The Californians Come to Visit

Last month we were so excited to have my oldest sister, Amy, and her two oldest kids (out of four) come visit from California. They had never been to DC, so we had tons of fun showing them around. I think the girls' favorite part of their trip was the snow, since the snowpocalypse had been the week before. They played in the snow every day and insisted on walking through the snow everywhere we went. The first day, we took them to see some things in DC. We had planned on walking to several monuments and memorials, but it was so cold (especially for the wimpy Californians) we ended up just doing the Washington Monument then going straight to dinner.
Sam's sister-in-law Jenn was nice enough to lend the girls some snow clothes, and when we got the loot, there was a snowsuit inside just Bria's size. Bria's cousins wore the same suit, and Bria is obsessed with it. That first day, when we went into DC, Bria threw an insane fit, because she wanted to wear only the suit-- with nothing underneath it. So, we let her (plus a diaper, of course).
The girls also loved riding the metro. I'm sure they also loved some of the horrible delays on the metro, since they were still clearing snow from the snowpocalypse. Thanks for that, Metro. You sure know how to accommodate mothers with small children. (Do you sense the sarcasm?)

We also love every time we see Amy, because she brings tons of clothes for Bria. I think 90% of Bria's wardrobe (from her entire life) has been hand-me-downs from her cousins. I'm lucky to have such a generous sister who has such great style! (Everything but the pants in this picture came from Amy.)
Amy and the girls spent most of their time here exploring the mall and the Smithsonian museums. We're lucky to live close enough that I could drive them in each morning, drop them off so Bria could nap at home, and then meet up with them during the afternoons.

Bria was in heaven with her cousins. She and Lucy (who is 6 1/2, and whom Bria calls Woosy) had so much fun playing together. They walked around the Air and Space Museum holding hands, and Lucy entertained Bria non-stop with her crazy sense of humor.

Bria and Lindsay have the same birthday! Lindsay is 8, and, much to her dismay, Bria called her "Weenie" the whole time she was here (of course, now that she's gone, Bria says "lindsay" very clearly). Lindsay is a great older cousin to Bria, and they had so much fun. Lindsay had Bria for Christmas, but they just brought their present when they came to visit so they could enjoy it together.


Amy and I are 8 years apart, and like all my sisters, we are best friends! We had so much fun staying up talking, cooking, watching 30 Rock reruns, and exploring DC-- she even got me to do her P90X workouts with her in the mornings! (even if I did them halfheartedly . . .)
We can't wait to visit them in California next time!

We're Incredibly Sophisticated

I have a bunch of photos to upload, but I haven't gotten around to it (or much else) lately. I hate the end-of-winter blahs. But to document that we are still alive and well, here are some photos to show what we do when we're bored on Sunday afternoons.

(Apparently I just sit around in the background, looking at the wall, doing nothing.)Bria loves making faces now. She gets a kick out of it when others pull faces, and she tries to copy us as well. She often asks me in the car "fay-sus? fay-sus?"

Yes, I am giving my daughter bunny ears in this picture.

This picture is no longer accurate, as Sam has now undergone his annual winter head shave.

This is from last September, right before we moved. See how much Bria's grown (especially her hair)? I can't believe we've already lived here for five months.

Solicitation

This post is simply to ask for advice. The last couple months I have said to myself nearly every day "hmmm, I should probably get some books to read about how to handle discipline for toddlers." Not because Bria has any discipline issues, but because I could sense a change in Bria. She started pushing boundaries gently, and she would throw a tantrum here or there. In the last couple days, this casual thought about what books to read for guidance has become more of an urgent need. Our sweet little Bria is nearly two, and it is becoming rather apparent. Tantrums are becoming more frequent, and I think Bria screamed "MINE!" approximately 8,000 times today. I have general discipline measures in place, and I feel confident in my abilities to remain calm and consistent when teaching her appropriate behaviors, but there are some situations I find myself completely baffled.

My question is this: what parenting books would you recommend?

A picture of my darling girl after insisting that "Beebee do it," while putting on her coat.

Ugga

I have been doing yoga in the mornings lately, and Bria loves to tag along. She loves to unroll the yoga mats and play on them all day long. She is always asking to do "ugga" with me, and she can do a mean downward facing dog-- her head touches the ground with straight arms and legs, heels touching the ground. She also loves to crawl under me during downward facing dog and tickle my ribs, and she climbs on my back while I do pigeon pose, which makes me feel kind of like I'm dying. Even though then I can't get her off my back and I fear I'll never be able to move again, it's still pretty cute.

Snowpocalypse

So here is some proof that we did survive the snowpocalypse. Sam went to work early last Friday so he could put in a full day of work and come home a little early before the snow accumulated too much. We even ventured out Friday night to hang out with some friends, and it was a nice way to spend the evening before we were shut off from civilization for a while. The snow started around 10 am (Friday) and stopped Saturday evening around 5pm, I think. Our electricity was out for 12 hours, from 11am to 11pm on Saturday. While it was inconvenient and boring, we feel really blessed that we didn't have to go through a night without power or heat. It was also nice to have friends on our street who have a gas-powered stove-- they made us a delicious dinner and provided us with a flashlight and some emergency candles. Thanks guys!

Walking to Hannah and Rob's house:
Monday was a gorgeous day, but the metro was still closed, so Sam got to stay home. We spent the day cleaning off the car and playing in the snow (Bria calls it "fos"). Bria doesn't have snow clothes, so I wrapped her hands and feet in plastic bags under her mittens and shoes so the melting snow wouldn't get her hands and feet too cold and wet. It seemed to work well.
Sam went to work Tuesday, and I even took a trip to Costco-- and it took THREE HOURS. I think everyone on the eastern seaboard was at Costco on Tuesday. And Tuesday afternoon, the second storm hit. The wind was insane, and it undid all the work they had done to clear the metro, so Sam was home for Wednesday, Thursday, and part of today (Friday). Luckily it wasn't as bad cleaning off the car this time.

Here's the aftermath of both storms outside our building:

It was nice to have Sam home so much with us, even if we got a little bored. Bria's favorite activity to play asleep. She puts her toys, herself, and us to bed, and insists upon "seepy" (sleeping). She likes to play on the couch with Sam. This was a common sight in our apartment.

We also signed up for Netflix so we could stream movies and tv while we were stuck inside. We also cooked and baked up a storm, which was good and bad. I think I need to do a sugar detox. The sky is bright blue today, and I'm hoping the weather reports that predict snow for Monday are incorrect. I don't think I can handle any more snow this year.

Skillz, Part Two

Our most notable update is that we survived the Snowpocalypse this weekend. We got about two feet of snow over the weekend, and we lost electricity for twelve hours. It was all very exciting, adventurous, and sometimes boring, but we survived! Now, on to the next snow storm which will start today and bring another 10-20 inches of snow. Look forward to pictures later.

The real point of this post is to showcase another of Bria's exciting skills. She learned to say her name! We call Bria by more nicknames than we do her actual name, so I was starting to wonder if she even knew her name was Bria. We most often call her Beebee, and that's what she would say to refer to herself. When she wants something, she pats her chest furiously and says "Beebee. Beebee. Beebee," in this very serious, very longing tone. But recently I asked her what her name was and she responded very enthusiastically, "BEA!" She still has some trouble with saying her Rs, so it sounds maybe more like bee-ya. It's incredibly adorable. I caught this video of her showing off the skill:

Skillz

Bria has been so fun lately. Even though she is demonstrating her almost-two-years-old-ness in a lot of creative ways (read: tantrums, screaming, biting, and hitting), I am just adoring this stage. She still says new words every day, and she picks up so much more than I realize (which is simultaneously scary, adorable, and hilarious). Just yesterday she started singing along to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" (which she calls "Cup"). A video of that is definitely in order. She has also started counting. If we count with her and alternate numbers, she can count to ten (usually), but throughout the day, I hear her counting by herself, and it is always "2, 2, 4, 9 . . . " She counts everything all day long. So here is a video of Bria's new counting skills.