just when i think...

i should have learned by now that when i am sure penny has settled into a routine, it's going to change all of a sudden just to mess with me.  we have been pretty sure that she's moving to one nap a day, so when she slept for three hours straight on saturday, that seemed reasonable, if extreme.  then, when she fell asleep at 7:15, i assumed it was because we had gone to the playground for the first time in months, so she was exhausted.  imagine my surprise when she woke up at 11:10pm SCREAMING.  i changed into pjs really quick, and brought her into bed with me.  since alex was away, i thought it would be nice to have a cuddle in the big bed.  she tossed and turned until 3am, at which point i put her back in her crib, figuring she couldn't keep me any more awake by crying then by kicking me in the kidneys.  she slept from 3 - 7 and awoke refreshed and rejuvenated.  i was a bushy haired mess.
more playground!  bagels for both of us (penny's second breakfast) and coffee for me!  alex came home!  penny and i each took an hour and a half nap!  was everything back to normal?  no!  penny wouldn't go down for a second nap until five, and she went down HARD.  alex and i were unsure how to proceed - should we wake her for dinner?  assume she would sleep right through?  i wouldn't be able to handle another four hour waking period in the middle of the night.
we left her alone, had dinner and watched the oscars.  just as i was about to throw a shoe through the tv because the show was so poorly written and overall awkward that it angered me, penny woke up and was confused and hungry.  she slurped down a bottle after i changed her into pjs, and she slept through until 7.
hopefully tonight she'll be back on track.  she only took one nap this morning, ate a big dinner and had a good bath, but she was having her night bottle, ate five out of seven ounces and spit them all up all over both of us.  and the chair.  and my really nice anthropologie sweater (it needed cleaning anyway).
if she wakes up hungry at 11, i can hardly blame her.

but!  when she is awake, she is a dreamboat.  she has an amazing smile, loves to dance and loves dogs.  she is fairly certain that every animal says "woof", and wants to go out into our stairwell every morning so she can see our upstairs neighbor dog come in from his walk.  as i was pouring her bath tonight, she figured out how to take off her diaper, and gave me the most amazing "am i in trouble, or do you find this funny?" look (it's funny, of course!).

you don't come here to read, do you?  you come for the eye candy.  i shall oblige:

penny gets some culture

this week, penny was introduced to the wonderful world of crayons!  she is an artist!  i drew the blue "P" on the paper, but the rest is all her:

also, books!  penny's books were threatening to take over our apartment, so i bought her an absolutely adorable bookcase with some storage to try and contain the impending disaster.  within five minutes of her waking up and discovering it, this happened:

 i don't know why, but she is obsessed with sitting in baskets.  she is such a weirdo.
also, stairs!  she is up and down the stairs like a maniac!  she seems to not be eating anything, though she still has a round tummy so we're not worried.  and teeth - so so so so so many teeth.
the other day alex was making funny faces at her, and she laughed like a little girl and not like a baby.  she is gaining words (puffs, broccoli, book, bottle, bubbles, more, and my personal favorite, woof) at a rapid rate, though none of them are understandable by anyone but us.  she understands complex concepts, knows what every room is called, and now owns several pairs of big girl shoes.
she is now a person and not a baby.  incredible.

happy valentine's day!

it's valentine's day, and penny has a quick video for you:

and a quick photo as well:

have you noticed that's the second time i've used the word "quick" in this post?  that's sort of a theme around here lately.  not only can penny walk, turn and sit, she can do this:

that's right!  all that downward dog she was doing last week?  it turns out that that's how a baby stands up without the support of a wall or anything else.  at least, that's how this baby does it.  she's also understanding a whole lot - we can give her pretty  complex tasks or ask her questions involving locations, and she will go get whatever we ask her for, or go the places we want her to go.  it's incredible.
she's gotten a whole lot more teeth, and this has kept her from being 100% happy all the time.  add to that that the internet is telling us that she now has dreams!  she's waking up once a night needing comfort, but hopefully that won't last too long once she figures out reality from what's going on inside her brain.

we hope you had a valentine's day surrounded by those you love.  we are lucky to be spending every day filled with hugs, kisses, and the occasional chocolate.

walking baby!

sunday morning, our baby could not walk.  sunday afternoon, she could.  it was like a switch was flipped in her head, and she wasn't even impressed with herself.  like standing, i got her to walk by holding something she wanted just out of her reach - in this case, she was having a good time putting the cap on and taking it off of a water bottle, and i moved the water bottle further and further away until she had to take two steps to get to it. and hour later, she was up to six steps, and now she can make it halfway around the apartment.  she's really good about falling, and it doesn't even slow her down - if she falls, she crawls to wherever she wants to be without missing a beat.  if she's not carrying anything, she tends to either flap both hands over her head, or flap one hand, and put the other on her ribcage.  and she walks like a little drunk person - staggering all over the place.

of course, you don't need to read all of this, you could just watch the video:

today, penny learned the super important word "more".  she is using it perfectly, and it makes both of our lives so much easier!  i am trying to teach her "yes" and "no" with less success.
she's been a little nervous around animals lately, but today we went to visit  with our friends biz and katy belle, and their two cats.  penny pointed at them both and even patted bee on the head!  we're getting there.

last night, i made penny one of these.  she discovered it this morning, and figured it out before i could show it to her.  she made a couple of trips to it today, making withdrawals, deposits and exchanges. 

penny has discovered the fun of downward dog - get that baby to a vinyasa class, stat!