Communication meltdowns

Natali is still amazing the both of us.

She has started to use multi-word sentences such as "I see the park", "Go home get gogurt, see doggies" and, "When will Obama leave?"

That last one took Kelli off guard.

Sometimes though her desire to communicate causes a meltdown because she doesn't have to words to say what she wants. It's frustrating for her and me. She will make sounds and look at me waiting for a response. Since I have no idea what she wants I have to start guessing. She repeats her request with gibberish. Tantrum ensues.

Natali has been forward facing in the car for a while. Most of the time she is just observing the ride, listening to her Elmo CD (we all listen to the Elmo CD!) and talking.

I find it interesting just how much she observes. When heading to the park...even a mile or two away she will say, "Go Park?"

As I make the final turn she gets very excited and says, "I see it! I see the park!"

Similar things happen as we head home.

Potty training is going slowly. Kelli and I talk about taking the challenge on full steam....but then forget about it. We had a great 3 day weekend to do it. Nope.

Natali announces when she goes #1..sometimes before she does it. As far as the other end...eh she only announces AFTER she does it. She will "request"...ok she DEMANDS to go sit on the potty every now and then. Sometimes the small potty...sometimes the big potty. It's a learning process for all of us.

We are doing a pretty good job of managing her Ipad use. We find it interesting Natali only associates the word "Ipad" with her Ipad. When we take it away she has zero desire to use ours. She uses it about an hour in the morning and about an hour in the evening.

She spends about 40% of the time watching Elmo/Mickey Mouse/Yo Gabba Gabba (all locally stored on her Ipad), 20% of the time watching baby videos of herself  (also locally stored) and 40% of the time using her apps (Educational and just fun apps). She has memorized almost all of the food flash cards and a few of the animal flash cards.

Natali knows the sounds of most of the ABC song and can count to 4...sometimes 5. We sing the ABC song when we brush her teeth. One full time for the bottom set and one full time through for the top set.

Finally, this website is officially 5 years old. Five years ago this month we decided to have a kiddo. It was a very rough road. Many have had it worse, but it was worth it.  I don't want to go down that road again (Kelli still wants to) as one perfect, crazy, tantrum throwing child is enough for me.