Natalie has her first ear infection. I'm uber thankful that she made it over 2 years before getting one, but being the over-achiever that she is, her first ear infection is a double ear infection. Poor little bunny.
These pictures were taken last weekend before she turned into a croup-y, mucous-y, fever-y munchkin.
I cornered her in the kitchen and made her smile for the camera before I'd let her leave. Ha!
We had a busy two weeks - a fun trip to the zoo, a Daddy/Daughter Valentine's Dance at church, trips to the park, and just general craziness from living with a whackadoo two-year-old.
She wasn't 100% sold on the zoo at first
But when you've got a daddy like Lee, it doesn't take long
to warm up to a new situation
Team Smith, all looking in different directions. Typical.
Well goodness sakes, you little myna bird. Just when I thought you'd NEVER talk, here comes January! This is the first month where I can't keep track of all the words you know. It seems like you say new words on a daily basis. And somehow, you know just the things to say to make Daddy and me laugh. You especially like to say things like "okay", "oh yeah", "I know", "dude", and "boo-yah". Not surprisingly, 'boo-yah' is one of Daddy's and my favorites. It sounds so cute coming out of your mouth.
Some of your favorite new words are 'please' (peesh/peeze), 'thank you' (tah-koo), 'two', 'three' (fee), 'four', 'five', 'six' (ick), 'eight', 'nine', 'shucks', 'Huckle' [I'm thrilled to see you still like Richard Scarry books] (Huh-cooohl), 'mouse' (mersh), 'pray' (buh-RAYYYYYY), 'amen' (ah-MANG), 'bread' (buh-REDDDDDD), 'Mickey' (MEE-kee), 'Minnie' (mee-ee). You can also name most of the critters on Sesame Street: 'Abby' (Tabby [why you insist on putting a T in front of name is beyond me]), 'Elmo' (Ahmo), Ernie (Uh-nee), Bert (Buh't), 'Oscar' (Ah-cur), 'Big Bird' (Buh'd). For The Count, instead of saying 'count', you say 'ah ah ah'. Just like this: (at the 41 second mark)
You also have names for several people: instead of calling my mom Gramma Lu, Lu, Gramma, Gamma or anything remotely similar, you call her Bob. We're going to work on you calling her Wow since you already call my dad Pep. (How on earth did they come up with those names, you may ask? Their birthdays are 3 days apart, so I had a card for each of them on our kitchen counter. The envelopes were upside down, so Dad looked like Pep and Mom looked like Wow!) You call Aunt Lisa Ita. You call Aunt Karen KK. You call my sweet friends Amanda and Carlie Manda/Manta and Cah-yee, respectively. It's so nice for you to finally call people by something other than WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
You can say all but 3 letters, which makes your alphabet puzzle way more fun. And each letter ends in an explanation point. There's no "A" or "B" in this house, oh no. There's only A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
And you've also started saying 'no'. I suppose we should thank our lucky stars that we made it two years before we heard 'no'. Even though you love to say it, you don't always use it correctly ("Natalie, would you like an apple?" "No." "Okay, no biggie." "Aaah-PUHL!!!") but you have put quite the sassy little attitude behind it. And THAT has to stop. Daddy and I don't mind if you say 'no'. It's a perfectly acceptable word. But when you become Little Miss Sassypants while you say it, that's when we have a problem. You seem to be picking up quickly that if you say it rudely, consequences are swift.
Far and away, your favorite game this month was 'Peee-pohllll' (ie: looking at pictures of people on Facebook). You can't get enough of looking at people's pictures. So thanks, Facebook friends, for providing my munchkin with some entertainment.
Either it's because we turned your crib into a toddler bed or it's because of some strange thing that happens when someone turns two or it's just an unfortunate coincidence, but ever since you moved to your toddler bed, your sleep habits have been off. Before, I couldn't predict ANYthing about how you would react or respond to a particular situation, but I knew, I KNEW, that you would sleep at night. And now? Well, we had a few weeks of you getting up in the middle of the night. And while that might not sound strange for some kids, for you it's weird. You barely get up in the middle night when you're sick, and this month, you seemed to get up just for the sake of getting up. Daddy or I would blearily walk you back to bed and you'd fall back asleep quickly. You're also not sleeping as long at night anymore. You were a consistent 11-to-12-hours-a-night sleeper. And now, you're more towards 10 or 10.5 hours. Again, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But this is a HUGE change for you. Another huge change? Your naps. For a week or so, I was lucky if you slept for 45 minutes. That's outrageous, coming from my child who had been sleeping at LEAST two hours during naptime. You've slowly increased your naptime up to almost 1.5 hours, and while that's not ideal, it's a heckuva lot better than 45 minutes.
I now know why two-year-olds aren't typically sought out for baby-sitting duty. One of your favorite games is putting your babies to sleep. [Side note: you're the proud parent of three babies. You have twin babies who you've named Blue and Pink and one you've named Baby. Blue and Pink are cute, squishy, and smell like baby powder. Baby, on the other hand, has seen better days. You've only had her since Christmas, but this gal looks like she's had a lifetime of hard times. Her once soft, silky hair has turned into this matted, Rastafarian, cave woman-y hot mess. However their outward appearance, you love all three of your babies and require all of them to sleep.] Anyway. Back to Baby Bedtime. This involves bringing every blanket, pillow, stuffed animal, and doll from your room and bringing them all out to the living room. First, you gently and lovingly place your baby dolls on pillows. Then you 'put them to sleep' by piling your blankets on top of them. Then jumping on top of the blankets. Fun for you. Not so fun for your babies buried underneath 12 pounds of bed accessories.
I want you know that I pray for you constantly. I pray for your heart; I pray for your happiness; I pray for my ability to properly mother you; I pray for your future best friends; I pray for your future husband; I pray for your relationship with God. I often wonder what God has in store for a non-spitfire (that would be me) when He blesses me with a rascally spitfire (that would be you). I may feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but He does. So I'm along for the ride. Thanks for coming along with me, sweet girl.
Hugs and smooches, Mommy & Daddy
Headlines for February 1, 2011 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Reports: Mubarak to skip bid for re-election after hearing Obama message
Wall Street skyrockets to 2 1/2-year highs
Media descend on Packers, Steelers
Miranda Lambert tops ACM nominations at 7
Sleeping with pets brings risk of serious disease
Massive Winter Storm Creates Dangerous Conditions from Texas to New England
Team Smith is comprised of a wonderfully wacky and charming fella named Lee and his equally-as-charming but not-wacky-at-ALL wife named Suzanne. The Smithkids are two wonderfully wacky and charming little squirts, Natalie and Charlie.
My two loves, bonding over Mickey Mouse
Some severe tickle time, courtesy of Daddy
