When They Grow Up

The girls love to talk about growing up. Their conversations are the sweetest. Beatrice wants to get married to Isaac, go to work, and never have children. She will live with me forever and also visit when she goes home to her pink house. Isaac likes pink, she says, so it's okay.

Me - "If you don't have any children, who will my grandchildren be?"
Her - "Well, I don't know. But I'm never having children, it's gross."
Me - "What will your job be?"
Her - "A shepherd. And a ballet teacher. And a police lady."
Me - "Can you reconsider not having any children so I can be a grandmother?"
Her - "No, it's gross."

Penelope is going to live with me forever and stay home with her babies. She's naming them baby Alyson and baby Rapunzel. She says she wants to be Rapunzel when she grows up and also stay a baby.

Me - "Don't ever leave me when you grow up."
Her - "I won't, mama. I'm a baby."
Me - "Please have lots of babies so I can be their grandmother."
Her - "I will. And I can be a baby too."
Me - "Who will you marry?"
Her - "I wanna marry daddy!"

The future is looking bright for these two!

Christmas Eve Ice Skating

It's 79 degrees here. All month long we've had unseasonably cold weather, but 2 days before Christmas, a heat wave rolled in. I love the cold, and since there is no chance of having a white Christmas in Los Angeles, I was really hoping the cold would stick around to make the season feel more like the tender Tennessee Christmases I'm used to. But it's going to be nearly 80 degrees every day this week. Bah humbug.

I wanted to make the most of our warm weather by doing something wintry today, so we went to the mall for some ice skating!

 

JD had to work so I was a bit nervous about taking both girls on the ice by myself, but we managed just fine. Beatrice got a quick lesson from an instructor that worked the rink, I rented a ride on seal for Penelope, and off we went!

Beatrice wore her ballet leotard when she found out we were going ice skating. She was so excited. We are going to see Disney Princesses on Ice next week and the whole time she skated she pretended she was a princess on ice.

She was so brave and wanted to skate by herself quite a bit. There were a few falls, but she was really good. She loved it so much she wants to take lessons.

I forgot Penelope's gloves and the poor girl was shivering after a few laps. She didn't really want to leave, but she didn't crack a smile. She was too cold for smiling.

We had peppermint milkshakes to celebrate our first ice skating adventure.

It was a perfect Christmas Eve!

Potty Training Like A Boss

I hate potty training. To date, it is the worst part of parenting. I had such a rough experience training Beatrice, I was not in a hurry to put Penelope on the potty. When she turned 2, I stuck my fingers in my ears and said "la la la la la la la la la" to anyone that asked when I would start potty training her. The timing was never right, she didn't seem ready, and I certainly was not eager to commence pee-mageddon 2013, so I ignored that nagging voice inside that said it was time.

A few weeks ago, JD kindly reminded me of holiday plans, family visits, and other obligations ahead of us. If I ever wanted Penelope out of diapers, I had to do it now.

So we did it. I didn't use a particular method, I just put her in panties and had her sit on the potty every 45 minutes. The first day was terrible, Penelope never peed once on the potty. The next day she had equal accidents and successes. And on the third day, she had it. Three days and she was completely potty trained. I am still shocked!

It's been 3 weeks and she has only had 2 accidents since the first 2 days. We've been to Disneyland for 9 hours, all over Los Angeles and Orange County, and on many other adventures without any accidents. She tells us when she needs to go and she's not afraid of public restrooms. It's been a breeze training this girl.

I am so proud of this tiny girl. She owns the potty! Good job, Penelope!

Shopping Cart

Penelope loves to push things. She got a doll stroller for Christmas and plays with it almost everyday, but I wanted to get her something for her birthday she could use outside of our neighborhood. I decided on a shopping cart that she could bring to the grocery store with me. She absolutely loves it. Today, we brought it to the grocery store for the first time.

 

I thought it would be a semi-disaster with all sorts of aisle display crashes, selecting of random items we don't need, and collisions with other shoppers, but Penelope did great and stayed right by me. She did throw a few avocados out of her cart, but they were an impulse buy so I didn't blame her. The other shoppers didn't mind how slow she was or how we blocked entire aisles, they thought she was the cutest shopper ever and enjoyed talking to her.

We have a bit of a nose picking problem going on here.

Our shopping trip took twice as long as usual, but we all had fun with the little shopping cart. I think it's going to be a regular fixture on all our shopping trips.

Penelope is 2

Penelope turned 2 last Friday.

 

Her day was spent opening gifts, eating birthday pancakes, shopping, and smashing cake. If you ask her how old she is, she will tell you, "almost 3." She's a hoot!

I took her to the park tonight at sunset to capture some photos of her in honor of her birthday.

I can't believe my baby is 2! She is the most fun little person and I love watching her grow. She's the best! Happy birthday, baby.

People Like Balloons

About a month ago, I asked Penelope what she wanted to do for her 2nd birthday party. She thought about it for a minute and said, "ba-woons! Peoples wike ba-woons! And cake! Peoples wuv cake! Juice! Babies wuv juice! Can I drink it? Jump!! Peoples wuv to jump!" It was the sweetest thing, I actually cried. I texted my friend, Carlie, and told her about Penelope's ideas. Her little girl is 4 days older so we wanted to do another joint party for them. Carlie immediately started planning the girls' balloon-juice-cake-jump party.

Penelope really wanted to jump, and jump is what she did!

Mama even got in on the jumping. Check out my sweet moves!

Jumping was not a great idea for me. Right after, I felt totally seasick and got a headache. Boo.

The party was in a little park near Carlie's house. She did all of the awesome decor and most of the food, I brought pesto orzo salad and cupcakes. It was really great having the party somewhere other than my house. I had no stress about preparing anything or being a great hostess, everything was ready. Poor Carlie may not be able to say the same, but she is a great hostess and always throws fun and lovely parties.

These 2 friends had such a sweet, fun party. All of our friends came and we ate, jumped, popped balloons, and celebrated our almost 2 year olds.

 

This girl knew just what she wanted for her birthday party and it was perfect!