Full Sentence

Penelope has officially uttered her first sentence. Her first three word sentence at least. I am not sure if her previous "more please"s or "thank you"s counted as sentences. But this weekend she undeniably gave us a full formulation of a sentence: "I want it." Well, if it was unclear before that declaration that "the twos" had arrived a bit early, they certainly have been officially inaugurated now! Of course the rising popularity of "no!" and "mine!" certainly suggested they were just around the corner either way. So there you have it. Penelope can speak in full sentences (at least one full sentence), and is now demonstrating many of the behaviors of a normal pre-two toddler. You have been warned!

Our Little Swimmer

Growing up, my sisters and I all swam competitively so I am often asked if I am going to get Penelope into swimming. While I would like her to be interested in sports (due to all of the benefits sports has for kids) I would like to think I would be as open to being a softball or lacrosse dad as I would to being a swim dad, although there would be a learning curve for the other two sports.

We introduced Penelope to the pool last year. She was a little nervous at first but warmed up near the end. This summer, she has really taken to the water. From enjoying the blow up pool in front of our house, to visiting a friend from school's neighborhood wading pool, she really likes being in the water.



We try to be responsible parents and limit Penelope's tv watching. The few exceptions to this rule usually occur during sporting events (Braves games, the Indy 500, Women's World Cup, etc). The past few weekends, the Swimming World Championships have been on TV. To say she was a fan would be an understatement.

During the first weekend, she worked on her butterfly technique as seen in the video below.



During the second weekend of the meet, she decided to focus on the entire body.




Needless to say we have started to research swim programs in the area. :) - Ben

Even More Words

As soon as I finished the post last night, I realized that I had forgotten some more words. So, while acknowledging that I will never be able to list them all, (which means I will probably stop trying), here is yet another list of words Penelope is currently using: uh-oh, stop, no, back (as in "put the books back"). With the exception of back it seems there is a theme here, and it may not be a good one.

More Words

Before I forget, I need to document a few more of Penelope's latest words: water, boo, more, up, socks, Clay (one of her classmates' name), nana (for Banana), and last but not least GO, as in LET'S GO NATS!

Pool Time in the City

This weekend we tried out a "pop up" pool that one of our neighbors passed down to us. Having a tiny backyard and front yard, the logical place to enjoy the pool was right on the sidewalk. Too bad I didn't capture Penelope's dad in the camping chair sitting beside the pool, occasionally "making waves" in the pool by pushing on the sides with his feet, the image is not really complete without that!

Great Grandpa's 90th Birthday

Last weekend we were in Atlanta for Ben's Grandpa Nevius' 90th birthday. It was a really nice trip, all of Grandpa's children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren were in one place for the first time in a long time, so we made sure to get a few photos. Below are some:

Words, Songs, & Other Tricks

So Penelope is really in mimicking mode these days. Practically every day we hear her say some new word that we just used. The latest list includes a phrase in addition to single words (although in fairness to her it is probably just one word). Here's the list: apple, all done, closed, & outside. In addition she is working on a couple of songs. So far we have "Row Row Row" from "Row Row Row Your Boat," and "Babies, Babies" from a very special Yo Gabba Gabba episode all about, you guessed it, Babies! (For the record, that's right, she watches some TV. I'm not going to say any more for fear of sounding even more defensive.) Last, she continues to add to the list of "tricks" she likes to do. Right now she will put her shoes away with the other ones at the end of the day and she is also adamant about helping put the groceries away (including trying to carry the cantaloupe all by herself). It turns out she may really be a girl after her mom's heart after all.