Bribery is a Mom's best friend

I have mentioned before that Brooklynn is addicted to her sippy cups. She has them with her at all times and that includes nap and bedtime. Well, I'm sick of two kids in diapers and Brooklynn is ready to be potty trained...the problem: the dang sippy cup. She drinks more milk than Mark (which means about a gallon every two days). There is no potty training until the sippy is history.

So, Thursday I had a brilliant idea. So brilliant I called my awesome mom to make I wouldn't ruin my child doing it. BRIBERY!!! I told Brooklynn if she would throw her sippy cups away that I would take her to Build A Bear and we would get her any animal she wanted. I pulled up the Build A Bear website to get her excited. She agreed to it, although if she really understood what she was agreeing to she may have thought about it a little longer.

Friday evening we helped her bag up all the sippy cups in the house. She kept telling us she needed to go "build my bear". She was ready. We dropped Emma off at a babysitters, this was Brooklynn's special night!

Now, my child is stubborn. I'm not sure where this comes from. It can not possibly be from my side of the family. There is not one person in my family who is at all stubborn. Or sarcastic. I had this nagging thought in the back of my mind that my sweet little girl may just decided she'd rather hang on to the sippy cups and pass on the new stuffed animal. That my brilliant plan may backfire.

Luckily, standing in the mall looking through the window into the world of un-stuffed animals waiting for her was all it took to convince my child that she no longer needed her sippy cups. She tossed them in the garbage and didn't look back (at least, not right then).

We looked at every animal, twice, she couldn't decided which she wanted. Bears, bunnies, and dogs, oh my! Finally she decided on a bunny. We took it to the stuffing machine. The girl who worked there was really sweet, but these machines were big and loud and scared Brooklynn to death! I think she thought it was eating her new bunny.

Once we got away from the stuffing machines she fell in love with her new friend. She gave her a bath...

Picked out a shirt with the Disney princesses on it (We asked if she wanted pants for her bunny too, she looked at us like we were nuts. Bunny's don't wear pants, duh!).

Then it was time to pick out a name for her new bunny. Brooklynn inherited Mark's creativity. He named his stuffed animals when he was young too. They are Koala, Kitty and Puppy. Bet you can't guess what animals they are. So the new bunny is now known as...Bunny Rabbit.

We have had a few teary moments especially when it is time to go to sleep. But overall she has been awesome! Out of habit she will start to ask me for her sippy. It goes something like, "Mom, I need my..." and she just lets it trail off. Hopefully, things continue to get even better over the next few days.

Is bribery worth it...You bet it is!!

As a side note...B has had just as much fun with the box as she has with the Bunny.

Happy Birthday Pops!!

Christmas was fabulous!! Brooklynn truly brought the magic of Christmas into our home this year. She was SO fun!! She talked constantly about the baby Jesus and it really helped everyone in our house to have a more Christ centered Christmas. We also learned that Santa should bring a 2 year-old a total of two presents. That is all her little mind could handle at once. Hindsight...

Emma was fun too...although she was fun in more of a "we are SO blessed to have these two miracles in our lives" kind of way.

The highlight of Christmas was definitely talking to (and getting to Skype with) this girl...

Oh, how I love and miss my sister missionary!!! She is an awesome!! Brooklynn constantly asks if we can call Chelsea again. She doesn't understand why we can't just pull her up on the computer and see and talk to her for a little while. And while I do understand why we can't, I can't wait to talk to her on Mother's day!!!

Now the holidays are over and I'm ready for spring!!! Bring on the warm weather...

Today is one of those melancholy days for me. It's my Dad's birthday. I miss him. I long to be able to talk to him, if only for a few minutes. It's a day that causes me to look at my life and ask myself if I am living the kind of life that would make my Dad proud of me. Am I carrying on the legacy my Dad left to me? I hope so.

I wish he were here to see his beautiful grandchildren. He would have LOVED seeing all these little ones that are starting to fill the house when we get together. He would have been in the center of it all. I think there are times when he is!!

And though today is a melancholy one for me I'm grateful for the time it gives me to reflect on all the great times I had with Dad. The times we talked, played and most definitely laughed. The lessons he taught me about the gospel and what truly is important in life. I'm grateful that he not just told me what kind of person I should be but he actually showed me by the way that he lived his life. With a twinkle in his eye, a smile on his face and a room full of laughter.

Happy birthday Pops!! I love you!!