I've been so busy and have had hardly enough time just to keep up with posting monthly updates about Summer, that I've nearly completely ignored our amazing, beautiful, blue-eyed 3 1/2 year old.
What a difference a year and a new baby make in the life of a toddler. This time last year, Brooke was just finally starting to talk really well in sentences and building her vocabulary. Well, the girl has words for everything now! She is a parrot now and talks just like Bill and I do. We'll wonder where in the world she picked up a phrase or word and then we catch ourselves saying it. As a result, we are all trying to be more polite when speaking to each other.
Bill and I still count our blessing at what a well behaved toddler we have, but this fourth year of Brooke's life has been much more challenging than the third year was. She's had a lot of changes in her little life and is handling them as best she can I suppose.
She is quite the deal maker around the house. We tell her she can do "a" and she says, "Or we canna do "b?"
Brooke can be quite shy around new faces and sometimes, sadly, she will refuse to play on playground equipment if there are too many older, rowdy children. I know, of course, that she has inherited this from me, whether by gene or observation, I don't know. I hope to help her overcome this so that she doesn't spend so many years being on the outside of life as I did. We try to attend storytime at our local library once a week so that she can meet new friends. She has begun to participate a lot more over the last several months, but she still isn't very likely to speak to or introduce herself to the other children.
Brooke is still quite adventurous and brave (except in circumstances like mentioned above) and likes to climb and jump on and off of things. Recently she decided, quite suddenly, that she wanted to be pushed really high on the big kid swings. The resulting laughter is nothing short of contagious!
Brooke loves to do anything halfway crafty, or, as she calls it, "actibies." Translation: activities. Play-doh, painting, coloring, cutting, cutting, cutting, gluing, and cutting. Yeah, she REALLY likes to cut. Recently I threw out ALL of our "coloring books"--GASP, shame on me--to encourage her to be more free and creative with her drawing and coloring. I've seen a big difference already in the amount of time she spends with drawing and what she has to say about her creations.
Brooke loves to play outside, digging in dirt for bugs and worms, playing chase with..well, anybody, swinging, sliding, riding bikes or scooters, or driving the Barbie Jeep that Hannah passed down to her. When she digs and finds a bug or a worm, she has no problems touching or even picking it up. The other day she and our friend Natalie found a worm in the dirt and she was picking it up to show Natalie, who grimaced and backed away. Brooke asked her, "Why you no like worms Naalie?" The funny thing is, she doesn't really care for bugs at any other time.
Brooke loves to play with Summer. Their favorite activity is to wrestle on the floor together. Unfortunately, Brooke doesn't realize that she can really be too rough with Summer and we have to intervene quite often to avoid somebody being injured. I guess it's all just part of growing up as siblings.
Well, here are some pictures of our precious Brooke Makenzie. She is just so much fun to watch!!
What a difference a year and a new baby make in the life of a toddler. This time last year, Brooke was just finally starting to talk really well in sentences and building her vocabulary. Well, the girl has words for everything now! She is a parrot now and talks just like Bill and I do. We'll wonder where in the world she picked up a phrase or word and then we catch ourselves saying it. As a result, we are all trying to be more polite when speaking to each other.
Bill and I still count our blessing at what a well behaved toddler we have, but this fourth year of Brooke's life has been much more challenging than the third year was. She's had a lot of changes in her little life and is handling them as best she can I suppose.
She is quite the deal maker around the house. We tell her she can do "a" and she says, "Or we canna do "b?"
Brooke can be quite shy around new faces and sometimes, sadly, she will refuse to play on playground equipment if there are too many older, rowdy children. I know, of course, that she has inherited this from me, whether by gene or observation, I don't know. I hope to help her overcome this so that she doesn't spend so many years being on the outside of life as I did. We try to attend storytime at our local library once a week so that she can meet new friends. She has begun to participate a lot more over the last several months, but she still isn't very likely to speak to or introduce herself to the other children.
Brooke is still quite adventurous and brave (except in circumstances like mentioned above) and likes to climb and jump on and off of things. Recently she decided, quite suddenly, that she wanted to be pushed really high on the big kid swings. The resulting laughter is nothing short of contagious!
Brooke loves to do anything halfway crafty, or, as she calls it, "actibies." Translation: activities. Play-doh, painting, coloring, cutting, cutting, cutting, gluing, and cutting. Yeah, she REALLY likes to cut. Recently I threw out ALL of our "coloring books"--GASP, shame on me--to encourage her to be more free and creative with her drawing and coloring. I've seen a big difference already in the amount of time she spends with drawing and what she has to say about her creations.
Brooke loves to play outside, digging in dirt for bugs and worms, playing chase with..well, anybody, swinging, sliding, riding bikes or scooters, or driving the Barbie Jeep that Hannah passed down to her. When she digs and finds a bug or a worm, she has no problems touching or even picking it up. The other day she and our friend Natalie found a worm in the dirt and she was picking it up to show Natalie, who grimaced and backed away. Brooke asked her, "Why you no like worms Naalie?" The funny thing is, she doesn't really care for bugs at any other time.
Brooke loves to play with Summer. Their favorite activity is to wrestle on the floor together. Unfortunately, Brooke doesn't realize that she can really be too rough with Summer and we have to intervene quite often to avoid somebody being injured. I guess it's all just part of growing up as siblings.
Well, here are some pictures of our precious Brooke Makenzie. She is just so much fun to watch!!
In a couple of those pictures her face reminds me a lot of Jesika.
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