Penelope's 4

Yesterday was Penelope's birthday!  It was Sunday so we just went to church and hung out at home as a family.  It was pretty nice and low key.

Penelope is such a fun little person.  I didn't really realize how old she is until I was going through these pictures.  She is definitely not a toddler anymore.  Lately she has been really into writing her own name.  She likes to carry around a couple toys all day everywhere she goes and one of them is usually a little notebook.  The pages are all filled up with the same shape it looks kind of like an "n" but she says it is here name.  Now she can actually write all the letters in her name and she does it on all the papers she can find.

I've also noticed that Penelope is good at telling people what to do.  It must be because Tucker is in school and she plays with Scarlett all day.  I hear her saying "you do this and you go here and ...."  She also voices her opinion very clearly and has no problem telling people no.  She has a very matter of fact tone when she is talking to people.

This next picture looks awesome as my desktop background.

Penelope is not as cuddly as some of my other kids.  I'm always trying to give her big hugs but she usually resists.  She does love to be tickled and is super ticklish.  She also likes to show everyone how fast she can run.

I can tell that Penelope is really smart and observant.  She is always thinking about things people said and putting little bits of information together.  I wish I had more time to teach her because she loves that sort of stuff.  Like the other day she asked me where the garbage goes after the garbage truck gets it.  That led to a long conversation about the dump and recycling, all of which she understood and will remember.  Or when were were getting ready for these pictures.  She wanted them to be at the place where I took Scarlett's pictures.  That was about a year ago and she hasn't been to the place since or talked about it, but she went on to tell me all about the park and how we need to do the pictures there.

Penelope was such a little poser for these pictures.  It was great!  She kept putting her hands on her hips and leaning to the right or left or sticking her stomach out, then she would do something else like touch her chin to her chest.  It was really cute.

I would also describe her as a people pleaser.  Sometimes when I ask her to choose something she looks to Tucker and asks him which he likes.  Even when it is things like her clothes or favorite color.   I even caught her asking Scarlett which she wanted her to wear.  She is great at sharing, most of the time, and always wants to make others happy.  I am so glad we get to have her in our family.