big girl bathtub!

new big girl bathtub from uncle kyle and aunt mb!

just chillin

too much splashing!

bubbles!

yum yum

hi mom!

what?



all penny wants for christmas is her two front teeth...

looks like she got em :)

time for the high chair!

well - as i mentioned in her six month post - the bumbo just isnt going to cut it anymore.  she can arch almost out of it and cant' pay attention.. so we set up the highchair...

and she has never looked so tiny..

but it works wonders on her focusing on eating!!!

these arent the best pics - turns out babies dont cooperate for pictures when thye are starving :)

parents at teachers - 6 month visit -

we had penelope's six month screening visit this month from the parents as teachers lady in the affton school district - it went great!

She tested her on gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving/cognitive skills, and social/emotional skills..

well - in the gross motor area penelope is on the lower end. she is well within the normal range but not exactly super strong.. need to get her working o her belly more and on rolling over.  for sitting up she is right on track - sooo close to doing ti consistently on her own..

fine motor skills she was right in the middle of the pack - great with following objects, picking things, and engaging with object play...

she is above average on her problem solving/cognitive skills... when she drops something or throws if off the table she knows to look down for it... which apparently is an 8 month sikill.  The out of sight out of mind thing doesn't seem to apply so much anymore!  which is smart for our baby - but hard for mommy and daddy - especially when we take away something she really really wants (but is not penelope safe)

now... the area she really rocks... social/emotional! the lady was SOOO Impressed... said she had not seen a baby display such social skills so young.  penelope engages soo well with people, waits for their reactions, and actively tries to get engagement and reaction which was impressive.  But what really made her shine was actually something we have been worried about for the past month - her new found strange anxiety.  we have been worried about family members getting their feelings hurt since penelope is very cautious with new people in her environment. when the PAT lady walked in penelope looked at her very cautiously then looked back and forth between kris and i several times to gauge our reaction. She saw us smile and eventually gave her a tentative smile. PAT said that was VERY impressive and she didn't remember seeing a baby that young show that caution yet.  apparently it means her brain is learning early to process changes to her environment - so her cognitive skills are developing quickly.  we were of course impressed.  she also said that will early strange anxiety be prepared for early separation anxiety -whihc we just noticed last week when penelope got upset when we left.  again this is something that normally takes more like 9 months or a year to develop -but little bits here has decided to move up that time scale.

so overall for six months... smart but not so strong... looks like we are going to be pushing for an academic scholarship as opposed to an athletic one :)

oh - and hearing and vision are great! :)   we are very proud of the little lady's progress! 

keep up the progress smarty-pants!



a girl and her dog....

penelope has just suddenly realized how much she loves gatsby and gatsby is noticing her new found interest and is happy to oblige...

they like to sit by each other on the couch.. if he is not by her - she will look at him, smile and reach for him... soo sweet.  then he'll come on over, give her some licks and plop down by his buddy.  there are a TON of really cute pics on kris's phone of penelope pettig him this morning. first time she did it on her own.  she just reached over and started petting... he even has a video - but that's another post..

here are a few pics kris and i took of penelope and her newly realized best friend... they look like little partners in crime... uh oh.

jsut hanging out with my buddy gatsby.

her face gets fatter by the second.

watching tv together...  big brother is making sure everything is okay...

puppy love and baby sleep.  couldnt get more perfect than that!



picture from val

val sent me this one from bfast with santa - she looks so sweet here... it's all a scam :)

my baby is 6 months old!! how did this happen?

seriously? where did the time go?  how is my little girl six months already?  so much to talk about!  so many tears... i cant believe how fast babyhood is flying by...

some highlights this month:

• food - cereal and veggies. penelope has started to eat real food! and is a pro at it.. as long as that food is just rice cereal and orange veggies - squash and sweet potatoes.

• hates GBs and Peas - not a fan of the green veggies at all. or any fruit yet - which is weird!

• loves cups and trying to drink out of them - she is currently into cups... loves "drinking" out of them, putting them up to her mouth, holding onto the them and she will grab for any cup in her arms reach..

• sleeping wiht mom and dad in the am - for a few weeks she has been getting up early at like 4:30 and coming into bed with mommy and daddy - while all three of us love it we know it's not a good habit so the past week we've been letting her hang out and whine a bit in her own bed to break the habit - and she is doing great.. but i miss my little morning cuddlebug...

• first tooth coming through - her first tooth popped through this month!  right on her six month birthday!  it's probably the cutest thing ever...

• lots of talking - babbling and yelling - someone has turned into a loud mouth and she is practicing all new sounds - yelling, faking crying, fake coughing - just to figure out how to make the noises and to see what reaction they get. she'll fake cry - then look around and see who is coming to get her.  if it donest work - she'll try louder and louder.  eventually she'll get bored and play with something else... stinker.

• more sock monkey love than ever. she's been very chatty with her sock monkey lately in the car... grabs and it tells stories to it all the way home from daycare.

• LOVING blowing bubbles - still obsessed with bubble blowing- especially while eating - she has found what a fun mess that makes.  and usually uses bubbles to let us know she is super pissed about something.

• cracks up all the time. all the cause adn effect stuff is funny. things moving close than far. my head down then up, peekaboo, and all bouncing are hysterical. 

• breakfast wtih santa - we saw santa this month and penelope did great!!!  was very intrigued and not even scared... more just like "umm... who do you say you are, sir?"

• wrapping paper - we have found that penelope LOVEs to cheap on paper - that bodes well for an entertaining holiday season :)

• High chair - we have transitioined to the high chair this month... she is sooo tiny in it - but eats so much better - actually stays focused.. the bumbo just wasnt cutting it.

these monthly updates are getting hard - penelope is constantly changing sooo much - it's amazing.  i have to say - six months was hard for me.  half a year old already - that is crazy.  i'm not sure where the time has gone..  but it's going way to fast for my liking.

love you penelope :)

lily pulitzer baby - so trendy :)

i got this adorable sweater at a resale shop for 2 dollars - baby lily pulitzer.  i love it.  seriously - how adorable are little people in big people clothes :)

framer :)

my little stinker

my new favorite picture

propped up to stand.  soo funny.

i have a really cute kid.

more videos:morning baby and bubbles

as with most new babies - penelope's happiest time of the day is the morning.  with leaving for work so early I dont get to spend much time with morning baby - but one day a few weekends ago I decided to take videos for everyone to see how truly aweosome morning baby is. this is right when she wakes up and we are first going into her room... all sleepy smiles :)

something else penelope is a champ at is raspberry blowing. this kid can blow bubbles (or make fart noises) with the best of them. it's intense work for her.  and awesomely hilarious for me :)

st nicks day 2010

daddy called in a favor this year and asked st. nick to come a day early on sunday - since our mondays' are super busy... so this past sunday we celebrated our first st. nick with penelope!  when mommy woke up - st. nick had already visited - so we got right down to it!  also below are a few pics of our holiday decorations..

my reindeer...

all my christmas plates!

our white tree!

where st. nick left all the goodies..

gatsby waiting patiently too get his st nicks presents...

penelope playing in her bumbo waiting for her goodies..

we let gats go first -he's not exactly patient - digging in...

penelopes new stocking!

first present - her new book...

2nd present - big girl paci!  time for the 6 months and up!

new key ring... she's got places to go, people to see

tryingto hold all her goodies at once, finger puppet, new carseat dangle toy, keys, paci and book..

the collection.. check out the red birdie ornamnet daddy got her...

gatsby's haul....

*note - i'm sad to say the soccer ball did not survive*

everyone's st. nicks day suprises - we LOVE st. nicks day here :)

ahh - better days.. when the soccer ball was still alive..

mommy reading to penelope from her rudolph book that gma d made... she loves it!

more reading - notice she traded pacis - penn is not interested in an upgrade..

hope everyone else's holiday season has been as perfect as ours so far!!

can't wait for the real thing in a couple weeks!!!

merry christmas everyone!!!

breakfast with santa

we took penelope to notre dame high school this past weekend with her friends lily and joey and mommy's friend val (along with daddy, lily's gma and penelope's gma) for her first time meeting santa claus!  they put on a great breakfast with fun games, presents, frosty and most importantly - santa claus!!

here's a recap in photo form...

rocking her baby shoes - kris said they were stripper shoes cuz they're shiny!

with her buddy lily - penelope looks huge!

they had matching outfits for val made matching bows :)

she loved buddy the elf!

lily and joey - not too sure about santa..

 

twinsies for the day..

penelope staring to wonder what is going on..

hey - who are you?

no seriously - who are you?

and you??

nevermind - they gave me paper to chew - i dont care who they are!

enjoying wrapping paper...

penelope's new toy!!!

we played some games - penelope dropping in bean bags - she got tick tac toe!

daddy picked the prize - an ugly doll!

spinning the wheel and winning candy for mommy and daddy... until you eat green veggies young lady - no candy for you!

just hanging out in my stripper shoes.

all ready to go home and nap - it's hard work to entertain santa!

this video is from later that afternoon -w e were playing with penelope's new puppy toy..wow. she LOVES it...