shots. A little chocolate when it's over and she forgets all about it.
Yesterday, we drove up to Lake Cushman (about an hour from our house) to meet Bryan's college friend, Joe who was visiting his dad at their family cabin. It was a beautiful day and Brooke loved swimming with Joe and throwing rocks into the lake. It was great to see Joe while he was in town from Boston. It's hard to believe it's been three and a half years since we've seen him.
Last Sunday, we had to go pick up our truck at Snoqualmie Pass (Uncle Carl used it to get to the start of his backpacking trip). We used the time up there to go on a family hike to nearby Franklin Falls.
Hiking is one of Brooke's favorite activities. However, the going can be pretty slow as we constantly have to stop for "Big rock" or "Big stick." Lucky for Brooke she has discovered pockets and how useful they are for holding rocks. Needless to say, we tried to keep Brooke in the backpack as long as possible.
Last weekend, Neil and Bobbi Maunu and their son Kyle came to visit us. The two kids had a great time playing and getting to know each other.
On Saturday, we went to Northwest Trek and saw many of the Pacific Northwest's wild animals. Brooke loved it!
We arrived home from Diamond Lake to find that Pam and Mac's painters had backed into my car while it was parked in their driveway. The bottom line was that I needed a whole new door.
After getting multiple estimates, waiting a week for the door to come in and four days to fix it, I finally have my car back and fixed like new. (If only they had hit the front bumper and replaced that so my car really would look like new!)
Although Brooke isn't really in school, I thought I'd post a picture from her first day of music class.
Last week, Brooke and I headed down to Oregon to spend a week at Diamond Lake with the Proffitt family. The location was great, but unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate. Brooke and Megan still managed to play in the water, though.
And luckily, we had a bit of sun the first and last day, so Roger offered boat rides to the kids.
We did fit in a bit of hiking. The kids loved being outside and the scenery was really beautiful.
Brooke hitched a ride any way she could.
The best of the three kids....it's incredibly difficult getting three kids to look at a camera and actually smile.
We took a morning trip over to Crater Lake National Park about 10 miles away. It was only 45 degrees on the rim, so it was a quick visit since none of us were really dressed for the cold.
Lately, Brooke has really been making us laugh with the things she says:
Tonight, Bryan was chasing Brooke around the house. After about 20 minutes, he laid on the ground and said, "I'm pooped." Brooke was standing next to him and said "Ewww.......Stinky." Then she pointed at his butt and said "Hiney" and "Yucky."
After baking a batch of cookies, I said to Brooke, "Maybe Daddy should go get us some cookies." Then, I said, "No, that is your snack for your movie before bedtime." So, Brooke took my hand and said, "Walking....Movie." Smart Girl!
Brooke loves to wear items of our clothing (if you're a follower of the blog, I'm sure you've noticed this trend). Anyway, yesterday she put on Bryan's reflector belt and declared, "Pitty." That's "pretty" to an almost two year old.
