Cruise Ship Barbie

Penny has started embracing being a girl. She wants to match all the time - pants/shirt/socks must be the same color. Exhibit A: Penny prefers playing with dolls over trains and cars and talks about wearing "plastic" (ie, elastics) in her hair. She puts on pretend ballerina skirts and twirls around the room. My plan was just to treat Ned and Penny the same and let the chips fall on the personality spectrum where they would. I'm not a girly-girl and I don't want to focus on Penny being "pretty" - I'd rather focus on the fact that she can't actually identify any numbers. I comb her hair just to get it out of her eyes and I'd rather worry about making sure she's brushing her teeth than picking out completely matched outfits and seeing if Kohls is carrying toddler skirts that will fit her. Nanny April loves that Penny is into girly things and I'm afraid she's encouraging it. Nanny is more apt to buy the kids blue/pink discinctions, I try to focus on neutral or buy two pink plates so Ned can have one. Ned gets all his clothes handimedown (thanks, Lori and Allie!) so he doesn't get much say. Nanny April was on vacation last week, one of her two annual cruises, and brough Penny back a Cruise Ship Barbie doll. Penny was playing with Barbie this morning. Barbie has very pointed feet which annoys me since Penny has turned into a tiptoe walker. Penny wants me to have Barbie talk to her (about her day, whatever). I hate it but I don't know how to tell Nanny April that I don't want Barbie in our house since it was a gift for Penny and one that reflects Penny's evolving tastes. Weigh in please. Is this Penny's "factory setting"? What should I say to April? How to encourage more "boyness" in my "princess" (ugh, hate that word!).

Work Break Over; Back to Blogging

I've been back at work for over two months and obviously have not blogged during that time. I spend "quality time" with the kids in the morning until Nanny April arrives at 8:15 am. Then I get dressed and spend an eternity in traffic to drive 12 miles (!) to get to work around 9:30, sometimes 10:00 am. If Husband isn't traveling he puts the kids to bed (gets home around 6 pm) and otherwise I try to get home by 8 pm after they are in bed and traffic has died down so that April can go home and face another day with the monster twins and their happy baby sister. Obviously I have lots to say about how much being back is awful because I am working a ton, including non-billable projects (all you lawyer readers know what a pain that is) and I'm very, very rusty. The market has changed in the last 8 months and I am not up on the new technology in debt financing. But you probably won't find my not-so-very-existential-crisis boring so I'll spare you the details.

Instead, let's talk about two year olds and their senses of humor. Husband is a very dry wit sort of guy. I'm the kind of person who loves humor but often doesn't get the joke right away and is awful at telling them. I wouldn't say I have no sense of humor, just that mine trends toward the obvious.

Apparently I share that in common with the toddler set. Penny loves a good joke. "Knock, knock" I will say. "Boo-hoo, stop crying, silly!", she rushes in with.

Opposites are very funny if you are two years old. "Penny is eating dinner", Penny says during breakfast.

"No, Penny, it's breakfast" Ned yells over and over at the top of his lungs until he slumps in his chair, completely defeated by the joke and the fact that Penny won't do what he says.

Josephine kicks her feet together and reaches for another piece of sausage, shaking her head with a big smile.

How do your kids make you laugh?