Bye Bye, Brown?

Little Sissy is just getting so big. She is 4 1/2 now, which is VERY NEAR 5, as you know. We have had many posts about Brown Lamby and her great love for him. In fact, just a few weeks ago she took him to preschool for Show and Tell. We did a write up (in case of stage fright), and she told me that she wants to sleep with him forever. Well, as life in the Brimm house goes, he got lost again last Saturday. I knew he was in our house somewhere because she woke up with him, and we were gone all day. He is no longer allowed to travel with us unless we are staying overnight at our destination. This time has been different from all previous times, though. The last time he got lost for about 12 days, she literally grieved. She cried every night, she thought she "heard" him a few times. She even had dreams about mean animals trying to get him. But this time she has been so proud of herself because she hasn't cried at all. In fact, she's noticed that she hasn't sucked her fingers at all since he's been gone. This is something that she has wanted since her 4-year-old checkup, when Dr. Dave told her she's too big to suck her fingers now.

So now she's 4 1/2 going on 20. I think she's going to be OK without him this time. I'm a little sad, but I'm working on a photo book of Little Sissy and Brown Lamby so she can always remember her sweet relationship with him. And this time when he appears he can get stored away for posterity. I hope.

Happy Tax Return

I have such good childhood memories involving my bike--the birthday that I got my pink flowered bike with the banana seat, riding to the ice cream shop with my cousins, playing cowboys and Indians in our neighborhood, hiking my dress up to get on. Hubby and I bought ourselves bikes with our first tax return as a married couple and had lots of fun rides around Forest Park, on the trails at Castlewood State Park, and at Creve Coeur Lake. We've been blessed with several hand-me-down bicycles for our children, so they have had some practice riding bikes. We really wanted to get them new bikes for Christmas, but we learned last year with the trampoline that it's no fun to get a Christmas gift that you can't use for months. So we decided that would be our Happy Tax Return gift for the children this year. After all, they're the reason we even get a return. :) Toys 'R Us had a trade-in deal where we could bring in 3 old bikes and get some money off of their new bikes. It was a great way to clean out the garage and get a discount at the same time. So last Sunday this is how we spent the beautiful afternoon--riding bikes around the toy store while each child chose their favorite bike and riding around the parking lot before we went home. I'm dreaming of the day when they all can pedal, brake, and steer all at the same time and we can do family bike rides together. We're almost there!