When Penny woke up at 5 this morning (have I mentioned that she's on a run of getting up early, lately?) my throat felt raspy and dry, like I'd been snoring.

Matt got Penny to doze off for a bit longer, but she was up for the day a bit after 5:30. My throat was still raspy-feeling, so I gave up and got up.

Penny was, for a change, in a lovely mood. She didn't whine too much when I told her no, she asked nicely to be picked up and read to (I still had to prompt the "please," but at least she used words instead of whiney grunts), she was full of hugs and kisses, and she actually (albeit with a fair amount of prompting and reminding) picked up all her blocks that she'd dumped on the floor.

She did have a low moment, when Matt tried to take her upstairs to change out of her pyjamas and into day clothes. She hit him, and found herself having a time-out in her crib. But after he retrieved her, she was back to being sweet and adorable.

So, all in all, it was a pretty good start to the day.

I may be the only person I know who can injure themselves making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The new jar of peanut butter has a little ding in its lid. Well, "ding" isn't the right word. It's like the point of a pin was embedded in the metal. There's a teeny little sharp bit. And it was painted over, so I didn't see it. All I knew was my finger suddenly started stinging, after I'd made Penny's sandwich.

(To be precise, it hurt after I'd given her the sandwich and was making my own dinner, which involved vinegar. Ow.)

Speaking of Penny's peanut butter and jelly sandwich...

So I gave her the sandwich. One slice of bread, folded over, because she's only two, and doesn't need a whole sandwich. And some grapes. And she ate about three bites of tomato from my salad, until she got a piece with too much vinegar on it.

It's a good thing I don't mind a little mess.

As usual, Penny did not want to eat her sandwich. She unfolded it and started scraping the peanut butter and jelly off the bread with one finger, licking it off. Every so often, she'd pick up a whole grape and bite off half. She'd put the remaining half back on her tray.

(As a matter of fact, she didn't eat any of the halves until she'd gone through all the whole grapes.)

Anyway, when she eventually couldn't get any more peanut butter or jelly off her bread, she said, "More, please?"

It took some discussion before it was clear to me that she wanted me to put more peanut butter and jelly on the bread. No, she did not want to eat the bread.

I compromised, and put some more peanut butter on her bread. (That's when I finally spotted the damn sharp bit on the peanut butter lid.)

Second time around, I said no, no more. So she grudgingly took exactly two bites of her bread, and declared herself "done!"

Now, what do I do with this? Keep giving her PB&J sandwiches, in the hope that she'll eventually figure them out? Just give her a little bowl of peanut butter with jelly on it, so as not to waste the bread? Just feed her whole nuts for another year?

Sheesh.

So. I'd signed up, a while back, to host a Discovery Toys show/party. The rep begged me to get my guest list to her early, so she could get invitations and stuff out before she went on her summer vacation.

So I did that.

And then I forgot about it.

A day or so ago, I went to Heather in my office, who I'd put on the guest list, and said, "Heather, did you ever get an invitation to my Discovery Toys show?"

Heather said, "No, actually. When is it?"

I couldn't quite remember, but told her I'd get back to her.

Last night, the toy rep called me and said, "I'm so sorry I haven't been in touch, but-" Blah blah blah. She had a good excuse, actually; her vacation had been cut short by a major family emergency and she was only just getting back to town.

She said, "I'm writing up the invitations right now and they'll go out tomorrow!"

I said, "Great. When's the party?" and strolled around the corner to look at the calendar.

"The seventeenth."

I looked at the calendar. "That would be... this Sunday?"

Silence. And then, "Oh my god, I'm didn't realize- I thought there was another week! I will- Um. I'll call everyone, right now..."

Kris's show had tiny - just Elizabeth and I as guests - due to a round of illness hitting the kids of Emma's playgroup. I'm guessing mine will be just as tiny, due to simple lack of planning.

This should be interesting.

--Liz