Typing

Penny can "write" her name and the names of others if you tell her how to spell it one letter at a time. She only does uppercase, and some things she can't do yet without you having to demonstrate so she can copy it. She likes to play "school" with Tray on her chalkboard and practice writing short words that way. Even if it's a word that we've done many times before she still wants us to spell it out for her a letter at a time. If you ask her how to spell something we've done before like ball, she'll spell it aloud without hesitation, but if you ask her to write ball she won't do it unless we spell it out for her. So. Two nights ago I let her type on a blank Word document on my laptop. She usually just pushes a bunch of keys and writes jibberish, but this time she typed her name. Without anyone having to spell it for her! And then she typed mom. And ball. She "wrote" words on her own, but using the keyboard. And then she typed a bunch of jibberish (because that's fun).

2012 Goals

Goals are good. Not so good when you don't meet them, but good to have them anyway. I fell way behind on my fitness goals over the break. It was very difficult to get out and do things because the facilities that I normally use on campus were closed the whole time. I could have run outside, but it was hard to find the time with Tray gone so much working or hunting. Hunting season for Tray means less running for Sam. But, it also means more relatively free meat in our freezer. And a much happier husband. So, I'm okay with it. I just have to get back into shape! I finally met up with the guy who runs the swim team here in Troy to ask if I could swim with them some. He was totally fine with it, but then I got in the pool afterwards and could barely swim two laps. Also, they meet Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 530 to 730 which is pretty late for me with a child at home. And I can barely swim two laps so how am I going to swim for two hours? But I thought I might swim with them on Mondays and Fridays (once deer season goes out, of course) and use the next couple weeks to build back up some. Then maybe run in the campus gym on the treadmill on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I still really want to do the Bainbridge half marathon in April, but I have a long way to go to get there. *Sigh* It's raining right now, but I am hereby publicly declaring that I am walking next door to the Natatorium and going swimming. And today I am going to swim three laps. And then a whole bunch of one laps. :)

Back

Gosh, it's been forever since I've posted anything. I go through spells with this blog. Sometimes I wonder why anybody would want to read what I write about, and why exactly I am doing this. And then sometimes I go back through the blog and I am so, so glad that I recorded all those little moments because I can no longer remember what Penny was like as a baby. So, I'll try to do better about posting. Now that the semester has started back I'll have a little more time since I'm at a computer for longer stretches, but then all of my photos are at home.

I wrote that part above at work three or four days ago, and now I'm home with some photos. This weekend we spent a lot of time at our property, and guess what happened? A deer came to check us out. Evidently someone nearby must be feeding the deer because this one was national park level tame. She had two friends with her who were also interested, but not quite as dumb brave as she.

Related: you know how Penny once worried there might be lions in our woods? Well, two or three properties behind us is a zoo. With lions. That roar every evening for an extended period of time (possibly when being fed). No lie.

Also related: Tray recently purchased a new .357