Dear Penelope Lorraine

What a great month we had! We did our normal things, like TOTS at church and story time at the library. But this month we also went down to San Antonio again! Your daddy had a conference in New Orleans and since Jorge Gonzalez was also going to the conference you and I went to stay with Missy and her kids for the week. We had fun!

Here are you and Jenna Roberson swinging at church after TOTS.

1 March 2012

You finger painted for the first time this month. You did not like getting messy at first. It took me a while to convince you to stick your fingers in that paint and even after you did you wanted to wipe them off a lot.

1 March 2012

You enjoyed "helping" Daddy work on his car.

2 March 2012

Trying on Daddy's boots

3 March 2012

A conversation we had today...
Mommy: Penny, say ladybug.
Penny: bee-bug
Mommy: No, say la-dy-bug. Lady. Bug.
Penny: Laeeee.... bee-bug.

A sweet moment with Daddy

3 March 2012

You and Natalie Hefner went to a free music class at the library.

5 March 2012

You like to play with all of your hair accessories. It's so cute!

5 March 2012

Why do you think it's fun to weigh yourself at home but when we do it at the doctor's office you always cry?

7 March 2012

Trying on Mommy's shoes - you're quite a shoe lover! You frequently bring me a pair of my shoes and tell me to put them on. You like it best when everyone is wearing shoes. :)

March 7, 2012

Hattie Boley came to play and stayed through bath time.

9 March 2012

Trying to walk in those high heels!

10 March 2012

Riding the train at our zoo in Tulsa.

13 March 2012

You are going through a phase where you almost always take your shoes off in the car. It drives me crazy!

March 13, 2012

14 March 2012

Here is a picture of you with Lexi, Tomas, and Troy Gonzalez at a festival in downtown San Antonio. You like to call them "Troy-Tomas-Lexi" like it's all one word. :)

16 March 2012

Playing in the Gonzalez's back yard.

16 March 2012

More fun in the Gonzalez's back yard. You loved the slide - although it doesn't look like it in this picture!

16 March 2012

Daddy and I took you down to the Riverwalk in San Antonio and we ate at a silly restaurant called "Dick's."

17 March 2012 (Saint Patrick's Day)

At the children's museum in San Antonio. Troy did not want you to drive!

19 March 2012

Shopping like a pro at the museum's pretend grocery store.

19 March 2012

More museum fun.

19 March 2012

We went walking on a trail in the state park in San Antonio and there were lots of great photo ops!

19 March 2012

21 March 2012 - Today you cut your bottom right incisor. Finally!

Here is a picture of you on the train at Six Flags. You had a blast!

24 March 2012

You loved the Chinese swings as well. You loved all the rides! And on our way home in the car the windows were down and you put your hands up and said, "Wheeee!" It was really funny.

24 March 2012

A girl knows how to relax during bath time!

25 March 2012

26 March 2012 - Today was the first time I have worn my hair straightened in a long time. You looked at me and said, "Mommy hair fall down!"

A play date with Zuri Dar at the park

27 March 2012

At the Tulsa Zoo. We picked the shark because that's Daddy's favorite animal!

29 March 2012

Grandpa took some great spring pictures of you at Woodward Park while the tulips were still in bloom.
27 March 2012

You have been so much fun! You are growing way too fast and you are almost always pleasant and happy. You are very laid back and easy-going and I love that about you! You LOVE to read books. If I would do it you would want me to read to you all day long. When I read you a book you sit mostly still in my lap and look at the pictures. You let me read very long books to you and when I finish you put it back in my hand and say, "You weed it?" Some of our favorite books are Dr. Seuss books. And this month you discovered Fancy Nancy - you call her "Nancy Nancy." I am so happy that (for now) you are addicted to books and not to television. We watch a little bit of Sesame Street a couple of times a week, but we read lots of books every day! Daddy reads with you almost every evening too.

You also love going to church and to the nursery. On Sundays when I wake you up you usually get out of bed talking about church and the nursery. I think you mostly love getting to see your friends. And I know you really love Baby Bible Class on Sunday mornings.

This month you have really started to play "mommy" to your little baby dolls. You wrap them in blankets, tell them "night night" and put them in the little play crib. You put them on the potty. You put them in your high chair and tell them to eat. You pretend to share your milk with them. You put them in the toy stroller and take them for walks. You hug and kiss them. It's really very cute to see you taking care of your babies. I love it!

For the first part of the month you guessed that every color was red. Now you have decided that everything is "boo" (blue).

We started potty training at the end of last month. You did so great for being so young. We worked non-stop for four or five days and then you did great and were accident free for almost a week! Then you regressed and so now we are still working on it. Some days you do great and other days you go in your pull-up a lot. But it's okay. Being as young as you are it will take a while to form this new habit. And in the meantime, it's good practice to go on the potty as much as you can.

You are, of course, still talking a lot. For the most part you say your words very clearly and are easy to understand. I love your little language and the way you say some things. In fact, I love it so much that I wrote down a lot of the ways you say things right now. Here are some of them:

hot coffee: "hot hot cowsie"
silly: "siyee"
face: "pace" (and your "s" is lispy which makes it even cuter!)
tickle: "kickle"
grapes: "gapes"
barrette: "bet"
drink: "get" (I have no idea why you call it that.)
butterfly: "buh-sye"
ladybug: "bee-bug"
fish: "pis"
socks: "gocks"
five: "pise"
yes ma'am: "nuh-nus" (but you say "yes sir" perfectly)
circle: "kuh-kul"
blocks: "box"
Mister: "Missy" (You call Mr. Brown in the Dr. Seuss books "Missy Bown.")
Baby Iola: "Baby Oh-la-la"
Mommy's phone: "Mommy soam"
Beans: "benness"
And to sing "open and shut them" you start to do the motions and sing "Oh-kee-kee."

Here are a few other specific memories from this month:

02/01 - Your first time to play with Play-Doh. (You only tried to taste it once.)

02/02 - You tried to pray by yourself. You bowed your head, covered your eyes with your hands, and said, "Jesus, Jesus, Amen!" That evening you also walked around the house in your panties and one boot. It was so cute!

A picture of you on 02/05

02/09 - You spin around in the living room singing "pokey pokey pokey," - it's your version of doing the Hokey Pokey song.
- You took a bowl and wore it around the house like a hat.

Here is a picture of you on the same day playing with Daddy's shoes.

- You also got a new bike today!

- And you like to play a jumping game - jumping off a little step stool.

02/10 - You had your 18-month check-up today. You weighed 26.4 pounds (77th percentile) and measured 33 inches tall (87th percentile). Big girl!

02/13 - You love Pixie and are so sweet with her!

02/16 - Here is one of the first pictures I took of you with my new "fancy" DSLR camera.

02/17 - You went to the zoo with Mommy and Daddy.

02/18 - Here's a cute bath picture!

02/18 - You LOVE Jordan and she loves you too! She likes to read books to you and play with you. Here are a couple of pictures from our visit to her house this evening.

02/20 - Playing with Uncle Sam and Daddy at Grampa & Nana's house.

02/21 - We went to Siloam Springs today to see Kristin, Hannah, Gideon, baby Gracie, Great Aunt Kristi, and Great Grandma Dorothy. You loved the rabbit!

02/23 - Right now when you count you always say, "One, six, seven, eight!" And you count EVERYTHING.
- Here are some pictures of you on the potty with your book. (I think they're cute!)

- Here is a picture of you after you woke up from your nap.

- When I tell you to give me a kiss you sometimes try to get away because you like when I chase you, pick you up, turn you upside down, and pepper your face with kisses. I love that game too! :)

- This morning you found a paper sack with two empty milk cartons and played with them for the longest time!

02/26 - We went to Mazzio's with some other families after church and you, Sophia Fleet, and Zuri Dar all held hands and bowed your heads to pray in the middle of dinner. It was so sweet! Zuri got to ride with us in our car which you thought was fun.