our dear Penny is two

 

Sweetest Penny is two! The mother of cliches– these two years have flown by, in part to the countless hours of physical therapy. We had a beautiful morning filled with simple celebration. In the past year we’ve toned down the scale of our celebrations, mostly because I am finding myself so overwhelmed by large parties. I’m drawn more and more to the idea and concept of simple gatherings. I deeply desire that our children find joy and meaning in simple joys. There’s a time and place for marvelously large celebrations, and we’re loving our more intimate gatherings these days as well.

I feel like we are still developing our traditions around here, and I’ve been feeling more called into crafting events that are deeper in meaning and intention. One of our favorite things to do for birthdays are a donut breakfast, and for Penny’s birthday I really was motivated to make homemade donuts. Well, while the flavor was good I feel like they got a little brown too quickly for my tastes, but no one complained and things don’t need to be perfect to feel special and memorable. I topped them with a strawberry glaze from when we went berry picking back in June!

New this year is a little celebration ring to mark another year around the sun and give opportunity to talk about what has happened in this last year of their life. I love that this is memory focus not gift centric. I did a deep dive on these Waldorf celebration rings, and they come out of German birthday tradition and are called Geburtstagskranz. Seth and I both have significant German ancestry so this felt like a great idea to embrace.

The Geburtstagskranz is usually decorated with flowers, small ornaments, and then candles denoting the child’s age. I’m even thinking we could incorporate this into our Advent traditions— you know how I am always thinking about Liturgical Living!

The largest, most tender update is that on the eve of her birthday, Penny took her first unassisted steps into the arms of her big sister. This has been a massive goal of ours since learning about Penny’s Hypotonia a little over a year ago. She has worked so hard to get to this point. It was a really beautiful, spirit-filled moment. Seth and I both have been praying and hoping that Penny would walk by her second birthday. So often God’s timing is outside of ours, but once in a while He really meets us generously in our desires and dreams. We are so grateful to Him and the many therapists who have loved and encouraged Penny throughout the year (Sara, Anne, Kara, and Jackie). I thought I was taking video of it, but it turns out I wasn’t pressing the record button properly, lol. I’m so grateful to have witnessed it, and it will be a moment that lives in my heart forever. Penny and Cilla have such a special bond. I love that even with a “large” age gap between them, that they’re so close. We’re truly feeling grateful over here. What a gift and blessing Penny is!

Penny you are such a joyful, comedic, good natured, and curious little girl. We love that you are part of our family, and I’ll never forget taking photos of you on the first morning of your life totally in awe of your beauty–

Penny day one:

Penny at one: