Two!

I've been busy flying lately. I was home to celebrate Natali's 2nd birthday.

She KNEW it was her birthday. Natali walked around saying "It's my Birthday!" and "Birthday Cake".

We had a small party. Just us, her grandmother and our good friends Eric, Angela and Marin Bridges.

Natali got a Minnie Mouse rolling backpack from Kelli (Natali LOVES pulling it around) and a mini-trampoline (with a safety bar) from me.

I'll try to post more later...and more often.

-Darren

For now.... Click on the photo for a full size...uncovered view!

Going retro

We took our first family road trip yesterday...and it was a marathon.

My dad lives down in Houston. Even since October 2007 Kelli and I have flown down to see him. Natali has always flown down to see him.

Most of the time we fly up and down the same day. We have stayed the night at least once.

Yesterday some friends of ours were having a birthday party for their 3 year old. They just moved to Houston from the Dallas area.

We discussed the benefits of driving vs flying. Complicating things was the fact that I had to work tonight. If we stayed the night in Houston it would be a very long day for me traveling and then working later.

The last flight back to Dallas on Saturday nights leaves at 6PM. The party started at 3PM. Not a lot of time to enjoy the party. Flying wasn't an option.

I gassed up the car Friday night. At 5:01 AM I picked Natali up out of bed, changed her diaper and put her straight into her car seat. We backed out of the driveway at 5:04AM.

We thought for sure she would sleep....nope.

Long 4 hour and 30 minute drive. Non-stop. My 2004 Prius average 47.8 MPG while driving 75 MPH (the speed limit on most of I-45). If I had gone 65 MPH I would have easily cleared 50 MPG.

Early lunch with my dad. Natali had a ton of built up energy after having being strapped in for almost 5 hours.

We left his house just after noon with the intention of driving around so Natali would nap. It kinda worked.

Natali napped for just over an hour.

At the birthday party Natali was her normal self....being super shy. It took her about 30 minutes to warm up to the people at the party.

Our friends hosting the party, Chris and Wendy,  are on the shorter side, thus their son is on the shorter side. Natali is a good 3-4 inches taller than the birthday boy, Liam. Another toddler there is 2 1/2 years old and is a good 5-6 inches taller than Natali. Kinda odd seeing the oldest kid in the room being the shortest.

After Natali warmed up she had a good time.

Wendy is very detail oriented and had lots of activities for the kids. In addition to having lots of toys around they all painted boxes, made their own magnetic picture frames and of course she had cupcakes in addition to birthday cake.

We left the party at 6PM. Natali watched Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on her Ipad for most of the ride home. We thought she would fall asleep. Nah. Not until we turned the Ipad off did she finally doze off. We did get 49.5 MPG on the return trip. I attribute the high MPG due to less AC usage (the Prius uses an all electric air conditioning system) and more highway driving vs stop and go driving.

 

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Just a few weeks away

Can you believe we are just a few weeks away from Natali being 2?

Everyday she is changing. Sometimes I want to squeeze her tight to keep her from growing up.

Her speech and use of words is rapidly expanding. She often forms 2-3 words sentences and has started to use "Thank you," and "Welcome". She mastered "Please" a long time ago.

She is still very shy in public and meeting new people. Last night we went over to a friend of mine from work. He is also a pilot and is a bit senior to me. Another family came over with a 1 year old and 6 year old (the dad was also a pilot with my airline).

Natali was VERY shy at first. After about 40 minutes she warmed up to everyone. She played with the 1 year old quite a bit (the 1 year old weighed MORE than Natali...he was a boy though). At the end of the night Natali hugged everyone goodbye. Very cute.

The baby chair she's been using since she started eating solid foods still works...but Natali doesn't want to use it.

Natali has been climbing onto regular chairs for a while. Tonight for dinner she REFUSED to sit in her baby seat and instead sat in a regular chair. Guess we need to buy a booster seat eh?

 

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10 Years

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ54V4swfzc

Clingy

Natali has become clingy lately...but only with me (Darren).



I think it's because....every few days I leave. A few days later I come back. Natali has picked up on this pattern.

She is very happy to see me when I first get home. The next day things are normal. The day after that though...she becomes aware that I might be leaving soon.

Natali will follow me room to room...even when Kelli is home. She will randomly stop whatever she is doing and hug me or sit in my lap.If I am sitting on the ground she will walkup behind me and rest her head on my shoulder. Clingy.

Yesterday I was sitting on the ground when Kelli sat next to me and hugged me. Natali did not care for that and walked up and told Kelli "Back" and tried to hug me. We all then had one group hug.

I leave on a trip tomorrow....and I know Natali is aware. Each day her clinginess has gotten worse and worse. She knows I'm leaving.

At first I felt bad about leaving so often. I then did some math.

The average middle class Dad works 5 days a week. Thus he only sees his kid after work and on weekends.

I work 3 days a week...sometimes 4 days...but rarely every more than that. Thus I see Natali 4 full days a week while the average Dad sees his kid just 2 full days a week. I win. Kinda. The average full Dad is home every night. Eh.

As far a milestones. Natali can count to 12 out loud, can make all the sounds of the ABC song thru Z. She REALLY knows the letters A,B,C,D and W by sight. Natali is a whiz on the Ipad. Still not potty trained...but she knows when she goes and what it's called. She can climb the super high bed, couch and ladders. Finally she can adjust the timing on a 1975 Ford F100 just by listening to it idle.

It's almost been two years since Natali was born. Crazy how fast time has gone by.

Another flight done

Natali racked up a few more flights this month.

We took a quick family trip to Disneyland. One of the perks of working for an airline....cheap travel.

This was Natali's second trip to Disneyland. Her first was when she was just 3 months old.

Natali was able to actually enjoy the rides this time. She has a "It's a Small World" app on her Ipad along with LOTS of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes. She was very ready for the trip.

She saw Mickey Mouse as soon as we walked into the park. Her eyes locked on him. The line was too long to see Mickey that time, but we did get a photo the next day with him.

Our first ride was indeed "It's a Small World". Natali was all glassy eyed the entire ride. Her head shifted left, right up and down during the ride taking it all in. It was a neat feeling seeing her smile with glee.

In addition to Disneyland Natali was able to play with some of her cousins. Her cousins are 6,5 and 3 so they aren't too far away from Natali's age.

The second day was spent at California Adventure. We all went to see a live action play featuring Disney Cartoons. When Natali heard the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song she got very excited. Seeing the life size puppets of Mickey Mouse and the gang made her even happier.

Getting home was interesting. The direct flight from LAX to DFW was full. I could of course jump seat...but not Kelli and Natali. It complicated things since we checked bags. When we check at least one of us must go with the bags.

I first planned on Kelli and Natali going LAX-DEN-DFW.  I would go direct LAX-DFW and meet them at the airport. On the way to LAX (at 3:30AM!) that routing turned bad. I had Kelli find a new way. The new way was LAX-AUS-DFW. I then decided we would all go together.

Well the first flight departed an hour late which made us miss the connecting flight. Thankfully there were just enough cabin seats for them on the next AUS-DFW flight as I had to take a seat in the cockpit. There were no window seats available. This was an issue as child seats MUST not block access to an aisle...thus are normally stationed at windows. This meant Natali had to sit in a regular seat.

Kelli said it freaked Natali out a bit at first. Thankfully it was a short flight.

It's hard to believe Natali is almost two years old. In addition to another year on this earth...we will soon be forced into paying for her more often as many activities are free for 2 and under! Ha.

I've lost track of how many flights Natali has been on...pretty sure it's over 50.

Finally photos from the trip.

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Zoos make great places to wear out kids

We have a family membership to the Dallas Zoo. Natali and I go about once a week. Free parking + Free addmission + Lots of walking = great for the both of us.

Natali knows many of the animals names. It's huge zoo so we don't always get to the whole zoo each time. If you live close to a big zoo and have a toddler I highly recommend a membership!

Natali had a first swim lesson yesterday. She has been in a big pool a few times, most notably while in Hawaii. She has a smaller pool here that she plays in often.

At the swim center she was terrified. I think it was mostly all the strange faces. Natali was THE screamer. The only screamer in the group of about 7 toddlers. Kelli was in the pool with Natali.

Natali screamed for most of the 30 minute session. There were moments of happiness...then she saw me....and screamed more. She alternated between screaming "all done! all done!" and "outside! outside!". The pool was indoors.

She will have to continue screaming as Kelli signed Natali up for weekly lessons through the end of August.

Finally a few recent photos from the zoo and her swimming lesson.

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