Reflections

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of my own words and actions reflected in Natalie. It is sometimes quite eerie, how she copies my behaviors.

Mostly, it's little sayings I didn't even know I used until I hear them repeated. The other day, I was insisting that she wore socks and then shoes, not shoes and then socks, and she was mad at me. All why crying very loudly, she kept saying "No, Mommy, No. That is not acceptable!" I was trying not to smile too much, because 1) it sounded really cute, especially how she pronounced ap-cip-table, and 2) she was trying to show independence, and 3) at least she wasn't repeating any swear-words...

Other sayings she's quite fond of include "We will see", which I recently realized I use when I don't quite want to promise her something but there is a good chance it will happen (like when she's telling me on the way home in the car that she wants chocolate milk for dinner).

She also likes "That could be", which is one of my standard responses when she tells me something important, like where the airplane we just saw in the sky was flying to (sidebar: It usually flies to Grandma's).

Then, there are things I just hope she's copying me on, like when she says ""thank you" and "you're welcome", etc. And the other night, she told me that her "baby" (doll) was scared, and she put her blankies on her shoulder and held the baby tight, cuddling it on her shoulder and saying "shh, shh". I was so proud of her, and her compassion and ability to comfort. I hope just a tiny bit of that is a reflection of me, too.

Slushy

The other morning, the weather was really ucky around here. On the way to daycare, Karsten was telling Natalie that it wasn't quite rain and it wasn't quite snow, it was kinda slush. Natalie apparently had a hard time with that word. So when they got to daycare and got out of the car, she told Karsten "It's raining snow!"

What a perfect explanation!

Snack time

The other day when we came home from daycare Natalie was really hungry. She really wanted the bananapuffs she saw on the kitchen counter. I gave her the box and went to take my jacket off, etc., planning to get her situated in her chair with the snack as soon as I had my hands free. When I came back in the kitchen, here's what I found: Natalie sitting so nicely, eating like such a big girl.

And the box even came with a built in plate (the lid)!

Behold the mighty Baby-Daddy

Natalie has three dolls and since the are small like babies she has named them Baby-Mommy, Baby-Natalie and Baby-Daddy.

One evening she was dressing up Baby-Daddy. For some reason he needed to use Natalie's clothes: a shiny belt, socks and Natalie's new shoes, which were big enough to hold him standing upright.

On this picture it looks like he is ready to take over the world one footprint at a time.

Behold my mighty (stinky) feet.

Although with the shiny belt maybe he is a pop-star.

Jacko is retiring - behold the next big icon - Baby-Daddy

The bike!

A few weekends ago, Natalie got a new "bike" (a trike)! She was so good at helping Daddy put it together: Hmm, I wonder where this one goes...?

The wheels on the bike goes round and round...

Here, Daddy, I'll hold this one for you.

Off we go!

A biking pro!

She's still learning, she doesn't quite have the whole stearing and pedaling thing down yet, but she still seems to like it. Of course, it will be for outside use only, she only got to try it inside because it was all new.

The Easter Egg Hunt

On Sunday, we decided to have an easter egg hunt with Natalie. I filled the easter eggs (all twenty of them) with small prizes that I found around the house, like pretties for her hair, stickers, a bead necklace, etc. It was a beautiful day, and Natalie had so much fun walking around the back yard finding all the eastereggs: There was an easter egg in the (empty) flower pot!

" And I would like to thank..."

And of course, a few of the eggs had candy inside!

Happy Birthday, Baby Natalie

No, it's not Natalie's birthday! Here's the explanation:

Last weekend, we decided to give Natalie an extra special evening. We picked her up a little early from daycare and pretended that her doll - whom she calls Baby Natalie - had a birthday! We had a little birthday party complete with cake with a candle in it and birthday presents for Baby Natalie. Baby Natalie got a bag full of accessories, like baby bottles, pretend food jars, a sippy cut, and many other useful items.

One of the items was a foam duckie. Now, Natalie being who she is, doesn't connect foam duckies with bathtime as you might expect, but rather with artwork and foam painting. So Baby Natalie was going to do artwork. She got two other pieces of foam from the artbox to choose from, and all the baby bottles etc. had different colors so they became different colors of paint. And Baby Natalie even got to borrow Natalie's chair:

Happy Easter!

Here's what Natalie and I did last weekend: Colored eggs! It was so much fun. It was like a little science experiment, and Natalie really enjoyed pouring the warm water into the cups, putting the color tablets in and stirring to dissolve the color, and putting the eggs in and watching them come out all colorful and pretty! And it was a lot of fun to put the stickers for the silly eyes and mouths on too.

Of course, it would be a shame to let the eggs go to waste. So the next day, Natalie helped me make eggsalad: We had the greatest time. It took Natalie more than half an hour to peel her pink egg, but she did it, and it was flawless. All the while we were sitting at the kitchen table and just talking and being silly together. The eggsalad turned out quite colorful, because some of the color leaked thru the cracks in the shell. But that just made the project even more fun.

Happy Easter, everyone. Hope you get to enjoy some quality time with your family too!

A big baby...?

Last night Karsten was working on the tractor, and it was running when Natalie and I came out in the garage to say goodnight. Here's the conversation they had:

Natalie: You made a loud noise.
Karsten: Yes, the tractor is loud.
Natalie: I like that sound.
Karsten: I like that sound too. Are you going to be a gear-head when you grow up?
Natalie: Yes! (a thoughtful pause) No, I'm gonna be a baby when I grow up!

TV time with Daddy

Natalie got to wear Daddy's earphones the other weekend. They enjoyed some nice TV time together.

Cleaning up like Mommy

You know how you always need a wet washcloth at the end of every meal - well, at least with a two year old around? I always hang them over the side of my little kitchen-laundry-basket to let them dry out:
The other night, Natalie was cleaning, and her (dry) washcloths became her dolls bibs. And of course, she had to clean up, just like mommy:

Too messy...

As usual, we did our weekly grocery shopping this weekend. On the way home in the car, Natalie had the following conversation with Karsten:

Karsten: Natalie, do you remember what we bought in Walmart?
Natalie: Chocolate milk!
Karsten: Is that for Daddy?
Natalie: No, it's too messy for you. It's for Natalie!
Karsten: That's a blog entry...

Cheese - or youghurt...

I think she's saying cheese - but she's eating youghurt with wheat germ sprinkled on top...

Sprinkles on the bus

Let me set the stage for this one... We were eating dinner yesterday. Natalie had gotten a muffin with sprinkles as part of her dinner (don't worry, she ate about two bites of that and a whole plate full of fresh pinapple...). For some reason, she loves the sprinkles. But after a while, they usually end up spread evenly across the dinner table and under her chair.

So, after we all finished eating, Natalie started singing songs for us. First, she was singing:
"The people on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down, the people on the bus go up and down, all thru the town". And all the while she was showing us with her whole body how they were going up and down.

The next verse was:
The sprinkles on the bus goes "put them on the floor"
"Put them on the floor, put them on the floor"
The sprinkles on the bus goes "put them on the floor" - all thru the town.
- And all the while she was "helping" clean up by wiping all the remaining sprinkles down on the floor, all very matter-of-fact-ly...

I guess I should have taken the opportunity to teach her not to put the sprinkles on the floor on purpose, but I was too busy laughing!

Of course, she helped sweep the floor afterwards, but that's a whole other story!

Head and toes...

This girl has a mind of her own...

Guess who decided to wear two different color socks today?!?

It was all her idea. She usually get's two pairs to choose from. This morning she told me that she wanted one of each. And why not, really... Mis-matched socks may be just the fashion statement that is needed to show off some of her sparkling personality!