Thank you for being a baby!

"So Much Time and So little to Do. . . "

Penelope will be 11 months old tomorrow. Sheesh how this year has raced by. I know that I may be little biased because she is my daughter, but she is the cutest, smartest baby I know! I am still in awe at how well she drinks from a straw. Scott went out and bought her sippy cups last week, but I explained how the speech therapist would disapprove and that she needs a cup with a straw to work those oral muscles. So, the great man that he is, he went back to the store undeterred and bought her a sippy cup that has a stiff straw that goes right to the bottom of the cup. Mind you, this is not a bendy straw. It is completely vertical. She took one excitable look at it and placed her mouth around the straw and began to drink. I admit, sometimes she drops the cup and then tries to drink out of the handle, or the bottom, or the rim, but mostly, she gets right on the straw on her own and goes to town. I think sooner rather than later I would like to cut her down to 2 bottles a day, one at bedtime and one when she wakes up and is the most hungry. But for now, my 20 lb, 11 month old monster can eat or drink as she pleases.

We have also been experimenting with the kind of food that she eats. She loves baby Gershwin pickles of all things. She also loved the vegetable beef that I made for her in batches to freeze. I am debating whether or not to make more, we are giving her table scraps more and more. . .

Her last PT visit on Thursday went super as well like usual. We are working on her stepping by guiding her to walk all over the place. She does seem a little more interested in cruising, but she forgets a lot that she has a left foot! Her right foot goes up and down like a reflex, but her left leg likes to stay put. She flat out refuses to be put in any position that would coax her into crawling. She is very happy rolling around "thank you very much"

Oh and Scott is convinced she says "Mama." I'd like to say I believe him. She is so cute with the "dada" and the "Baba" it is about time I get some play too!

I am sure this looks familiar to some

I will never understand, but appearantly this is comfortable for Penny, so this is how she sleeps! Oh, and it looks like she is getting her top two teeth. Her right one has just cut the surface and the left one is very white under her gums.

Penny's 1st day at the Park

We took Penny to the park when her big brother was going to meet his friend last Saturday. We put her on this rocking dinosaur. I wonder if she thought I was going to let go!
Smile!! It is beautiful out and she is having fun with the family!
"OK, why did they leave me on this blue thing anyway!"

In her big girl Highchair

Penny has learned how to use her pincer grasp!! She doesn't use it often, I don't know if she has realized that it is much more effective than raking, but maybe she is thinking about it here in this photo!

Penny is a Big Girl Now!

Penny has definately gotten into the posing for camera mood! She is such a little ham.
"Look at how well I can sit up Mommy!"
"Look Ma! No hands!"

Easter Pictures

She is our little princess. We love her so much!!!

Penny won something!

Penny has a new friend! I have wondered over to read about Braksa previously and when I found out she was having a Baby Legs contest I signed right up. Anyway, we won a pair! I am so excited for her. Maybe she will be more motivated to crawl :)

OMG 10 months is huge for you!

Penny did something else new today! I sometimes will give Penny the rest of Nathaniel's juice box if he doesn't finish it just to see what she will do with the straw. This is not very often, however. But today, the box was half full. I squeezed once, and Penny actually drank it, which is a step up, usually she spits the juice back out or it falls out of her mouth. THEN SHE SUCKED MORE JUICE THROUGH THE STRAW AND DRANK IT. She repeated this several times. I even put the juice box down on the table and let her drink it that way in case I was squeezing the box without realizing it. Penelope then proceeded to take the box in her hand and she continued to drink out of the box like she had been doing it for months. I still cannot get over this!!! No sippy cups for Penny.

Pictures for the Masses

"Go ahead, make my day!!!"
Nathaniel and Penny at the East Hartford Bunny Breakfast, Penny is sporting the new poncho I made her.
Penny is digging the big girl high chair that she just graduated into 2 weeks ago. She tries so hard to self-feed.
The Easter Bunny came for both Nathaniel and Penny. All right!!!
Penny saved all her chocolate for her momma and was only interested in eating the basket. :)

Wow it has been awhile!

Penny is 10 months old today! I can't believe I have gone all month. It was kind of a crazy month. Penny was stuffy and feverish for 5 days, then Nathaniel had a fever. Then I was sick and Scott was sick. It just kept going around. Then we had a Easter Candy hunt at my mom's house like I do every year. It was decided last minute, with Easter so early this year, I wanted to make sure it would be a decent day out. But that is kind of an excuse becaue I think except for the first year, it has always been pretty much last minute. Good thing Nathaniel has so many friends!
I think all the kids had a really good time. I am pretty proud of myself that I didn't go overboard with the candy this year.

Not too much to report on Penny. She doesn't see her Cardiologist until May 9 and her pediatrician in May as well, maybe even June since her birthday is May 29. We missed two weeks with the physical therapist because first Penelope had a fever and then she was on vacation. We saw her on Thurday and boy! was she impressed. Penny waved goodbye to her and I think she teared up a little bit. Dr. Yvette could not say enough great things about how well Penny is doing, "for her to know that there is a social implication behind waiving, to have that comprehension is a huge thing at 10 months!" I felt like such a proud Momma! Then later I had her on the floor to play while I was reading and we looked up at each other. She smiled and waved at me! Up until that point I thought she was only copying, but she did it this time on her own. Also, the big milestone for the week is that she is doing a great job of sitting on her own now. At least five minutes at a time she can keep herself balanced. This was brand new this week so I will have to get a picture of her when she is in a good mood and post it. I also need to get the pictures of her in her beautiful Easter dress and get those posted as well.

I hope everyone else out there had a great Easter, I know it was hard on Scott and his family to have this first Easter without their mother. I miss her a lot and Nathaniel still talks about her a lot.

Right now I am trying to get her to go down for a nap. She must be taking "no sleeping" lessons from Nathaniel or something.

DR.'s Appt 3/04

Penny had her 9 month well baby check up on Tuesday. She is a whopping 18 lbs 12 oz at only 9 months!! She is still around 27 and 1/2 inches, and her head circumfrence grew to 40 cm. (4% on the typical chart). Scott is convinced that she says "dada" for him. I have not heard it yet, but she really loves her daddy, so I believe him. She is quite a smart baby. For her 1 year check up we will be having her thyroid checked and we are thinking about doing the check for Ciliac disease at the same time. The recommended screening tests list says that ciliac should be done at 2 years, but I though, why not? Then I started to think about how hard it is to draw blood from her and maybe that is why it is suggested to wait until 2 years. Then. . . I started to think about how ciliac is tested and if she has not been introduced to wheat, will the results be acurate. I mean, doesn't the test just confirm the presence of the body's defense to gluten and if she hasn't had gluten to date, there should be no defenses right? Does anybody know for sure? I have it on the list to call the pedi before the blood draw, but seeing as how I have 2 months, it is not on my priority list.

Right now she has one of those unexplained fevers. She has had it since Wed. morning. We took her back to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon, but all of her glands and canals are clear. Then today I noticed a stinky urine diaper. I'm sure her discomfort is from teething, but what if it is a UTI. Pretty uncommom, but I would hate to have her suffer through something so treatable. We know which antibiotics to put her on, and which ones she is sensative to.

I just want my little Penny pooper to feel better.

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My Little Princess

"Someone sent me a Valentine? THANKS PAPA MATT!! It sure tastes good!" "oh, I am supposed to read it. This makes more sense." "Why did mommy put me in this dress? Wow it is so shiney!"
"Who is ready to take me to the baby Prom?"

Dear Penny who is 9 months

Dear Penny, I cannot believe you are already 9 months old. You are such a big girl and when I look at you I fall in love with you all over again each time. I call you my penny pooper because you like to poop. :) Right now you love it when someone sings the alphabet song to you. You always smile so big. You also love love love to play peek a boo. You are in love with your older brother Nathaniel and your daddy. It's ok that you look at me and still think of food. I still love you. I took photos of you today in a beautiful sage green dress with tole but you were more interested in eating the dress. That's ok. The physical therapist was so impressed with you on Wednesday afternoon. She loves that you play peek a boo and she still maintains that your muscle tone is top notch. I love that you eat anything I give you. You started to eat tilapia this week and you love it! Any day now you will start to sit on your own. I feel that is my job to teach you why that is so worth while. I love you!!! Audrey is with me and she loves you too.

Guess who is an M&M ??

When will you sit up?

Penny is still working hard on sitting on her own. I know that I am supposed to wait for her to be able to reach these milestones on her own time, but I know she can do it. I just feel that she is being lazy. Is this a horrible way to feel?? I'm ok that she is not crawling, she is no where close to that, but she is so so so close to sitting on her own that I just can't understand it. In other exciting news, I am convinced she is playing peek a boo with me! I was changing her into her pajamas last night and I put her night clothes on her face and said, "Where's Penny?" She pulled the pajamas off her face and smiled, then pulled them right back up ON HER OWN to cover her face again. We did this 4 more times and she really got a kick out of the game. :) She is just so stinking cute. I have to post more pictures of her when I have a chance.

Oh, and the mythical being post, I had Penny in mind when I answered the questions. She is the pegasus. lol!

I'm a mythical being!!

You Are a Pegasus

You are a perfectionist, with an eye for beauty. You know how to live a good life - and you rarely deviate from your good taste. While you aren't outgoing, you have excellent social skills. People both admire you - and feel very comfortable around you.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Something Interesting did Happen

Nathaniel had a play date today. It was a first date for both him and me. His mother and I ended up having a lot to talk about. Her 3 year old just graduated from Birth to Three so we knew some of the same therapists. She believes that the vaccinations her son received before his 2nd year caused him to have a high level of mercury and lead in his body because his blood draws indicate high levels of these metals and she cannot think of any other way that he was exposed. So his symptons have lead his doctor to diagnose him with an autism spectrum disorder. Thanks to my mom, I have a wonderful link to a websit for Autism Awareness. Please take the time to watch it because "For charity specific donations , whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com will pay $1.00 per view of the designated charity’s videos - until the number of viewings equals the amount donated less .04 per view. The .04 expense is Revver.com's .03/view webhosting charge and California Community Foundation's (CCF) 1.25% administrative expense. OVER 95% of money donated goes directly to the chosen charity!"

Click here to see the video

Nothing to write about

Anyone ever see the movie Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead? All you Hamlet fans should definately pick it up and/or add it to the never ending "to-do" list. It has been quite awhile since I have seen this movie, but there is a pretty humorous part about having "nothing to write home about." That is kind of how I feel this week. Penny is still working hard at trying to sit up on her own. She pushes herself up with her arms so high and then I like to get in there and pull her butt up so that it forces her into a crawling position, but then she gets mad at me. She is eating like a champ though, so that is good news. We have even decreased the amount of rice cereal we add to her purees. Her food is no longer the consistency of peanut butter, more like yogurt. Which, by the way, I did try giving her some yogurt the other day. SHE HATED IT!! That's ok, it probably wasn't warm enough for her highness. She is very particular about the temperature of her food. She is still such a good baby. She sits there and babbles away. It is so cute. We have a video of it that I will need to add some day soon. She is just out of control when it comes to speaking her mind about something.

Oh, and Scott's boss gave him this electric piano that he no longer needed. It . . . was . . . still . . . in . . . the box!!!! We have been super excited about this all week. We put our Penny up to the keyboard all the time so she can bang away and make some music of her own. The sound quality is amazing, you can't even tell the differnce between this and a real piano. I'm even a little inspired to finally have Scott teach me somc chords. Plus, Scott is so HOT when he is playing the piano.