Friday Hi

Blurry bottomless baby:


Oh, that smile!

 

 

Oy Vey: The Dada Edition

Look familiar?

Selfie

(Mommy's holding the phone, but the 'button' press is all her.)

Laying on My Legs

Sometimes when Penny and I are watching TV she'll lay on my legs, on her back, with her head at my feet like this:


I love it because I get to do this:

[caption id="attachment_5582" align="alignnone" width="480"] "Tickle-tickle-tickle-tickle!"[/caption]

Can't beat that face.

Friday Hi

It's still Friday here, and I'm glad I waited because look at this shot from our evening bath:


Happy friday indeed!

MLK Day at Chrissy Field

This past weekend, we had a rare Monday off with Gabe so we decided to spend part of it at Chrissy Field. We don't think we had been there since Penny was a little baby.

This visit was much different. We let her run around on the lawn and she had a blast.

[caption id="attachment_5570" align="alignnone" width="480"] Look how happy.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5569" align="alignnone" width="480"] I just love that back view with the hood up, so cute.[/caption]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu1_D7IvlAY?rel=0&w=640&h=360&rel=0]

Just look at this pair:


Not a bad way to spend a January afternoon.

Peekaboo

Where's Penny?


There she is!

Please note this was all done by her. Goof, I tell ya.

File Under Oy Vey!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WrfzcRhW6M?rel=0&w=480&h=360&rel=0]

We removed the bag promptly, what a kook!

She's Got the…

…baby boobies!


 

…OK, you got us. Just two of her plush balls. Ha!

Penny Meets Tita Michelle

Gabe's cousin Michelle and her fiancé Guy visited us this weekend. They were in town for just a couple of days, on their way to San Diego from Singapore and made time to come over for brunch on Sunday. While Penny had her morning nap, the adults ate and chatted. Then Miss Penny joined us for her lunch and some playtime and laughs with Tita Michelle.



We were so glad that they were able to meet and are so excited for the next time we will see them in May… at the wedding in Rome!

Meow Milk Cup

We started moving Penny from a bottle for her milk to a zippy cup this week. We had tried the straw cup she uses for water but I think it threw her off, considering she has only used that for water. So we decided to buy a new one that would be specifically for milk.

In order to entice her a little more I put stickers on it, Elmo, doggies and Hello Kitty. When she saw it she said "meow", so it has become her "Meow Milk Cup".

She used it successfully for the first time Monday, slowly drinking all 4 ounces of her milk. 

So her evening baba has since been replaced with the MMC. We tried replacing the morning baba but it takes her a while to get through it and timing is a little tighter with us getting ready for work and daycare. But yesterday and today she drank through it so now morning and evening milk (we try not to use the word ba ba anymore) is now out of the MMC. We will work on the other 2-3 during the day to eventually be bottle free.


It's bitter sweet as I feel all milestones are. Another sign that our baby is growing up. But I won't mind not washing ba ba's anymore.

18 Months Old

Our not-so-baby girl turned a year and half old yesterday! We can’t believe it. Penelope is continually amazing us with her growth and development.

New words include “pizza”, “happy” (which she said for the first time on New Year’s Eve because we kept saying “Happy New Year” – it was a great timing and it was shared with Patches and Ellen). She still repeats words and some of them she gets (like “turtle”, although we haven’t heard it since the first time) and others she repeats with the correct number of syllables and the inflection. It’s quite funny. She is also stringing words together such as “hi dada”.

“Nyummy nyummy nyummy nyummy” with hand opening and closing or fork out for more food. Sometimes says "maw" (more).

She says “ta ta” for thank you and gracias. And will say "peese" for please, if asked.

I think she and I had our first conversation…
This past Sunday morning Gabe got Penny when she woke up and I stayed in bed. Once the sleep sack was off, I heard the pitter-patter of her feet running down the hall towards our bedroom (which is a great sound, by the way). She said “hi!” and I lifted her into bed with me. I asked her if she slept well and she said “yea”. I asked if she had sweet dreams, also “yea”. I said “Oh yea? What did you dream about?” Her response: “Da da”. Just amazing.

Penny will now sit for a full book and doesn’t quickly turn the pages, but instead lets you read. She backs up into your lap, it’s a great feeling. She does that a lot now too when we are playing. She likes the lap, and it's fine by me.

She does still want to read the same book repeatedly. When it’s finished and I say “the end” she hands it back to me. I say “again?” and she say “eh heh”.

We had our first trip to Maryland for Christmas.

In Maryland, Penny had her first trip to the Emergency Room, due to her first tantrum. Like every toddler, we have had our moments. Tantrums are not the norm but we’ve had a few.

She just isn’t as malleable as she used to be :), she has an opinion and knows what she wants. We think some if this behavior may also be frustration at not being able to tell us what she wants so...

We are working on our words more. We try not to say “What do you want? You want this?” when she’s whining for something but instead call the items by their names. She understands SO MUCH but can’t yet tell us…. I would be frustrated too :).

She has also started throwing food if she doesn't want it anymore. We'll work on that one too. Meanwhile the Dustbuster is getting a lot of use.


Getting Penny to sit in her car seat has become a challenge. We have to usually bribe her with an iPhone or the DS. We're not ashamed.


We are trying to ween the pacifier. She no longer uses it during the night. We never gave it to her bedtime but we would leave it in the crib before we would go to bed so she could find it in the middle of the night. She also doesn’t get it in the car anymore. We are still using it for naps. We tried to quit cold turkey but the naps were effected so we brought it back and will work on removing it again.

We are also going to try to replace the bottle with a Sippy cup for milk. She already uses a straw cup for water at meal times.

We request a “Kiss on the cheek with lips” and we (usually) get one. What is better than that?

Penny often says "Mommydada" like she knows we are a pair. She'll repeat it a number of times fast. It makes us smile.

She will close a door to a room and say "bye-bye". Sometimes she closes herself in to her bedroom, by herself, if I have forgotten to put the foam piece on the door that stops her from doing so. Then she knocks on the door and I go over and say "Who's in there? Is it Penny" and she says "yea!"


She knows who Elmo is, which I didn't know until she pointed him out to me at Target. I thought that was pretty funny. "Ey(l)mo!". The 'l' doesn't really come through.

She loves "bubbers" and even sang along with the Floating Bubbles Song that came on her Pandora station in the car, before the lyrics started.That might also have something to do with the fact that we listen to her station almost regularly in the car. She's a crank if anything else is played. I think I spoiled her a bit - I turned it on every time she started whining and now she expects it (can't blame her). I'm hoping to maybe alternate 2 of her songs to one of mine. Might start the concept of sharing a little bit too :).

You can see the gears turning when she is playing. Her imagination is kicking in and I can't wait to see what this kiddo comes up with.



Our girl is forming the most amazing personality. She is so funny, and most definitely a goof. Happy year and a half, big girl. We love you so!

Maryland Memories

These are some random pictures and video from our stay in Maryland that I wanted to remember.

Jumping on the bed with Joaquin:


New winter coat from Nanay:


First time taking a (bubble) bath in a big tub:


A Minion in the manger:


A sunny shot in the kitchen:


Blowing bubbles with Tita Valerie the morning we were leaving:
[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5493,5492,5491,5490"]

This:


Because it reminds Gabe of this:


My view waking up each morning:


Penny in an urn:[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5499,5498,5497"]

Being silly and reading with Tita Keese on our last night:


"Bus" ride from Valerie:


Sweet Penny on the stairs:

Friday Hi

I woke up a little early today so I spent some time in my sleep sack. It's not easy to walk in, ya know.

Dinner Conversation

Fashion Plate Penelope

Got to love this adorable outfit Tita Valerie gave Penny for Christmas.


Looks like she does! Oh, and that's her "cheese" face. She's such a goof :).

Tubtime

Penny and I have started taking bubble baths together. It makes sense when we both need one. And it's fun. She loves playing with the bath hose, filling up cups and it is easier on Mommy's back :).
[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5468,5467,5466"]

"Kids" Christmas Dinner

Katrina, Josef, Val and us decided that instead of exchanging gifts this year, we would leave the kiddies with Nono and Nanay and go out for a nice dinner. So Monday night we put Penny to sleep and made our way to Victorias Gastropub. We had a delicious meal, great food and wine, and wonderful company. It was a really nice way to spend some time together, just the "kids" and we hope to make it a tradition for more Christmas's to come.

The Girl Likes Her Stickers

Joaquin's 7th Birthday

We arrived in Maryland on Friday so we would be there to celebrate Waki's birthday on Saturday. He had said all he wanted was a surprise party, so we decided to give him one. Of course decorations were needed. What's a party without balloons?

Gabe, Nono, Penny and myself made a great team - Gabe blew them up on the helium machine, Nono knotted them, I attached the ribbon and Penny was our holder.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5440,5439"]

The balloons kept rubbing on her hair:

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5441,5442"]

Static girl!

She seemed to really enjoy her duties as Official Balloon Holder.

Dad got into it as well:

When Joaquin arrived home we were all ready to shout "Surprise", and I think he was:

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5445,5444"]

Along with his party he got a talking Minion from Despicable Me 2 - we all got a laugh out of that.

We put the cake back in the freezer and headed over to Bertucci's, Waki's choice, for his birthday dinner. Penny was still suffering some side effects from her cold, namely not much of an appetite, so she didn't eat …. until the ice cream came. She scarfed that down without out much convincing.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5451,5452"]

She also had apple juice for the first time. She liked that too:

Josef left a generous tip to soften the mark Miss Penelope made under her seat:

I don't think it will be the last time we have to do that :)