But Whatever Happened to Penny Knocknutter?
That little baby is four years old today. I went to my archives to hunt up an appropriately melty photo (how’d I do?), and I found this post that made me laugh—because it is such a perfect snapshot of then, when I was wrapping my head around having five kids eleven-and-under, and because it pretty accurately depicts our now, too. I mean, sure, now there’s a teenager at one end and a fifteen-month-old force of destruction at the other, and sure, we’re living clear on the other side of the country, and sure, the range of conversational topics has expanded to include everything from politics to artisan breadmaking to the moral codes of Warriors cat clans, but the general tone of things? About the same. I’m still in over my head, slightly dizzy, and endlessly amused.
Party of Five, April 2006
Rose: “Mom, how do you spell Latin?”
Jane, looking up from Sunflower Houses
: “Mom, look at this! It’s a bunch of riddles about flowers…hmm, ‘The name of a boy and an old-fashioned weapon…’ ”
Beanie: “Did you know O has a brother?”
Rose: “How do you spell Japanese?”
Beanie: “The brother of O is Q!”
Jane: ” ‘A state in the South and a one-year-old child…’ Virginia creeper!”
Rose: “How do you spell Gaelic?”
Wonderboy: “Mommy help!” (points at stacking cup under table)
Rose: “How do you spell Chinese?”
Jane: “Do you say PEEanee or peOHnee?”
Beanie: “Peony peony peony! I like that name.”
Rose: “How do you spell German?”
Wonderboy: “Mommy help!” (different cup, now under couch)
Baby: “Meep.”
Jane: ” ‘The child of a suffragette known in our land…’ I know about the suffragettes but I don’t know their children’s names.”
Beanie: (sings) “Oh we were sufferin’…until suff-er-age…not a woman here could vote no matter what age…”
Rose: “How do you spell Irish?”
Beanie: “Until the nineteenth a-somethin’ struck down that ra-structive rule….oh yeah!”
Jane: “Amendment.”
Wonderboy: “Mommy count!” (All stacking cups are now lined up in a row.)
Jane: ” ‘A pleasant expression, and one sharp-edged tool…’ The only thing left is smilax, which fits, but what is it?”
Wonderboy: “Ee! Oh! Eye!” (This is how one counts sans consonants.)
Beanie: “Peony. Penny. Penny Knocknutter. When I have a child I’m going to name her Penny Knocknutter.”
Baby: (noisily fills diaper)
Rose: “How do you spell…oh, no, wait, I know that one. G—R—E—E—K.”
Wonderboy: “Boom!”
(Intersperse responses from slightly dizzy mother as appropriate.)
Christine M says:
Happy Birthday to your little four-year-old. What a delightful age. And thanks for sharing snippets of your life with us!
On April 14, 2010 at 7:55 am
Penny in VT says:
That.is.hilarious. 🙂
(and a very, very Happy Birthday to Rilla!
On April 14, 2010 at 9:09 am
mamacrow says:
OMG. that’s my morning. every morning. No wonder I’m bushed by lunch time! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the birthday Girl!
On April 14, 2010 at 11:07 am
Alice Gunther says:
Great post, great look back, beautiful girl! Happy birthday, Kelly!
On April 14, 2010 at 12:04 pm
sarah says:
Lol! And happy birthday to Rilla. Four is such a great big important age.
Your clan is so hilarious, how can you restrain yourself from writing a book about them?
On April 14, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Margie Outten says:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Describes my day, just fewer kids!
On April 14, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Mamalion says:
Welcome to my life.
I get the 8 am, “Mom, what’s s*x?” “Mom, I figured out that energy moves at 1 inch per second. Is that right? I used the D=RxT equation.” “Mom, if you jumped over the International Dateline, then jumped right back, at midnight, would you lose a whole day of your life?” (Thanks, Mystery Class for that!) Then it’s also the typical “Mom, I don’t have any clean jeans!” “Mom, we’re out of milk and bread!” And don’t forget the phone, the doorbell, and the dog all going off at once….
Calgon, take me away. Who was it that said parenting many kids is like being pecked to death by chicks?
On April 14, 2010 at 12:44 pm
kimberlee says:
Happy Birthday sweet Rilla! (I still have four more days with my three year old.)
On April 14, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Sandy says:
LOL! Like so many days at my house. Blessings to the birthday child.
On April 15, 2010 at 12:12 pm