Orange!

If Penelope has a favorite color already, it might just be orange. This is based on very scientific evidence.

Exhibit 1: of all of the shape & color combinations in her shape sorter toy, the piece she consistently picks up and carries around with her is the orange star.



Exhibit 2: of all of the Fisher Price Little People she now has (3 from the doll house she got for Christmas and 3 from the plane she got for Christmas), the one she consistently carries around of the 6 is the pilot from the plane, a woman with orange hair.



The only thing these things have in common is the color orange, so we have come to the only logical conclusion: Penelope's favorite color is orange. I hope this doesn't mean she's destined for Syracuse or even worse, Clemson, like her Aunt Jenny!

Penelope's Birthday (Post I)

I have a feeling there will be multiple posts on Penelope's birthday, it is just too momentous of an event not to deserve multiple entries in this public diary of sorts, but for the moment, here are some pix from the birthday party she had yesterday. Simply put, it was a great day. We had so much fun, and I think it shows in these shots:

Thought of the Day

You are not really a card-carrying member of the mom club until...
you have been thrown up on by your child....
multiple times....
in the same day.

So glad that I will always remember December 8, 2010 as the day I officially joined the mom club.

Thanksgiving

What would Thanksgiving be without family? And for this holiday it meant time in Indiana and the second time that Penelope got to spend time with her cousin Gable who is about 3 months older than her. Here are a bunch of pix of the two of them together. It was a great time and Penelope's Aunt Rachel really came through bringing lots of toys for the kids to share. I have a feeling family holidays will never be the same again!


This was taken about 3 second before Penelope grabbed that book ("Brown Bear Brown Bear") out of his hand. What a delicate flower she is.


Sharing a meal together.


Just chilling out. They probably just got done talking about how weird their parents are.

Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!

Last Saturday Penelope attended her first IU football game. The Hoosiers were in town (relatively) playing Penn State at FedEx Field where the Redskins play. Anyway, we got her layered up and covered in as much IU stuff as we could (many thanks to the Christie family for the excellent Hoosiers jersey)! Here are a few pix from the fun day. Penelope lasted about as long as the Hoosiers' defense, who made it through nearly 3 quarters tied with Penn State (a team they have never beaten) (note: they did end up losing by 10 or more points, but all in all we considered the whole outing a success)!

Things Penelope Can Do

Here are two random things that Penelope can do that are worth mentioning (at least in the eyes of her mother): (1) touch her belly (or mid-section generally) when you ask her where her belly is - in fairness she doesn't do it all of the time, but enough of the time to convince me she understands what I am asking and knows the answer on some level; (2) rub her hands together whenever she is near me and I use hand sanitizer and rub my hands together - it's almost Pavlovian at this point the way she starts to rub her hands together when she smells the stuff, pretty crazy!

The Monster Mash

here is a low quality version of Penelope taking some steps Frankenstein-style

Adventures in Kids Meals

Every Saturday night we have a ritual of going out to dinner somewhere, nowhere fancy (that should go without saying since these dinner dates are for the 3 of us), but just some time out of the house to spend as a family. Last night we were running all of our obligatory baby-related errands (buying baby gates, shape sorter toys, etc...) and tagged a family dinner on at the end. We went somewhere that had a kids menu. We had never ordered Penelope a meal of her own anywhere, since eating grown-up food is still a work in progress for her. But we thought we'd get adventurous. The choices that stood out to us were the grilled cheese or chicken fingers. We chose the chicken fingers and Penelope did great with them. She ate two of the three (dad batted clean-up) and seemed to really enjoy them. I guess we have a long line of kids meals ahead for us - hard to believe how much life has changed over a few months. In May it was an all liquid diet, and today, it was chicken fingers!

P Diddy Has Two More Teeth

I learned today that sometimes the teachers at daycare call Penelope "P-Diddy" - I also realized today that she has two new teeth, bringing her total tooth count up to 6!

Breaking News: Penelope Is Walking

Today, while her dad was out of town, and I was at work, Penelope took her very first steps. It happened while her teachers cheered her on and chanted her name, and when I went to pick her up at the end of the day she did an encore performance for me. We are just hoping that she will feel up to another few steps tomorrow now that her dad is back in town.

Wedding Bells - The Professional Version

Here's a link to one of the professional shots of Penelope from her Aunt Jenny's wedding:

Professional Pic

Fall Photo Op

Just a cute pic of Penelope & her fall hat

Happy Halloween

On Friday, Penelope's day care had a halloween parade for all of the classes, it was pretty fun and our little flower did quite well, if I do say so myself. Here are a few pictures of the event:

Standing Tall

It is official, Penelope can stand on her own. And not just for a second when she doesn't realize it, but by choice, and for a few solid seconds. Walking can't be far now!

Lessons in Citizenship

Today Penelope joined us as we participated in early voting here in DC. She even got her own "I Voted Early" sticker. (look carefully and you can see it on her sweater!) We thought this momentous occasion warranted a photo!

Hanging out with Penelope

It turns out you can learn things from your little sister (who knew). Aunt Mandy came to visit this summer. While she was here, I told her I was looking forward to taking Penelope to the swings in the park. Mandy said, "You can take her now, I think she'd like it."

As you can see, Mandy is very wise.

- Ben

Pancakes & Hamburgers

Penelope's culinary experiences are growing day by day - today it was figs at daycare, a few Saturdays ago it was her first pancakes (homemade by dad and sans syrup), and itty bitty bites of hamburger.

A non-comprehensive list of her finger foods include:

carrots

peas

broccoli

bananas

cantaloupe

blueberries

Goldfish

Cheerios

Wedding Bells

A few weeks back Penelope attended her Aunt Jenny and Uncle Sabir's wedding. It was a great event full of family and friends. Here are a couple of pictures of Penelope in her Rehearsal Dinner and Wedding Attire (maybe next time she's at a wedding we will get a picture of her without a bottle in her mouth).

Cutie Pie

Here's a recent picture of Penelope that I like. It's hard to believe how quickly she is changing, in a few weeks she will look so different and be doing so many new things. I am trying hard to capture a few moments here and there to memorialize what we consider an ordinary day around here. I think this one would qualify.

Pull Ups

Here is little video of Penelope showing off one of her latest moves, the ability to pull herself up on things, including her crib, and the coffee table.

If You're Happy and You Know It...

You all know what comes next...well tonight during our evening dance party to a little Journey and MIA (it's the the Emmy's ya'll, we gotta get pumped), Penelope solidified that she does know how and when to clap. She has been doing it periodically and seemingly without knowing when it is appropriate to do so, but tonight she joined in our little jam session with some clapping. It probably sounds pretty mundane, but it is a pretty amazing thing actually.

- the Proud Momma

The Past Couple of Months

First, Jes and I know we haven't been the best bloggers, which is sort of sad since there are two of us trying to do this. Hopefully Penelope will start pulling her weight soon and we can just turn this over to her. Topics could include:

"I hate it when Dad serves me carrots"

"It is fun to pee while Mom is changing me"

"If Gabby would just come a little closer, I'll give her a hug"

That being said, we'll try to do better. Jes got a couple of things up this weekend so it is my turn. Since typing takes way too long, I made another video. I wasn't able to load it directly into the post this time so I put in on YouTube. You can find it by clicking here.

- Ben

Parallels?

So I think it must be natural for a mother to look for signs that her little girl is like her, especially when 99.9% of the people who see her little girl say she looks exactly like her dad...so although I still don't really see any resemblance between the way we look (yet), when I stumbled upon this picture of me when I was a little girl, it immediately reminded me of this photo of Penelope from the Ft. Wayne airport around Memorial Day. I think it probably goes without saying that I am grasping at straws here, but I will take what I can...

Everybody Swing!

While mom's away, dad will take PJ to the swings!

So on my first overnight trip away from Penelope a few weeks back, Ben decided to play "cool dad" (I trend I can already see will be continuing as he recently tried to offer her some of his tomato soup). Anyway, here is the photographic evidence of Penelope's first trip to the swing set. As you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Highchair, Say What?!

So Penelope doesn't actually have a highchair of her own at home yet, we are working on it, but haven't gotten there (get off our backs, it's a big decision people). Anyway, we went out to dinner this weekend with some good friends who were visiting from out of town and Penelope got her first experience in a restaurant high chair. She rocked it, entertaining herself quite nicely with a set of plastic keys (which both Ben and I frequently retrieved from the floor for her as if our first name was Labrador). Anyway, here's the documentation of this momentous event, I think an appropriate caption would be "Highchair, Say What?" - I also like the way she's holding on as if it is an old-fashioned roller coaster:

Losing It

I will make this short and sweet: it is unsettling how aware I am of my slipping mental skills. I forget all sorts of things, from names, to "to dos" (meaning what I was going to do 5 minutes from now, as well as this weekend), to how to conjugate verbs so that they match their subjects. It makes me sad, and I am a bit afraid that this may be the best I can do for the rest of my life. Oh well, I guess only time will tell.

On the Road Again

Well, it's official, my lazy (ha, ha, ha) days as a mere office-constrained lawyer, not to mention working mom and wife, are over, it is back to work travel for me, when necessary. This week I took a day trip to Boston, a seemingly low-key way to ease back into things. All in all it actually went well, but we did have mechanical difficulties on the way back, the kind that mean the plane will either leave in 20 minutes, or not at all. Luckily we fell into the first category (actually it was more like an hour and a half late, but who's counting). Anyway, look for me in an airport or train station near you because I am officially back in action. Next stop: San Francisco!

Handmade Gifts

I know that I have posted earlier about things that truly make me feel like a parent, but here's another one, because honestly it still hasn't really sunk in: handmade gifts. For both Mother's Day and Father's Day, Ben and I received lovely little handmade things from Penelope's daycare. Of course we realize the hands that made them were her teachers', not hers, but they are so inherently sweet and a suggestion of the many handmade gifts that are in our future that they are still very special to us. Anyway, that's the thought of the day.

First Father's Day

For Ben's First Father's Day the three of us attended our fourth baseball game of the season, it was the first day game we had attended, which meant we could stay as long as we wanted (or, more accurately, as long as Penelope wanted) instead of being limited by things like bed times. It was a scorching 93 degrees but we mercifully had seats in the shade. Anyway, here are a few shots from the special day:

Back Home Again, in Indiana

We have been delinquent bloggers recently, which I hope to remedy soon, but for the moment at least I will post a few pictures from Penelope's first trip to Indiana. A few weeks back our little family took our first trip by plane. It was exciting and nerve-wracking, but Penelope was a fabulous traveler and we had almost nothing to worry about (other than trying to get home, but that's another story and Delta's fault, not Penelope's). Anyway, Penelope met a pretty large number of family friends and family members for the first time on this trip, including her first cousin Gable, one of her Uncles, two of her Great-Grandfathers, her Great-Grandmother, her Great Aunt, one of her Great-Great Aunts, and a number of other cousins whose exact relation to her (first cousin once removed?, second cousin?) I am totally unsure of. Anyway, it was a lot of my family and here are some pictures capturing some of the inaugural visit:

Mother's Day - The Hybrid Holiday

So our first Mother's Day has come and gone, and it occurred to me that it is a strange holiday. It is not like Christmas, which I share with the large majority of people in my life, and it is not like my birthday, which I have virtually to myself (I have an uncle with the same birthday). Instead it is something that I share with a large portion of people in my life, including my own mother, my sister, my aunts, my nana, my wonderful friends (a few of which like me were celebrating their first), all of the mothers on Ben's side of the family, etc...but not everyone in my life. It is also strange because unlike my first birthday or first Christmas, I will remember my first Mother's Day and am totally aware of how special it is. I got a lot of love on Mother's Day and am very grateful for it. Being a mom is seriously tough work and I wish it weren't true, but it was nice to be singled out for the day. Anyway, in honor of Mother's Day, here are a few pictures of my sweet girl and me, some taken on Mother's Day.

First Day of DayCare

Penelope has been going to daycare for 7 weeks now, so these photos are a little behind the times, but they are proof that we all survived that critical first day of daycare and were still smiling:

Just a Cute Picture

Here's a cute picture of Penelope, no explanation, just too cute not to post:

Baseball Season

This week we took Penelope to her first Washington Nationals game - it also happened to be her first Atlanta Braves game. She had a great time literally enjoying the sights and sounds of the game. Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Alert & Easygoing

For those of you who have not yet had the chance to meet Penelope in person, I thought I would give you a sense of her burgeoning personality. The two words we hear most often to describe her are alert and easygoing (or some variation on that word) . Since she was two months old, and maybe even younger, various people (from her pediatrician Dr. Hamburger to strangers at restaurants and her caregivers at daycare) have described her as alert or "tuned-in." The other thing we hear a lot is that she is very easy going, chill, or content. [I am quite sure that she does not get that later trait from me. I am a lot of things, but easy going or chill is rarely my natural state. I think of myself as much more high strung or Type A than that.]

So far these two traits seem to be combining for a near perfect baby. (Am I ridiculously, over-the-top in love with her or what?) She is learning things all of the time and interested in the things going on around her, but is relatively low maintenance (relatively at least - I do realize that the one thing babies in general are not is low maintenance), not much seems to bother her really. I am sure that by articulating all of this I am probably dooming myself to a sharp personality shift any day now, but for now I will take it.

Pink

A wise woman (Penelope's Aunt Mandy) once told me that when having a daughter you should embrace the Pink. Mandy has a daughter of her own, Penelope's cousin Ally, so she definitely has some experience in this arena. Mandy said this in part because while I was pregnant with Penelope I was nervous about being overwhelmed with pink everything (baby clothes, shower decorations, etc..) - I don't really consider myself a "girlie girl" and don't really see ourselves raising Penelope as such (although I am also well aware that we don't control this and that by saying this out loud she is most likely to become a Disney-Princess-In-Training). Anyway, I am here to announce that apparently I have embraced the pink and didn't even realize it. On two occasions I have come to pick up Penelope at daycare and heard the caregivers in her room call her "Pink," which I can only conclude is because she wears so much pink clothing! Oh well, so much for pretending little girls shouldn't be dressed in pink as much as possible!

Cherry Blossom Baby

Among other less positive things, DC is known around the world for its Cherry Blossom trees. The most prominent grouping of them is around the Tidal Basin where the Jefferson Memorial is - drawing thousands of visitors to the area for the 4-5 days every spring when they are in perfect bloom. It is less well known, however, that there are Cherry Blossoms actually all over the city. We happen to have some in the park at the end of our block. So we thought they would be a perfect back-drop for a few Penelope pix. They didn't turn out quite as well as we had hoped, but nonetheless, we thought we would share. Hope you enjoy!

Great Grandparents

Penelope is lucky to have four great grandparents in her life. This week she met one in person. She has met another via Skype, and is looking forward to meeting more over Memorial Day weekend. Here are some pix from her in-person meeting with Great Grandpa Nevius:

and her Skype meeting of Great Grandpa Noonan (and her Aunt Rachel and Cousin Gable) on Christmas Day: