Weekly Natalie - Week 85

Woo hoo - a Weekly Natalie actually published on a Thursday!

My best girl in the wide world

Posing while snacking

Such a pumpkin!

My little love

Okay, so she still hates baths. Like for REAL hates baths.
But my smart husband suggested bringing bubbles into the bathtub
to make it more tolerable. She loved it! Until, of course, it was time
to rinse off. I'll withhold those pictures. You're welcome.

Oooh bubbles!!

Blowing actual bubbles instead of licking the wand

Sitting on my belly reading The Little Engine that Could.
(side note: She is NOT light as a feather ... ugh ....)

Doing her made-up sign for milk (for the milk bottles
on the page in the picture above)

Apparently I make an awesome jungle gym

My mom did this move with my sister and me when we
were little. We call it Flying Angel. I love that Nat's
big enough for me to do it!

Flying Nattie!

Weekly Natalie - Week 82, 83, 84

No, I couldn't be any more of a blog slacker if I tried.

Okay, after this week I'm getting back into a more normal routine. Finals, several quick out-of-town trips, and just general craziness supplied by my kid have been going on the past weeks. But the hectic pace of my summer classes are over (and I got two As - woo to tha hoo!). So I can finally take a breath.

And while I'm enjoying taking deep breaths again, here's a semi-recent picture of my pumpkin head.


Side note: someone recently told me that she was impressed with how advanced Natalie was. She went on and on about how she was walking and running so well, listening to me so well (ha!), and following directions so well. I thought that was really nice of her to say! And then she says "Your daughter's, what? 12 or 13 months old?" Ahh, there we go. I suppose that yes, she would be an advanced 12- or 13-month-old if she was doing then what she's doing now. When I told the woman that Natalie was actually 19 months, her jaw dropped. She commented on Nat's baby face and how she would have never guessed she was that old.

I didn't realize it, but now that I think about it, yes, Natalie's plagued with a baby face just like her momma. The only reason I don't get mistaken for a 12-year-old is that there aren't many 12-year-olds who are six feet tall.

July 2010 - Recap

You, my 19-month-old gappy-toothed pumpkin, are a nut. A silly and playful nut. A silly and playful and opinionated nut. Who still hates baths.

You learned a new word this month - cookie. I admit, it's a good word to know. But when you say 'cookie', you don't mean the tasty treat. You mean Cookie Monster. And you don't say it like a normal word. You say it in this silly, guttural, raspy voice. It way awesome. Of course, it would be nice if you would say some more normal words, like, you know, "hi", "thank you", or "my mom is the best mom ever in this history of the world". But hey. Beggars can't be choosers.

You also learned a new word-sound this month - cracker. Except you don't say it like 'cracker'. You say it like 'daaa-und'. It sounds nothing like 'cracker', but it's what you say when you want a cracker. And you were quite the Cracker Monster this month, so I heard a lot of 'daaa-und's.

Daddy loves for you to give him fives. You're an expert at 'up high', but sadly, you're too slow for the 'down low's. Daddy proudly proclaims you're 'too slow' when he pulls his back from yours. And you think that's the funniest thing ever. After he pulls his hand back, you use both of your hands to grab his other hand and give it a few good smacks.

You've always loved shoes - it was your first non-Momma and non-Dada word! But this month, you've really started to like mine and Daddy's shoes. You periodically disappear from the living room only to reappear holding a pair of Daddy's shoes. Or wearing a pair of mine. Or holding a pair of yours while wearing one of mine. You've got some incredible balance and coordination. You're able to wear my shoes (even on the wrong feet) and make it pretty far. While I, on the other hand, wear my shoes on the correct feet and somehow manage to trip over air. And if Daddy's shoes were lighter (boy shoes are so heavy!), you'd probably get pretty far in them, too. I'm sure this is normal for someone your age, but I'm amazed at how I can say "Nat - go to your room and bring me your shoes, please", and you do it! You understand what I say! But maybe it's because my request included something you love. Maybe if I said "Nat - go to your room and bring me the green beans, please", you wouldn't do it. (Not that I keep green beans in your room though ...)

This month was the first month that you've shown an interest in specific letters. You've loved reading and being read to for a long time, and you love your magnetic letters, but you never really seemed interested in words themselves. You just liked the pictures and hearing us read the story. But now, you point to individual letters - on EVERYthing! On our shirts, on books, on food labels, on your toys, etc. And you don't like pointing to letters in order, and you seem to prefer pointing to letters in random fashion from right to left. Which is right for Arabic, but wrong for English. It's a little distracting to read a story and have to stop every second to identify a certain letter. You won't even let me sing the chorus of Snuggle Puppy (your go-to-sleep book) anymore. The letters on the chorus page are big and colorful, and you
want to point to each one. Despite the interruptions, it's so cool to see this whole new world of letters open up to you.

You've also gotten good at matching. If we're reading a book that has a penguin in it, you'll point to it, I'll tell you what it is, you turn around and point (I'm assuming you're saying something like "Like my penguin toy?"), I'll say "Yep, like your penguin toy", then you'll run off and get your stuffed penguin. As simple as this sounds, it amazes me. That you understand that the picture on the page is the same animal as one of your toys. Or there will be a picture of a fire truck in one book. Then you'll run off and get another book that also has a fire truck in it. It's so COOL.

I don't let you watch much TV. I've really tried hard to make sure you know how to entertain yourself without sitting in front of a TV. And you've done a pretty good job so far. But I admit that I've caved ... and I let you watch Sesame Street. You don't have the attention span to watch a whole episode without multitasking, though. You usually watch the first segment uninterrupted, but after that you start playing with your toys, occasionally glancing at the TV to make sure that all is right on the Street. You get so excited when the theme song starts (and, oh yeah, you bigwigs at Sesame Street? The new theme song? Um, it kind of stinks. Bring back the old one.) and you start jumping up and down. Every time a character comes on the screen, you point and say "Dis?" and I tell you who it is. Except there are some new characters on the Street since I last watched it, and I have no clue who they are ... so our conversations go like this: "Dis?" "That's Ernie!" "Dis?" "That's Big Bird!" "Dis?" "Um ... that's Pete, the Green Fuzzy Guy". Yep, I'm that mom. I'm the lying mom. And you, sweet pumpkin, are none the wiser. Score for me.

You had your 18-month well-baby checkup this month. And you're holding steady in the 70th percentile for height and weight. And you're topping the charts in the 99th percentile for head circumference. This makes your big-headed daddy so proud.

I can't begin to tell you how much Daddy and I love you. Just today, all three of us were playing on our bed, and Daddy and I asked each other what on EARTH we did on Sunday afternoons before you came along. We couldn't come up with an answer. Maybe it's because parenting has destroyed our long-term memory. Or maybe it's because two nanoseconds after we asked the question, you bellyflopped onto both of us and disolved into a fit of belly laughs. So what we did before you come along? Yeah, it doesn't matter.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for August 1, 2010

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• Floods ravage valley once held by Taliban
• Army keeping traumatized soldiers in combat
• 2 months later, where is Kyron Horman?