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Natalie is a big girl.  She likes feeding herself breakfast, doesn’t like holding your hand when walking any more, and always wants to help you unlock the door (with keys).  A sample of what all this independence looks like…

FEED ME!!!

Mom, watch me wave these spoons together and make lots of noise!

Jordan had an Entrpreneur Boot Camp all weekend – thankfully, it was in Chicago, so we saw him in the morning and night.  Yet, that meant the days were mother-daughter days!

On Saturday, we went to the bookstore and music class.  On Sunday, we met our good friends, Molly, Jeff and Megan, at the Children’s Museum. 

Both girls say each others’ names – Natalie is “Naa” to Molly, and Molly is “Ma” to Natalie. 

Molly, thanks for swooping in for a super quick hug!

Natalie has spent much of her past 15.5 months trying to keep up to Molly.  Today was no different.  Molly discovered what fun sorting can be – and Natalie jumped right in.

Hmmm.. should the purple fuzzy ball go in this cupcake tin or should the green one?

Despite the craziness that is free Target Sunday, Natalie got in some good walking too!

Natalie is officially a walker!  Last weekend, we visited my parents and arrived around 5 p.m.  Natalie was so excited to be at their house, exploring a new, but familiar, area and seeing her grandparents, who she hadn’t seen in awhile.  That seemed to be all the motivation she needed to start walking more than a few steps on her own!  Her walking is interspersed with many “oops” as she plops down, but she keeps on improving. 

Hurry up, Great Grandma. We have places to go, people to see!

We had a great visit with my family.  We are so thankful that my mom is doing so well.  Natalie enjoyed seeing Baby Trevor, exploring the neighborhood, playing with Rachel (who has moved back to Green Bay and who she misses a lot!) and seeing the ducks (“daa”) and geese (“goo”) at the Wildlife Sanctuary.  

Ah! Aunt Becky. You are so silly! Let me go - I've gotta get my toy before Trevor gets to it!

We’re excited for our next visit!  We love seeing Trevor grow.  He is so much bigger than even a month ago.  He is way less “bobbly” when sitting up and smiled and talked a lot. 

Baby Trevor, your cheeks look almost as fabulous as mine! I recommend Greek yogurt, avocado and peanut butter to really fill them out.

Natalie used to love to play with my flip phone. Although Jordan and his parents got me an iPhone for Christmas, here are two picture I pulled from the old phone. Natalie took them while in her car seat.

The bottom one shows Mr Baseball Head, a hand me down from my aunt Carollyn. He was actually at my mom’s house but Natalie loved him around 4 months old so we snatched him for car rides. I never would have thought he would be so much fun. We became very familiar with his jingle.

Jordan “taught” Natalie this trick. When you say, Who do you love? She says

I have enough hair for a bow!

Recently, Natalie has been learning and changing so much that I felt it would be almost delinquent for me not to make some blog contributions.  Rather than go through all the changes, I’ll just illustrate them from my day.

• 5:00am: Cries wake us up.  She’s been waking up really early for the last week, but this is crazy early so we practice “tough love” and put in ear plugs
• 7:30am: Natalie and Mommy wake up Daddy who is fast asleep, ear plugs in.  Natalie immediately “hugs” me, which consists of her leaning her head down sideways into me.  No arms – just head.
• My theory is that this cuddle/hug is because I often hold her in my left arm, wrap Erin up in my right, and say “Family Hug!”  When this happens, Natalie is looking at Erin who usually leans her head into my chest.  So…leaning your head into someone must be a hug!
• She will proceed to cuddle/hug me at least 6 more times throughout the day, as well as with mousy, mommy, teddy, the floor, the remote, the light switch, and multiple other inanimate objects

"Mousey, you are such an exellent snuggler! Even better than the remote control."

• 7:45am:  For no particular reason other than she’s awesome, Erin has made us waffles with peanut butter and bananas.  We briefly debate whether or not maple syrup is a sweet – since we gave sweets up for Lent – but decide not.  And then we chow down, and I drown mine in syrup.
• Natalie has been a little pickier about what she eats, but she is usually very happy with breakfast food.
• At one point, I burp.  Natalie laughs.  Much to Erin’s chagrin, she thinks bodily functions are hilarious.   I didn’t teach her this, but I do wholeheartedly support it.
• 8:15am:  We all play on the big rubber mat in front of our fire place.  We try to get Natalie to walk from Mommy to Daddy, but she stands there unassisted for about 5 seconds before slowly squatting down.
• She walks if you hold just one hand, which she wouldn’t do a week ago.

"Mommy, you are so much fun!"

• 9:20am: Natalie goes down for a nap with mousey. She cuddle/hugs him and it’s ridiculously cute.  She goes down for naps without a peep.  I then go to the hardware store to get copies of keys for Nana and Pop when they live in Chicago!
• 10:40am: I wake Natalie up.  As soon as I set her on the changing table, she starts dancing – which is sort of a wiggle.  I have no basis for comparison, but this girl seems to dance more than any kid I’ve seen.  See what I mean in the video below.  It’s like a little shimmy she just mixes into whatever she’s doing.
• 11:00am: Mom and Natalie go to the bookstore

• 

  "This rousing denouement can only be matched by the superlative plot twist at the end!"

• 12:30pm: Mom and Natalie get back and eat lunch.
• 3:00pm: Mom goes to the gym while Daddy and Natalie play.
• We play a game where she sits on my lap and we tip over, which she loves.  Then I tickle her under her chin.  She always giggles and makes me stop, then immediately sticks her chin up to get tickled again.
• We make a card for Grandma Julie.  Natalie colors it with her crayons and puts on a sticker.
• We dance to Raffi.  Unlike Natalie’s shimmy (see video below from Friday night example), this is standing up while holding my hands and shifting from one foot to the other.

• 4:30pm:  We meet our friends Megan, Jeff and Molly at the Lincoln Park Athletic Club pool.  Molly and Natalie are SO excited to see each other.  These girls have known each other since virtually Day One and really get along well.
• 6:00pm: Dinner out with our friends Jeff, Molly and Megan..  Natalie and Molly are extremely well-behaved, though between them, they collectively drop about half a bowl of rice under their high chairs.

"Molly, you are the Yoko to my John."

• 7:00pm: We come home, brush our teeth, and read stories.  Natalie is pretty good about letting us brush her teeth.
• She has nine teeth now!  Four on top, four on bottom, and one molar that popped up a little further back.  Yeah, weird.
• She’s become a bit impatient with her older age. We rarely make it through an entire book before she is tossing it aside for a new one.

So that was our Saturday!  She is one super fun little girl.

I started on this post well before the 14-month update, but due to my mom being in the hospital, this post never got finished.  Then, I wrote it and half of it disappeared.  I’m tired, so here’s what you get…..

Hey Trevor! I have so many things to tell you about. When you are 6 months old, you get to eat real food. When you are 9 months old, you can start crawling. When you are one year old, you get to go to music class.

The fun continues at 14 months old!  Natalie is definitely a toddler.  Some recent favs:

• Her ability to understand language.  We were reading a favorite book – How do I love you? – the other day, and Jordan and I were very impressed that when we ask, “Where is the bird?” she was able to point to it.
• Her growing vocabulary.  New words include cheese and uva (grape in Spanish).   She is also terrific at animal sounds.  She’s tried snake, bear, lion, monkey, elephant, and pig.
• Her cuddles.  Natalie likes the 3-second cuddle – this morning, I was a lucky recipent of a cuddle.  Some objects of her cuddle are obvious – stuffed animal, Mousey blanket, etc – but others are surprising and seemingly un-cuddable – remote control, wash cloth, crib rail, Dad’s electric shaver.
• Pointing.  She loves the double finger point. 
• Tickling.  She likes to be tickled.  She lifts up her neck to encourage just a slight touch under her chin, laughs and squirms, and then does it again.
• Playing pretend and initiating games.  She likes to play cupcakes and kitchen. 
  

  Here, Teddy. Eat some cupcakes. They are very healthy for you.

• Being chased.  She likes being chased and then tickled.  She’ll even stop to make sure you are coming after her – or to let you catch her.
• Walking – almost!  Her favorite is still to cruise holding onto our two hands, but she has taken two steps.
• Investigating and exploring – everything from sippy cups to body parts.
  

  Rachel, your eyelashes and eyebrows are so pretty! If I'm gentle, can I touch them over and over and over again! (P.S. I really missed you - thanks for coming to visit me!!!)Oh yes! Mom has her phone out. Mom, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming...I'm HERE!