Little Helper

The busy-ness of the season is upon us....heck, the busy-ness of LIFE is my everyday.  Unfortunately that leaves little time for blogging.  A shame, really, because I often look back at posts that I've written - memories typed in my own words.  Writing it all down when it first happens, and then reading back later, is so much different than just looking back at pictures.  The photos capture the moments, but the words bring the memory flooding back like it just happened.  Feelings and emotions captured, the little details that you'd once forgotten about.  Blogging has given me a space to write down our story, and I've missed being able to do that lately.

Which is why I couldn't let this weekend pass without recording a seemingly small moment....an event that lasted no longer than half an hour.  But one that left me with such joy that I want to always remember it.  So I'll write it down.

My sweet little helper.

 

I had been hoping to do some baking this weekend.  Armed with Mark's grandma's snickerdoodle recipe, my KitchenAid mixer, an apron for me and one for the little one, and a last minute run for some parchment paper, we were ready.  Natalie has been really into helping in the kitchen lately.  She loves to dump and pour and stir, and when I ask her if she wants to help, she responds with "Yay!  MEEEE!!!  Help!" and runs to the kitchen.  She pushes one of the kitchen chairs over to the counter and grunts and groans and hoists herself up.  When she's finally up there, she'll proclaim "Ready!" and wait for her job.  I made the cookie dough ahead of time and chilled it, so we were ready to make the dough into balls and roll it in the cinnamon and sugar.  As I rolled each ball and handed it to her, she carefully rolled it around to get it coated, then piled them all up in the middle of the cookie sheet. :)  She talked and jabbered the whole time, and looked so darn proud of herself after each cookie.  She imitated me rolling the cookie dough.  Then she discovered that the cinnamon and sugar tasted sweet and couldn't stop licking her little fingers.

It suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks - we are here already?!  I have a daughter who can help me bake cookies!?  She isn't a baby anymore....she's this little person who helps in the kitchen, and says "Goodnight Mommy" and kisses me in the morning and sings in the car with the radio.  She colors in coloring books and makes funny faces and helps put ornaments on the tree.  And she says "thank you" when I give her dessert after dinner and she puts her head on my shoulder and rubs my back when I pick her up from daycare at the end of the day.  She looks for her Daddy when she gets up in the morning and can't go anywhere without a babydoll and likes to watch Sesame Street.  All of a sudden, I'm realizing that she is almost two years old and can do all of these wonderful things.  Such a little person she is becoming!

 

 

And all I want to do is make life so sweet for her....because she makes my life complete.

I am beyond excited for Christmas with her this year!!

 

21 Months

My sweetie at 21 months....

She is getting so big!  Natalie is getting taller and taller....I'm always surprised when I go to put on a pair of pants that are suddenly too short, or a shirt that won't fit over her head.  She just keeps growing and growing.  Getting better at running.  Loves to dance (aka twirl around in circles and pump her fists in the air).  She can reach all kinds of things.  She weighs about 24 pounds, wears 18-24 month clothes, size 5 diapers, and a size 5 1/2 or 6 shoe.

This month, Natalie is getting more and more verbal.  Stringing more words together into phrases, like "Please, Mommy?", "Go outside", and "Night-night Daddy".  She answers questions with a definite NO or YEAH.  She is not hesitant to let you know if she doesn't like something!  And when she is excited or happy she will squeal and laugh.  When she sees something new or pretty, she says "Whoaaaa" or "Wow!"

Natalie is getting more independent by the day.  She despises when I try to feed her anything, even just a bite.  She likes to put on her own shoes and socks, and likes to brush her own teeth and wash herself in the bathtub.  She says "ME" when she wants to do it herself.

 

Still working on teeth this month (ugh!).  She does lots of chewing and likes to put hard toys in her mouth and bite on them....like a puppy!  Otherwise has been healthy and happy.  She is sleeping great and has been taking some marathon naps lately (3 1/2 hours!), but the time change did mess with her a bit and we've had some early mornings.

 

Her favorite things to play with this month are her baby dolls, puzzles, blocks, her Little People barn, and anything that belongs to Mommy.  She carries her babies everywhere, and wants to take them to daycare, bed, the dinner table, etc.  She wraps them up and kisses them and pats them on the back.  She loves to help in the kitchen, and still loves to play with the plastic food we bought her a couple of months ago.  Her favorite thing to do with it is dump the whole tub out and then put each plastic food in a section of a muffin tin. She talks to herself the whole time and rearranges them around until she has them in just the right spot.  She also loves to play outside and jump on the bed and rough house with Daddy.  And the girl LOVES Elmo.

 



She loves to help and if I can talk her into "helping" we are good....for example, "Natalie, can you help Mommy put all the toys in the cabinet?" works much better than "Natalie, pick up your toys."
We put up the tree over the weekend, and she was thrilled about helping to put the ornaments on the tree.  Each time she'd hang one on the branch she'd grin and laugh and say "MEEEE!"  So proud of herself!

 We are having a major fight lately about keeping paci and blankie in bed only.   She is getting closer and closer to 2, and I know that she shouldn't have them anytime of day she wants.  The biggest problem is that when she has them, she doesn't want to do anything else except curl up on the couch or the floor, snuggle into the blankie and suck on that paci like there's no tomorrow.  She cries and cries when I tell her that we have to leave it in bed.  Distraction works pretty well, though, and she is easily consoled if I can get her interested in something else quickly. 

She challenges me daily with her stubbornness and willful attitude, but she is such a complete JOY for us.  I am thrilled to be entering the holiday season this year with an almost 2-year-old....and have never been more thankful for my precious little angel!

Halloween

A week late.... our Halloween in mostly pictures, and a few words...

Daddy decided that Natalie MUST be a little cowgirl.  I thought ahead and bought all the stuff to make the costume at the end of September.....but, alas, my busy life got away from me and I was left furiously sewing just a couple of days before Halloween....and a well-placed safety pin was the evidence of my last minute costume design.

But don't worry, she pulled it off. :)

She loved her trick or treat bucket....we worked on "Trick or Treat", which came out "Go-dee-dee". :)  No matter how many times we said it, that's how she repeated it!

A cowboy hat to fit a toddler is a rare find, but we were lucky enough to find this gem for $5 in the boy section of the toy department, alongside the toy guns and superman capes... just two days before Halloween, too!  She kept it on for a few pictures, and did wear it the whole time that she went trick-or-treating with her cousins.

 

 

She LOVED walking the neighborhood with her cousins!  Uncle Don decorated a golf cart to chauffer the kids around, and they ran from house to house collecting their loot.  We took Natalie to about 10 houses, and she did great!  Would walk right up to someone, smile her cute smile, say "Go-dee-dee", and always remembered to say "Thank You" when she got her candy.  She was quite interested in all that candy....

She's never really had candy, but she played with it for a large portion of the night.

And, the best we got while trying to get a picture of all the cousins together.  So much easier said than done! 

 

 

 

Treats with Mimi.

And - the only photo of her and I for the whole holiday:

Classic, huh?

 

Happy Halloween!!