Sunday, October 26, 2008

September Catch-Up


(Don't worry, Penny, it's only another 400 miles to get home.)

Here I am, writing about goings-on from last month now that October is almost over. Oh well. The month of September brought Penny's four-month appointment, which meant round 2 of her shots. This time, daddy was with us so he could witness the fury. But there wasn't all that much fury. I have seen Penny cry harder at bedtime than when those needles were jabbed into her thighs. She was 14lbs 12oz (75th %tile for weight!) and 24" inches long (50th %tile).

Then the doctor asked me the question I was dreading: "Can she roll over?" "No," I said, "But she can do this!" And then I had her stand on her legs. Penny planted her legs and threw out her arms as if she had just stuck a perfect landing off the vault. I think she even grinned. Bearing weight on legs is a 6 month old skill and I desperately wanted a good grade. Sarah has a great post about this phenomenon. I am an overachiever and Penny is doomed to have me worrying about everything and wanting her to do well. (I know that I should just relax, but with each passing week and Penny's increasing hate of all things related to tummy time, I am letting the worry set in a bit).

Needless to say, our doctor was unconcerned and we scheduled our next appointment for November. The next day, Penny had a low grade fever, which freaked me out a little, given all of the paranoia surrounding vaccinations. But things improved thanks to some Infant Tylenol and lots of rest.

The next week, it was off to WY to see Opa and Grandma Shirley again. Penny was a trooper for the 400 mile trip (one way), and was only a little fussy for the last 10 miles. Mommy got to watch lots of fun shows on Bravo while Penny worked on some tummy time:


Penny to mom: Stop worrying about me.

We also did some more fossil hunting, and our friends took us to a fantastic place covered in gastroliths (prehistoric gizzard stones). I mean, they were covering the ground. Big ones, little ones, red, pink, ochre, all colors! As we were walking around, I noticed a little snake off to my right. I called up to Britt and asked him if he had seen it:

K: "Hey did you see this snake over here?"
B: "No, what snake?"
K: "Over here! It's really little. I don't think it's a rattlesnake....I think it's dead."
B (turning around): "Oh wow. That's a rattlesnake."

At which point the baby rattlesnake slithered off, shaking its little baby rattle behind it.

K: "Oh my god. Penny, we just saw a baby rattlesnake! I kind of want to go back to the car now. What if its mother shows up?"
B: "You're thinking of bears."

Other highlights from our trip:

One of the deer who like to hang out behind Opa's house,

And, the many faces of Penny:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Penny looks like Opa!

Lo said...

I love Penny's cute little face.

Ginger said...

Love the video..reminds me of Fern! How do you upload good quality video? You must have a faster internet connection???...(I also have that same onesie)
Fern used to roll over in the past but refuses to now and just complains if we put her on her belly. Penny probably can, and just doesn't want to. :)

Be Like the Squirrel, Girl said...

Hmm, I don't think our videos are very high quality! I think it has to do with the camera? But you take beautiful photos with your camera, so I don't know! Actually, I am in the market for a fancy new camera. I'm hoping Santa will bring me a fancier camera for Xmas, but he might be too tempted to buy a lot more onesies for Penny instead. :)