Peanut-pie, you are FOUR years old today! You went from being four pounds to four years in a blink of an eye- where has the time gone? Penny, you are growing up into such a beautiful, hilarious, wonderful kid- I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you!
Penny, you are so full of life- definitely Miss Personality. And what a personality- you are an independent girl who goes all in- if you love something you really LOVE it, and if you don't love something, well, there's no changing your mind. You have grown out of a number of fears this year and are becoming much braver and bolder. You no longer hold your ears in new situations or anytime something is loud, but you do still run and hide in the playroom when I turn the vacuum on. You have a couple of new fears now, you ask us to leave the 'hall light on, all night long' every night before bed, and you are deathly afraid of 'beetles', which is basically any black insect.
There are a LOT of things that you love; anything sweet (especially jelly beans and chocolate), playing dress up, Paw Patrol and Doc McStuffins, playing hide and go seek, swinging on your belly, the list goes on and on. You love to go to the Magic House (you really like playing in the Vet's office), the zoo (still an elephant fan), and the 'bridge playground' by our house. You like to walk down to the stop sign at the end of our street to see the 'dancing man' blow-up guy across the street, and you are able to walk pretty far before you ask to be carried. But when you do get tired, your favorite place to ride is on daddy's shoulders!
You had a big year, young lady: you did swim lessons in the summer, played soccer, started gymnastics and started preschool! You were pretty fearful of the water so swim lessons were kind of a bust, but I have high hopes for this year as you already have showed interest in going to the pool. You were also not a fan of soccer, but I'm sure it was confusing for you to be told to take the ball from other kids, when your whole life we've been telling you to share! Gymnastics and preschool have gone much better, you almost never complain when we're going to either of those places, and you made a couple really nice friends this year at preschool. You also learned a lot of new songs, I think your favorite to sing over and over again is 'Jesus Loves Me.'
You may still be on the small-side, but you are surely mighty! I really think you have grown a lot this year, I am anxious for your well visit to see how much you have gained and how tall you are. We had a little scare last year regarding your small stature, but the specialist doesn't seem overly concerned so we are trying to not be as well. Good things come in small packages, right?
Speaking of being mighty, you are very competitive and always want to be first. First to the car, first to the potty, first up the stairs- if there is a place to go you want to get there the fastest! You are learning to handle losing with grace; it is a slow, slow process for you, but I know you'll get there eventually. You are also very focused on fairness, for instance if I ask you to get dressed you'll ask me 'Is Harry dressed?' If I ask you to get your shoes on, you'll say 'Does Harry have his shoes on?' You are all about equality- makes me so proud! Last week at the playground you were playing house with Harry, you were mom and he was dad. You told him you were going to work and he said something along the lines of 'Moms don't work, they stay at home to watch the kids.' But you set him straight and told him that moms DO work, and that Grandma's watch the kids! Made me so proud of you, I hope you keep that determined, go-get-em attitude forever.
Penny, you LOVE to sing, and you actually can carry a tune pretty well. You're current favorite CD is the Frozen soundtrack, with your favorite song being Elsa Climbs the Mountain or 'Let it Go' as it's known to the rest of the world. You also have an affinity for Katy Perry, but mom is going to have to start reading the lyrics online before I let you listen to some of her songs. And you are definitely a solo act; mom is most definitely not under any circumstances to sing along with you to any song ever written ever, under penalty of a heavy sigh and most likely tears. When you like a song, it is YOUR song, and no one else can sing it. Your music teacher in elementary school is going to have a lot of fun with that one!
Ladybug, you have a GREAT imagination, and you have all kinds of new friends with interesting names that you tell me about every day. Last week you told me a story so elaborate and so detailed, that I had to really think about if that really happened or not. If someone is telling a story about someone doing something (like riding a horse, or going swimming), you'll often chime in with 'My friend Stanshal does that!', and then tell us all about Stanshal and his/her adventures. You love to make up words and are actually really, really good at it, sometimes daddy and I have to look at each other to make sure that we both have no idea what you're saying- your jibberish sounds very much like a real language! You love to play dollhouse and with your 'pets', and ever since Easter you're favorite thing to do is play Easter Bunny and hide eggs for us to find. I love watching you play!
You are SO, SO smart and so creative. You could paint every day (and sometimes do!) and can spend a very long time coloring and drawing pictures. You are LEFT HANDED which blows my mind, but have already handled so many things (cutting, holding a crayon) with the limited guidance of your Righty parents, that I don't think it will be a problem. ;) You have shown an interest in writing letters and especially your name, and you are really interested in spelling- you're always asking how you spell this word or that word. You have a couple words down already, mom, dad, stop, dog, bob, Penny and Harry- WOW! You also have an excellent memory, just tonight you 'read' us a family favorite, 'I Want my Hat Back', and I seriously cannot remember the last time we picked that one up- maybe a month or so? With your interest in letters and spelling, I can't wait to see what the next year brings!
You have a lot of friends, but most often your best friend is Harry. You two play together all. the. time., and I have enjoyed watching you evolve this year from a follower to a leader. You are often the one deciding what to play or where to go, but you are also the one to decide that you don't want to play anymore and we are working on kind ways to let him know when you need some alone time. You are very big into your privacy. The other night we were talking about our new house that we may buy someday and you indicated that you would like your own room- I can definitely see that! I think Harry is a little more attached to the roommate idea, however, so you will probably have a bunk-mate for a while still.
You are so independent Penny, it has been amazing to watch you change so much in a year! You want to do everything, and I mean EVERYTHING by yourself. You now buckle yourself in your carseat, get dressed, use the bathroom, brush your teeth...the list goes on and on. I don't even want to think about what the next year will bring, maybe you'll be making your own PBJs? You also decided last month that you were ready to switch your crib to a toddler bed- such a big girl! It has been a very, very smooth transition for all of us and it made me glad that we were fortunate enough to wait until it could be your decision and not something we were forced to do.
Speaking of PBJs, you are what some would call a picky eater. You know what you like and you don't like everything else. Mom tried to fight you for a while and just let you 'starve' at dinner, but her sensitive side came out and now you have the option of a PBJ for dinner if you don't like what's being served. BUT, that being said, you are an EXCELLENT fruit eater, I don't think you've met a fruit you don't like and you are willing to try vegetables every now and again. You most definitely have a sweet tooth, but you also reliably like cereal bars, yogurt, 'cow cheese' (shredded cheese), and dinosaur chicken nuggets. You especially like to bite the heads off the dinosaurs!
You took a tap/ballet class at the Community Center this winter, and you did awesome! My goal for you was to get on the stage for the recital, and you exceeded that by actually dancing and having no fear! The songs you danced to were both from Frozen, so I'm sure that helped. ;) I'm not going to lie, the first few classes were rough, but we all hung in there and once you started to like going, we never heard a complaint from you. You took the class with your best friend Ellis, which was at times a great idea and at other times a terrible idea, but I think it was good for you to have a buddy to dance with. You made friends with the girls in your class which was nice to see, these would be the first friends that you actually made on your own- no pushing from mom or dad. We have signed you up for another session this summer, and will continue to support your dance classes as long as you stay interested.
Penelope Grace, you are the light of daddy's and my world, the day you were born was the happiest day of our lives. You have made us complete, and fill our days with laughter and joy. We love you to the moon and back, and back again, and again, and wish you the happiest FOURTH birthday imaginable!
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