Cruise Control

Natali will be 3 1/2 years old tomorrow. Crazy eh?

Every now and then I just sit back and watch her. This little girl who 3 years ago wasn't even crawling is able to feed herself, use the potty, ride a bike (with training wheels of course), use an ipad and of course say thousands of words.

Kelli and I are on cruise control. We are of course parenting....but Natali is pretty self sufficient.

It's only February but Natali has been on 4 flights.

We spent a week in Orlando, Florida with family at Disney World in January. The following weekend we spent an extended weekend in Sacramento. Natali had a lot of fun with her cousins.



Beyond that things are good. She started in a new classroom at daycare...she is now in Preschool. Her first real school is under construction....just 70 yards from our front door.

Hopefully we will continue posting and updating more this year.



 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55a_AGkpEWc

First real Christmas

It's been a while since I've blogged. No real excuse.

Natali is full on toddler. She hasn't had a single accident since being potty trained. She went from no interest to full on "I got this". It's nice...and strange. We still use overnight diapers, but about 75% of the time she wakes up with a dry diaper anyway.

Her shyness is slowly going away. In the past week she's come out of her shell quite a bit.

While at a grocery store the cashier handed Natali a roll of stickers. Normally Natali turns her head and hides. This time she took the stickers and said ,"thank you," to a total stranger.

Then the following weekend we went to visit friends and their house. Natali has seen the kids and parents many times...but has NEVER spoken to the parents. Natali walked in and was totally relaxed. She spoke to anyone who spoke to her and even initiated conversation.

This is technically Natalis 4th Christmas. This is the first one though that she appears to "get it".

Natali sat on Santas lap for the first time AND told him what she wanted for Christmas.....a bike.

Beyond those tidbits she has found a new cartoon to be interested in....Dora the Explorer. This is so much better than Calliou...though  I do miss Doc McStuffins.



 

Trained!

I can finally say Natali is potty trained. The cruise where she saw her cousins potty trained seemed to really put the spark inside of her to just do it.

For over a week she's been wearing underwear during the daytime and a diaper overnight. She only had one accident at school where she had a #2 while sleeping at nap time.

I still have a problem getting her to go to the bathroom. I think it's just the "being told what to do" that's the issue. Every now and then she will tell us she has to go and for the most part she goes.

Natali appears to have my (Darren) iron bladder as she can hold it forever. Mine comes from flying around the country and not being able to go whenever I want (say while landing a plane or preparing for takeoff.....or just not wanting to walk all the way back on a short 40 minute flight).

She has really come into her own lately. Natali is talking more and, for the first time ever, will talk to people on the phone and in a video chat. In the past Natali would giggle or remain silent while on the phone. For video chats she would just stare. Recently she has talked to me and her Grandma Richmond.

In other exciting news....Natali has learned her full name. Since I was "blessed" with two middle names we gave her two middle names, Amelia and Winnell. Amelia because Kelli and thought it was pretty and the whole flying thing. Winnell is for my late mother.

 

 

Getting closer

Natali is almost potty trained. Almost.

The cruise really seemed to get her going. She is very influenced by her peers.

When Marin came over about a month ago Natali noticed Marin was potty trained (of course as Marin is more than twice her age). Natali went to the potty and took off her pants and diaper in an attempt to use the potty.

During the cruise she noticed her cousin Renee was potty trained. That really pushed Natali to at least pee on the potty.

Since we've been back Natali has been in just underwear most of the time. We've had only a few accidents, but many more happy moments. Natali is doing very well with #1....not so good with #2.

She appears to have her fathers iron bladder as she appears to "hold it" for a long time sometimes.

Yesterday Natali and I (Darren) took a trip to the zoo. I put her in just underwear from the time she woke up. We stopped and used the potty a few times...or  tried to. She never went, but more importantly didn't fight it and had no accidents.

As far as Natali telling us she has to go.....it happens....but not very often. More often is that we bring her to the potty and she goes. Still progress.

We're getting closer.

Three years old

Natali is 3 years old. Hard to believe eh?



To celebrate her 3rd birthday we took a weeklong cruise to Bermuda. Seriously. It was a planned family vacation with her Cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents. Fun week.

Natali still isn't fully potty trained.

We did have some success while on the cruise. Natali's cousin Renee is 4 years old and fully potty trained. Natali picked up on this and actually ASKED and USED the potty a few times. She had a dry diaper all day at least 2 days.

Things were looking up. Then we got home...and she quickly reverted.

Work continues.

She did get to ride in First Class for the first time. Natali had enough real airline miles from real tickets and purchased a First Class seat for her return flight from Newark. She didn't know any different from coach...which is good as she can't non-rev in First Class until she is 6 years old.

I hope to update this blog more often. We head to the Doctor tomorrow for her yearly checkup. Stats will be posted.

Here's a few vacation photos.



 

Where did June go?

June went by fast.

Over the last two months we sold our old house, packed up and moved into the new house.

The transition went very well. We were worried Natali would have problems adjusting. Not at all.

It likely helped that we visited the "new house" several times over the last few months. Natali has been calling it the "new house" for a long time. She hasn't had a single issue.

What has been an issue is potty training.

Her Daycare teacher was shocked when Kelli told her Natali won't use the potty at home. Natali has been using the potty just fine at school, even pulling down and up her pull up!

We are still trying. Natali will sit on the potty fine, but hasn't actually used it in the new house. We have tried taking away her Ipad, which had no effect at all. She didn't miss it at all.

We then tried a slice of birthday cake as she LOVES birthdays. Nope.

Cupcakes. Nope.

M&Ms. Nope.

Cookie. Nope.

Lollipop. Nope.

Natali knows what she is doing. She will sit on the potty for a while then say "I'm all done, no Lollipop for Natali."

We aren't giving up.

It's hard to believe Natali will be 3 years old next month. We ordered a new growth chart for her room as we had to take the old one down.

I'll try to update more, hopefully the next one will have potty training progress.

Loves her cousins

Natali is rapidly approaching 3 years old.

THREE YEARS OLD.

Potty training is still planned this summer. She knows what a potty is. She will ask to sit on it every now and then, but she's used it only a handful of times.

She did go #2 with her Grandma recently. Kelli and I were at work when Natali told her Grandma she needed to go "poo poo". She went down the hall and went. Natali has never done that with us.

With all the house stuff we haven't made the time to potty train. That will change in July.

Beyond that Natali really enjoys playing with her cousins.

We recently flew to California to visit Natalis cousin Haley (and her parents Jami and Kelly).

As always Natali is VERY shy with everyone but Kelli and me. It doesn't matter if  she met you last week, for the first 5-20 minutes of meeting you she is very reserved. I was very shy as a kid as well. She will grow out of it.

Natali has been taking swimming lessons for months and is very comfortable around water.

Jami and Kelly have a pool in their yard and the girls wanted to go swimming, but it was a bit chilly. They did have a great time kicking and splashing though.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XqMDaku3UU

I still look at Natali with amazement. She has come so far in such a short time and yet has a long way to go. I'm