Meticulous Part 2 (Easter edition)*

* more photos from Tray's camera.

First, I shall line up all my Easter Eggs.


Next, I shall line up my flower barrettes in a corresponding row.


Then, I shall put everything back in the Easter basket from whence it came.

Cat Decorating

Here is Penny putting necklaces on Mullet.



Doesn't she look enthused?

Smile

First, congratulations to Sarah and Uncle Mike on the birth of little Ellis! I am so excited for them.

Second, I just downloaded a bunch of photos of Penny off of Tray's camera and found this one dated March 30. It just makes me laugh. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Tricycle

Penny is relatively obsessed with bicycles, tricycles, and even skateboards so we knew we needed to get her a tricycle. I planned to get her one two months ago, but I was saving up for a few more amazon gift cards and waiting for a bit of a sale. I finally ordered one and it came today. She loves it! Inexplicably, she will not let me push her around on it. Only Daddy may push her. I am trying not to be too offended. As I relax while he pushes her around the yard for the 100th time. :)
We ordered the Kettler Go Green one. Sarah told me about it because Tessa got one for Easter. They are made from recycled materials, which just makes me feel a lot better about buying a plastic tricycle. Also, Kettler makes most of it's products in Germany.



We ordered the pushbar that fits the trike, only to discover that a run of the mill broom/gardening implement replacement handle fits it just fine, so the pushbar will be going back to amazon.



It'll be awhile yet before she can pedal it herself, but she will already attempt to put her feet on there for a little bit at the time. I ordered her a helmet too, but it hasn't arrived yet. I don't think she needs it in our yard, but I hope to take her to the park with it soon. She always sees all the other kids with theirs at the park and now she can join in.

21 Months

Today Penny turned 21 months old. I cannot believe how fast time has gone by. The thing that stands out the most to me about her current age is her thoughtfulness in that she sometimes will really think about something before she says or does it. A couple days ago she asked me, "Can you get it?" She'd never said "can" before and she stopped and thought about it before she said it, I guess to make sure she got it right. I love watching her mind work. The other thing is that we think she's about to learn to jump. The last couple days she's started bouncing up on her tiptoes so we are thinking it won't be too long before she can get both feet off the ground and jump.

Jokes

The last couple of days Penny has been trying out humor on us. I don't mean knock-knock jokes or anything, but sometimes she'll say something wrong or out of left field and clearly thinks she is being funny. One of our going to bed books is Moo, Baa, La-La-La and I she likes for me to read it as a "call and response" book. I'll say, " A cow says...." and pause for her to answer, "Moo" and so forth. Last night I said that and she answered, "Oink." with this really mischievous glint in her eye. Oh, and earlier in the afternoon yesterday at the playground she got the same mischievous look coming down the slide as she said "one more time" clearly intending to go down much more than one more time. This afternoon she was reading "Biscuit." The story goes like, "It's time for bed Biscuit. Woof woof. Biscuit wants a drink," or various and sundry other things that keep him from actually going to bed. Well, she was sitting in the dining room floor "reading" the book to herself while I was in the kitchen getting supper ready. She "read" a couple pages correctly, but then instead of saying "it's time for bed," she goes, "it's time for shampoo Biscuit" (it's pronounced shaaaaaam. poo. in Penny parlance). She immediately looked up at me with a huge grin on her face to see if I would laugh. I think this is so funny that she is developing a sense of humor and trying to make us laugh.

Imaginarium

I have no idea what, if anything, that word means, but I like it. Penny's imagination is taking off when it comes to her stuffed animals. So far this week we've had lunch with Mr. Bear and supper with Turtle Mama. She has also fed or provided drink for a host of other animals throughout the day. Last night she was playing "where's Mr Bear" by taking his paws and making him cover his eyes. It's a hoot watching her do that. (She also keeps trying to feed Mullet things and I have to keep explaining that cats don't eat applesauce.)

Also, I love watching her read to herself. She has most of her books memorized so that she can recite them (more or less accurately depending on the book), but what is hilarious is for her to be in the other room by herself and to hear her imitate Tray or me in reading them. She uses our same tones of voice and phrases. It cracks us up!

The other thing that makes us laugh (although we try not to in front of her) is her trying to figure out the correct pronoun. Tray came out side barefooted and she wanted him to put on his shoes. She was stuttering all over the place trying to get the sentence right. "Daddy, put...put...on...my shoes." Then, "put..on his shoes." Then, "put...on [long pause]......Daddy's shoes on. Put on." Us: "I think the word you are looking for is "your."" It was unintentionally funny to watch her try to work out which pronoun to use. But also kind of cool that she knew it wasn't right, and that she kept trying to get it right.

Park fun

Yesterday I took Penny to the park to play with Arran. We had a good time running around. Penny went down the slide a million times and did not want to leave when I told her it was time to go home. We have a million and one things to do at our house to get ready to move, but it is good to get out and take a break and let P have some fun.

Potty?

Yesterday morning is fairly representative of where we are with potty training. Penny told me upon waking up that she needed to pee-pee and that she wanted to sit on the little white potty. I checked her diaper and she was dry which means that she had not peed overnight and had a full bladder. I got her undressed and she practically dragged me into the bathroom. She sat on her potty, and then directed me to sit on the big potty so I did. Once I did though, she got up and peed on the floor. This is pretty typical of her. She “knows” to sit on the potty, but somehow she always seems to end up peeing on the floor instead. What is up with that? She did much the same thing this morning only I was standing up brushing my teeth this time.

I think she is ready to potty train. She is dry overnight most nights and for long periods of time during the day and often (though not every time) will say something to us before having to go. So. How do I get her to pee in the potty instead of near the potty? When she goes on the floor, I always say, “That’s ok. You can pee-pee in the potty next time.” But, now when she spills water on the floor or sees standing water she wants to wipe it up, and I’ve heard her say to herself, “that’s ok. Pee-pee in the potty next time.” So I think there is still some kind of connection missing there.

Whatever. I'm sure she'll make the connection just in time for us to move and then we'll get to deal with all the associated setbacks. Fun times.

Accessories

Does this hairstyle make me look old?

It does?

I've heard that putting gauze in front of the camera can make me look younger.

It also adds a touch of elegance, don't you think, dah-ling?

The appropriate footwear can complete any ensemble. Menswear is all the rage this season, and wool never goes out of style.

Pair with bedroom slippers for a look that will carry you from winter on in to spring.

Play date

Today I took Penny on a play date. It was with an almost 3 year old boy. He has a very nice Thomas the Train Engine train table and shared all of his trains with Penny (who very diligently hoarded each one she was handed in a neat pile on one corner of the table). Then, his mommy had made play-dough and we played with that (which consisted of Penny stabbing the play-dough with a toy spatula), and then Penny got to paint for the first time (which consisted of her swirling her paintbrush in the water and then repeatedly attempting to drink said water). She honestly did not know what to make of any of it (as I think she was a little young for the activities), but I think she had a good time. She was very talkative to be somewhere other than at home. The little boy (name withheld since I don't know if his mom would be comfortable with me writing about him online) was so excited to introduce her to his daddy. He pointed to Penny and said, "This is my friend."

We got together as part of a local meetup group, but P and I were the only people who showed up to this meetup. Oh well. We actually had fun one on one like that. The little boy was wearing a wool diaper that his mommy knit for him and they have chickens too. We seem to have a lot in common and they live relatively close by, so I hope we can get together again soon. You know - so that I can make a friend right before I move. *sigh*

I am the worst mother ever and other positive developments

Internet, I have a confession. I wanted to vacuum my dining room (no, that's not the confession), and Tray was busy outside. Rather than going outside and asking him to watch Penny while I vacuumed, I attempted to do it while she was in the house with me. She ran around into the hallway and I let her go thinking she would be ok. When I finished vacuuming (which didn't take me long - it's a small area), I checked on her and she was cowering behind a box in the hallway crying and crying. When she saw me she ran to me SO upset. I felt awful! I didn't know she had been crying because I couldn't hear her over the vacuum cleaner. I shouldn't have tried to do it while she was in the house. Oh, I hated to have scared her so bad - and then to be the one she ran to for comfort even though I caused the fear made me feel even more guilty somehow. Poor kid; she was really scared. I feel so bad!


I think she's over it though...


Despite my horrible parenting skills, she's doing well. She has done a bunch of new things this week. Heretofore she has managed to put a sock on and off, but this week she managed to put on a pair of pants by herself (or, almost by herself - I helped the last little bit). She put them on backwards, but I didn't tell her. She was so proud of herself. She also ate a bowl of applesauce all by herself with a spoon the right way, without once turning the spoon over to put it in her mouth upside down and spilling applesauce everywhere. Then today, she and I shared a bowl outside this afternoon. I started by feeding her spoonfuls. She took the spoon and instead of feeding herself she started feeding me. She was so serious about it too. You could see the concentration and she fed me each bite. Tray laughed and asked if I felt like I was in a nursing home or something being fed applesauce. Oh! And she started waving for real. At least I think. She has had two brief periods of waving that didn't last long, but yesterday and today she's been waving at people, or stuffed animals, or totally inanimate objects. And it is the cutest little wave too. My gracious it's cute. Lastly, her imagination is really starting up. She took a piece of waffle this morning and made it jump up and down on her plate and she said it was a horse and she made it say, "neigh." Also this morning we were going down the stairs off our back deck and she said, "I see an alligator." I said, "Oh? I see that alligator too." (just being polite). She got scared and wanted me to pick her up so I had to backtrack and tell her there was no alligator and that I didn't see one (so I'm 0-2 on the scaring her thing this weekend). Oh, she's a mess.

Part Time

Today was my first day as a part time employee at my job. I really enjoyed getting to go home at noon. It's been a long time coming, and I feel such a sense of relief that it is finally here and for a few months anyway I get to spend a bit more time with Penelope (and Tray too!). And hopefully my new job in August will enable me to spend a lot of time with them too.

Purple

From last week - one day when it was still cold in the morning, Penny picked out her purple stuff to wear. Purple shirt, purple skirt over purple leggings, purple socks, and she even picked out her purple jacket to top it off earlier in the day.

Cetaphil

The following is not a paid endorsement. :)

After Penny was officially diagnosed with eczema, a started using Eucerin creme. It was very hard to rub in, but I thought that was just the difference between a moisturizing creme and a lotion. This week we ran out of the first batch that I bought, and honestly her skin was better than it was, but she still had patches especially on the backs of her knees and insides of her elbows, so I decided to try something new. Cetaphil happened to be on sale and I had a coupon so I bought that brand. I got the moisturizing creme again and not lotion, but it rubs in SO much easier. It eliminates a lot of the squirmies trying to get her to let me rub it in and our evenings have gotten a lot easier since the swap. Cetaphil goes on like lotion - really quick. But the best part is, I've only been using it on her for four days and I have not had to put any hydrocordisone cream on her at all since I started. We have not had any patches of eczema during this time. It may also be due to the weather having warmed up, but even still I love Cetaphil, for the ease of use if nothing else, and I would highly recommend it to anyone needing something stronger than lotion.

ABC Song

Penny sang the ABC song today all the way through! It's not like every letter was distinct and well pronounced, but she went from A all the way to Z. She's so funny. She did it very quietly next to me when she thought I was busy doing something else. I could tell she was proud of herself when I told her good job, but like some other things she's done, I bet it will be a few days before she feels comfortable enough to sing it loud and proud. :)

Baby words

So far, Penny has tended to want to say things correctly rather than using a baby word, but there were a few things for which she did still substitute her own word. She called Mr. Bear "boo" for the longest time, but that went away several months ago around the same time that she swapped from ma-ma and da-da and wa-wa to mommy and daddy and water. It's kind of funny, but I think that if she can't pronounce something she just won't say it at all.

Early on we got her Boynton's "Belly Button Book" but she has never said bebo for belly button. She has always said belly button. But in the several months that we have had that book and others in the Boynton Hippo canon, she has never once attempted to say hippo or hippopotamus. Just this week she busted out with "what does a hippopotamus say?" (And really what does a hippopotamus say?)

And until recently she knew most of the names of the shapes on her shape sorter except for one - "hexagon" which she started saying this week too. But before that, it was like that shape just sort of got skipped over in naming; rather than say it wrong, she just wouldn't say it I think. Anyway, she's been calling Lindy, "D" and her yellow and blue stuffed dinosaurs "die-dows". This week though she's been saying Lindy and dinosaur more and more. We're going to miss "D". Well, we still have "wed-oh" for yellow, and I'm sure there are more like that. Oh - and "Penty" shows no signs of abating either. :)

Spring Festivities

Even though Springtime Tallahassee was last weekend, I think Spring really sprang this weekend. All the dogwoods and azaleas and other flowers are blooming like crazy and the weather is gorgeous. What a wonderful weekend! On Saturday we went up to Maclay Gardens again to try to catch the peak blooming season. We sat down out in front of the house there on the hill looking out over Lake Hall and watched sail boats. The temperature was just that perfect feeling - not too hot, not too cold and there was a gentle breeze coming off the water. Penny climbed up in Tray's lap and just laid back, so relaxed. We all enjoyed ourselves.



Today we had Easter fun. This morning I hid eggs around the living room and Penny took to it right away. She loved picking up eggs and putting them in her basket. After the first indoor hunt, we moved outside and I think she would have played easter egg hunt for hours. After lunch we went up to the City of Tallahassee's easter egg hunt at Myer's Park. Penny was so cute in her little dress carrying her basket around. She picked up four eggs and then afterwards went down the slide on the playground a few times. After we got home we played easter egg hunt outside in our yard a bunch more. She really enjoys doing that. Such a cutie!



Here is a video of her hunting eggs in our driveway. Enjoy!

Mullet's Birthday

Yesterday, April 1st, was Mullet's 20th birthday. And, yes, that is just insane. Mullet was old when she came to live with us. I believe she had just turned 14. Her previous owner, a co-worker of mine, passed away and Tray and I just couldn't stand the thought of a 14 year old cat having to go to the pound. We seriously thought that we'd have her a year or two and she could come live out her days in relative peace. Yep. Six years later and here we are. She's a really sweet cat (to be a torby) and never loses her patience with Penny no matter how many tail-pullings and/or sleeper-holds she sustains. Happy Birthday old girl.