We are bad parents- lounging by the pool at the mansion while poor Petra's blog sat unattended. We should be ashamed!
Petra's Uncle Joe is in town cutting a movie, and Petra is in love. She flirts with him endlessly, and will say his name over and over if we mention him in conversation. He's house-sitting a lovely old Spanish house up in the hills, and the whole family (well, half of it) came together to BBQ and hang out by the pool for the weekend. Auntie Naomi brought new books to read (and read and read and read) and Auntie Kirsten brought a kitchen (!) for Petra.
Petra had fun in the pool with Gramma and cousin Adia, and ran herself ragged playing. She loved the room to run in the big house and courtyard, she was entranced by the koi pond, and she got to play a solo on a grand piano. What a lucky girl!
Her cousin Adia really loved playing with Petra, and they did everything together, including take a bath. Poor thing, when we went home she fell asleep in the car and didn't even wake up when being changed into her sleeper and put to bed!
Watch your language!
Petra has begun broadening her vocabulary beyond your basic nouns (though she's added plenty of those, like wall, floor and ceiling). She added proper nouns (Unka Joe, and all the kids in her daycare's names), a bunch of verbs (get, hold, push, pull, catch, kick), a few adjectives (more most prominant), and she's started trying to figure out pronouns (me and you- try explaining those without sounding like an Abbott and Costello skit). She is really a language sponge now- she seems to learn every new word the first time she hears it. And of course, we really have to watch our own language as well. She seems to like to repeat the word "Crap!" whenever she hears it (though luckily rarely enough that she doesn't use it on her own (I hope!).
We've started to introduce Petra to the idea of using the potty. We bought one and had it around to let her get comfortable (hah!) with it, and have started to check with her if she thinks she needs to go pee or poop (she loves the words at least). She certainly doesn't have any fear of it! She does say yes occasionally and go in to sit on the potty, but no luck yet. Just stinky diapers (she loves to say stinky and pinch her nose!). Along the same hygiene lines, we've got her brushing her teeth every night. Well, eating toothpaste off her brush at least. She does wiggle it around in her mouth a bit, but she refuses to let us help her ("Hold" she says whenever we try to take it). She also likes to take floss and run it through her mouth (but not her teeth). It's probably better than nothing at all, but we've got a ways to go before achieving real dental hygiene.
Daddy got his first night home alone with Petra. Mommy was out of town on business. The evening went very smoothly (if you can call reading the Dora book 2.5 hours straight "smooth"), with no fuss at all. She took a book to bed with her, and didn't want to lie down, but sat and read while I left the room and she just read herself to sleep. Such a sweetie. Of course, morning she wanted Mommy and nothing but. She screamed and wandered room to room looking for her, and then going to the front door and yanking on it crying for Mama! So sad. She eventually screamed her way back to the crib, and once I put her in she again started reading, and when I came back in a few minutes to take her for breakfast, she was smiling and sweet again. I love this baby! Though I'm going to have to stop calling her a baby. She really is a little girl now, with opinions and everything.
Auntie Patti sent a pair of frog galoshes to Petra today, and she carried the box into the house, and as soon as she saw the boots she pulled off all her clothes (?!) and put on the boots to march around the house. Very cute!!! Petra likes running around naked ("nay"), though we've had a couple of puddles to clean up because of it. She's also getting good at taking off her own clothes- too good. We've been reading the Dora at the Beach book, and emphasizing the sunscreen application scene to her, to get her on board with the whole SPF thing. Luckily, it looks like she has Daddy's skin, so she tans rather than burning (so far at least, and Hawaii was a good test).
She always had them, but recently she really learned how to use them. Keys that is. She has her own little set she'll carry around and stick in all the keyholes in the doors. Such a clever little girl! Thank God for deadbolt locks though! It won't be long before she is on her way out the front door!
One of Petra's favorite stories right now is "Little Red Riding Hood." She loves both the cheesy pop up book version (wolf with no teeth, sent down river on a log) to the Trina Schart Hyman version (Red and grandma eaten by wolf, woodsman splits him open to rescue them). From the popup version she learned how to cry "help! help!" and now she'll stand in front of the window in the breakfast room and cry "help! help!" out the window. I just hope a cop isn't driving by or Mommy and Daddy will end up in jail! Petra likes to dress up in her "Red" out fit, with her hoodie sweater and a bucket. So cute!
