Bryce and his clothes.

Bryce is very aware of what his fashion sense is and is not easily swayed. He has an opinion on what he should wear to church down to the socks and tie. He even can tell you if he should be wearing any clothes at all. Case in point-while playing a new board game Bryce proceeded to take off his shirt. Upon my asking why he was taking his shirt off he said "I don't need to wear clothes to play this game" in which he then took his pants off. I had no argument my response was for him to go tell his mother.

Time for art

Aunt Pam needed her basement painted so the kids went to help. So much more fun drawing pictures first. These are, from left to right, portraits of Pam, Tammy, Bryce, me, and Isabella.

Good sport

To get Isabella to listen I usually make everything a competition. Isabella go use the potty. Isabella "no". Ok then I'm gonna get in there first. Isabella takes off running to be the first. The magic phrase is "I'm gonna be first". This formula has worked for getting a diaper for Bryce, finishing her dinner, her getting dressed, brushing her teeth, washing hands, picking up toys. Wow I really think I over did it. I may have created an over-competitive youngster. At swimming lessons today the teacher had everyone race from one end of the pool to the other. This was more of a running race rather than a swimming race. The first race Isabella came in first and let everyone know it. Then the second race came. This time a little boy just edged her out. He went up to her and said he had won. Isabella corrected him and said "no actually we tied, good job". On the way home I told her that we don't always win but we always need to be good sports. I said when someone wins we always want to say good job and when we win we should say good race to those that didn't win. At dinner she sort of got my advice. We were racing to see who could put a piece of chicken in our mouth first and Isabella was first. She declared "I won" and then feeding me my own advice followed with "Daddy you need to tell me nice job cause I beat you". I didn't see that one coming.

When Isabella was a baby

When Isabella was a baby she went to school with me and so did her sister Kierda. When I ask her who Kierda is she says 'she's just my sister'. We have welcomed Kierda because she doesn't cost anything. I'm not clear who Kierda's mother is but I have been told I am her father. Not sure how I missed that. When Isabella was a baby she liked roller coasters but she doesn't want to go on them now. When Isabella was a baby she wanted a dog but now she would rather have a cat, however she won't pet either.

It finally happened.......

It may have taken almost 5 years but it finally happened at 10:15 am February 5th 2012.
5 minutes before 10:15am on February 5th 2012.
I was headed to change  Bryce's diaper. I should known something was up, he seemed a little too happy to get his diaper off. I laid him on the changing table and took off his diaper. Boy was his diaper wet. He won't pee for a week I thought. Boy was I wrong and I was caught off guard when the mighty geyser went off. I think some hit the ceiling. Think straight what do I need to do. I must stop the pee but how. Grab a paper towel. That didn't work now it's spraying everywhere. Is there a bucket anywhere? Eew was that my suit coat that just got hit. How much did this kid drink? Why did I put the diaper down to get the paper towel? Will anyone notice if I leave this puddle on the floor? Why do people want to talk to me while I am in crisis mode? Grab a paper towel or zip it.

Shopping with Isabella

Now I know it was crazy but I decided to take Bryce and Isabella to Target two days before Christmas, ALONE. This was the first time I had taken both of them alone to any store, and I picked the one store that gets me in trouble. I knew I was a major sucker for Isabella, but I wasn't sure what would happen when I was outnumbered. How much would this trip cost me? We went to get their cousin, Katlyn a birthday and a Christmas gift. Upon hearing this, Isabella voiced her concern seing that Target is her store "OK, just to make sure, we are getting me a gift as well right?". I told her we would see, but we are going to get her cousin a gift first. After a painstaking one and a half hours of changing my mind 7 times, calling my sister for advice, and fighting the aisles with the over-sized cart that had the extra cab for kids that I somehow assumed would make shopping easier, I was successful with phase one. Now I had to pay the price. Ok Isabella lets pick out something small for you and Bryce. I am not sure if small triggered Isabella to look for the most expensive small item in the toy store or what but I think she was checking out the prices before she picked anything. I got out with only spending an extra $10. Thank goodness they didn't have the Barbie Dreamhouse she has been asking for.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, what have they done to you?

Oh the new Gallahan tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. Tammy turns on the Christmas music to set the mood. Isabella gets dressed for the occasion (this year her Jasmine princess dress, last year Sleeping Beauty). Pull the tree out of the box and proceed to decorate. Now let me give you some advice on how to decorate when you have a two year old, at least when that two year old is Bryce. Pretty simple really keep all valuable decorations out of arms length. We invested in plastic ornaments last year. Win - no bulb was broken, however a few were eaten. Loss - the  bottom quarter of the tree was emptied. This year would be different, Bryce was a year older surely he would leave the tree alone. So we proceed to decorate. All goes well Bryce and Isabella beautify the tree. The next day the poor tree didn't know what it had coming. At first just a few bulbs disappeared, then a few more, then a couple more and in no time the tree was stripped of its dignity. Oh well it makes taking the tree down go faster.