Monday, February 20, 2012

Accidental learning

Natali has been using an Ipad since she was 4 or 5 months old. Back then it was just tapping and swiping. None on purpose.

Around 7 months she was pretty good at tapping. She played one game called "Itsy Bitsy HD" for months. It was simple and fun.

Over time she has become more and more comfortable with the Ipad. She knows how to close apps, swipe to different pages of apps and the most important thing is...she knows which folder has "her"apps.

Kelli and I each have Ipads. We have some of the same apps in the "Natali" folder. There are some differences. I have an Elmo learning game Natali loves and an app called iTot Cards, which is a flash card game.

Natali has been using iTot Cards for about 3 weeks off and on. iTot Cards has flash cards for letters, numbers, shapes, food and more. Natali has been using (thanks to my helping) the food flash cards the most.  As she swipes a photo of an item appears and a female voice says what it is.

Most of the time Natali is zipping through the cards quickly. I thought for sure she was just playing....until yesterday.

Natali was sitting on my lap playing with the Ipad. She opened the iTot Cards app and then I clicked on food. She then swiped to a card, turned to me and said ""Pasta". I looked down and saw it was indeed pasta. She swiped to other cards and said the following words ; Cherry, Carrot, Bread, Chocolate (not great pronunciation though), Banana, Salad, Sandwich, Ice Cream, Cereal, Orange, Juice, Apple, Milk, Pizza Peas, and Egg. She stopped at each card and turned to me before saying the word. I was stunned. She really was learning.

I spend 10-15 minutes a week looking for new apps for her. I read reviews online and try out an app or two if they have a free version in addition to a paid version.

I wish more apps were both Android and iOs (Apple) as the tablet I bought for her (HP Touchpad running Cyanogendmod) is Android. There are a few great apps, but few of the exact same apps.

Maybe the Easter Bunny will buy her a Ipod Touch?

Sick , but happy

Natali got sick at school last week. We think Hand, foot and mouth disease.

The first day was horrible. Fevers and a nearly inconsolable child.

Now she is just a little cranky. We only see one sore on her tongue and a small bump on each palm.

What always makes her happy is the park. We took a quick trip to a city park yesterday.

Natali loves too swing and was bothered they were all being used when we arrived. Thankfully it wasn't too long of a wait.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A 2nd child?

Darren says all the time that Natali will be our only child.  He seems pretty adamant about it, but I remember once upon a time he was adamant that we weren't having any children at all.  Look how that turned out?  It took us 3 years and a couple of miscarriages to get Natali, and I am so happy that we didn't give up.  Natali is such a good kid.  We are very lucky to have her.  When we first had her I was totally on board with having just 1 child, but as she gets older my mind has started to change.  I really would like to have 1 more.  That being said, I definitely want to wait until Natali is older.  I have thought about it and I think the ideal time would be sometime in 2014.  Of course, then I consider our finances and how much even part-time daycare costs and wonder how other families manage.  We make a very comfortable living right now and adding another daycare payment plus baby expenses would push it a bit.  I really don't think we would seriously consider it unless Darren were already a captain with a much larger salary, but that could change too.  All of this would of course be dependent on Darren changing his mind.  If he doesn't then Natali will be an only child and I will be fine with that too.  I am happy just to have her.  It's not an issue I will push too hard on because I would hate for Darren to just give in and not really want it.  He is aware of my feelings on this matter, so we will just wait and see what happens down the road.  I do remember how much I hated being pregnant, but Natali was absolutely worth every uncomfortable minute of my pregnancy.  I think any other child we have would be just as great.  I have 3 siblings and am constantly reminded about how glad I am to have them all in my life.  I would like Natali to have that experience too.  However, if she is an only child I am comforted by the fact that she has such wonderful cousins that we are able to see on a regular basis.  Hopefully they will continue to be close as they age.

On another note, Natali had her 18 month check up yesterday.  She is 25.6 pounds and 33.5 inches.  I have been comparing her stats from this check up and her 15 month one to my stats at the same ages and they are almost exactly the same.  I find it interesting that for now she seems to be on track to be exactly my height when she grows up.  I am 5'3".  We'll see if she continues on the same track or maybe gets a bit taller than me.  I will be totally happy if she is at least my height.  Any shorter is too short. :)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

No more tears!

The older Natali gets...the less she cries. She isn't cry free. Natali has started throwing tantrums every now and then. I letter her cry herself out. It's somewhat funny as she will stand up...walk around the room crying...get distracted...stop crying...then walk back toward me crying again.

She has stopped crying altogether though whenever she is ready to leave her crib. Instead she just calls me.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" she beckons...over and over again. It's cute...and much less annoying than crying.

We are 100% sure Natali is right handed...for now anyway. She is like most of the world...and unlike Kelli who is left handed.

Natali is pretty good at feeding herself with a spoon. She is at the point now where it's either her way or she's not eating. Thankfully I bought some plastic overall shirts from Ikea to protect her clothes.

Most of her teeth are in. We had a very easy time teething. Very little crying or mood swings.

She still enjoys reading. I've memorized most of the books in her collection so we stopped by Half Price Books this morning. It's kinda funny the only books I buy are for her...all my recent purchases for myself are digital.

 

 

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Natali on TV

The photo is a few months old. This ran last week on the Dallas news.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_jx-qqXMCs