Scooters

For Christmas this year both kids got scooters from my parents. Penelope had grown out of her trike and while we contemplated getting her a 2 wheel bike, my dad, the bike guru, said that a scooter would be the best way to transition her as it would give her a chance to learn balance before the big girl bike.

She's also in between a small 2 wheel and an actual big-girl bike - like the kind elementary school kids have. I tried to measure her the other day, but I can't find the tape measure. Her size 6 jeans are close to being floods. *sigh* She's going to be six feet tall by the 7th grade.

Anyway. It took a bit, but they're starting to get really good at it. Penelope has learned to turn, slow down, and stop. She's pretty fast - faster than on her trike, which isn't super surprising since when she attempts to ride the trike she practically knees herself in the mouth with each pedal turn. She has waaaaaaay outgrown the trike.

Griffin is working on turning and he's pretty fast too. He has no desire to learn how to stop. In all honesty he probably enjoys running into people too much to learn how to slow down.

I tried to take some video today, but every time I pull out the phone they stop and say "cheese!" Which is cute but also annoying since I want to get candid shots every now and then. Obviously I have them trained for pictures a little too well.

Hopefully I can be a little sneakier tomorrow and actually get video.

Naked!

Today we headed over to Kim's place for a playgroup. It used to be a part of our weekly routine, but we haven't been since a week before Griffin was born. It was a small group today (just us, Kim & Orson, and Kimberly & Ava) but it was fun. Felt great to get out of the house and back to a semblance of our routine - and Penelope had a blast.

Kim had set up the little pool in her backyard so we stripped the kids down and let them play naked. Miraculously no one peed! Penny did not want to leave the backyard and punished me for making her leave by only taking a 45 minute nap and then being super fussy for the rest of the day. She didn't sleep well last night either. Fun and a half.

So here are some pictures...

More pictures - at the mall

So some of these I posted on Facebook, but since not everyone who reads this journal is ON Facebook I figured it would hurt to post more pictures here as well.

Today Penelope and I headed to the mall to hang out and play since it was so overcast and cold outside. It's free and fun. She really enjoyed herself and crashed out on the ride home, perfect!


"Hi Mom"


Climbing up the steps to the slide - she went down the slide 4 time (I helped, she's not quite ready to do it on her own)


Walking around


More playing

So I think she was probably one of the youngest kids there. Although there were plenty of kids that were her height, but they were much more coordinated so I'm guessing they have at least 3 or 4 months on Pen - probably more. She is, after all, super tall for her age. Regardless, she had a really good time. I think running around and climbing on stuff like that is good for her - the development of gross motor skills and more social interaction (she gets a lot of social interaction with her baby friends as well).

Next time I'll have to drag along one of our baby friends so I have a grown up to talk to. I chatted briefly with some of the moms there but it wasn't really a place to strike up any long conversations or make any lasting mommy friendships.

Ok, I should get some stuff done while she's still napping.