Bria-isms

1st: When Bria was about 2 yrs old, I gave my income tax refund to my dad (who was then working as a used car salesmen) to find me a new to me used car that would make a dependable replacement to my Ol' Blue Beast aka an '85 Buick Century that ran well enough but whose appearance had certainly seen better days.

At the time, I worked over in Sheridan and Bria attended daycare over in Malvern even though we lived about 10 minutes South of Benton. This meant that Bria was in the car for a good 20 minutes each morning and each evening aside from my 45 min solo driving time each way. And, after work, we were wont to go shopping or hanging out with my cousin or visiting Bria's Nanny before heading home for baths and bedtime.

Well, the day came that Mom called to tell me that my dad had turned the $1900 I had given him for a new car into a sweet deal - a maroon, '93 Mercury Tracer with 109k miles on it but no engine knocks or smoking or any other mechanical breakdowns, working a/c, and a great paint job and a nice clean interior. I loaded the girls into the Ol' Blue Beast (which didn't have working a/c) and headed up to my parents' house to pick up the new car. Got there and unloaded the kids and went in to talk to my mom. Dad hollared for me to come see him in his office (my former bedroom off the garage and kitchen with its own entrance). He handed me the car keys and insisted that I take the car down the road for a test drive. I said ok and headed out the front door. Bria followed close on my heels. As I grabbed my purse out of my old car and started to head over to the Tracer, Bria pleaded, "Mommy, can I go with you?" I told her that I was just going to go down the road for a minute and then I would be back and then we would go home to our house. "No! Mommy! I want to go with you in your new HOME!" she exclaimed. "Bria, we don't have a new home," I said. "I will take you home with me when we leave Gram and Pawpaw's." Bria gives me a look and points at the Tracer and says, "This home, Mommy!" as though I were some creature who spoke Martian. Then it dawned on me. She was talking about the new CAR.

From that day until about the time she turned 3, any time we passed a car lot full of cars for sale, Bria's eyes would light up and she would exclaim, "Look! Mom! Homes!" while pointing gleefully at the car lot. It was really very cute.

2nd: About this same time, I would take the girls every other weekend up to my parents where we would stay the night. I wanted them to know their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Each time we went up on Friday night and returned home on Sunday night. On Saturdays, we usually loaded up my mom's car with all her water bottles and headed down to Hot Springs to the fountains and filled the bottles up for the next two weeks. This was a favorite activity of Bria's because our routine was to stop at the hot water fountains that are at the beginning of Bath House Row and fill up the hot water bottles first. Then, while Mom drove down Bath House Row and turned up towards Hot Springs Mountain to go to the cold water fountains, Bria, Brit, and I would amble down Bath House Row looking at the bath houses and then go to the little grassy park where they had some water falls that fell into 3 circular pools in the corner of the park and pause to play in the water. Then, we would mosey up towards the cold water fountains and meet Mom there to help her finish filling the cold water bottles. Once this was done, we would drive up the mountain and look out over the city of Hot Springs (we usually parked for a few minutes to walk to the gazebo up there to look out) and then we would start home and Gram would treat the girls to either an ice cream on the way to Hot Springs or to Burger King on the way home. Bria always looked excited as we turned off I-30 onto I-70! Mom would ask her if she knew where we were going and her eyes would get the size of half dollars as she would exclaim, "The Water!" So, we began to affectionately call our trips to the water fountains as, "Going to the Water!" :)

and my most favorite: When Bria was about 4, she would listen to me always nagging Brittany about coming home with writing on her hands or arms or jeans or shoes. It was (and still is!) a big pet peeve of mine (inherited from my mother). So, it came time for our annual eye exams in November and all was going well. After my exam, I was taken to the contact room. Bria went with me and Brit was still in her exam. Dr. Bill gave me my new strength lenses to put in and as I sat at the little table doing so, Bria was over at the wall to my left. This wall is one big HUGE mirror. Bria was looking at herself and all of a sudden, she turns to me with her eyes wide open and exclaims, "Momma! Someone drew a WHOLE bunch of brown hoppy dots ALL over my face! And I did NOT do it!" (She has always called polka dots "hoppy dots" and I don't know where she got that from!" Anyway, I had to work hard to stifle my laughter while I explained to Bria that those "brown hoppy dots" were freckles placed there by God when she played out in the sun and NOT what someone had drawn all over her face. She was terrified that I was going to lecture her over those freckles like I always lectured Brit about the writing. :)

I sure do miss my little Bria-isms now that she's gotten older and especially since she doesn't live with me anymore. It certainly is true when they say that kids say the darnedest things!