happy new year!

i am very pleased to be saying farewell to 2012.  there were plenty of good things that happened this year, but overall i'd say it was challenging, and i'm eager to get a fresh start and kick off an awesome 2013!
penny has come leaps and bounds this year, thanks to her school, her friends and her awesome family. we were discussing resolutions this morning, and she has resolved to become batman this year.  and, if i remember correctly, eat more candy.  she is super close to accomplishing all of her resolutions from last year - though she can't read yet, she can recognize all of the letters, and knows what sounds they make.  i'm going to keep reading as a resolution for this year, and add being able to write her name, and corresponding with friends more.

i wish you and yours all of the best for 2013.  we all deserve a break this year, and i hope that you and those you love get all that you need and more.

picture book

this morning on our walk to school, penny was making up songs.  mostly they were about things that we passed - christmas decorations, cars, trees, etc.  she told me that she had a couple of songs that she had written that i hadn't heard yet - for chanukah, for the fourth of july and for christmas.  then she told me that she had written some books.  picture books.  i asked what kind of pictures were in the books, and she said "naughty pictures".  uh oh.  i asked her to tell me about the pictures - what were they pictures of? "kicking, hitting, yelling, not being nice to friends...a book for naughty kids."  oh, ok.

big girl!

i got penny out of school a little early today and we went to the doctor!  our usual awesome doctor is out on maternity leave, so we got to see another awesome doctor in the practice, who is the first doctor penny met in the hospital!  penny is now 30 pounds 6 ounces, and 37 inches.  she is right on for her age, and while she didn't have the happiest appointment of her life, she did make it through; inhaled flu vaccine and all.
from the doctor we went to the supermarket, where penny picked out her own apples and was generally chatty and fantastic, then to "fancy lady time", which is where i get a coffee and she gets a milk in a coffee cup and we talk about our day and say "fancy lady time" a lot.  we got home and i started chopping veggies for stew.  penny asked if she could help.  are you kidding me?  guess who cut all of the potatoes for the stew?

this is what three looks like

birthday 3.0

dear penny:

as i started thinking about what to write to you for this birthday, it occurred to me that this is very likely the last letter that you will not be able to read by yourself.  you started school in september, and fit right in, and are well on your way towards recognizing all of the letters and their sounds.  you are an  incredible artist, and i finally relented and got you paint for this chanukah.  all of the other parents in your class tell me that their kids talk about you all the time - about how nice you are, how funny, and how much you love to give hugs.  you had your very first after school playdate this week, and it went super well!
you gave up your pacifier six months ago.  you are totally potty trained. you run the blender when we make smoothies.  you can tell jokes and solve puzzles and cut with scissors.  you can zip and buckle and button.  you have a library card.
it gets harder each year to tell you how amazing you are, which is very gratifying in itself.  you are observant, articulate and very, very sweet.
this has been a rough year for the world, and there were some tough times for us.  i think that we are all on an upswing - the future is going to be amazing for you, i can feel it.
some of my favorite moments of this year are from just before you fall asleep, whether i'm rubbing your back or your tummy, chatting about your day and our plans for the future.

all in all, the twos were not so terrible, and three is looking REALLY promising.  i am so proud of you and all you've accomplished so far, and i can't wait to see what comes next!  thanks for letting me be your mom.

ps: you call instructions "constructions" and i am never going to correct you.

penny has THE BEST dad!

through the magic of the technologies, alex has restored enough of the video to give you a really good idea of what was going on!  i am so excited to share this with you:

have you ever seen a more excited child?

penny's debut!

tonight, penny had her stage debut!  i recorded the whole thing, and it was exceedingly adorable, but somewhere between my camera and my computer, the file has been eaten.  so, imagine penny being smiley and excited, knowing all of the words and singing along, and then taking her final bow so emphatically that she almost launched herself off the stage (one of her teachers caught her).  i'm so glad that she seemed so comfortable up there - her whole class was great!  the teachers recorded them all in class today, just in case it had all gone horribly wrong, so when i get my hands on that file i will share it with all of you.  i am sad that you can't see what we saw, but i'm sure this performance won't be her last.

also, at dinner, this happened:
Knock knock
Who's there
Candles on your nose inside your nostrils with milk on it on top of a giant
Oh, on a fork. With meat. That's my joke

happy chanukah!

happy chanukah, everybody!  tonight, we lit a menorah that penny made at school, gave her her first present (total success!) and then made latkes and apple pear sauce. it was a totally fun, very festive evening!

family!

so i've managed to miss filling you in on thanksgiving, which was wonderful.  while alex is adjusting to his job, we are adjusting as well.  right now we are very lucky to have two teams of grandparents and an amazing babysitter to help us out.
today we attended the combined bar mitzvah celebration for our cousins yaakov & akiva, and we had a great time!  penny took a while to warm up, but once she did she had the time of her life.

yaakov has promised that they will have a balloon and cookie party, and if i know penny she will hold him to it!

on the way home, when it was just the three of us in the car, penny thought for a moment and then said "sometimes, when i'm at a party or someone's house or a place that we have never been yet, sometimes the grown ups say we have to go but i'm having fun and i don't want to go yet."
this was so succinct, and really the first time that she's expressed an emotion that complex with such clarity of language.

two quick stories:
- we were at a restaurant, and she kept asking to go to the bathroom.  it may not have been insulated, or maybe it was just freezing in there.  either way, the toilet seat was cold, so told her she should squat or she'd get a case of the cold tush.  she said "oh no!  will i have to go to a real doctor?"
- we were walking home from school together and i noticed she was wearing different pants than the ones she went in with.  i asked her what had happened and she held up her hands in an adorable way she has now when she's explaining something, and said "mama, mama, mama.  i did not have an accident.  i was playing in the playground and i sat in something wet so i changed my pants and my undies.  i did not change my shirt."