Dear Bria-

 We talked to your teachers during parent teacher conference and they confirmed what we thought all along--you are one chatty girl. They said it wasn't a problem but did mention that kids got a lot more talkative when they sit by you!

I also remembered the name of your (now) ex-boyfriend. Atticus! The breakup seems mutual and you are as happy as can be. 

You are starting to outgrow some speaking patterns that I really adored. For some reason, you liked to put the "Grrr" sound in front of words. Remote has been grrmote for forever. Disgusting is grrsgusting. It's too cute.

Bria, I'm embarrassed to write to you about this but I ruined your hair a little bit. I've been putting "sun-in" my hair and your blonde-haired siblings. The bottle said it would work for brunettes. I put a little in your hair thinking that it would slightly lighten it up. Boy oh boy! It worked too well. Your hair is WAY lighter and it looks very unnatural. I've gotten so many questions about it and I most of the time sheepishly say that it's the sun. True, but not quite. I'm sorry, Bria. I will never do that to your hair again! 

You have a wart on your leg that we are trying to remove. Tonight you proudly told me that you were the only one of your siblings to have a wart. Yep. Way to be proud!

I love you, girl,

~Mom

Bria-

 I'm so sad! Dad updated our computer system and it erased our stickies. What does this have to do with you? I had a sticky from five years ago with the girl names we were considering for you. It was probably a list of five names. Dad and I never had many. 

We're pretty strict in our naming requirements. We like names that aren't popular, go with Lewis as well as the rest of our kid's names. This got harder the more kids we had! For instance, I loved the idea of a one syllable name for Crew because it went so well after saying the first three names. I didn't want your name to start with an A or a D and I didn't want it to end in a N or an E. The unique factor definitely made things tricky. Popular names are popular for a reason! I love a lot of popular names. However, I've always been glad that my name is more unique. I wanted the same thing for you.

I found Bria online. Hours after I found it, I couldn't remember where! I was like, "Shoot! What if that's the name we name her? I won't be able to tell her where I found it!" I know I didn't find it in a baby name book but in a story. Fiction or not, I'm not sure. 

One I can remember from the deleted list was Raina. I loved that name but Dad wasn't sure. Then, I was worried that it was too close to the birth control, Mirena. The name Brenna was on the list as well. Of course, Bria was there. I loved both of those names. With Brenna, I could call you Bryn, a name I love. With Bria, I could call you Bree, another nickname I love. I actually haven't called you Bree all that much. Partly because we call you Breezy and partly because Bree is a popular nickname.  The Johanson's in our ward call their daughter, Briana, Bree.  

It's been way too long since I wrote you. You are now a big Kindergartener and so cute! You have been one of my easier kids and I was a little sad to see you go off to Kindergarten. Then, the last week of preschool, you decided to be bored between the end of preschool and waiting for the kids to come home. I was ready for you to go to Kindergarten! 

The first week of Kindergarten was rough! You cried everyday after school while walking home from the bus. You cried over having to walk home (the block walk was too long, haha) but I think it was the transition. Yesterday you were emotional coming home from the bus and I was reminded how tough of a transition all day Kindergarten is!

I do believe you love being in Kindergarten. You've had your first kiss on the lips with a boy who's name has slipped my mind. You were so cute because you told me, "He kissed my wrist and my lips!" You made friends with a girl named Sophia and I teased you that about being friends with Sophia the First. You would tell me, exasperated, "She's not the princess!" I would make comments about Sophia being royalty and liking purple. "You're so lucky to be friends with a princess!"

I'm sure that you're a social butterfly in school. You are socially inclined. I wouldn't be surprised if you are popular when you grow up. 

You care about what you wear. I love buying you clothes because you get so excited over them. That seems a little abnormal for someone your age but there you have it. Today you are wearing a long sleeve tie-dye shirt. It is not cold but I recently purchased that shirt and you LOVE it. 

You still wear a lot of dresses. Much to my dismay, you still like to wear your princess nightgowns to school. Nana and Grandaddy bought you a princess nightgown when you were three. I wasn't sure if it was a nightgown and so we let you wear it all over. We bought you many more princess nightgowns, more sure that they were in fact nightgowns. We hesitatingly let you wear them to preschool. 

I thought Kindergarten would be the stopping point. Nope. I tried to dissuade you. I even to you that it was a nightgown! I hadn't told you that before. That did not change your mind and you've worn them several times to school. You haven't recently because I've been a bad/good mom and hid them. That hasn't stopped you from wearing your Elena costume. I do wonder what your teachers think. 

Due to how long it's been since I wrote you, I realize that I haven't talked about your reading journey. In January of this year, I attempted to teach you how to read. You were only four and a half. Your July birthday meant that I taught you how to read a bit earlier. I started with Akarie in January as well. Lucky Dallin got to start in September when he turned five. He had almost a full year of being five before Kindergarten. 

After a few months of trying to teach you how to read, we took a break. You weren't getting it and we needed a break. I had already had a couple of mommy meltdowns.  We picked it up again in June. You spent the month of June and July not really getting it. By this point, I had given up on my traditional method, the book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Earlier in the year we had tried another book and that one didn't work either.

By June/July I had paid for the online reading program, Reading Eggs. I felt like you were doing alright. You were more memorizing than sounding out. However, after a couple of months, Reading Eggs stopped working. You would get so worked up over getting something wrong that you wouldn't want to do the program. We went back to 100 Easy Lessons in August and something amazing happened. You started getting it! 

Up to that point, I started thinking in the kindest way possible that you were a slightly stupid child. I figured, she's blessed socially, learning will be her struggle. I even wondered if you might have a learning disability. I'm convinced now you just needed your brain to develop. I remember Akarie struggled with reading until she turned five. I'm not even going to try to teach Crew to read until he's five.

I cried so many tears (privately) over your reading! We did the first 15 easy lessons so many times! Those are the worst easy lessons! I could have saved myself so much grief if I would have just waited. There's a lesson in that.

You started Kindergarten barely reading anything. You were in the 20's in your 100 Easy Lessons. As of today, October 1st, you are on lesson 43 or 44. You're getting there. You and I are both enjoying the lessons so much more! It doesn't hurt that I give you 20 minutes of YouTube time for reading. I love seeing your skills improve. 

I also appreciate that you and Crew will have a grade between you. It was so tricky to help Akarie and Dallin with reading when Dallin was in 1st grade and Akarie was in Kindergarten. Independent reading in second grade is a lot more doable. 

You are still a talker. I love seeing your grin and excitement. You get excited over little things and I love that. 

Okay, I better go. I wasn't planning on writing a long letter but there you have it. 

Love you Breezy, 

~Mom

Friday, October 1, 2021, 7:58am

P.S. Reading the last letters I wrote you, I realize that I never told you how you learned your letters. We have Leap Frog's movie, Letter Factory to thank for that. I found it on Netflix and had you watch in every day for a couple of weeks. You liked it and by the end of the second week, you knew most of your letters! I got the suggestion from Aunt Shawna after I was discouraged by the lack of progress from my efforts. We had a whole letter learning routine going that wasn't working. Aunt Shawna taught hers kids with that movie as well. 

Dear Bria-

You are a talker! You tell me the same thing over and over again. Dad and I did an exercise one day to predict our kids future careers based on their current features. We predicted you would be a fictional writer. You are constantly making up stories about your grandma. She usually tells you things that are contradictory to what Dad and I are telling you. 

I love you, Bria. But I must admit that your incessant prattle gets tiring. You never. stop. talking. I need to film it though. It's equal part annoying and adorable.

You seem to be really enjoying preschool. You are woefully behind compared to Dallin and Akarie. I partly blame it on you. Dallin and Akarie learned their letters from playing games on my phone. You haven't ever much cared for games. 

The rest is my fault. It took me too long to realize that you weren't learning your letters. I've started a regimen this past week. I hope that you learn your letters by January so that I can start to teach you how to read. We'll see how that goes. I'm going to try to be relaxed about this. You're at the easiest age to catch up.  

I don't believe that I wrote to you about your stuffed animal. It's a dog that has gone through several names. You change the names depending on the most recent show you've watched. Your dog has been called, Little Howler, White Fang, Bolt and Toffee. I believe his current name is Little Howler. 

You have reached the stage where you don't wear clothes. I think Dallin and Akarie went through this stage much earlier. It aggravates me. I want you to be dressed for when company comes or when I want to take a picture. I'm not a fan of naked four year olds. I'm always saying, "Bria, you're naked." Technically you're wearing underwear, but still. I've reduced to bribing you. You can't watch Sofia or eat a treat until you're dressed. 

You are OBSESSED with Sophia the First. You've seen all of the episodes a lot of times. There's no more news seasons coming out. I keep waiting for you to tire of it. I love your love of girly things and so I'm okay with this obsession. I just wish you moved on so I could decide Christmas gifts. I can't fathom you not finding something new by Christmas. 

I love you,

Mom

Sunday, November 8, 2020 10:46pm

Dear Bria-

You think everyone in our family's middle name is Megan. You call Crew, Cruiser Megan Lewis. Dallin is the same, Dallin Megan Lewis. I tried to explain that Dallin's middle name is Thomas. To this, you stated, "Dallin Thomas Megan Lewis." I kind of gave up after that because you are too cute.

You're getting so grown up. I can't believe that you're going to preschool. You are very excited about that.

You just turned four. All you wanted for your birthday was an Elena dress, a heart of Tafiti necklace, and a horse. Your gifts were kind of flops. We got you a horse. But the Elena dress was too big. The size was 4+ but it was closer to fitting Akarie than you. Then your heart of Tafiti necklace was late. We still haven't received it! Thankfully, you're four and you weren't too fazed. We told you that your necklace was coming. We pinned your dress up and directly ordered you one your size.

You've become a terrible sleeper. You're scared. On our camping trip, Spencer told you about a girl ghost. Now you're determined that you see her. It's actually a little creepy. Dad and I have to sit with you while you fall asleep. You often wake in the middle of the night crying. Dad has slept in bed with you more times than he would care for.

You like to add letters or change the beginning of words. Our favorites are shmarshmellow, and galloon. You only called Crew, Cruiser. He is never Crew to you.

I've been a slacker mom at teaching you. You don't know your letters and we don't pull out your preschool workbook often enough. To be honest, Dallin and Akarie learned their letters from games on my phone. In the very least, I've been trying to have you spend at least ten minutes playing letter games. So far, the letters don't seem to stick at all. The only one you get consistently correct is the capital B. I wonder why. *sarcasm*

I love you Bria,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

We've been enduring COVID 19 quarantine. It's been great and it's been hard. You had a long stretch there where you were our "easy child." Dad remarked on that several times. A high praise indeed if you know your dad's patience with children!

Then the last two weeks happened. You decided to get emotional. About everything.

We went on a walk/run today. Dallin likes to race you and you insist that you have to win every time. Even though Dallin is years older than you, he doesn't like to lose every time. I found myself refereeing the amount of times Dallin got to win. The funny part is that you knew he was letting you win. Apparently that didn't matter. Winning, irregardless of how, was important to you.

Forever ago, we watched a video about Jesus for FHE. When you heard that we would be watching a video about Jesus, you exclaimed, "Jesus?! I'm so excited!"

You've discovered hairties and want your hair tied back all of the time. I don't blame you there as it's hot. Your hair is such a mess. It's way too short in front and long in the back. I'm not sure how to fix it besides chopping it off. When Akarie's hair grew that length, I just pulled back the sides of her hair. She was much younger though. You don't stand for that. If I'm going to pull it back, it better be the whole thing. You insist. I do worry about ruining your curls if it's pulled back too much. Thus, you look like a curly monster most of the time.

You also have caught on to the naked phase late. You love to run around naked. Late again. I feel like all of your siblings did this much younger.

Some days, we have to beg you to put on underwear. Most days, we at least get underwear. You'll get dressed only to take off your clothes less than an hour later. It takes so much work to convince you put clothes on (usually threatening a late meal) that we let you run around mostly naked much of the time.

You mispronounce lots of words. Here's the two that I can think of at the moment.

You went through a phase where you did not like people copying you. Unfortunately, you were very observant and thought your siblings were copying you when they often weren't. You would shout, "Stop cocking me!" Your siblings loved to tease and would mispronounce "copying" back. Only Dad and I cringed at that one.

This summer in an effort to be healthier, I made popsicles instead of resorting to Otter Pops. I don't know if they're that much healthier and they're definitely not cheaper. REGARDLESS. You call our popsicles, "bicycles." I love the mispronouncement so much that I've made everyone call them bicycles so you're none the wiser. Ha, ha.

Dad did something really sneaky. He taught you that he was the best parent and that I was the best mom. You are naturally a really grateful child. If we do anything sort of nice to nice, you'll gush, "Thanks, mom! You're the best!" It is adorable. Now Dad's trained you to put us on a hierarchy. You have no idea though and it's pretty hilarious.

I love you Bree,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

The other day you were eating cheese balls. You call them "orange things." Apparently they were really delicious because you couldn't stop exclaiming, "These taste perfect!"

A few nights ago you had a teenager moment. Dad was calling you over. He said, "Yo Bria." You responded with, "I didn't do it!" Where did you get that from. Gosh, you're cute.

You're too cute. We spoil you because of your cuteness. Tonight you weren't listening to Dad and he was appropriately stern with you. I listened to you cry in my room for a few minutes before I couldn't take it! You were crying and exclaimed, "He hurt my tenders so bad!" It was pathetic.

I love you girl,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

Whenever there is thunder, you tell me, "I heard the lion!" You came up with this all by yourself. The lion used to scare you. Now, you just observe when you hear her. I love that you came up with this and I will never think about thunder the same way.

You say the word "purple" normal now and I'm a little sad. You used to say "peh pol." You still have a couple of words I love hearing you mispronounce. You ask a fair amount for things to be "fopened." I don't know why you put an "f" in front of that word but I love it. You love to watch "newvies."

We bought you some boots a month or so ago and you immediately started calling them, "booties." I go right along and call them "booties" too. I love it.

I feel like I've written to you about this next topic, but I can't find it and I don't want to forget it! It's an older issue. You can be a hard shopper. You want all of the things. One thing that I had to stop doing was shoe shopping. Shoes are the one thing I really hate to buy online because they rarely work out. Well, you are the WORST to take shoe shopping. Your worst meltdowns have happened looking at shoes. You had two separate meltdowns in particular where I had to check out and walk out of the store with a screaming child. Ugh.

I love you,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

You went to your first day of Primary today! Your nursery teachers assured me you were ready. From my knowledge of you, I think you would be good with nursery for at least another year. Who wants to attend the class that sings and learns lessons when there's a class full of toys?!

You did well. Dad and I both dropped you off and then shamelessly stood by the door staring at you for another thirty seconds. We also checked in to see how you were doing in primary, without your knowledge, of course.

From all reports, you did great. You and your friend, Ava, did a lot of shushing people. At one point, you were informed to be quiet while a movie played. One of your teachers, Sister Rich, leaned over to ask someone a question and was promptly shushed by you and Ava.

It was only after I picked you up from Primary, that you seemed to realize that you hadn't gone to nursery. I think you were expecting to go to nursery after Primary. You started to get a little upset but I distracted you away from it.

All in all, it was a fairly successful day. I failed in that I didn't take a picture. I hope writing the letter makes up for that a little.

I am tired but did want to update you on the dress situation. In mid-December, you started wearing leggings and shirts. That was a real bummer because we got you two princess dresses for Christmas. You've continued this trend of wearing leggings more often. However, you still rock a dress a fair amount. You have too many day-time wardrobe changes for me to provide a precise number!

Also, you've become very screechy lately. You have one loud, high-pitched voice.

I love you Breezy,
~Mom
Sunday, January 5, 2019 11:54pm

Dear Bria,

You are absolutely the cutest right now. I let you and Crew ride your bikes inside today. You cracked me up with you held up a helmet and asked for help with the "seatbelt." You wanted me to undo the helmet strap. After spending a minute trying to figure out how to word that, I don't blame you for your wording!

You are finally FINALLY potty trained! I already told you about how we started. By the end of November, you went pee on the potty fine but would not poop on the potty. I bribed you like crazy but you were scared. I knew you had to poop because you would request a diaper. I made you wait one day and you waited all day until night came! I was scared of poo poo accidents. (Dallin went through a string of them when we traveled to Utah.) Therefore, I caved with the diaper requests.

When we were in Virginia, your Aunt Christina challenged me to not give in to the diaper. I was scared of regression but I knew I should at least give it a shot! It took you over a day and lots and lots and LOTS of unsuccessful potty tries. However, after all that, you did it! Each subsequent time has gotten slightly less dramatic. Today was the best time so far. You still want me to come with you but there was very little theatrics! Fingers crossed it sticks.

Now all we would have left to do is night time potty train you. That can wait for January! I'm just thrilled to only have one kid in diapers! You seem so grown up in you "undies." I can't believe you're going to preschool soon.

Have I told you about Crew's bunny? I've been putting Crew to be awake more often now. For forever he would breastfeed to sleep. I felt bad leaving him on his lonesome and found a stuffed animal bunny in a toy bin. Even thought the bunny was discarded and unwanted, the minute Crew had it, you wanted it! There were several day of meltdowns on your part.

You are a very good kid but you are three. The worst public meltdowns are over shoes. Your poor mom NEEDS a new pair of shoes. That is the one thing I really hate buying online. Every time, I try to find some in store, you end up throwing a colossal fit. You'll see a pair of shoes you want and royally meltdown when I won't buy them for you! You scream so loud that we get lots of stares. One Walmart employee looked at me pityingly as she let me exit without checking my receipt. I give up for now on shoe shopping when you come along shopping with me (which is almost always-sigh).

Okay, I feel like I have already written this to you but I'm going to record just in case. Ages ago (I'm thinking in the summer), you discovered that your hair had grown long enough that it bounced. This amused both you and me. Now I'll tell you to "bounce your curls" and you'll comply.

I LOVE your curly hair. I hope you always have it and that you'll love it too. Everyone always asks me where you get it from. It's a little frustrating to me because I have very wavy hair. BUT I've straightened a lot of the curl out of my hair. My hair will still curl but I've only owned a straightener for years. I'm getting a curling wand for Christmas and I'm excited for myself but also for you. It must be mentioned that your dad has wavy hair too. I'm actually more shocked by your siblings stick straight hair than by your curls!

Love you girl,
~Mom

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 10:31pm

Dear Bria-

As a family, we love to hear you say, "Kung Fu Panda" because it sounds like "Poo Poo Panda" whenever you say it. I let you watch a short YouTube clip whenever I brush your teeth. This started out as a way to distract you.

Brushing teeth was not your favorite. Now it's a routine. The past week or so you tell me that you want to watch "Poo Poo Panda. But not the first one." It's going on at least day seven of you reminding me that you don't want to watch the first one. I asked you today what was so wrong with the first one and you said, "I don't like the first one." More likely, that's the only one you've watched the whole way through!

We're slowly getting out of your wearing-a-million dresses stage. I think me locking you out of Crew's room (where said dresses are) helped. Granted, you still get into the dryer or wherever else clean, unfolded laundry is located.

This new stage is slightly better but far from my favorite. You run around naked. Yep. Naked or in you underwear. Please don't get mad at the obscene number of photos of you in your undies. You have only yourself to blame. Now you only wear three or four dresses a day and this is a massive improvement!

Your dad is out of town but you have been seeing him everywhere! You manage to spot white Toyota Carollas all the time when we're driving. You'll exclaim, "I see Dad!" I indulge you and don't try to talk you out of your belief that Dad is driving around town.

It's funny because I consider myself a very honest parent. I answer tough questions about sex and life to the best of my ability with honesty. Heck, we don't even do Santa! But I'm not perfect. As mentioned above, I tend to indulge childhood beliefs. A couple nights ago was a bad moment for me. I directly lied to you.

Here's the background. I had to put four young children to bed by myself. I was emotionally exhausted as well as sleep deprived. You were my second-to-last kid to put to bed. We had read the stories. I had already said goodnight once before I realized I hadn't brushed your teeth. I went and brushed your teeth. In the middle of saying goodnight a second time, you realized that you didn't have your stuffed animals.

I went downstairs and found your Anna "Barbie" (really it's just a stuffed animal but you love Barbies and you know I'm not going to correct you on something like that) and your stuffed dog, Biscuit. I could not find your baby doll you named "Baby Boy." I gave you your stuffed animals, hoping you wouldn't notice the missing doll. Not a chance.

"Where's Baby Boy?" you asked way too quickly.

This is the lie part. I had already looked downstairs. I didn't want a three year-old meltdown or for me to look more for him. Instead, I told you, "Dad took Baby Boy with him to the hotel! Baby boy is sleeping with Dad."

"Is Daddy giving him a bath?" you inquired.

"Yes! Daddy is taking good care of him. He's feeding him and and bathing him." We talked back and forth a little. You wanted to know where Daddy was and I tried to explain the concept of a hotel to you.

I told Dad about my fib and he stressed that we wouldn't find Baby Boy and that he would get blamed for losing him. I wasn't worried about that at all, sure that Baby Boy would show up. Bria, it's been three days and I still haven't seen Baby Boy! Dad comes home tomorrow and we'll see if you remember that he's supposed to have him.

I love you, Princess,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

You are growing too quickly and you are SO cute! You say the sweetest things. You talk a lot but your talking is still hard to understand. It's adorable to hear what's going on in that little head.

We spotted some deer last night (might have almost hit them-eek) and you were very excited to see the "reindeer." We saw some this morning in our backyard and you had to call your Nana and tell her about the "reindeer."

We checked out a book from the library called, "Anne's Feelings." The book is rather simple. Every page describes how Anne is feeling with pictures from the book, Anne of Green Gables. For example, one page says, "Anne is surprised." The picture shows Anne looking in a mirror at her green hair.

You woke up in the middle of the night sobbing last week. When Dad asked you what was wrong, you proclaimed, "I'm in the depths of despair!" The next morning you kept telling me about how you were in, "the depths of despair for a minute."

Your curly hair is getting so long. I love it when you talk about your "curly hair don't care." For well over a year I've referred to your hair as, "Curly hair don't care." I'll have you repeat it because it's the cutest thing ever when you say it. I'll ask you, "Bria, do your curls care?" You'll exclaim, "No!" And I'll chime in, "They don't! Your curly hair doesn't care." I'm a little bit of a weird mom. Ha, ha. It's all paid off because I love hearing you say, "Curly hair don't care."

Your hair has grown longer, mostly in the back. Sorry girl, your sporting a mullet. You realized the other day that your curls bounce. You've taken to shaking your head to make them bounce and it is about the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

Over the past week, I've started potty training you. I've despaired a little bit that you would ever be potty trained. To be honest, I'm still sweating about it a little. You had NO interest in going to the potty. I even bought you a special potty and new underwear.

You are clothes obsessed and I knew if anything would tempt you, it would be underwear. But, nope. You had no desire. Now I must say that I waited until you were three years two months old to push it. I was determined to wait until you were ready. My patience ended in September! Partly because you started (again) wanting to change your diaper all of the time. I went through a huge box of diapers in ten days. We can't afford that, child!

I'm ashamed to admit I threw a mommy fit or two after doing everything I knew and having you still refuse to even sit on the potty. Then I realized that my getting angry wasn't going to do anything. So I started talking up underwear and peeing on the potty. Oh, the conversations I've had with you!

Everyday I would talk about how much fun it is to pee on the potty. I talked about the "pleasant noise," the good feeling, and the rewards. Of course the rewards.

"Bria, you don't have to wear a yucky diaper when you go pee on the potty. You get to wear cute underwear. Do you want an M&M? Did you know that you get M&Ms for going on the potty? Oh, and you can earn stickers for your sticker chart to earn your Barbie! Going pee on the potty is so much fun..."

After a couple weeks of that, you wanted to wear underwear! However, you still wanted to pee in a diaper! The next day you went on the potty, though. It's been an up and downhill thing. Some days you do great, other days you're asking for your diaper. You're scared to go poo on the potty. That's definitely been a struggle. A lot of times when you ask for a diaper, you need to poo. You get a whole packet of fruit snacks for going poo on the potty.

I thought we had you trained on Saturday. You had gone two days wearing underwear all day and staying dry. You even pooped on the potty. However, you had an accident at Nana's last night and requested a diaper today. I don't fight you on the diaper. I really do believe you have to want to go on the potty. After wearing a diaper for a few hours, you were back to underwear.

You aren't prone to accidents. Your accident at Nana's may have been your first. I don't know why I have such willful daughters when it comes to toilet training. Fingers crossed that by 3 years six months you're trained!

Oh, and one funny story. One day when you were requesting a diaper, I told you that princesses wear underwear. Would you believe that kept you in underwear?! Ha, ha. You are such a girly girl it's crazy.

I'm sure I've told you about your church dresses. You wear dresses all of the time. You change clothes 1,000 times a day much to my grief! My house has clothes strewn all over and it often aggravates me. I know I'll look back on this phase as so cute and remember how quickly it went by. For now, it's a pain in my butt and never-ending and I'll admit it, cute.

I love you girly,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

You are so ready to go to school! Dallin and Akarie had their first days of school and you wanted to stay with them at the school. Daddy gave you a book bag. You wanted a lunch as well and so he put a banana in your book bag. When we got to school, Akarie's teacher told her to put her book bag on her desk. You followed suit and put your book bag on a desk. You even told me, "Bye!" Sorry, girl. Thankfully, you handled having to go home with me all right.

Dallin told me that you had to learn how to talk before going to Kindergarten. Your talking has improved by leaps and bounds. However, your sentence structure and vocabulary could use some work!

Today was a fun day. You are obsessed with the Barbie Fashion Fairy Tale movie. Every time it ends, I'll dance with you to the credit. You are a great dance, Bria. I want to put you in a dance class so bad! Anyway, one of the moves I'll do with you is to raise my leg and let you run over it. Our timing was off today and I ended up hitting you in the face with my foot. My foot hurt and so I can only imagine how your head felt.

I love you, girl,



~Mom

Dear Bria-

You are going through a phase where you want to help me with everything. "Can I help you?" You say that to me repeatedly. Here's the killer thing. I don't mind your help. I even love it sometimes. However, Crew. Yes, that should be a sentence. Crew is such a nuisance and if I pull a chair up for you, he'll join and cause all sorts of havoc. I say no to you more times than I want to due to your brother.

Okay, I'm looking over my stickies of things I wanted to write you about. I'm glad I wrote some down because I totally forgot about this. A few months ago, whenever you said "Jesus" it would sound like "Cheese-its." You know your mom can't let that one go. Every Sunday or whenever you said "Jesus" I would deliberately misunderstand you and replace with the word "Cheese-its."

Exhibit A:

Me: Bria, what did you learn about in church today?

Bria: Jesus! (Sounds like Cheese-its.)

Me: I love Cheese-its! They're so yummy. Did you talk about how yummy they are?

Bria: Ah-huh.

Sometimes you'll try to correct me. More often than not, you'll just go with it. Your mispronunciations crack me up. I love it.

You are all-girl. Not only do you love your church dresses but you love jewelry and to have your nails done. I try to keep up on your nail polish but it comes off of you super fast. Randomly throughout the day, you'll exclaim, "Oh no! My nail polish!" You'll then want me to fix it right away.

A repeated phrase by Bria is any phrase that has "right" in it. My favorite and oft-heard right phrase is, "Right Mommy? Right mommy?" You love to repeat your self until I answer. I'll answer back, "Right!" I even started parroting back, "Right Bria?"

You're a little adult sometimes. One of my favorites is when you were leaving with someone and everyone else was staying behind. You exclaimed, "Bye, Kids!"

Every morning when you wake up, you'll shout at as, "In! In!" We totally lock you in your room and you have to wait until we let you out. It's pretty dang cute to hear you shouting at us and funny that, "in" is what you say.

I love you sweet Bree,

~Mom

Dear Bria-

Did I ever tell you about the phase you went through of locking doors? You locked me out all of the time! The worst was when you would lock me out of the house. Many times when I took Crew's diaper out, you would lock the door. One time in particular, the only way I could get you to open it was to bribe you with food.

We didn't have keys for our doors and had to unlock them with a screw driver that was too big for them. It took me over a month to get keys and I went about mad with aggravation. You locked the door of every room you went into.

Another cute thing you do is that when you hear thunder, you think a lion is roaring. I think this is thanks to the movie, The Lion King. It's pretty hilarious. I'll hear thunder and then little you exclaiming, "I hear the lion!"

You are obsessed with "church dresses" and wear them all of the time. Far from minding, I've embraced this phase of yours. You have a million dresses.

Maybe you're compensating for your lack of hair. Your curly hair is still woefully short. You remind of Annie from the movie, Annie.

You like all girly things. You love your dolls, affectionately named "Baby Boy" and "Baby Doll." Your favorite movies are the Barbie movies. You're currently on a Barbie Thumbelina movie kick. You love Disney movies, especially Beauty and the Beast.

You are a spunky girl and your talking has exploded! I can't believe how much more you are talking. You're talking is so much clear now as well. I noticed this morning that you were actually saying "breakfast" instead of "breapast."

I love you sweet Bree,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

Thanks to me working, you've watched more TV than I care for. You love your "mobies" though. A recent favorite is "Barbies Under the Water" AKA "Mermaid Barbies." Your current favorite is "Christmas Barbies." Before that, you were obsessed with "Beauty and the Beast" and before that, "Frozen." I love that you're so girly.

I love you,
~Mom
Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Dear Bria-

Two year old Bria is my favorite! You are so mischievous and adorable. I don't know what to do with you. I have so much to say. I'm sorry that I've been the world's worst letter-writer. I don't want to forget anything but I am so busy!

I love how you say "movie." I've let you watch way too much TV. Half of the time it's for my sanity and the other half of the time it's for work. Anyway, you're always asking to watch a "moobie." It's the cutest.

We just came home from Virginia. I taught your cousin Lily how sometimes I tell you, "Curly hair don't care." She taught you to say it. You mumble the first two words together and then clearly say, "Don't care."

You love "church dresses." You wear them all of the time. You are constantly changing into and out of them. It drives me slightly crazy. I bought you a whole bunch of play dresses but they were not long enough or fancy enough for you. You want the real deal.

If we're reading a book, you'll point out "church dresses." If we're in the store, you'll shout, "church dress!" if you see one.

I love you sweet girl,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

You are obsessed with keys. Whenever we go out or come home, you'll shout, "Keys!" I'm a sucker and I'll usually give them to you and you'll go crazy with sticking them in and out of the door. It doesn't matter if you choose the right key or not. You just like the trying. Although I will say, if I lead you in the right direction by giving you the proper key and turning it the right way, you're pretty good at fitting it in the hole.

You're slowly growing out of nap time. If you take a nap during the day, it's harder to get you to sleep at night. I have to be strict on how long your naps are. Some days, I don't even bother with one. However, those nights you're ready to go to bed at 6:30! You'll usually go to daddy and say, "Night night," or, "Go to bed." I love when you do this because it's so sweet and shows that you're listening to your poor, tired body.

Another thing you're doing is you're fighting winter. We didn't have to get out the warm clothes until the end of December and you do. not. like. them. I had to hide all of your shorts and short sleeved shirts because you would put those on. Even wearing winter clothes, you find ways to defy them. You rolls up your sleeves and pant legs.

You refuse to wear pajamas. If I put them on you, you'll take them off. It's not ever worth the battle and so you usually go to bed in clothes. Granted, you have very comfortable clothes. *Cough* leggings. This makes me a little sad because you have some very cute pajamas. I've taken to putting them in your clothes drawer to fool you. My favorite ones are sweats which could technically be worn to the store anyway.

I noticed the other day that you chipped your front tooth. It's a tiny chip but it still amazes me that you did it. I'm wondering when and how. That's footage I definitely want to see in Heaven.

We're moving in two days, Bria. You have no idea what's going on. I've taken you to the new house for closing and cleaning but I think you're still pretty dang oblivious. You're world is about to be rocked. I'm a little sentimental for this apartment now that we're leaving it. You came to this apartment when you were a tiny baby, about two months old. Now you're a big two year old. This house we're moving into may be the only house you know until college. That's incredible.

I love you, Bria,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

You did the cutest thing yesterday. Our dehumidifier alarm went off but you thought the fire alarm had gone off. You screamed, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" I was baffled by your behavior until I saw you get a cutting board and wave it up at the fire alarm like I do when it goes off. I had a good laugh, sweet girl.

Bria, I lost my patience with you too many times today and I'm sorry about that. You are in the midst of the terrible twos. I don't always have the patience that I should.

This week, you have taken off your diaper twice at nap time after going poop. You then proceeded both times to smear poop everywhere in your room, on the walls, your bed, the floor. It's not unusual for you to take your diaper off. You want it changed every time you pee! After the latest poop-smearing incident, Dad and I have resorted to duct taping your diaper on you.

Tonight you "read" the scriptures with us. Normally we whisper the words in your ears but today you wanted to read them all by yourself. You spouted off a bunch of nonsense. If you were using real words, only you could understand them. It was the cutest thing. We tried to get a video of it but Dad's phone won't take videos and you were using my phone to "read." If you do this tomorrow, I will try to record it.

I love you,
~Mom

Dear Bria-

You make me hate chairs. You scoot them everywhere and get into all kinds of mischief. I finally started locking our chairs up in Dallin and Akarie's room while they were at school. Then you started scooting the unlocked toddler chair all around. So I locked that puppy up. Next you moved on to scooting the bench around. You are incorrigible.

I still love you,
Mom

P.S. Dallin, Akarie, and I played Swish and Spot It tonight. Swish was a disaster because you kept picking up random cards. Spot It went a lot better. Every time we put a card down, we handed the old card to you. You were very well entertained with your steady stream of cards. Each time one of us would hand you a card, you would proclaim, "Thank you!" So cute!

Dear Bria-

You are so hard right now! You get into everything and refuse to keep your diaper on. You don't want to be potty trained. Don't judge me too hard, but I might have had a minor meltdown today over how many times I get you dressed. It's exhausting!

I wanted to write to you about something cute tonight. You have been a stinker about getting your teeth brushed. You would scream and run away and it was a miserable experience. I still half-suspect you'll have a dozen cavities at your first Dentist appointment. I digress. Daddy and I figured out that if we sang your favorite song, you'll actually let us brush your teeth. What's your favorite song? Oh, you know, "Happy Birthday." Seriously.

For you, dear Bria, every night we brush your teeth is your birthday. I've figured out ways to drag the song out so that I can brush your teeth for long. I hold out the last three words of the song really long and get really dramatic with it. Then, I added a little part on the end where I say, "And many more to come, doo!" I yank the toothbrush out of your mouth on "doo!"

I brushed your teeth in front of the sister missionaries tonight and they got a kick out of it. I loved it because you sing along half the time, even the last, "Doo" part.

I love you sweet girl,
~Mom