Too much Stevie Wonder?

Banana-pants!

Natalie loves to watch Dora the Explorer. In one of the episodes, the characters have to say a funny word to get some turkeys to laugh so they can get past them. The silly word is banana-pants.

Natalie has caught on to that one. She'll say it out of the blue, just to make us laugh. And she says it with such conviction - baNANA-pants! It's hilarious.

...

The other night, I was putting Natalie to bed. We were cuddling while her bedtime music was on, and I took the opportunity to tell her that I love her:
Me: I love you very much
Natalie: I love you too
Me (whispering): I love you too
Natalie (whispering): Love you too
Me (still whispering): Love you too
Natalie (whispering, as if she was telling me a great secret): Banana-pants!

My favorite mis-pronounciations and silly words

Back in June, I posted a list of Natalie's words. Well, the list grew longer and longer, and by now she's mostly talking in full sentences. Most words are easily understood, but there are still a few words that are kind of her own. Here are some of my favorites (and their actual meaning):


Mimick - Music (or, a month or two ago, this also meant Christmas)
Beh-lue - Blue
Babh - Bath
Booh-loon - Balloon
Gare - Square
Gip - Crib
Tjair - Share
NaLalie - Natalie

And then, there are a few expressions that just sort of happened:

Silly-juice - Cranberry juice
Beep-beep - Canned whipped cream
Doodle-loodle-loo - What the elephant says

Shadows on the wall

A few nights ago, I was changing Natalie on her changing table. She noticed my shadow on the wall and wanted it to go away. So I showed her that it was just my shadow, and then I showed her how to make shadow animals. First, I made the traditional bunny. Natalie seemed interested, so I made a flying bird. Now, these two are the only ones I actually know how to make - that is really the limit of my shadow-animal-making-capabilities. But then, Natalie said "Make lion!" Hmm, anyone know how to do that?

I actually succeded in making something that with a little imagination could pass for a lion. Of course, I thought it looked more like a reindeer, but Natalie insisted "No, that not be reindeer, that be lion!"

The daughter of a geek?

When we go swimming, there's a little play area outside the lockerroom where Natalie usually get's to play for a little while after class. Last time, there was a boy from her class that was playing there too, and of course his mom was hanging around watching him.

There is a little bookshelf full of books, and Natalie went over and picked one out. I sat on the floor, and she sat with me while we read the book. It was a book about insects. Not a board book, but a real "big girl book" with lots of real pages. We looked at all the pictures of bumblebees, beetles, ladybugs, butterflies, and all the other pretty creepy-crawlies in the book. Then, Natalie got up to put the book back and get another one. The other mom looked at me in surprise: "Did you read that whole book?" "Yeah, we did, well, at least sort of", I replied.

The next book Natalie picked was called "How the universe works". I could see the other mom kinda looking weird at us, but why not? The book had lots of pictures of planets, rocks, and showed different experiments you could do to learn stuff. Then Natalie saw a picture of Mr. Newton. Natalie pointed and said "Cool dude!". I told her "Yes, that's a very cool dude. His name was Newton. He made and experiment with apples, and that's how he discovered gravity..."

Just then, I looked over at the other mom. The expression on her face was priceless! I guess not all two-year-olds reads books about Newton. But, oh well, Natalie and I had a great time. That's the beauty of being the daughter of a geek!

Portrait time

Last weekend, I hooked the camera up to the computer and discovered that I had only taken 24 pictures of Natalie this month! That's less than two a day! That's a new "low" for me.

So after naptime, out came the camera. Most pictures looked like this - I guess that's what I get for trying to take pictures while "Dora the Explorer" is on: I wonder if she's trying to do the Star Trek greeting...

" Look, Dora, There's the flashlight!"

Then, of course, there were the funny ones:

"Snap one more picture, and you're dead meat!"

But a few of them turned out to my liking: Not exactly a smile, but just look at those gorgeous eyes...

And a few bonus-pictures, taken after Dora was done: Natalie making funny faces...

" It's hard work to be a photo-model - I think I'll take a nap right here!"

Silly duck part two

Ever since the Silly Duck conversation, Natalie has often referred to herself as a silly duck. A few days ago, Natalie got into our pre-packed swim-bags. Among other things, she pulled out her duckie-towel. Of course, she wanted it on right away: Like Superman with his cape, here's Natalie Silly Duck!

Ready to go outside

Last weekend, we went outside to play in the snow. We made a snowman, and on Natalie's request, we also made a snow-polarbear. I wish I'd taken a picture of the result - it actually did look a little like a polarbear if I can say so myself, even though Karsten called it a polar-dog...

Anyway, later in the day, Natalie was playing with her doll, and she wanted the doll to go outside. So of course, the doll needed a hat, mittens, jacket, snowpants, boots, and socks (yes, they are inside the boots):

Poor little doll, looks like it's kinda drowning in all the warm winterclothes!

Like a kid in toyland

This is how we like to spend our time on the weekends:

The pretty dress

Natalie went to a birthday party recently. It was perfect timing, she finally fit her pretty dress she got a while ago: Pretty as a princess!

More Monsters!

Here's another picture from Grandma. As you can see, we are a whole family of monsters. Just like we had the Grandma-monster, here's the Mommy-monster and the Natalie-monster:

Pictures from Grandma

We got a bunch of pictures from Grandma the other day (thanks, Grandma). It is nice to have some pictures with all of us in them. See, we are actually a whole family of three:

Making a pretty drawing with Natalie's crayons and markers...

Cheering Natalie on as she's doing her puzzle...

And of course, reading books together!

And here's a bonus picture from the Christmas parade, just because it's such a fun one!

Edible necklace

We did edible artwork the other day - edible being the key word. Natalie was stringing fruitloops and cheerios onto a licorice rope: It was supposed to turn into a necklace, but this is about as far as it got:

And why not, after all it's all about having fun, no matter if the end result is a necklace around your neck or a bunch of licorice in your tummy!