Penny is Two!

New bike for her birthday!

Yesterday our baby girl turned two years old! The word "toddler" is a bit of a misnomer as in there is no toddling when it comes to this little girl.  Penny runs, jumps, climbs, dances, sings, talks in sentences, expresses her opinion, plays (and fights) with her brother, asks questions, smiles, laughs, makes jokes, loves on her babies, plays trains, swims, digs in the sandbox and copies all the mischief Cooper gets into.

Penny, in a nutshell:  Some of her favorite toys include ducks, books, trains, stickers, Little People, and baby dolls.  I would still call her a picky eater.  She sleeps in a big girl bed roughly 10 hours a night, and takes an afternoon nap. We have not attempted potty training yet, but she is showing signs of being ready. She can and will say ANYTHING.  Actually, she can and will DO anything that is physically possible for her.  This includes jumping on the bed and rolling down the hill in the backyard (eek!). Penny LOVES to sing.  Her favorite songs include the ABC song, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and "You Are My Sunshine" (though we sing, "you are my Penny, my only Penny...").  Her favorite books are "Goodnight Moon" and "10 Friendly Fish".

Penny is a hair-twirler...as she falls asleep she twirls her hair, which leaves huge knots that I have to painstakingly comb out.  She loves to brush her teeth, and I have to take her toothbrush away from her periodically during the day. She just started preschool yesterday, and will attend 3 days a week.  She can count to 15 in English and to 10 in Spanish.  She recognizes a few letters, knows all her colors and many shapes.  Her favorite color is pink.  She likes for me to put a bow in her hair, but mostly I think so she can pull it out a little later and tell me to "fix it". My favorite ability of hers right now is that she knows and asks for most people we know, even if we haven't seen them in a while.  On any given day, she will say, "Where's Clint?" or "Where's Nonnie? or "Where's Ma-Mas?" or "Where's Becky?" and so on.

This morning at the doctor's office she weighed in at 27 pounds (50th percentile) and 36 inches (90th percentile), and didn't have to get any shots (yay!).  For the first time ever, Penny was a happy, cooperative girl for the doctor...a sign of growing up!

On Sunday we celebrated this momentous age of Penny's with a little swim party.  I made pink duck cupcakes and put lots of little rubber ducks in the pool.  Daddy worked hard to make the yard and pool look nice and grilled burger sliders and hot dogs. Mas-Mas, Pa-Pa, Cousin Charley and some friends came over to play, swim, and eat.  She received a few toys, books, and clothes and seemed to love it all.  Happy Birthday sweet Penny!

Scenes from Penny's Day:

As we bustled to get ready for the party, Dooley alerted us to an unexpected party guest.

Party prep (and the early morning wake up) wore this 2-year-old out!  Penny crashed on the floor 20 minutes before nap time and we had to move her to her bed.

After her nap, Penny delighted in the pink ducks...she said, "DUCKS!...They're melting!"
(FYI...store-bought frosting is way too soft to uphold the weight of a donut-hole duck head and star-burst beak  in the heat of August....at least she could tell they were supposed to be ducks.)

Penny gets her ducks in a row.

The ducks in the pool were a big hit!

For August, we really had nice weather!

Table crashers!

Penny opens her presents, giving her new clothes a hug.  Thank you Raeleigh for the present-opening  harmonica playing !

Thank you everyone for coming, Penny had a great birthday!