independent penny

happy independence day to you!  we spent the long weekend hanging out, and not really doing anything patriotic - there was not even a hot dog consumed in our household.  what did happen is that penny's bad sleepy mood lifted, and she's now back to her happy funny self.  she has also slept until 8 for the past two mornings in a row!  that's pretty much amazing, but also confusing and it actually makes our mornings harder, since we had just figured out how to function with one of us getting up at 6:30, the other at 7:30, and leaving at 9.  we're not going to get used to it, as i'm sure it's just a lovely, lovely phase.
when penny does wake up, she spends a few minutes just hanging out - playing with her feet, reading her book, practicing downward dog, and playing with her doll.  it's pretty awesome to spend my first few waking minutes watching her on the video monitor enjoying herself on her own.
talking has spiked dramatically - my current favorite is the way she says "excuse me" when something or someone is in her way.  she loves to sing, and can request songs.  she also gets to choose between "cookie elmo" diapers (disposables) and "flower" diapers (cloth).  she's got a step stool for the bathroom so she can wash her hands after meals.  she can identify the "muppet babies", as well as kermit, miss piggy, and fozzie.

a story:  penny really enjoys playing "tent".  this is where you take a blanket or a tablecloth and get under it.  it's not more complicated than that.  on saturday, alex and i were making our bed, and we took the opportunity to play tent with penny with our three (count 'em, three!) mattress pads, sheets, and got to our quilt - we were having a great time playing and being silly, when all of a sudden my face exploded!  alex heard a crack as the back of penny's head collided with my nose.  i ran off to the kitchen, while alex very calmly said to penny "heeeeey, let's get our shoes on...aaand take a trip to the emergency room...", while i iced my nose down.  it turns out i was fine, and didn't even get a black eye, but it was touch and go for a minute there.

alex unwrapped instruments that uncle jonathan gave her for her birthday, and she had a fantastic time being a rhythm section.  we also went to the playground and i followed her around with a camera - lots of pictures this week!