A Walk And Mischief

We have a garden in our community that I take Penny to almost daily. Once in a while, I will take along a camera. We had a good day today!  We walked the dog, cooked all kinds of good food, and packed in preperation for our upcoming trip to the Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs. 

Mister Bo's first stop. I don't know what kind of flowers these are, as my dog was peeing all over them, I thought, "Wow, those are some pretty cool flowers"

My view from the top of the stroller. How you doin' in there Penny? 

Penny is actually telling me she wants out of her chair. If the stroller isn't moving, she wants OUT! 

She snuck out on the patio when I wasn't looking. I noticed that it was oddly quiet and peaceful. That's always my first sign that something is a miss. I came outside and caught her with the gas can! 

Penny, please put the gas can down, that's nasty. 

She put it down! Now she is plotting what to grab next. 

If I hurry I can get away with this thermos.

Where's Dad, so I can whack him in the nuts with it!

Oh Daddy? Where are you?

Ready for battle. 

Picture mistake, but I still love her expression. 

 
This kid has speed, strength, and endurance. She is only getting bigger and stronger. I'm tired. Just to clarify:

OUTSIDE: Our tiny little patio attached to our tiny little condo. It's like 5 feet away from my couch.

I would never just let her wander on her own. Just in case anyone thought I was a horrible father or something. I guess the fact she had a gas can could make me look pretty bad too. I washed her hands right away though! I swear.

I'm feeling some parenting guilt right now.

Sesame Street Song of The Week: Jump Up

I love this one, it always makes Penny dance, and it always makes me happy. 

Hitting The Wall

I sometimes catch myself wondering why it is that I have so many pictures of Penelope in her high chair. I cam to the conclusion that this is the only time I can get her to sit still long enough to actually get her in focus. Just before I took this video she was running around the house yelling WEEEEEE!!!! and spinning around in circles all over the place. I don't know what her fascination with dizziness is, but she LOVES to spin. I assume she may have still been a little loopy from all that spinning. That could be the reason she misjudged the distance from her face to the wall. 

The pictures below are taken right after her "bouncing off the walls" extravaganza. Mom wouldn't sign a release to be in the video, so we had to cut her out of it, but there was some fun footage of her and Penny playing. She was having so much fun, she didn't want to stop, but Mommy's arms were tired from spinning her all over the place for a solid 8 minutes. Penny did her best impression of a belly flop with no pool, and commenced to have her spirited tantrum. Nothing a cup full of milk and a grilled cheese sandwich couldn't solve. 

As you can see, Penelope's hair is really starting to come in. 

This is actually a sippy cup, she gave up the bottle a long time ago. 

Mister Bo is stalking her in the background, waiting for scraps. 

Just about Bedtime, she is sufficiently worn out. 

Saturated Color

Grilled Cheese.

Sesame Street Song of the Week: Worm Reggae

The Pacifier

We actually refer to it as the "Soothie".... since that's what it says on the front. Penny has always loved having one. It helps her sleep. I feel like I have spent about 50% of the last year and a half, searching desperately for Penny's Soothie. It's a constant activity of mine. Usually, I just don't find it, and I ride out the tantrum, or try to get her to fall asleep without it. I'll finally get her to sleep, go downstairs, and promptly find three different Soothies in the most unlikely spots you would expect to look. I swear when she spits them out, I think I have an idea of the trajectory of its descent. It almost never lands anywhere near the place I assumed it must have fallen. Those things bounce a long way, on unpredictable paths.

Of course weening her from the Soothie is the ultimate goal. I tend to just let it be lost at times, so that I can talk to her. She is beginning to form a lot of words currently, and I don't want her Soothie getting in the way of her speaking in a language that I can finally understand. 

Learning To Talk

It seems like Penny just started catching on to things out of the blue. She seems to be comprehending things a lot faster than she used to. I feel like every second is an opportunity to teach her a new word. It is really effortless, and she actually leads the way. Pointing at things that she wants us to tell her about. It all seems so natural. It's astonishing to me how quickly things can change. One minute I can't recognize anything she is saying, and the next I start hearing clear words. I love watching this baby grow. 

Sesame Street Song of the Week

Johnny Cash performs Nasty Dan on Sesame Street.

Penelope Goes Camping

Mark off camping excursion number 4 for Penny. She went to Monarch Park in Salida, Colorado. She's a natural. She travels really well with us, and we love taking her. I'm not sure if I would be so crazy about camping without the Pig though. This bus makes it all possible. Camping is always better  with some comfort... but not too much!  Having her brother along was a huge help! 

Penelope camps in the Pig, a 1976 VW Bus

16 month olds would rather walk

Penny's brother Riley

Taking a break

Eating is Awesome

Breakfast Time

C is for Cookie and Cookie is for me!
Photo taken by Riley

At the top of Monarch Park

Then & Now

Penelope Jane's 1st day

Penelope Jane Yesterday

Elaina Pays A Visit

Lainey came over today for a while, so I could take my turn fulfilling my duties in The Stay-At-Home Dad Co-Op. The great thing about the arrangement, is it isn't really like work. It's more like a playdate, minus one daddy. The girls have known each other since they were born, which obviously isn't that long, but they are beginning a friendship from the roots of their life. Something about that just seems right to me. Of course, they did all the cutest stuff when the camera wasn't running. They shared smiles, and almost knocked each other over on a regular basis. They had toddler babble conversation with one another as if they could understand what was being said. Just being able to watch them grow up together is reward enough. This isn't work, it's just life, and I'm loving it right now.

Lainey sprawls.

Just another day

S-T-R-E-T-C-H

Penny and I had a revelation this morning. Stretching feels good. We have never done this before. I'm sitting out on the grass watching Penny, and I look at her and say STRETCH!!  Raising my arms towards the sky. She stops what she's doing and starts stretching just like she's been doing it every morning for years. In this set of pictures she looks like she is doing some Tai Chi. I don't know why it just makes me picture something like these guys to the right here. These guys make me smile. I read a quote today about being a strong  person. Deepak Chopra said: ‎"To acquire true self power you have to feel beneath no one, be immune to criticism and be fearless."  I'd say these guys couldn't give a damn what you think about their cool Tai Chi outfits and awesome hair-dos, and that's inspiring.   

Can We Go Camping Daddy?

Penny loves the outdoors! When it comes to camping, Penny has literally been doing it since infancy. She was two months old our first camping trip. She took to it like a fish to water. One of the things I always find myself wishing is to be able to understand what life means to a baby. How do they feel when they get their first stuffy nose? The first time they see a mountain? What goes through their head? I can't wait until she can really communicate with us. We have already started forming some dialogue with signs and gestures. It's amazing how quickly she picks it up.

Sesame Street Song of the Week

Every Tuesday I'll post a Sesame Street song that Penny and I have enjoyed. Sesame Street is really the only TV that Penny gets to watch. She LOVES it, especially the music.  The song of the week lives on the bottom of the blog so we can watch it on a larger screen. This weeks song is 12 (Pinball Animation) by The Pointer Sisters.  These animations were a favorite of mine when I was a kid.

The Return of the Purple Glasses

Penelope has to wear glasses, but she fights it most of the time. So much so that this is actually her third pair. If we have to go through three pairs of glasses every year, it's going to break us. She was throwing them off of her face while on walks, the glasses would land in the street, and of course we had no idea. By the time we got home and realized that she had thrown them out of the stroller it was too late. We would backtrack our route and find the glasses in the middle of the road, crushed by vehicles. Hopefully these ones will last us for a while.

You might be asking yourself, why does she wear glasses at such a young age. It turns out she has Amblyopia. She inherited it from me. So it's not her fault.


Amblyopia, otherwise known as lazy eye,^[1] is a disorder of the visual system that is characterized by poor or lack of vision in an eye that is otherwise physically normal, or out of proportion to associated structural abnormalities. It has been estimated to affect 1–5% of the population.^[2]

Amblyopia means that visual stimulation either fails to transmit or is poorly transmitted through the optic nerve to the brain for a continuous period of time. It often occurs during early childhood, resulting in poor or dim vision. Amblyopia normally affects only one eye, but it is possible to be amblyopic in both eyes if both fail to receive good, clear visual images. Detecting the condition in early childhood increases the chance of successful treatment.

The colloquialism "lazy eye" is frequently used to refer to amblyopia. The term "lazy eye" is imprecise because it is a layman's term for strabismus, particularly exotropia. ^[3]  

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I saw this sketch on Saturday Night Live the other night. It cracks me up.  Thought I would spread the word on some parenting humor. Why not? 

15 months in 15 minutes

Penelope Jane is my 15 month old daughter.  We will be blogging as a means to consolidate all my Penny pictures and videos in one spot. Penny lovers enjoy!

The first 6 months of Penny's life. 

Penny's life 6 months to present. 

15 months in 15 minutes. I have basically had a camera in her face since the day she was born.  

The Stay At Home Dad Co-Op

A friend of mine and I have decided to split baby sitting with each other, so we can pursue our lives outside of the Stay At Home Dad realm. We both gave up our jobs to stay home with our children. I can't speak for him, but for me it was worth it. Especially that we get to spend our days doing things like this.

Penelope's Room

We hung out in Penny's room for a while today.  She is really doing all kinds of new things on a daily basis right now. She keeps us on our toes! 

Brushing Our Teeth

Doing anything with Penny can prove to be a challenge. She is extremely independent, and doesn't care much for assistance. Since she is 15 months old now, we are trying to get some good habits started. I gave her this toothbrush today, and she commenced to brushing her teeth just like she has been doing it all her life. Now if I could just keep her feet out of the sink. 

5 Min.

Penny goes crazy for five minutes. The pediatrician today said they burn calories at a high rate right now. So she says:

"Go ahead and give her the real stuff. No Low-Fat anything, plenty of butter and sour cream, give her calories, she needs them"

The whole time I'm thinking of how many times I have given her some French Fries out of my box, or a little bite of my Hershey Bar. Suddenly I don't feel so guilty. Just like that, I'm a good dad.