Conversations with Brinley
Conversations with Brinley
Feb 22nd
The girls and I were out and about this afternoon running a few errands. We drove past Target (which as I’m sure you’ve read, is my favorite place on Earth). When we didn’t pull into the parking lot, Brinley says to me, “Mom, how come we’re not going to Target? Did you already spend all of dad’s money?”
Then we’re driving along and I pull into Dunkin Donuts to grab a quick pick me up. Brinley asks, “Oh mom, are you just going to grab a medium french vanilla with milk and sugar?” It’s probably a bad sign when your three year old knows your DD order by heart…
Then we’re in the parking lot at the library. I put the car in park and take out my iPhone to check for any messages/updates and Brinley asks, “Mom, when are we going to get me an iPhone?” Ugh, three years old and already wanting a cell phone. She’s going to be a tough pre-teen!
For the record, I only have two children.
Feb 16th
Brinley has quite an imagination. Lately she has been really into The Berenstain Bears. About a month ago, Chick-fil-A (our favorite food court destination) started giving out Berenstain Bears books with their kids meals. After reading her the story umpteen times, she had it committed to memory and begged to go to the books store to get more of the stories. We obliged and she now has a small collection of the furry family’s tales.
Anyway, after memorizing these stories and characters, she decided that our family would become the Berenstain Bears. The family consists of four critical members, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother and Sister, and an additional cub, Honey Bear, who was not part of the family until 2000. As you can guess, I became Mama Bear, Scott became Papa Bear, Brinley became Sister and Nora became Honey Bear. With no one left in our family to become Brother, Brinley decided that he would just be imaginary. He would join us where ever we went and even had a seat in the car right between Sister and Honey Bear.
So last week, we took a trip to my favorite store, Target. We were just picking up a few things and were on our way to the check out. Brinley was helping me to put the items on the conveyor belt and the nice cashier was making small talk with us. She asked Brinley how old she was and Brinley replied that she was four (because Sister is four, at least that is what Brinley thinks). Then the cashier asked Brinley what her sister’s name was. Brinley said, “Oh, her name is Honey Bear.” The cashier looked confused, but smiled anyway. Brinley proceeded to tell the cashier, “I have a brother too you know.” The cashier asked if he was at school and Brinley told her, “No, we just left him in the car for a little while.”
I nearly died! The cashier looked at me like I had committed a crime (which I guess I could have by leaving my son in the car). Since we were all paid and ready to leave, I didn’t bother explaining to her that Brother was an imaginary bear. I just took our bags and left the store.
Conversations with Brinley
Feb 9th
Just a few snippets from the past two days. This kid is just too funny!
Last night after I had cleaned up the kitchen I told Brinley that it was time to head up to take a bath. She looked right at me with the most serious face and stated, “I hate my life. Life stinks!”
I started laughing so hard. She proceeded to tell me that it wasn’t fair that she had to take a bath because she was still reading her book. Ah, to be three again!
Every Tuesday and Thursday Brinley has school. I usually use the car pool lane to drop her off so that I don’t have to get Nora out of the car in the morning. There is a message board set up by the door to let the parents know of any up coming events or due dates. Brinley always asks me to read it to her. It usually says things like when the book orders are due or when they have gym and to bring sneakers. Today it said:
Valentine’s Party this Thursday.
Book orders due today.
School vacation week next week. No school all week.
Brinley asked me to read it to her and I did. Then she started to cry and I was confused. I asked her what was wrong and she said, “Mom, I don’t like vacation. I WANT to go to school next week.”
It was so cute! This is HUGE for us too because Brinley took about 4 months to get used to going to school. She cried pretty much every day when I left her. The fact that she is crying because there won’t be any school is a big step!
Conversations with Brinley
Feb 3rd
This is not technically a conversation, but I HAVE to share it. Brinley is sitting next to me on the couch. She is reading Selected Tales from Beatrix Potter, you know, Peter Rabbit and such. Anyway, she’s reading along, making up her own story to go along with the pictures as she often does, while I’m entertaining Nora. Here is a snippet of her story:
Two little, curious rabbits hopped into the kitchen. Their mother was making a cake. “Please will you help me frost the cake?”, their mother asked. The rabbits looked in the cabinet for some frosting. They looked and looked but they could not find it. All they saw was some beer, some juice, some wine and some milk. They saw a mouse and asked him if he knew where the frosting was. ..
I nearly died when she started rattling off what the rabbits saw in the cabinet, beer and wine!! Does that mean mommy and daddy drink too much?!
Conversation with Brinley
Aug 24th
Brinley: Mom, can you open the gate?
Me: Why?
Brinley: Because its closed. (Obviously I can see that.)
Me: I know, but why do you need me to open it?
Brinley: Because I can’t do it myself. (I know this also.)
Me: I know that, but what is it that you need to go downstairs for?
Brinley: I need to get some tape. (Because I ripped the page that I was coloring.)
Lesson learned – be more specific when asking an almost 3 year old questions. Apparently “why?” is not clear enough. She got me this time!
