Happy October (long post)

Wow - is it really October already?!?! Things are going well for the Parmers! Brannon is still working three days a week at the Casino (and every other Saturday) and three days a week at his office. The girls and I are usually at the office with him - but lately, I've been trying to keep the girls away as much as possible. It is so hard to keep them occupied in an office with tables that they could break, or worse - could get hurt on. So while things aren't so busy for him - we've been staying at home and it isn't fair for them to be cooped up all day. Although, Bella really likes being at "Daddy's Obbice". Brannon's practice is doing pretty well - we figured he has only been open for 9 days (although it's been three weeks, he's only there three days a week). So..it is a bit slow - but he is enjoying being able to do what he has worked so hard for, for what seems like forever!

The weather has been so nice here lately. It is getting quite cool at night (I think even into the 60s) and cool in the mornings as well! The girls and I have been out walking around Huxford enjoying the weather - sometimes for up to 2 hours at a time. When I ask Bella if she wants to go outside to walk, her response is "get shoes on, get shoes on" and she will go and bring me her shoes! Then she will go and get the shoes she wants me to wear, if I'm not already wearing mine! Bella has made quite a few "dog friends" on our walks. At times, we have as many as 5 dogs and 2 cats walking with us. When she sees the dogs - she will squat down and say "c'mere dog, c'mere dog" (as you can see in the photo) and then tell them to "walk with me". Brooklyn just sits back in the stroller and enjoys being outside. She was very tired when we went out for the second time this morning - that she fell right to sleep! Once she starts walking on her own - we will ditch the stroller and then the fun of literally chasing two of them will begin!!!

There is a train track that runs by our house and Bella has become fascinated with trains. We went out for our walking this morning just in time because the train was just rounding the curve when we started out! She gets so excited when she hears or sees a train! She starts saying "choo choo train"! Atmore has an event called Williams Station Day and we are definitely going to have to go to it - as I think you can even get inside of a train!! She will certainly enjoy that (reminds me - I need to look up when that is going to be)! Today the girls were napping somewhat peacefully - when the train decided to come through again! Well, Brooklyn started crying and then Bella appeared from her room saying "choo choo train woke up"! Luckily, Bella went back to her bed with no problems after seeing the train (we can see it from our front porch) but Brooklyn has not gone back to sleep! This will make for a very cranky little one around 5 o'clock this evening!

Brooklyn will be a year old in a little over a month! I can't believe it's already been a year! She isn't walking on her own yet - as long as she has a hold of something, she can really go - she just hasn't let go yet! In the past week, she has started standing up on her own - going from sitting or squatting on the floor to standing up without holding on to any furniture or anyone! So, I don't think it will be longer before she is running around after Bella! Brooklyn is such a happy little girl! As long as she is fed, she is happy! She is doing very well with the sippy cup - having pretty much mastered it! She is still nursing - although only 2-3 times on a normal day. We will keep that up at least through 12 months and then we'll take her cues after that. She eats 4-5 jars of baby food a day with cereal mixed in! She also gets juice and/or soy milk in her sippy cup. For snacks, she likes the puffs and Club Crackers! She seems to be very interested in table food - so we are starting to give her some when she shows that interest! She has adopted a "Ty Beanie Baby Monkey" as her lovie. I had bought her a pink monkey (Bella has a brown one that we take everywhere and she sleeps with) to help distinguish the two - but she was constantly taking Bella's - so I found another brown one - so now they have the exact same lovie! While Bella holds her's like a baby - Brooklyn carries her's around by his tail! She is up to 5 teeth with the 6th one very close to cutting through! She seems to have cut her teeth very quickly since that first one cut through! All in all - she is doing great and we are enjoying every second of her!

Bella is definitely in the "terrible two's" - although it really isn't that terrible. Right now the only "terrible" thing she is doing is that in the past week or so, she has started biting Brooklyn - on the fingers. And it is totally unprovoked! And she is biting so hard - leaving teeth marks and occassional bruising. She gets reprimanded right away and is put in the corner for time-out and then has to apologize for biting Brooklyn. The corner is pretty effective for her - sometimes, her "two-minute sentence" turns into 10, 20 or even 30 minutes of corner time, because it takes that long to get her to stand in the corner (as opposed to trying to escape from the corner). She doesn't like going to the corner. We just have to stick with it and enforce it. She is talking more and more - although she doesn't really speak in sentences. For example, when we were out walking this morning, she kept pointing to a tree and saying "cat, tree" and it took me a minute, but the other day when we were walking a cat had climbed up the tree. So, we stopped and I said "did that cat climb up the tree" and she said yes. So - when she says things like that, I just try and respond in sentence form and eventually she will pick it up. She can count to 10, if you count with her. She can also repeat the entire alphabet when prompted - I will say the letter and she will repeat it. She continues to love to read - actually sleeping with a book every night! We continue to encouraging her love of reading - as we both love to read as well. We go to the library at least twice a month, hopefully more. I did find out that our library in Atmore, has story time on Thursday mornings - so we will likely start going to that. All in all - Bella is a good kid!! She is so full of personality and keeps me laughing every day. We are enjoying every second we have with her as well!!!