Mostly Wordless Wednesday: The napper

I haven't done one of these in forever! I came across this photo I never shared.

Just to emphasize Chris's blog from last week that Penny had never gone a day without some type of nap. This was taken at the Myrtle Beach airport when our flight was delayed. We went to a semi-quiet area of the terminal, laid down a blanket and she fell right asleep. I had parents and grandparents with screaming children come ask my secret. I wish I had a good answer. All I said is "well, 2:00 is always nap time." Naps, the one area where I am very consistent. I love them so!

Bucket List: Check Off # 11

# 11. Picture featured in a national magazine 


Okay, so this wasn't on the official bucket list I did at Christmas time, but it is too cool to not add it just so I can dip my quill pen and put a nice long slash through it....or select the strikethrough font and pretend it is my quill pen.

Check out the fall edition of The Knot Magazine....the national edition, not those piddly regional editions:

Yes, all of you who said my brother's and Jen's wedding looked like it belonged in a magazine were right! Someone at The Knot saw their photographer's photos on a blog and contacted her for more info. There are  3 real weddings featured in this fall's edition. Christopher and Jenn's is the "Farm Fresh" wedding.  How cool is that?!

Okay, I love this page because it explains some of the details like the escort cards where "each table had a symbol" or the "cupcakes were served on stands made of tree stumps" or "This sign, made of boards from a broken fence" They don't say that Jenn designed and cut out the rubber stamps herself to make the escort cards or that my brother cut the tree stumps and made the signs themselves.

But don't you worry, if you can't do this yourself, turn the page and find the "Get The Look" page where you can buy a similar wedding look from places like Anthropologie and Alfred Angelo.

I admit maybe I'm stretching it just a little bit by saying "I'm featured in a magazine" I'm bridesmaid next to the bride.

...and really what did I do except complain about how hard it was to find an orange dress, provide the most adorable flower girl and have my jaw drop at the wedding when I saw every detail? Just under a lucky star to have such an amazing brother and sister-in-law.

Jenn and Christopher--I know you will have an amazing, successful marriage, and I'm so happy for you. Sorry the photos are so blurry! Can't wait for you to see it in real life. Hopefully it takes less than a month to get to Chile!

I will say if I was editor of The Knot I'd do a slight addendum as there was maybe one more important picture that could have been included:

We'll leave it on the Strand Family Knot edition!

The Birthday Lesson

Penelope LOVES birthdays! She talks about birthdays all the time. Let me rephrase...Penelope loves HER birthday. She tells me every time they sing Feliz Cupleanos at school. At night she sings Feliz Cupleanos a Penny and Happy Birthday Penny to put herself to sleep. Attending other kids birthday parties have been challenging. I think she feels when we get there will all say "Never mind, it isn't so and so's birthday party. It's Penny's birthday!" She doesn't seem to believe me that her birthday is right around the corner. A month and a half seems really long when you tell time by the length of a Dora episode.

So today we went to Libbi's birthday. If you need a reminder, Libbi and Penny are bffs (or that's what the mommys have decided). Here's a quick look at 3 years:

I've been getting Penny prepared for Libbi's party stressing that it is Libbi's birthday. We went to Target and I told her she could pick out a toy she thought Libbi would like. Penny was certain Libbi loved all the toys she loved too. Imagine that! Rather than pick something like the Dora guitar that Penelope wants so much, we went for the My Little Pony. Penny oohed and awwed over it, but I didn't fear she'd rip it out of Libbi's hands. Definite possibility if we got the Dora guitar.

In the end things went fine. It was a pool party with music entertainment and pizza and cake. Penelope was GLUED to Libbi the entire party. She knew the moment I said her name with a warning voice that she needed to be less "helpful" with the present opening. At one point Jackie Lee commented "penny is like the maid of honor. She should have a little notepad and pen." I said "yeah, she's the maid of honor that wants to try on wedding dresses with the bride!" See for yourself...

Dancing to music together

Eating pizza. Penelope had to sit right next to Libbi.

Singing happy birthday. I love that Penelope is so far away and yet she still is trying to "help" blow out the candle.

Eating cake

ahem...giving a helping hand

Penny about to burst at seeing all of Libbi's toys

Best friend hugs. Penny whispered "You better be ready for my birthday!"

The four of us. One day we will all look at the camera at the same time.

On a sort of opinion note: I do love taking Penny to birthday parties. I like selecting thoughtful presents and I think it is a good thing to teach her. Birthday parties also show her to let another kid be in the spotlight. I understand parents who don't want presents at a party and I respect those wishes. What I don't understand is this new trend of not opening presents at the party. I think opening presents is good for kids whether they are the birthday kid learning how to say thank you and be kind to their friends whether or not they love the present or the guest who chooses the present and is excited to see their friend open it. I'm interested to know the reasoning behind not opening presents if that's the way some of you are doing it. Is it just to stop arguments? Not make the birthday kid look greedy? I haven't heard a reason to sway me to that side, but it seems to becoming more and more popular.

I blinked

So we are getting ready for a multi-family garage sale this weekend. Woo hoo! Getting rid of stuff. Yay! I started dragging stuff up from the basement before I realized the Penny factor. She wanted to go through all of it. She was especially interested in her baby play mat....here's a memory jogger of Penelope when she used her play mat on a regular basis.

And this was a few days ago:

Puts me in shock! This was one of the record breaking heat days we had. Until a couple of days ago we only had one window AC unit, and it is in the living room. Since Penelope's room was stifling hot, she and I had a sleepover on the floor. She slept on her play mat and I slept right next to her. Any time she closes her eyes and falls to sleep, this is what I see:

No lie! Her 3-year-old face looks just like this when she is sleeping. Okay...maybe not so Mr. Magoo as her first few weeks of being a wrinkly newborn....maybe more like this miracle blanket photo:

Just a side note: halfway through the night Penelope and I woke up and moved to mine and Chris's and Cece's bed. Then she wet the bed....sigh. The next day we bought an AC for her room. We are okay suffering, but our dear offspring? Nope! (it's strong enough that our room gets pretty cool too so now we are all pretty happy)

I'm the adult here.

Laura has asked that I relate a rather funny exchange between Penny and myself the other day.  As you may have read from our last post we spent a lovely day at the MN zoo.  What was left out was the fact the because of the time at the zoo we missed Penelope's nap.  In the almost 3 years (time flies!) since Penny's birth she has never gone an entire day without a nap.  How you ask?  We're very scheduled.....Sure, sometimes it has only been a short nap, especially if she snoozed some in the car, but an entire day without any shut eye? Nope, never had it happened, and we had no idea what the consequences would be, but knew they could not be good.
So when 5 P.M rolled around and Penny still had not gone to sleep, we decided to take Cece for a walk and get on with our evening.  Now our walk usually takes about 30 minutes...Penny had other plans.  After about 15 minutes we'd traveled only about a block and half as she yelled at us to stop every few feet so she could readjust Elmo in the dolly stroller.  It was at this point that I said "Penny, if you were my friend, and not my daughter, I would stop speaking to you! You are the bossiest person I have ever met!"  Penny's response was just to laugh and walk the opposite direction than the one we were walking in. Laura also cracked up laughing at my frustration.
This is just one of the many impasses we currently find ourselves in as of late.  Which had me thinking how does someone who lives in your house, who pays no bills, does no chores and doesn't like anything you cook for them still think they can get whatever they want out of you, even when you are trying your best to make them say please, teach patience and how not to be rude?.....Well I think the following pictures should make it pretty clear.

How could you say no to a face like that?  I know I can't, so I guess I can look forward to playing tea parties and barbie dolls.  She may not always listen to what I say or care what I think.  She may not always like the food I make, although I am a great cook.  She's my daughter.  So bring on the tantrums and tears, the tutus and the tea cups, because it's not about being her friend it's about being her Dad...and that is awesome.

Chris

Penelope's literary favorites

My brain has all sorts of unnecessary info. You have a question about the preamble of the constitution? I can recite it for you. You would like an impromptu delivery of Hamlet's soliloquy? Got ya covered. If you want a couple's act, Chris and I both know a lot of Macbeth quotes and scenes. I've now added some other material to my "why do I have this memorized?" repertoire:

Go Dog Go
Green Eggs and Ham (can also be performed as Huevos Verde Con Hamon if the demand is great)
The Foot Book
An entire collection of Caillou's stories
Tickle the Duck
The Cat in the Hat
Yummy Yucky

There's a big sign in our local library telling parents how important repetition is to young kids and to not get frustrated if they want the same book read over and over again. It makes sense. Every day they are learning so many new things, there's definitely comfort in reading the same book or watching the same video. It is nice for us to both recite the same books together, even if I do longingly look at the dozens of books on her shelf she refuses to add into the mix.

I really do understand the comfort it brings. The characters become a part of you. I will admit I reread the Babysitter's Club books, my abridged classics series, all the Little House on the Prairie books, and Sweet Valley High series enough times that even now I can easily recollect the characters and all the scenes. Of course as an adult I'm in the race against time to read everything on my list. Maybe I'll start rereading things at age 70?

As you notice from Penelope's list we are in a big Dr. Seuss phase. This started over a year ago. Penelope first got interested in the Dr. Seuss books because she could point to pictures in the book and then point to them on the walls in her room. Now like all other kids she loves the rhymes and the stories. Today we went to the MN zoo where they have some Dr. Seuss sculptures for the summer. Penelope got more excited for the Dr Seuss exhibit than any of the animals we saw:

Penelope with Sam I Am

Or Juan Ramon, if you are reading the Spanish version

 And can I just point out to Dr. Seuss that it is really annoying that the one other character in Green Eggs and Ham doesn't have a name? Every time we read it Penelope wants to know his name. Sometimes I ignore her question, or say he's the "Egg and Ham Hater" or once I said "He's the Everyman character, first developed in English morality plays during the middle ages. No name necessary as he is meant to be all of us. This particular character represents humans when we won't go out of our comfort zone and try something new." By the time I've explained all that she is swinging off the car bed with socks on her hands and shorts on her head. Oh, well, makes me feel like I'm using my english degree.

Oh, and one other thing, I know my grammar isn't always great on this blog, but Go Dog Go is so blatantly wrong in the way it ends the majority of the many sentences with a preposition. Drives me crazy to read "The blue dog is in, The red dog is out" The picture clearly shows a dog inside a dog house and one outside a dog house. So I say "The Blue Dog is in the house and the red dog is out of the house"

Penelope with the Lorax

We've hidden The Lorax book. I know, horrible parents. But it is crazy long and Chris and I really think Penelope chooses it as a bed time stall tactic. She'll sit in my lap for 2 pages and then be running around the room, coloring, playing with puzzles, etc. She only picks it at bedtime and doesn't notice if I skip 5 pages. In the other books if I miss one page she goes berserk. She thinks she is such a smart cookie...but we're on to her tricks!

In all seriousness, I love having a kid who loves books. We go to the library twice a week so we do get some variety, but every night we read her favorites. Hopefully I can keep her love of reading going so we can always share it together (wow...that's a really sappy sounding mom dream)

Batter up!

My parents were in town last weekend. Penelope seems to be systematically placing herself in first place for favorite grandbaby. Of course, currently she has the lead since she is the only one, but she knows she needs to be working it now....let's be honest, how absolutely beautiful and overachieving are Christopher's and Jen's babies going to be? Penelope knows what she is up against.

So you remember at the last visit Penelope showed Grandmama how interested she is in the violin? Well, this time it was baseball! Now Chris and I never watch baseball. When I was pregnant I went to a Twins game because it was one of the most spontaneous out-of-character things I could do at the spur of the moment . I I was doing spur of the moment activities since I knew it would be not easy once baby arrived. How did Penelope learn about baseball? This was unclear for a few weeks when she kept telling me about baseball and picking up sticks to pretend she was a batter. It turns out in one of the Dora episodes, Dora and Boots play baseball. Every morning Penelope watches one Dora episode while we get ready for work and has become enamored with everything Dora does. So grandmama can thank Dora for a softball player, something she never had with her own girls.

For the past couple of weeks Penelope has been enthralled by little league games. She spends as much time watching the games at the park as she does playing on the play ground. I told her Grandmama would bring her a bat and ball. Every time I said that she said "and a hat?" The girl obviously knows there are accessories required!

Check out this stance!

So when does t-ball start?

And the requisite baseball hat

 Okay, and a disclaimer on why I was terrified of the ball at age 5. My mom beaned Penelope like half a dozen times before we decided only Dad or I could pitch. You'd really expect better from a college division 1 softball player! Thankfully Penelope thought it was hilarious, but no wonder I scrunched my eyes shut any time the ball came my way.