Big Girl Stuff, School and Skating

It has been a pretty busy couple of months for Brynn. Now that she is three, there are a lot of things new in her life. In September, Brynn started going to the YMCA playschool just like her big sister did when we first moved here, and she is absolutely loving it. She is starting to churn out paintings to catch up to her big sister's output from her time there, and she is atrting to make some of her own friends, not just siblings of her sister's friends.

Another big step toward big-girl-dom has also happened around this time, and she has decided that it is time to be toilet trained, much to mom and dad's relief! It has not been without incident, but she is doing a really good job, and we can tell that she is proud of her success. Now that she is a big girl she is a very active participant in taking care of her little sister, singing her songs, and making sure that she is well entertained.

Having spent more time now in New Zealand than Canada, our Brynny is missing out on some traditional Canadian rites of passage. We are doing the best that we can over here though to make sure she does not forget her roots. As luck would have it Marshall was fortunate enough to have a Canadian student teacher this last term, who also happened to be a figure skater/coach. She graciously offered to take the girls skating during the holiday. Miss Kayla became the favourite person for the day as Brynn took to the ice for the first time in her young life. Aurora was 100% improved from her first effort at the age of two, and Brynn managed to stand-up on her own, and even make her away around the rink a couple times while holding someone's hand. We had the traditional cup of hot-chocolate after (not from Timmies unfortunately) and Brynn was ready for round two!