The Journey of Parenthood…

Britt Monthly Summary: December 2015

This post covers all of Britt from the month of December!

The BIG NEWS this month (aside from Britt turning 4, of course) was that Britt FINALLY filled her Happy Heart chart! Back in early October we started the chart with her. She had the opportunity to earn two stickers a day (one at nap and one at night) based on how her attitude was during her awake times. The chart had 100 spots to fill. So 50 days worth. And it took her until the end of Dec to finally do it. Britt’s attitude is just a struggle for her. She is obedient (for the most part) but isn’t quite able to control her temper/stubbornness/outbursts yet. We are working on it and loving her through it! The chart was a BIG help and really just turning 4 was HUGE for her. I think she does really well with big milestones and is able to step her game up when it’s time. She’s 4 now, it’s time to stop with the toddler-esqe behavior 🙂

Our plan was that when Britt filled her chart she’d get to go back to “gymnastics camp” which really is just a Friday Frolic free play time at our local YMCA. I checked into it to see when the next one would be and found out they were actually having a LEGIT gymnastics camp. 3 hours a day for 3 days and it started the very next day! I talked to Zach and he agreed that if they had an opening she could do it. It worked out great b/c Zach’s work schedule that week allowed him to help with drop off and pick up and the timing of it was 1-4 so it worked with our nap schedules (she just missed nap for those three days). The only downside is that we don’t own a leotard. Since I was able to sign her up THE DAY OF the camp I had no other choice but to buy one from the YMCA when we dropped her off. Hello $25. Most expensive piece of clothing she’s ever owned for sure!!!

I didn’t know to bring shorts to wear over it…I mean I legit know nothing about gymnastics and this was all a last minute thing (so unlike me haha) so yes, her panties were showing on Day 1!

Zach was able to go watch her for a couple hours her first day, Mrs. Charlotte and I went to watch her second day and Kye and I went to watch the third day. It was her first ever experience with gymnastics and she LOVED IT. It was hilarious to watch her because most of the other kids were all enrolled in gymnastics classes. But she rocked it and didn’t care one bit if she was the “beginner” of the group! She was also funny to watch b/c she cannot sit still. She was constantly moving! 

Here’s some videos of her:

Out of everyone who came to support her…she was the most excited to see Kye 🙂 

Our proud little gymnast!

On day 2, when I went and got her solo, we stopped for a little treat on our way home 🙂 

They gave us some report at the end of the camp to go over her progress. I guess she did good? It was pretty much a YMCA camp with a little gymnastics and some games and snacks mixed in. Def not hardcore or anything but it gave her a good taste of it and made for a GREAT reward for filling up her chart! She has been asking ALL THE TIME about getting to go back so we fully plan on letting her do the summer camp they offer! She also still talks about doing a “dance camp” so I’ll be looking into that when summer comes as well. We are all about some camps to give the kids a taste of different things rather than signing them up to take hardcore lessons/be on a team when we don’t know for sure if they will truly enjoy it and if it’ll be worthwhile!

Britt had a BLAST at her birthday party and LOVES being 4! She continued the celebration by having a little party at school 🙂 

Tess and I were able to attend her little class party! All the December birthdays celebrated on the same day and the parents all contributed items for the party. Here’s a video of us singing to the birthday kids!

Tess was a handful and a half haha! She didn’t understand how to sit in the circle time and kept getting up and walking around while Britt’s teacher read a story to the class!

SO SWEET!!!

Britt was SUCH a proud big sister!!!

Love my big girl!

Casey, Jordan and Carter were in Colorado and had to miss out on Britt’s birthday party. They were SUPER sweet to offer to treat her to a special weekend while Zach and I were in Savannah! Let’s just say she got SPOILED!!!

Treats at Target

Dessert after dinner

Donuts for breakfast

And she even got to attend a Christmas parade! 

They look cute as a family of 4 huh? 😉

On top of all the FUN she got to have…Britt also got to meet SANTA. She didn’t get to meet him with Kye and Tess with our family because she had pitched a fit and had to stay home and miss out. Of course Aunt Casey couldn’t let her go through the holidays without meeting the man in red 😉 

SO PRECIOUS!

Britt LOVED all of her presents for her birthday and Christmas! She struggles a lot with playing on her own and always wants to be playing with Kye. I really think she was in need of new toys geared more for her age. Since her birthday is the same month as Christmas she doesn’t get any toys for an entire year and I think she needed more stuff that was age appropriate for her to enjoy playing with! She plays very contently now with her new stuff!

Such a good daddy 🙂

These design your own type gifts were AWESOME! She stayed so focused on them and did such a great job!

Accessories are always a fav 🙂

Britt makes us SO proud every day but especially when we see her grow in her faith and love of Jesus! She has such a heart for the Lord and truly wants to do good. We are working a lot on her repentant heart. It’s not something that comes natural for her (does it for any of us?) and I’m so proud of how far she has come. This month she was a huge helper in collecting change as an Agent of Change for our church! She also recited all the books of the New Testament!

Now that she is 4 we are working on two main things: wiping herself when she goes potty (girl, if you don’t wanna wipe that poop what makes you think your mama wants to!?!?!) and dressing herself! I lay out her clothes for her and she puts them on and is doing GREAT with it! First time dressing herself from head to toe!

Britt doesn’t wear panties to sleep and sometimes this means she forgets to wear them when she gets dressed. Kye was pretending to be a police officer and handed out tickets to us and Britt’s offense was that she wasn’t wearing panties haha

While she may be doing AMAZING with wiping herself and dressing herself…the struggle is real with her eating. Since it was Christmas break it was easy for me to handle it. If she chose not to eat her dinner then she’d eat it for breakfast and I let her sit there until she ate it all. THIS IS ALL SHE HAD LEFT. And it’s ALL I asked her to eat of her main course at dinner. I’m not being unreasonable. I’m not trying to stuff food down my kids throat. I cooked. She needs to eat a couple bites of what I cooked for the family. Period! She chose not to eat it at dinner so I told her that was fine, it was her choice. So she sat there for 3 hours and 23 min the next morning until she finally ate it. THAT is how stubborn she is!!!

She may struggle with eating but girl still LOVES her sleep! I have to wake her from naps most afternoons and she regularly sleeps from 1-4 still! And goes to bed at night at 7:15 and wakes at 7 each morning!

More About Britt:

  • Britt doesn’t understand (nor has she asked) about the whole baby making process but she is under the impression that she already has babies in her belly and that SHE lived in my belly long before I actually gave birth to her. It makes sense to think that really and is kinda a neat concept right?!?! So she tells me that she currently has a baby boy and a baby girl in her belly 🙂
  • She said she doesn’t want to get married but would rather wait and marry her own baby once it grows up haha
  • She is REALLY all about talking about past times when she was much older than she is now. It drives Kye CRAZY b/c she’s never been 20 or 6 etc but I think it’s pretty funny and shows her imagination (or that she has some strange ability to remember a past life 👻). 
  • She still has THE cutest “baby” sounding voice and I’m really just waiting on someone to suggest speech help for her? I feel like it’ll be in our future but I’m not going to worry until someone else mentions it!
  • Her voice is even cuter when she talks to Tess b/c it goes even HIGHER in pitch
  • She LOVES to show Tess how to go potty, she takes the “big sister” role very seriously
  • We were parked one morning next to a van and Britt commented on how cool the van looked. I asked her what she would do if the men in the van told her to come over and talk to them and she said she’d tell them “your van is cool.” I asked her what she would do if they offered her candy and she said “say thank you” Needless to say we had a BIG TALK about how we NEVER go in someones car and how the response should ALWAYS be RUN and YELL!

Videos:

Britt is such a light in our days! She’s got her own personal spunk and is LOVING being 4!

THIS is how I will always think of Britt as a little girl 🙂 

Emily Parker
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