More Penny

After I so wronged Penny with that last post and accompanying picture, I thought I best type what I have really been meaning to try and capture about her for the past while. Right at about 16 months my kids begin to enter my very favorite stage. It continues to just get better til they are 2 1/2 or 3 (and then it is just a different stage), but I love so much when they are waddling around so awkwardly and starting to say lots of words and really seeming to understand much of what you tell them yet still too young to really "know better" or frustrate you when they behave badly.

I will admit that this stage has its difficulties and I think might be some of my siblings least favorite child stage. They are still completely curious -- but now clever enough to satisfy much of their curiosity by opening drawers, climbing on tables, reaching everything that should not be reached. I was laughing with my sister-in-law Marnie just the other day about how both of our children love to take lids off of markers and bite off all of the tips, and how there is a standing rule that table chairs must be pushed in at all times so our little ones don't use them to get to things on the table. They can be nothing short of total havoc wreakers at this stage, BUT, they really make me so ridiculously happy. To hear them using new words and responding to things I tell them to do, etc. is so fun, and everything they do just seems so incredibly hilarious and perfect that it is almost too much. I think it is this stage that makes me want more kids and that will likely make me cry the most when my last one is leaving it behind.

So, I know this may bore some of you, but in journal fashion, I feel almost panicked about getting some of the things down in writing that I love love that she does right now before she passes them by. My sister Amy was reminiscing recently about how her oldest son Beau used to say he saw a "dhost" when he was scared. Someone nicely taught him his "G's" but it only made her sad that the "dhosts" were gone forever. That is what I feel like when I remember things my kids "used" to do, but what makes me even more sad is the things they maybe used to do that I really don't even remember!! So, write write write is what I need to do.

Penny

-- She is in love with phones. We can be anywhere and if she hears a distant phone ring (like at the bank today) she will alertly begin looking around saying (with her circled little lips) "He-Wo??" If we even pass by a phone in the home she begins reaching for it shouting "He-WO! He-WO!"

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-- She calls every fruit and vegetable an "apple" with a high pitched happy accent on the second syllable.

-- She has learned "mine" and seems to use it only if she knows full well that she is about to grab an item that someone will likely try to take from her. For example, Abe and Daisy don't mind her taking their stuffed animals, but Goldie does, so it is only with Goldie's that she will pounce and shout, "Mine!" Of course she also uses it occasionally when she just wants to assert herself a little such as the other night when she threw her self onto our apartment door and shouted (with arms stretched wide across the door) "MINE!"

-- Speaking of throwing herself onto things, she does that a lot -- throws herself onto things she will claim as "mine," throws herself onto the pillows when she is crawling across the bed trying to escape a diaper change, etc.

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-- Nearly every morning she asks me excitedly, "Daddy??" When I say he is at work she says "ohhhh" in a giggly embarrassed way like, "how silly of me to asked that question again."

-- She knows what it means when we tell her to "be soft" and I think she knows in her heart of hearts that this action is bad, but every now and then, when the opportunity is there, she simply can't resist pulling a giant handful of hair out of Daisy or Goldie's head. They begin screaming and she runs off screaming a scream of "I better get out of here" and it is all misery til I force her to come back and make her "be soft."

-- She has the funniest shy face and she will hold that face indefinitely if someone is holding her, talking to her, or even looking at her that isn't our own tiny family. She pulls her lips downward and into a closed O shape, then scrunches her shoulders up and stays that way.

-- She sleeps in the same room as Abe right now while we are at my parents. Because it is down the hall where I can't hear her I've had to begin using the baby monitor. It is so cute to hear her in there with him. She'll stand up in her crib and keep calling, "Abey! Abey!" When he says, "What Pen?" she'll giggle like she's accomplished something great. Sometimes he'll get out of bed and put her blankets back on her and I'll hear him whisper, "Go to sleep Pen, it's night-night Pen." She'll giggle happily a little more and then usually just obey. Once in awhile I'll hear her half wake up at night and say, "Abey? Abey?" Then she'll drift back to sleep. It is usually Abe that brings her in to me in morning. Sometimes she wakes up crying, but when she wakes up happy I love to hear her calling "Abey" and Abe telling her she's silly or asking "Is that your bear?" when she holds it up for him, or asking her if she wants to go see mommy.

-- When she points at something and asks, "That?" and I tell her just what that is, she always laughs happily like I have told her something really great -- even if it is just "That's a light switch."

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-- She says "owie" in the most sad fake way when one of her siblings has bumped her or done something else that couldn't possible have hurt.

-- She makes huge messes but when I come to clean them up, she will actually usually help me. For example, if she's dumped out all the crayons and I am picking them up, she will pick up one after another and shout with great purpose, "Mommee!!" as she hands it to me, then "Mommee!!!" as she hands me another.

-- She calls her bottle a "body." We should probably get rid of it altogether, and we will soon, but I like her snuggling me in the morning with her "body" and it sounds so cute to hear her demanding her "body."

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-- She says, "no no no" in the cutest giggly way when one of the kids are chasing or tickling her. She can also say "no no no" in the most upset way if they are bothering or taking something from her.

-- She dances and sings. She's done this for months and I don't know where she picked it up, but if she hears music come on -- even music I didn't notice, like the music in stores, she will put her arms out and awkwardly do a little twist. When the kids are singing she will begin "singing" as well.

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Alright, I feel relieved to have some of her down. I love that she is starting to talk. I love that if I ask her, "Where is ____?" she will look for it or if I say, "Go find daddy." She will go. I love that this stage only seems to get more and more fun over the next year!