Mine and Penny's new year's resolutions

I used to be one of those crazy New Year's Resolution people. You know, a whole list of the dozens of things I was going to change. I think since I was 13 the top one was "Lose at least 10 pounds" Funny how I'm at a much higher number after all those resolutions! A few years ago I decided I wanted to be successful even if it was a teeny resolution. I resolved to keep my email inbox organized for a year. I put the hundreds of emails into a folder on the drive and started fresh and clean. I even organized all my sent emails. It was such a wonderful feeling to see less than 10 emails staring at me every day. I kept it up for 2 years and want to do it again. Talk about starting fresh, our office moved buildings today so tomorrow I walk into a brand new office building to unpack, learn how to share a cube again and my first order of business will be to take those 7000 emails in my inbox, put them in a folder in case I need to access them and start with a nice empty inbox. I do have some other resolutions mulling around in my head. They all seem to be role model kinds so I can teach Penelope with my actions, i.e. eat 5 fruits and veggies a day (been working on this for months), always make our bed, no dishes left in the sink at night, limit my computer and reading time etc. Too many changes to start all at once, but I'll gnaw at them throughout the year.

I also decided to give my baby girl a simple resolution she can easily accomplish: Walk by February! We went to her 15 month check up on Dec 18th. I made the appointment late so we saw a different pediatrician then our normal one. Penelope is holding steady in the 50th percentile (24 lbs 29 inches). We were given new recommendations for moisturizer for her really dry skin. Every Minnesotan should buy stock in skin cremes because our family alone spends the equivalent of a 3rd world country's GDP on all this goop. Near the end of the appointment I mentioned that Penny wasn't walking yet. At our 12 month appt. our regular doc had told us she probably wouldn't start walking until 15 months since she didn't start crawling until right before her 1 year birthday. This is on the later end of the developmental stages, but still within normal. Well, the doctor said "If she isn't walking by herself by February (17 months) you need to call us to get a referral to an orthopedic doctor to make sure nothing is wrong" This made my worry alarm go off in high gear. I said "but she walks along the couch, and holds onto our fingers and walks" but I was told cruising doesn't count. I know I shouldn't freak out. Everyone tells me "They all figure it out in their own time. Don't worry" Ugh! Every time someone else says their child didn't walk until 18 months or even 2 years I bombard them with questions "What age did he start standing on his own? When did she start crawling? Did he not like to fall down?"

So Penny and I are working on walking and making sure it is a lot of fun (no stress from mommy!). She took the resolution seriously because on New Year's Day she stood up without pulling up on anything. Just right in the middle of the living room stood up, plopped down and did it over and over again as we cheered like crazy. Hasn't done it since but I'd say that was a good step.

Here's a pic of Miss Penelope pretending to be Mommy... a comfy chair, blanket, and a good book. After writing this post I think my resolution should be to limit my Mommy worrying...but I'd fail it so fast I don't think I should even write it down.