All About Aubree

* The other morning Bryce wandered into Aubree's room and, by not-so-gently trying to poke her eyes out, woke her up earlier than she preferred. Although she got out of bed, she kept her eyes half-closed and refused to speak or answer any questions. She wasn't upset, just kind-of pretending to still be asleep I guess. We made our way to the kitchen where I asked her what she would like for breakfast. Hearing no response, I decided oatmeal sounded good and began the preparations. A few minutes later, Aubree walked up and handed me a note - "Gist Kix" it read (Kix is her favorite cereal). I love that she's resorting to communicating with me through notes.

* With her new found love of writing, Aubree goes through lots and lots of paper. One afternoon in particular she kept coming back over and over for more paper until I heard her sigh and exclaim in exasperation, "I need longer paper!" Luckily, we happen to have "longer" paper so I pulled it out and went to see what she was working on. On her little work table I found a pile of papers with varying amounts of the following sentence, "I wot u slip in..." She was trying to make a wish list, "I want a slip-n-slide," but couldn't fit all the words on one line. She didn't yet understand she could continue on to the next line.
* Aubree's primary teacher told me the following story:
Teacher - "Kids, what do we need to do to go to the temple?"
Aubree - (throws her hand up in the air) "I know - Drive!"
* Not too long ago I read Charlotte's Web to Aubree. When we finished the book, she watched the movie and then spent the next week pretending she was Wilbur. The rest of us she assigned supporting roles. I got to be Charlotte, Bryce was Avery, and Mark got double duty as Mr. Zuckerman and Templeton. Every day we had to act out different parts of the story. As Wilbur, Aubree tried to act "Radiant," eagerly looked forward to going to the fair, and seemed genuinely concerned about the possibility of becoming Christmas dinner for the Zuckermans.
* We took Aubree to the dollar store a few weeks ago and, since she had a dollar, we allowed her to pick anything she wanted. She chose a small piggy bank (it's actually a lion and Aubree's friend, Cheyenne, later questioned, "it's not a pig, so why do you call it a piggy bank?"). Since then, Aubree frequently asks, "what can I do to earn money?!" I think of extra chores (like cleaning her closet mirrors) and so far I've paid her a nickel for every chore. The last time, she asked for "something else." I gave her the choice of 5 pennies or the nickel. Of course, she chose the pennies. :)

* Aubree can read. No really, she can! Here's a short video from the beginning of July of her reading the first line of a story from her reading book. After the first line she decided she didn't want to read in front of the camera and I've had a hard time convincing her otherwise since then. The story of how she's learned is a little long and the subject of another post. I'll try to get a more updated reading video and post the "story" soon.

Ultimate Post-Baby Weight-loss Plan

I should write a book and make a million dollars, but instead I'll share this special secret with friends and family ('cause I'm just so generous like that...). It's amazingly simple. I've dubbed it the "Bryce diet," and here are the details:
Starting when your child is around 6-8 months old and beginning to eat table food, feed him from your own plate. He'll only eat at most a couple bites and, considering you'll be so distracted with an extra mouth to feed, you won't even notice the slight decrease. As your child grows, continue this process without significantly increasing the portions you serve yourself. You know the "plan" is working when, ten minutes after eating breakfast you find yourself starving and only upon reflection do you realize your child ate upwards of 3/4 of your meal.
I suppose to make this especially effective you should make sure to only eat when your child is with you.
I'll have to work on that last part. ;)

Fail

Here's an update on our little garden: Though it started out well, it soon succumbed to all things Florida (especially the bugs and heat). So, to all my friends and and family with beautiful, fruitful gardens I say this - though my thumb is obviously NOT green, I can assure you the rest of me is. :) Hopefully now that we know what not to do, we'll fare better with our "winter" garden.
And since I'm giving updates, here's one on our butterflies (scratch that - caterpillars). They're still in their chrysalises. Either they're both dead, or have gone into hibernation. I know it sounds completely ludicrous to hibernate in the summer, but from what I've read, it's a possibility.
Fail.

Some Things Never Change

Last week my super, amazing, brilliant, fun, wonderful (you get the idea...) friend Sarah, and her family came to town for a visit. Sarah was one of the first friends I made when I moved here to Titusville and although she moved away less than a year later, I still consider her one of my most favorite people. Sarah has two kids - a girl, Rachel, who is just a month older than Aubree and a boy, Mikey, who is a few months older than Bryce. So, not only did I get to see my great friend, my kids also had built in playmates for the week! And play they did!
We packed our short week full of fun activities. Our first stop? The local zoo.













Even though it's been over 2 years since Aubree and Rachel last saw each other, I think it took about 3 1/2 seconds before they were fast friends again. We met up in the parking lot and by the time we made it past our cars, they were holding hands, whispering, and giggling. They didn't stop for the rest of the week.
The kids liked spending time pretending to be veterinarians (and the moms liked the air conditioned building). The poor deer Aubree worked on apparently had four broken legs - ouch!
More than anything else though, they loved playing in the water. Since it's really too hot to do much of anything else, who can blame them?
The next day was Beach Day! With more friends, we spent the morning playing at Cocoa Beach. The weather was glorious and everyone had a blast. Since her experience last year at Sanibel Island, Aubree is no longer a huge fan of the waves, so she played happily in her "pool" in the sand. Bryce crashed in my arms (which almost NEVER happens).
The following day, Thurday, was extra busy. In the morning we attempted to go to the free movie offered by the movie theater. That was a grand failure. We'd never seen the movie (Over The Hedge) before but I'd heard fairly good reviews. Aubree, however, was terrified within the first 5 minutes because of the "mean, horrible bear." She spent the rest of our time in the theater sitting next to Bryce on my lap and covering her eyes for fear the bear would reappear. As a result of the novelty of the situation, Bryce actually did really well for the first 20 minutes or so. Then he decided he was done sitting and tried to throw anything I gave to occupy him. With the help of snacks, we made it another 1/2 hour before finally giving up and deciding the mall playground was a much better bet. There Rachel and Aubree could play freely and Bryce got to practice his climbing skills.













With tired boys, we went back to Sarah's hotel and let them take naps. Once they woke up it was back to playing as we prepared to go swimming at the hotel pool. At one point just before going out to the pool, our friend Juliana arrived with her 4 kids and we had 8 kids under the age of 8 running crazily around the hotel room. Of course, the cleaning lady took that moment to open the door. We couldn't help but laugh as we saw her eyes widen with shock.
For those of you who are super-detail oriented, no - that's not Aubree I'm holding, it's her friend Ella. Aubree borrowed Rachel's ring floatie and didn't get within arms reach of me the rest of the afternoon. Mark met up with us after work and we then went out to dinner. In this situation, having more kids actually made going out to eat much easier. Rachel and Aubree kept each other thoroughly entertained the entire evening (they are eerily alike) and Bryce really enjoyed having someone to torture (poor Mikey!).
Friday night we got to have Sarah & her family stay at our house! Since they used to live in our ward, we arranged to have a bunch of families they knew over for a potluck dinner. Since all together these families have 17 kids, (14 of which are 3 or younger!!) the plan was to have a totally outside party. We arranged for a slip-n-slide, little pools, games, lawn chairs, etc. and figured our backyard was plenty big enough for everyone to have their space. Alas, the best laid plans...
Instead, a pesky Florida thunderstorm rolled in, complete with pounding thunder, pouring rain, and brilliant lightning - not exactly outside party weather. Rats! We bravely went ahead with the party and had a great time. As you might imagine, it was total chaos and I don't think anyone even thought to pull out a camera so I don't have any pictures. After a while the storm passed by and half the kids got in the pool anyway. There was plenty of yummy food and despite the change of plans, it worked out wonderfully.
Following the party, the house was incredibly dirty, but thanks to Sarah's help within 45 minutes after everyone left it looked twice as good as it did when the party started! See, I told you Sarah's awesome! Sarah and I spent the rest of the evening making bows for our girls.
The next day Sarah left to return to Texas. I had such a fabulous time having them visit. We wish they would come back and stay for good, but maybe instead someday we can move to Texas and be near them! The week of fun left us all exhausted and we spent most of Saturday sleeping. Even Aubree took a 3-hour nap (and she rarely naps nowadays).

Summer Fun

I tried to be better about writing more frequent, shorter blogs, but there are a bunch of little things that I want to record. I consider this a "filling in the gaps" post.

• Aubree took swimming lessons every weekday for two weeks. She's nowhere near being an independent swimmer, but she enjoyed learning to bob her head underwater, float on her back, and doggy-paddle. I'd planned on enrolling Bryce and I in the water-babies class just so we'd have something to do during Aubree's class (Bryce doesn't believe in sitting still), but they didn't offer that option this session. Though he did try to throw his shoes in the pool, thankfully Bryce never tried to throw himself in the pool.

• Some kids love airplanes. Others can't get enough of Sponge Bob. Bryce? He's obsessed with the vacuum cleaner. He goes into the laundry room a trillion times a day to pull out the vacuum and express his desire for us to use it. When Mark gets home from work, that's the first place Bryce pulls him. They always find something to vacuum (too bad the only carpet in the whole house is the rug in Aubree's room!). To be honest, I don't think Mark minds! When the vacuum's on, Bryce doesn't like to get too close; he just stares in fascination. He does, however, like to turn it off.
• Since at least February (possibly before) Aubree refers to our house as "our hotel." For example, when we pull into the driveway she'll proclaim, "there's our hotel!" She knows very well the difference between a house and a hotel, she just thinks she's clever. *shrug*
  
• Perhaps because she's living in a hotel, Aubree packs her "suitcase" every day. I'm constantly finding her purses, boxes, or any other possible carrying case filled with underwear, socks, shirts, tissues, hair ties, etc. She and Bryce love to play under the computer desk and she stores her suitcases on the shelves there.
  
• We got the kids a little blow-up pool and we've spent a few lazy afternoons lounging in the backyard enjoying the cool water. Aubree flitted in and out, but Bryce played contentedly. I think he especially liked that Mark was with him. He's turned into a HUGE daddy's boy.
• Bryce had his 15-month well-baby visit. In my opinion, it was a huge waste of time - he didn't get any shots, I didn't have any questions, and the nurse-practitioner didn't have anything interesting to tell me. On the positive side, it is always nice to see how he's growing. He weighs 22 lbs. 10 oz (25th percentile) and is 31 3/4" long (75th percentile). It's crazy to me that he's only in the 25th percentile for weight because he has such a cute, round belly and he seems so much bigger and heavier than Aubree at the same age. Plus, he eats constantly! But, since he started walking on his birthday he's hardly stopped moving so it doesn't surprise me too much that he's fallen slightly in the weight percentiles.
  
• Last week was a huge milestone - Bryce let me read him a whole book! Granted, it was "Mice Squeak, We Speak," which is super short, but he sat still, looked at the pages, and didn't push it away or writhe out of my lap - definite progress! I've talked to lots of friends who say their little boys didn't like to be read to until they were 18 months to 2 years old, so that gives me hope.
  
• Though he won't let me read to him much, Bryce LOVES Aubree's books. He shows a special fondness for paperback library books. He always takes them to "his corner" of the living room and flips through them. I have to watch carefully, though, because his "love" for them often progresses to eating them or trying to rip out pages.
  
• As it not atypical of little girls, Aubree has a penchant for dramatics. Often, small frustrations send her into complete meltdowns. For a few months now, I've been repeating what I've come to consider our mantra, "Stay calm, solve the problem, or ask for help." I really need to record myself saying it and carry around a tape player so I can just hit "play" at needed moments. Gratefully, the mantra works and I'm starting to see improvement.
  
• For the 4th of July, our ward had a pancake breakfast followed by a children's bike parade. Aubree and her friends had a great time showing off for their spectators. When I told Aubree about the bike parade, she was thrilled and immediately started telling me how she was going to throw out candy to all the parents. Because, after all, that's why we have parades, right?
  

Aubree, Ella & Cheyenne at the bike parade (Aubree made the hat at the library)

• The more Bryce grows and learns, the more he cracks me up. He's learning new words and signs every day and is using them with increased frequency. He's most certainly mastered the words "Nooooo" and "Gooooo" (which is probably a pretty good summary of his life right now). He also likes to practice jumping and spinning. He's proving he's plenty clever. Lately, when I call him to come to me he'll obey, but stop about 5 feet out and put down whatever he was playing with, before finishing his trek. I think he's afraid I'll take away what he has, which probably happens quite frequently since he prefers to play with anything prohibited.
  

Sans Salmonella, Please

Given the choice, I'd much rather eat cookie dough or brownie batter than their baked alternatives. My kids are sugar-fiends and will eagerly consume treats regardless of form, but if I'm mixing up something sweet there's sure to be at least one chirping little bird (Aubree) begging to share. Now, it's one thing to risk eating raw egg product yourself, but possibly poisoning your children? - well, that's trickier.

Enter "the solution." AKA "our new best friend" or "powdered eggs." I can't vouch for how good they'd taste scrambled, but they work great in mixes and *ta-da!* guilt-free dough consumption! (Well, maybe not totally guilt-free... they are still cookies...) Regardless, Aubree and Bryce thought it was fabulous.

Rolling with my Homies

We recently enrolled Aubree in a 6 week ballet/tap/tumbling class (she started to take dance classes earlier in the year, but they didn't work out long term). She's LOVING it. The first class the teacher had the girls do a series of forward rolls. Aubree's friends have been doing somersaults forever, but Aubree's always struggled with them and never shown much interest in trying to improve. Until that class. Now she frequently asks to get out "the mat" so she can practice her rolls. Here she is showing off her newly acquired skill:



Watching his big sister have so much fun, Bryce naturally wanted to join in. Here's an example of his attempts at a forward roll (I admit - watching Bryce is my favorite part of our practice sessions)...