Peanut

Peanut turned six years old recently. Peanut was born on the same day as her Great Grandma T. She also shares her birthday with her cousin Spencer who is one year younger than her. Peanut was born 2 weeks early and weighed 6lbs. 8 oz. she was quite small and has stayed that way. When she was born she was in a hurry. Her Dad had left to go home and take a shower as the nurse reassured him that she would not be born for a few more hours. I called Mr. Smiley in a panic just after he got home that he better get back to the hospital because Peanut wasn't going to wait any longer. Mr. Smiley arrived at the hospital just in time to be there to meet her.

Peanut got her name after much thought from Mr. Smiley and I. We couldn't decide on a name so we narrowed it down to 3 or 4 and asked our niece Samantha what she thought we should name her. She suggested Peanut - which ironically was one of the names that we had been contemplating. So with Samantha's help, we gave her the name of Peanut. Now we did not give Peanut a middle name but this past year she had decided that she would like to have a middle name. She now is known as Peanut J. She picked it herself and if you ask her what her middle name is she will tell you "J".

Peanut was the easiest baby that we have ever had. She never cried and she always slept through the night and still is our best sleeper. Peanut has always been good tempered. She was very mellow as a baby and very patient. Now she is full of energy and has an incredible imagination. I could write a book about the adventures of Peanut. Maybe one day I will. I think it would be a best seller.

My fondest memories of Peanut's childhood will include her messes, her funny faces, her imagination and her laughter. She always has fun. Who could forget her imaginary friend "John". John was with us for a couple years. He was Jon punkin eater, John The Tide and Superhero John (who thought he could fly). Sometimes Callie would be John. One day we were out shopping when an old man came up to her and said," What a cute little girl." Peanut quickly replied, "My name is John, I am not a girl , I am only dressed like one today." With that we went on our way.

Peanut would play for hours with John until one day he died. She said he was going to be "resrected" soon. She took John to church before he died and Frowski (Sis. Frankowski) didn't really appreciate it. Callie got upset when Frowski wouldn't give John a snack and to make matters worse someone sat on him. Sis Weaver asked where John was from Peanut replied, "Texas".

John The Tide would tie Peanut up with an imaginary rope which she could not get undone without help. She would lay there on the floor with her hands behind her back because she absolutely could not get herself untied. After 20 minutes or so, I would come and rescue her.

After John died, Peanut was Flip Flop, a mermaid, who would only swim. A few weeks later, Peanut turned into a gorilla. She would walk on her hands and wrists just like a gorilla. It was quite embarrassing at church as we could not get her to walk like a human because she was a gorilla.

After a couple of months, Peanut turned into a penguin - but not just any penguin - she was Scamper. She walked like a penguin and even had to eat fish because that is what penguins eat. She was taking gymnastics at the time but I had to take her out because penguins cannot do somersaults or cartwheels. Penguins can only do the log roll.
Peanut also went through a phase where she would disassociate her body parts. Let me explain. One day Peanut was playing play dough and she turned to me and said, "Mom, my hand just put play dough in my ear." She then told her hand not to do that again and slapped it. A couple of minutes later she said,"OH NO, my hand did it again." I quickly told Peanut not to put play dough in her ear. She replied, "I didn't do it, my hand did it."

One Sunday at church, Peanut grabbed Frowski's arm and jiggled it and said, "Boy your soft." Then she had all the kids line up and try it. Poor Sis Frankowski. Another Sunday, they were all choosing a favorite animal to imitate - Peanut chose a stink bug and proceeded to walk around the room with her rear end up in the air.

Peanut is a very bright child. At her recent Kindergarten assessment. She turned to her teacher and said,"You know Ms. Rowley, I am really really smart." The truth is she is really smart. The hard part is that she knows it. We like to give our kids choices usually two choices which either one would make Mom or Dad very happy. Choices like - Do you want to eat the carrots? or Do you want to eat the broccoli? Peanut informed us that she doesn't like any more choices. She is smart enough to know that both choices would make mom or dad happy but not her.

Peanut has never been one to want to eat her veggies. She thinks that squash is too stringy, and carrots will make her puke. She used to say that water is for Dogs and for Petunia but milk is good for Peanut.

Peanut learned sign language when she was a few months old. She told her first joke when she was about one year old. She turned to me in her high chair and signed "Cat" "Eat" "Bird" - then she started laughing uncontrollably.

Peanut loves bugs, reptiles, and all animals. One afternoon I heard a horrific chirping sound. A few moments later, Petunia came inside to tell me Peanut had caught a chipmunk. I went to investigate and low and behold Peanut had cornered a chipmunk. The only bad run in we have had thus far with her love for the creepy crawlies is when she got caterpillar hairs stuck in her throat. The poor kid was miserable for weeks.

Peanut loves to color - recently she turned Farmer into the green monster.
Peanut is the bright spot in our family. She is the one that can make everyone laugh. We love having Peanut in our family. I can't imagine our home without her messes, her funny faces, her imagination and her laughter. I hope she never changes.