That was a nice long weekend... Now, for a very short week - I'm at work today and tomorrow, and then Thursday Matt and I will pack up ourselves and Penny and head to Chicago for Matt's brother's wedding.

Hands up, everyone who's glad you're not in our shoes... Yeah, that's about what I expected. I'm nervous about more things than I know how to list. Not the least of which is that, whether things go well or horribly, we're doing it again in October.

(Geez. Couldn't they have at least spaced the weddings out a little, to give us time to properly recover?)

Sheesh. Ah, well. I'm sure we'll survive, one way or another. (But pray for us, would you?)

We had a good day on Saturday, despite the fact that Penny did not nap. Well, she did finally take a half-hour nap around 5 in the evening, but that was it. The rest of the day, when she'd start acting tired, Matt and I would put her in her crib for a nap, and she'd lay there and play with Piglet and her other crib-toys for half an hour or so. And when we got her up, she was fine - refreshed and cheerful and ready to go again.

But we went to the park for an hour and played on the swings, which was lots of fun. (She went down a slide with Matt a couple of times, too, but she was a little uncertain about that.)

And then we met the Brandts for dinner at a hibachi restaurant I hadn't even known existed, here in town.

Emma was in good form, a little squirmy but not too wild. She ate an entire - and I mean huge - plate of steamed soybeans, all by herself. Of course, she then wasn't hungry for her actual dinner, but apparently this is her usual routine for that restaurant - they take her entree home and she eats it later.

Speaking as a parent who's desperately trying to locate just one more vegetable that my kid will consent to eat, I understand their perspective.

The place was a bit slow while we were there, so the chef let Braz and Matt "help." He demonstrated tossing an egg up on his spatula a few times, then had Matt give that a try.

And then a bit later, he tossed a piece of lemon up into the air and caught it on the tines of his fork. Braz stepped in for that maneuver.

(No, he didn't fare much better than Matt, there.)

Toward the end of the meal, both kids started to get a little restless. Since both had pretty well finished eating, Emma was allowed to come around to our side of the table and play with Penny.

Emma loves Penny. I think she loves babies in general, but we've only seen her with Penny. She patted Penny's hair. She kissed her. She cupped Penny's cheeks in her hands (a surprisingly sophisticated-looking little affection). She held Penny's hand (sometimes when Penny was not interested in holding hands).

And then, as if they weren't already utterly adorable, we let Penny get out of her highchair, and the two of them played peek-a-boo around it.

I thought at first that it was Emma who was initiating the play. Maybe she started it. But turned out to be Penny who was the one who chose what side of the chair they looked around. She'd stand up on her tiptoes to look over the chair, and Emma would stand up. She'd lean sideways to peek around the edge of the chair, and Emma would follow.

She'd duck down to peer through the side of the chair, and Emma would crouch down to wave at her from the other side.

And they played like that for a good ten minutes. Long enough for us grown-ups to finish our dinners, anyway.

The new Brandt baby, when it arrives, is going to have a great big sister.

I can't believe that we spent several hours Sunday visiting K.T. and Jess, and I didn't take a single picture! And then we spent several hours at my parents' house, celebrating Mom's and John's birthdays, and I didn't take a single picture there, either!

I guess Sunday just wasn't my day for pictures.

But we had a good time, nonetheless. It was a good weekend for food, for Penny, too. I tried her on some peanut butter (on bits of toast) with her breakfast, which she accepted, though I think she prefers jelly on her toast. Yes, I know some pediatricians recommend waiting until age 2 to try nuts, especially peanuts, but Matt and I have been snacking on peanuts for months now. If she was allergic, we'd have seen a reaction. Obviously, we're not going to give her *actual* nuts until she has the necessary teeth for chewing them, but I think creamy peanut butter is safe enough. And I've been desperately hunting for a way to get protein into her - she's roundly rejected every meat we've tried her on.

She ate most of a piece of cheese from K.T.'s fridge (huzzah! Something else new!) and then had chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert at my parents'. Yum!

Monday, she got to try chocolate chips. She'd pulled the bag out of the pantry and was chewing on it, so I wrested it from her and got out a few chips. I put one in her mouth, and she kind of shrugged and started to walk off. She'd gotten precisely three steps away when the taste actually hit her. It was like watching a little cartoon. She stopped in her tracks, spun around, and practically ran back to me for more.

After I'd gone to the grocery store and picked up some cheese (among other things, of course), I spread little bits of peanut butter on cheese bits, and made little sandwiches of them. Penny liked that quite a lot (proving that she's my daughter, too, as the idea of cheese and peanut butter together makes Matt turn the most interesting shade of green...)

And all through the weekend, she ate several meals of nothing but finger-food. If I could just locate one vegetable, other than tomatoes, that she'd feed herself, I'd feel pretty good about her and food.

Ah, well. Progress is being made. That's probably all I can ask for.

--Liz