Short Story

The other day it was just me and Natalie at home and I was working in the kitchen putting groceries away while she was running around the house pushing her walker (with Ernie in the seat of course).  Since our entire downstairs is either laminate wood or tile so I could tell where she was and what she was doing by listening to the scraping of the walker and the patter of her little footsteps.  I was keeping an ear out for the tell tale signs of where she was and what she was doing when I suddenly heard deafening silence followed by the soft shutting of a door.  Standing at the stove, I glanced through the dining (okay, storage) room and into the front entry way where I SHOULD have seen a thirty-one inch tall, curly headed little girl looking back at me while she stood behind her walker and beloved Ernie.  No such luck.  I had a sneaking suspicion as to where she might be - clever as she is, at this point in the game, I'm still smarter than her.  As I approached the door to the 1/2 bath that is located just off the entryway I noticed it was slightly shut.  I gently pushed it open and sure enough, out of the pitch black darkness erupted the precious giggle of a little girl who was VERY proud of herself.  I flicked on the light and there she was - standing in the dark bathroom perched behind her walker, my sneaky, clever and absolutely adorable daughter.  I ushered her out of the bathroom and needless to say......closed the door firmly behind me as I exited.

Lunch

My darling baby girl,

At one year old and three days..........

I love how enthusiastic you are about eating anything and everything we put in front of you.

I love how I can always count on you to enjoy chowing down on all your fruits and vegetables.

I love when you pet the puppies so nice and gentle like we've taught you.

(But lets be honest - they love you because of all the food you drop for them.)

I love how when you drop the food for them you look at me with surprise on your face.

"Oh my goodness Mom!  How did that food get out off my hand and onto the floor!  Whoops!"

And then I love the giggle that follows because you know exactly what you were doing.

I love how smart you are..........even though it scares me a bit - what will you think of next?!

I love how even though your words are limited you have a wide range of faces that express what you are feeling quite clearly.

I love your mean monkey face - eyebrows furrowed and lips puckered out - that you get when you're frustrated.

But that doesn't mean that it's going to get you what you want.

There are lots of things that I love about you - this list is just what I've come up with in the twenty minutes it took you to eat lunch.

Love, Momma

Too Cute

Here are the pictures from last night when she took a little snooze in her bouncer.  Please note the ONE finger holding onto the dangling toy.

Poor thing was just wiped out.  That's what happens when you don't take a nap during the day!

Angie and Natalie's "game"

My funny Natalie (and Angie) story for the day.

Natalie, Angie and I were all cuddled up in the glider in Natalie's room for a little snuggle time before her afternoon nap.  Natalie has rediscovered her tongue recently and so she has been sticking it out at me constantly for the past 24 hours - it's a little game for her.  She was sitting on my left side and Angie was on the right side of me desperately trying to lick any and every part of Natalie's anatomy.  As Angie was going in for a lick on the face, I held her head back but this didn't stop her from stretching her puppy dog tongue out as far as she could, hoping to get a little lick onto Natalie's cheek.  I'm sure from Natalie's viewpoint, all she saw was this giant puppy dog tongue coming at her and in her mind - Angie was playing her game!  So Natalie stuck her tongue right back out at Angie and then squealed and giggled with delight.  I burst out laughing and Natalie got quiet, looked up at me with a worried look on her face and erupted into tears.  I'm not sure if my laughing freaked her out or if she thought I was laughing at her.  It was just so funny how excited Natalie got when she thought that Angie was playing her fun game.

Rinse and Repeat

A little timeline of events regarding my daughter's impeccable timing this morning.

- Undress Natalie down to her diaper and put her in her crib.


- Get bathing stuff all ready: run the water and get out the tub, towels, soap and washcloths.

- Put Natalie in the bathtub and take off a wet diaper.

- I grab a washcloth, put soap on it and as I'm about to put it on her to start her bath...AND...

- She poops.

- I put a diaper BACK on her, place her BACK in the crib and run downstairs for every disinfectant cleaning product I have.

- Wash out tub thoroughly with OxyClean Baby and Clorox wipes.

- Repeat process from the top.