My One Word

This month, K-LOVE has been talking about My One Word. The premise is that instead of making a laundry list of resolutions, think of one word that sums up your hopes for 2011. That's right up my alley; I'm notorious for compiling an impressive list of resolutions only for them to be all but forgotten by March.

People have called into K-LOVE and shared their words. And their words are great - abide, compassion, faith, love, and thankful are just a few.

I was having a hard time coming up with my word. I want it to be powerful, encompassing, and personal. I want it to center on an area of my life that I feel is in need of an overhaul.

A guest pastor came to our church a year or two ago. He said he was asked "If he could sum up Jesus' ministry in one word, what would it be?" His reply? Others.

Once others popped into my mind, I knew it was supposed to be my one word.

So here we go, 2011. Others it is.

Weekly Natalie - Weeks 106 & 107

Sorry, Week 106. I got nothing for ya. But Week 107? You more than make up for it.

You can't tell, but she's drinking from cute cup that says Natalie on it.
Here, she's demonstrating in perfect form that she's not ready
for an un-lidded cup.

Fun at the park

Numbers are AWESOME!

Oh, the joys of throwing sand.

Wanting me to smell her pretty 'flower'

Runs like a girl ...

... but still has some pretty fancy footwork

Seriously. LOVE her.

Weekly Natalie - Week 105

It's been COLD here lately. Florida is the only state in the country without snow (who knew that Hawaii got snow?) but it doesn't mean we're without the blustery weather.

Excited to see an airplane

Ready to pounce!

I love that little moptop of mine

Pausing to remove her sock. That's right - just one sock.
For some reason, she needs to let her left foot be free.

She looks like she's eavesdropping on an important conversation
being held in the coat closet.

Weekly Natalie - Week 104

What better way to spend turning 2 than to go outside and enjoy the downpour?!

Ready, set, go!

Seeing that Daddy just came to the door

She has the BEST cheeks.

Demonstrating her interesting hair styling technique
on her new baby doll

Silliness at Zoolights

2010 - Year End Review

Happy 2nd Birthday, my sweet pumpkin-headed, spitfire, be-pigtailed best girl!

Oh my gosh, I've been reading your monthly recaps from 2010. I can't believe how much you've changed in just a single year. And it's also cool to see how much you've stayed the same. In keeping with last year's recap, I'll now present several Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Things You Love:

1. Airplanes and Helicopters
2. VeggieTales
3. Sesame Street
4. Mickey Mouse/Minnie Mouse
5. Cheese
6. Cookies from Publix
   
7. Playgrounds
8. Bananas
9. Busses
10. Books

Top 10 Things You Hate:

1. Being told 'no'
2. Waiting
3. Sitting still
4. When the credits roll on either VeggieTales or Sesame Street
5. Tacos
6. Loud noises (especially the vacuum)
7. When your stuffed animals or dolls have clothes on
8. Riding in a shopping cart without anything to eat
9. Riding in the car for long periods of time
10. Having a sock and a shoe on your left foot while riding in the car (weird, random, and 100% true)

Top 10 Things You're Good At:

1. Making Daddy and me laugh
2. Running and jumping
3. Eating
4. Sleeping
5. Giving Eskimo kisses
6. Identifying all your letters and most numbers up to 20
7. Counting 1-5 and 10 on your fingers
8. Entertaining yourself with books
9. Making funny faces and noises
10. Climbing stairs

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At:

1. Being patient - I mean really, come on kid, one of these days you've GOT to learn that things don't always happen on your timetable. Pitching a fit because dinner's not ready while I'm physically making you dinner is not helpful. It's not like I'm taking a nap and you want to eat dinner. I'm in the kitchen, cooking your dinner and you're in Nuclear Meltdown Mode.
2. Sitting still - it's like you think I'm going to make you take a nap if you're still for more than 2 seconds. Sitting still is fun. Trust me.
3. Accepting that you're not the boss - Daddy and I are the bosses. Team Smith is a dictatorship. I know that's unfair, but think of this - you get to be the dictator when you have kids. Until then, you're under the authority of Daddy and me.
   
4. Folding clothes - throwing clothes around the living room is NOT folding. Sticking your hands through Daddy's socks and making hand puppets is NOT folding. Climbing in the basket of folded clothes is NOT folding.
5. Mowing the lawn - you might be too short to push the mower, but you're tall enough to reach the phone to call someone to mow our lawn.
6. Being go-with-the-flow - you're not the most content child. Philippians 4:11 is a verse that I hope to teach you and one I hope you'll take to heart.
7. Keeping your books on your bookshelf - you prefer to be able to see every book you own, and what better way to see them than to spread them all over your floor. And many times, you like to take a quick swim through your books.
   
8. Saying certain words - you know a lot of words, but there are some key ones that you should work on, namely 'hi', 'I love you', 'Mommy, you're the best and most beautiful mommy in the wide world'.
9. Sharing - I hope it's normal for a 2-year-old and especially for a 2-year-old who's an only child, but you know nothing of sharing. I imagine you'd rather eat tacos while holding a fully-clothed doll while I run the vacuum than share a toy.
10. New situations - I can totally relate to this because I'm the same way. You're extremely panicky in new environments, you often want to leave immediately, and crowded situations really send you over the edge. I'm not sure how to help you overcome this, but it's something I'm really going to focus on in 2011.

From January 2010 to December 2010, you've gone from someone who hadn't taken her first step to someone who runs in circles. You've gone from someone who said two words to someone who says over 20. You've gone from someone who has 4 teeth to someone who has 12(ish) teeth. You've gone from someone who haaaates baths to someone who loves baths (as long as you're standing up). You've gone from someone who weighed a tad over 20 lbs to someone who weighs at least 30 pounds. You've got from someone who loves food to someone who, well, still loves food. You've gone from someone who didn't know her numbers to someone who, when holding two things, holds up two fingers (and when you hold three things, you hold up three fingers). You've gone from someone who doesn't know her alphabet to someone who knows each letter and knows words that start with each letter. You've gone from someone who slept in a crib to someone who sleeps in a toddler bed. You've gone from someone who didn't know anything about Sesame Street or VeggieTales to someone who loves Elmo and Bob. You've gone from someone who hates being in the church nursery to someone who's all giggles when I pick her up. You've gone from someone who likes books to someone who looooooooves books. You've gone from someone who was awesome and funny to someone who is fantastically awesome and excruciatingly funny. You rock our world.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

December 2010 - Recap

My dearest pumpkin,
So I think you feel you're from England. Or Canada. You pronounce certain words with a thick accent, particularly 'book' and 'boat'. You say 'book' as if you're British and 'boat' as if you're Canadian (don'cha know?). It's enormously entertaining. You've said a lot of new words this month including 'people' (peeeeeeee-pohhhhhhl), 'gobble' (obble gobble), 'buoy' (yes, you say 'buoy'. You don't say 'cheese', 'I love you', or 'hi', but you say 'buoy' ...), 'bike', 'wow', 'I know', 'table' (teeee-bohhhhhhhhhl), 'duck', 'duckie', 'hippo' (heeeep ... [long pause] ... pohhhhhh), 'diaper' (deh-pohhhh), and 'bob' (you're a huge fan of VeggieTales). [FYI: Gramma Lu has considered changing her name to Gramma Book or Gramma Boat or even Gramma Bob since you show no desire to actually say 'Lu'].

You like to play with my hair. You think it's fun to pat it, to scrunch it, to finger-comb it. Perhaps you'll become a hairdresser when you're 40 ... because by that time, you might have picked up on what it means to be gentle. Ouch.

Now that the weather is cooler (yay!), you're wearing long sleeves all the time. Which brings me to your current favorite game: Where's My Hand? You love this game. The rules are simple. I put a long-sleeved shirt on you. You tuck your hand inside your sleeve and get a distressed look on your face. In response, I say, 'Oh no! Your hand is gone! Where'd your hand go?' Your distressed look immediately turns into a delighted look as you poke your hand through. You giggle and I breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of your hand. We play this game about 2,183 times a day. And it never gets old.

You know what you DO think gets old? Clothes on your dolls and stuffed animals. You have a stuffed Corduory bear who should rock his trademark overalls-with-a-missing-button. This, however, is not the case. YOUR Corduory bear is naked. Which defeats the whole PURPOSE of the story of Corduroy. Perhaps it's time for a lesson on how you shouldn't take creative licenses with your teddy bears. Your baby dolls have clothes sewed onto them. And you take that as a personal insult. And you're very distressed that your Cookie Monster toy has a cookie permanently attached to his hand. Maybe you feel that you could do a better job clothing/accessorizing these toys. Maybe you feel that the clothes/accessories stifle the toys' personalities. Maybe you like nakedness. Who knows.

I graduated with my Masters this month. I started it before I got pregnant with every intention of finishing it before Daddy and I had a baby. Obviously God had other plans. I took five semesters off when I had you, and started back in January. Back then, December seemed so far away and I had no idea how I'd manage school and a toddler. But I did it. And I'm so glad I did. I want you to value education. Even though I'm a stay-at-home mom, I don't not value education. And just because I don't work outside of the home doesn't mean this degree was a waste of money. I've always wanted a Masters to fall back on should the need arise. I love being a SAHM, but I'm glad I have this degree in my back pocket in case I need to whip it out.

We took you to Disney World for the first time this month. Daddy and I were planning to wait until you were at least 4 or 5 before we took you to Disney, but some friends of ours happened to be there, had room for us, and are Disney experts. So we decided to go for it! It turned out to be the coldest weather Orlando had seen since the late '80s which made it a little crazy at times, but it was still fun. You love Mickey and Minney. You love Pooh. You love the princesses. You do NOT love, however, waiting in line, sitting still, or being patient. And those three things are requirements at Disney.

I think you're in a growth spurt. Which I hope will taper off soon. Because I simply can't feed you enough. For breakfast, you have oatmeal mixed with half of a banana, a glass of milk, and anywhere from 1 to 4 more pieces of fruit (usually clementines or apples). And you sign for more food. Ridiculous! I really shouldn't complain though. You are a fantastic eater. You're good at trying almost everything. You may not like it, but you usually try it.

You're now in a toddler bed. The first few days and nights were easy-peasy. We put you in bed, you slept. End of story. It didn't take long before you realized that you could get out of bed at will. And you did. For your quiet time, I don't care if you're in bed or not. You can read, play with your toys, sing to yourself, run around your room, whatever floats your boat. For naptime, however, Daddy and I have decided that you have to stay in bed. We tossed around different ideas for you, such as not caring if you slept during naptime or not. But we decided that for the sanity of this house, you need a nap. Several times, you've gotten out of your bed during naptime and started playing with your toys. I quickly put you back in bed a la Super Nanny and leave the room. Usually I only have to put you back in bed once or twice. But Christmas Day? Oh my GOSH. I didn't keep count, but it had to be upwards of 50 times. And you were MAD. I stood outside your door on the other side of the baby gate and waited for you to open the door and holler for someone to get you. You'd see me standing there and get even madder. Thankfully I was in the kind of mood to where it was almost funny, how determined you were to out-stubborn me. Let me tell you something, little love. I will NOT be out-stubborn'd by a toddler. A saying I've adopted over the past few months is "I do not negotiate with terrorists!" And at times, you're a little toddler terrorist. A cute little toddler terrorist. But a toddler terrorist nonetheless. And I mean that with all the love in my heart.

And since you've been born, the love in my heart has grown exponentially. We'll talk about what 'exponentially' means next year.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for January 1, 2011:

• World Welcomes 2011; Million in Times Square
• US dollar seen rising in 2011 after rough 2010
• 6 Dead in Rare New Year's Eve Twister Outbreak
• Brazil to swear in 'Iron Lady' as first woman president
• Lindsay and Mel top worst moments
• Oprah's network announces host contestants
• Christmas trees bum non-Christians out, study shows

Weekly Natalie - Weeks 102 & 103

Merry Christmas from Team Smith!

I love her hairbow-that-looks-like-a-Christmas-package-bow

Giving her baby doll an Eskimo kiss. Adorable, no?

Airplane spoon!!

Checking out her new airplane calendar

Checking out her Sesame Street dollhouse

I better get used to this look

Showing us her teeth

My best girl in the wide world

Right after sneaking up on us :)

Weekly Natalie - Week 101

What a crazy 101st week! On Saturday, I graduated with my Masters in Instructional Technology (NOT in Google, as Lee likes to tell people). Right after the ceremony, we drove home, picked up Nat, and drove to Tallahassee to have dinner with family. The next morning we drove to Disney World for a mini-vacation. Little did we know that we'd be going to Orlando during the coldest weather they've had since the late 80s. I'm all about cold weather, but 30 degrees with 15-20mph winds was a little intense.

We think Nat was a little too young to really 'get' Disney, but we all had a great time. I think next time we'll try the Animal Kingdom. I think the giraffes would get a kick out of Nat's giraffe impression. Ditto for the elephants.

Me and my love after graduation

Nat was SO excited to see Pooh and Tigger.

She also loved seeing Mickey and Minnie but REALLY didn't
want to get her picture taken. It was taking time away from
her 'try to grab Minnie's bow' game.

My sweet little family

Weekly Natalie - Week 100

I love how silly Natalie's gotten recently (I mean, she's always been silly, but the toddler silliness is over-the-top). It's great.

Thinking how she wants to 'help' me fold the laundry.

"I see you, Mommy!"

"Oooooh!"

Holding up her sheep PJs and saying "Baa"

The Sesame Street Sticker Pox have infected the Smith house

Seeing a sticker of Elmo

My sticker-y cheeseball

Weekly Natalie - Weeks 98 & 99

You would think that posting pictures once a week wouldn't be hard. Yes, you would think.

Natalie and I were playing outside when she jumped out from
behind that bush to surprise me. I love her.

My little love

HA! Lee's boots come up past her knees.

So excited to see the Christmas tree!

I love my little cheeseball.

Smiling at Daddy through the tree

I see you, Daddy!

Showing us how she's not touching the tree
(riiiiiiiight)

November 2010 - Recap

Oh my sweet chatterbox. You've doubled your vocabulary this month. Here are your new words: nana (this is what you call Daddy's mom and also what you call bananas - thankfully Nana doesn't mind being equal with a banana), ball, apple (ahh-puhllllll), me, mall (mawwwwww), yummy (ah-mee ah-mee), bus (bahssssssssssss), and puppy (buppy). I have no idea how you're picking what words to start saying. To Daddy and me, it's a random hodge podge of words. But I'm sure to you, it makes all the sense in the world.

(Now that you've doubled your vocabulary, how's about working on doubling your tooth count. Seriously. I'm beginning to doubt that you even HAVE baby teeth.)

You don't like to share. And you are highly protective of things that aren't even yours, especially playground equipment. You think that anything you've ever played with, touched, looked at, and/or thought about is automatically yours. And you get insulted when someone else encroaches on your territory. You point accusingly at the offender and look at me as if you expect me to handle it. Like "Um, Mom? That boy over there? Yeah, he's on the big kid swing. I can't swing on the big kid swing, but that doesn't matter. Everything in this playground is mine, and THAT boy is on one of the swings. Tell him to go home. Now."

We've spent countless hours in front of your Magna Doodle, drawing letters, shapes, and numbers. But numbers have been your favorite this month. (I don't want it to sound like I *make* you sit down and learn your numbers - we have 0% structure when we play, but you love to learn, and I'm more than happy to oblige.) You can identify pretty much every number through 20. But instead of pointing to the '9' when I ask, you turn the Magna Doodle upside down and point to the 6. You think it's hee-larious that a 6 is an upside-down 9. Have I mentioned that you're weird?

One day, you were trying to pick up two mini-basketballs at the same time (note: it didn't work). I asked you how many balls there were and you proudly held up two fingers. You let me have one of the balls and I asked how many balls you now had. And you held up one finger. Yes, it's probably a fluke. But I like to tell myself that you totally understand subtraction.

When I get you in the morning, I recently started asking you if you had sweet dreams. This prompts you to launch into a stream of various animal sounds, pointing to body parts, and holding up random fingers. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: Hi pumpkin! Did you have a good sleep? Did you have sweet dreams?
You: *horse noise*
Me: You dreamed about horses? That sounds exciting!! (In reality, that sounds terrifying - have I told you about my crazy fear of horses?)
You: *hippo face*
Me: Horses AND hippos? Wow! How fun!
You: *points to your ear*
Me: Horses and hippos and ears? Really?!
You: *fish face*
Me: Horses and hippos and ears and fish? Holy moly!
You: *holds up 1 finger*
Me: Horses and hippos and ears and fish and one? That sounds like a crazy dream!
You: *sounding out the letter B*
Me: Horses and hippos and ears and fish and one and the letter B? Dude. That's wild.
*I can practically see your wheels turning as you try to come up with another thing to add to the dream. It's hysterical*

We put up the Christmas tree this month, and I have to admit, I was really nervous as to how you'd handle it. Last year, you showed no interest in it. Granted, last year, you were hardly mobile and easily persuaded to play with other things. This year? Not so much. We might regret this decision, but we decided to decorate the tree with regular (ie: breakable) ornaments. And so far, you've done really well. Granted, we've had to tell you 14 gajillion times to be gentle, but so far, so good. As soon as the tree was set up, you pulled one of your chairs over to the tree, sat down, and started petting the tree. It was so, so cute. Daddy tried to tell you to keep your hands folded when you come up to the tree, so you can learn to look with your eyes, not with your hands. Well you, Miss Literal, upon hearing that, tried to touch your eye to the tree. So much for that lesson.

I love watching you put together your alphabet puzzle. First of all, you can put it together really fast. Granted, you've put it together 4,912 times, so you SHOULD be fast, but still. Second, you make a sound or say a word for almost each letter.

• A: ahh-PUHL (apple) or you clap your hands together (like an aligator) or you point to the sky (airplane)
• B: buh (sounding out the letter) or beebee (baby) or bah-bohl (bubble) or you lift up your shirt (belly)
• C: cuh (sounding out the letter) or you say cooooooo-kie (still said in the Cookie Monster voice)
• D: Dah-DEEEEEEEE (Daddy)
• E: you raise an arm up and make a burrrrrr sound (elephant)
• F: you make a fish face
• G: guh (sounding out the letter)
• H: you make a blubbering sound (horse) or you give us a hug
• I: you point to your eye (I can already see the meltdown that'll come when you find out that 'eye' starts with an E)
• J: you stand up and jump
• K: kuh (sounding out the letter) or you stand up and jump (kangaroo) or you kiss me or you run away because you know I want you to kiss me
• L: ruh (trying to sound out the letter)
• M: Mom-MEEEEEEEEEE (Mommy) or you point to your mouth
• N: you point to yourself or you point to your nose
• O: ohhhh-yeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhhh (that one's my favorite)
• P: puh (sounding out the letter)
• Q: cuh (sounding out the letter)
• R: ruh (sounding out the letter)
• S: ssssssssss (either making the S sound or being a snake) or you break into a huge smile
• T: tuh (sounding out the letter) or you point to your toes or you point to your teeth or you point to your tongue
• U: --
• V: --
• W: wuh (sounding out the letter)
• X: --
• Y: (You get very excited when you get to this letter - it was missing for a few months and when Daddy found it, it was like he had given you a million dollars [or, in terms of your currency, a million crackers])
• Z: --

And you like taking one of the puzzle pieces and finding that same letter in your letter magnets. When you find a matching pair, you squeal and come racing towards me, so proud of yourself.

You fell out of your crib for the first time this month. You were in your crib for quiet time (which, by the way, has really worked out well for both of us. Each morning, I put you back in your crib with a stack of books so we can both have quiet time. You do your Natalie Noise during quiet time, so it's not technically *quiet*, but it still lets me get dressed and get ready for the day by myself). Anyway, so I hear you making your Natalie Noise. Then I hear a loud CRASH and think "Oh my gosh, this can't be good". You immediately start wailing - and I can tell it's not a "Hey, get me out of here! I hate Quiet Time!" cry. No, this is an "OWWWWWWWWWW!" cry. I run into your room and there you are. Sitting on the floor between your crib and your bookshelf. It's a miracle that you didn't crack your head on the bookshelf. You were terrified - I knew something was wrong when you snuggled with me for 10 minutes. I think that fall has kept you from trying to climb out again, but Daddy and I are going to convert your crib to a toddler bed.

So there goes my attempt at keeping you in your crib until you were 7. Bummer.

You blow my mind, sweet girl. With your creativity, your curiosity, your opinions, your sense of humor, your insatiable appetite for anything carbohydrate. I love being your mom. I love being there for all the new things you learn. I love hanging out with you. Thanks for not yet thinking I'm too lame to hang out with.

Hugs & smooches,
Mommy and Daddy


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Headlines for 12/1/10:

• 2 million to lose jobless benefits as holidays loom
• State Dept.'s best sources burned by WikiLeaks flame
• Remembering the comic genius of Leslie Nielsen
• Dad charged with kidnapping 3 missing sons
• Is Mariah Carey having twins?
• Heart Attack Grill serves ‘quadruple bypass burgers’

Weekly Natalie - Week 97

We spent last Sunday in Mobile with our cousins and their daughter. It was so nice to catch up - despite only living an hour away, we don't see each other nearly enough. Unfortunately, Nat was in a full-fledged I-don't-want-to-share-or-play-nicely-or-be-sweet-or-do-anything-except-grouse-and-whine mood until the last hour, but I did manage to snag a smile from her while we were playing outside. She loved that Crazy Coupe!

Weekly Natalie - Week 96

One day late - but it was for good reason. Lee had off yesterday for Veteran's Day and we spent the day hanging out as a family. It was wonderful. We went to the park, got some books and DVDs from Family Bookstore, got some lunch, and took naps. Perfection, I tell ya.

Smooshy cheeks, sweet smile, and my missing hand towel!

Reeeeeeeeeach!

Enthralled with watching Daddy

"Hey, it's my turn!"

Getting schooled by Daddy