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.

 

My turn with the potty

Natali is pretty easy. I've been around a few kids. I know we have it easy.

She loves Elmo...currently....I might hip her to something different soon.

On her Ipad (yeah our 21 month old has an Ipad....remember we are raising a geek!) she has several Elmo videos along with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse videos.

One of her favorite videos is Elmo's Potty Time.

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Kelli has more experience with potty training Natali than me...it just happened that way.

Over the last week Natali has watched that Elmo's Potty Time at least 4 times. She knows "Pee Pee and Poo Poo". She even knows what the words mean.

This week is Father and Daughter week as I have the whole week off. It's the Daddy and Daughter game everyday...no daycare this week!

Several times a day while home she has said "Pee Pee, Poo Poo , Potty" and pointed toward the restroom. Off we go, I plop her down on the her potty and she then says , "Daddy Pee Pee!" and points to the toilet. Fine...down I sit.

Up until tonight we both just sit there. Tonight AFTER her bath I was drying her off when she pointed to her potty and again said, "Daddy Pee Pee Potty". Ok I put her down...she directed me to go as well.

Natali sat there for a moment and I could tell she was trying to go. She squirmed a bit.  Sure enough out came the pee. She waited a few more moments and waved her hands "all done." Nice.

So far we've only had #1's no #2s. Not bad for a a kid basically training herself through Elmo videos. I am somewhat confident she will be trained by age 2. Small baby steps.

Also of note today...no nap. They are slowly going away. I'm going to miss them.

I love being a dad

Being a parent means experiencing millions of tiny moments. Moments of happiness. Moments of terror. Moments of disgust. Millions of moments.

Most of the moments occur between parent and child and are rarely ever shared.

I was really unsure if I would like being a parent. I knew I was a pretty good husband. I enjoyed being a husband. But could I be a parent? Would I enjoy being a parent?  Could I be a...dare I say it... a dad?

Natali is quickly approaching 2 years old. It's crazy to think how fast time has gone by. This blog is approaching 5 years old. Those who've read this for a while know the difference in age is due to a few bumps on the road to becoming parents.

Anyways back to the moments. I enjoy them all. The happy ones just as much as the disgusting ones. Okay that's not true the happy ones are a little better.

Tonight a happy moment occurred....just between Natali and myself....but it filled me with such joy I felt the need to share it with you.

I put Natali to bed and she was restless as normal. I watched her toss and turn on the camera for about 20 minutes. I decided to go pick her up and rest in the recliner in her room. The room was dark and cool. Just the sound of the white noise machine in the background.

As she laid on my shoulder she gently patted my shoulder then rubbed it....the same way I sometimes pat her back and then rub it in a circular motion. Natali then raised her head and just looked into my eyes. After a few seconds she laid back down and patted my shoulder again. I couldn't help but smile. Another moment of happiness.

I love being a dad.



 

Ipad as a learning tool

Natali REALLY likes the iPad we passed down to her. She has quickly learned how to use it for entertainment and learning. In addition to playing her Elmo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse videos she plays a few educational games. Normally she is 5 out of 5 on getting the right animal on this game (main app is Phone 4 Kids) She did make one error this time.

httpv://youtu.be/KHQ5PxVQeUs

Night, Night

Natali is improving her speech and social skills daily....which is a good thing.

Her latest thing is to put us to bed.

At her day care the kids are spread around the room on mats. We will be in her room playing and Natali will say "Night , Night Daddy" and wait for me to lay down. She will then place a blanket on me.

Natali will then grab her dolls and spread them around the room while carefully placing a blanket on each one and say " night night baby". I'm guessing this is how the day care employees put her to bed for nap time.

She will then go around her room moving dolls and blankets around. If I try to sit up she will point at me and say "no! no! night! night!"

Whenever she is moody...which happens more and more...she makes sure we know she can be independent.

Natali has been feeding herself for months. Every now and then we can help, but she really likes to do it herself.

More and more often Kelli and I have to leave the area while Natali eats. Natali will put up her hand and say "back! back!" instructing us to back away while she eats. Cute...but annoying.

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Over the weekend she took her 47th and 48th flight...I think that's her current number. We flew down to Houston to visit my dad.

Kelli and I find it interesting how Natali and her grandpa interact.

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Natali is very standoffish with new people. She has never been that way we her grandpa. She hasn't seen him in about 5 months but was totally at ease. Quite interesting. When Natali interacts with her Aunts (who she has spent more time with) she is always quiet and reserved at first. ...maybe it's the afro?

 

First Dentist Visit

Natali had her first Dentist visit this week. It went well...it was quick.

The dentist we went to was recommended to us by a friend for being great with kids.

Kelli filled out all of the paperwork ahead of time. Since I typically work 3 days a week I was able to take Natali without having to take time off work.

New patients are only seen after 11AM. Natali normally takes a nap around noon. Her appointment was for 11:30AM. Yeah.....about her being in a good mood.

The dentist met us in an office type room...not the normal patient setup.

We talked for a bit while Natali sat in my lap and clung to me. After a few minutes the Dentist had me place Natali's head in her lap. Natali began screaming. This helped the Dentist look at her teeth and apply fluoride.

I was told that if we want to give Natali juice (even diluted juice) we should only give it to her with meals and not let her walk around with it. Fine.

Her next visit is in 6 months.

Beyond that Natali has started using two word sentences. "Go Bye Bye" "Come Doggies," "I'm coming", "Yogurt Please", "Brush Teeth" "No Obama".  It was either "No Obama" or "No more".....pretty sure it was the former. Ha.

While watching NBC Nightly news we learned we have our car seats installed incorrectly.

We assumed we could use JUST the latch system in the seats meaning just one latch on each side of the seat. I had seen the top latch on the back of the car seat, but thought that was for a different kind of car. Nope. Sure enough on the back of our seats (We both drive Prius's) there is another LATCH anchor. Oops. Done. The story showed how far forward the car seat can move in a collision. Yeah about that reading the manual thing. I know I read the manual when we bought the seats. Eh.

I've noticed most of my friends who have had their first kid are already on their second. Just cranking them out. One friend has a kid younger than Natali and is expecting their next November 3rd. Wow.

I'm still in the "one and done" camp. Kelli is indifferent.

She loves the camera

We went to the Fort Worth Childrens Museum Day (For Bank of America customers!). Natali is 3 days shy of 18 months old....she loves the camera!

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