Natalie’s Blog

Natalie wanted nothing to do with the mini-bagel and cream cheese when I put in front of her open-faced. Natalie doesn’t seem to be a picky eater—she’ll eat almost anything—but she’s very picky in terms of how food is presented. I know because when I put the two halves of the bagel together into a sandwich, she ate it up!

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the nice weather by going the BIG playground at Mercer County Park. Unfortunately, our fun ended pretty quickly…On her second trip down the twisty slide, Natalie put her foot down. The rubber sole of her shoe caused traction, but she was already moving pretty fast, so she flipped over and hit her face on the side of the slide (which was plastic). Chris tried to catch her, so she may also have fallen against his arm. Neither of us could see exactly what happened, but her screaming made it pretty clear she was hurt. We could see blood pooling up in her mouth—a pretty scary sight— but couldn’t really tell where it was coming from. When we got back to the car, she nursed herself to sleep…so we reasoned that her mouth couldn’t have been too hurt, otherwise nursing would have been painful rather than comforting.

When she woke up from her nap, she still wanted to play outside, so we walked to the little playground around the corner from our house. Natalie was happy take the walk and climb up the stairs at the playground, but wouldn’t go near the slide! Hopefully she won’t be traumatized for life, since going down the slide used to be one her favorite activities.

Today her cheek near the corner of her mouth is a little bruised, but she’s eating, drinking, and nursing fine, so there must not be any permanent damage.

UPDATE: We just found out that the same thing happened to Natalie’s friend Robert—on the same exact slide! We’ll definitely be steering clear of that slide. It’s a hazard!

Here are some pictures from happier times at the playground from earlier this week:

Our Easter weekend in Connecticut started out with the drive from hell. Chris was working in the city on Friday, but Natalie and I had the day off. Never in a million years would I attempt to drive 3 hours with Natalie by myself if she were awake. So, I opted to leave Thursday night around bedtime, figuring that she would fall asleep in the car, then Chris would take the train to CT after work Friday. This traveling arrangement has worked really well for us in the past. Not so this time. For whatever reason, Natalie didn’t go to sleep. She started fussing somewhere on the Jersey Turnpike, so I kept her entertained as best I could by singing every song I could think of (not so easy to think under pressure!). As we approached the Vince Lombardi rest stop, I considered stopping to let her run off some energy and have a break from being in the car. Then I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed her head was leaning on the side of the car-seat and her eyes were half-closed. Figuring she would fall asleep any second, I decided not to stop.

Of course as soon as we passed the exit for the rest stop, she started wailing! The crying escalated until I got off the highway right before the George Washington Bridge and found a parking lot to pull over in. I thought maybe she just needed to nurse before being able to fall asleep. But no, Natalie was wide-awake and had little interest in nursing—she just wanted out of her car-seat and was happily playing with the buttons on the door handle within minutes of being freed. Since we weren’t exactly in a safe place, it wasn’t long before I began to get antsy. I considered checking into a hotel to avoid having to drive the rest of the way. Realizing that that would only delay the torture, I decided to continue driving at night so at least the risk of traffic would be lower.

Natalie launched an incredible arched-back, kicking, screaming protest as I tried to wrestle her back into her car-seat. Man, she is strong. I sang every song I could think of and played every CD we had in an attempt to calm her down. I offered food and water. I narrated every exit sign and landmark. I validated her feelings. Nothing really worked…Natalie alternated between silence (just to tease me into thinking she might be asleep) and screaming her angry little head off. It was the most white-knuckled drive I’ve had since it took me and Chris 17 hours to drive through a blizzard to a friend’s wedding in Boston. After a second stop in a safer parking lot in Greenwich, CT, Natalie finally fell asleep 30 minutes before we got to our destination.

After all that drama, we had a swell weekend. We spent the first day with Auntie Jodi, but got no good pictures. Then we stayed with the Huey’s for our annual egg-dying party. I had the ridiculous thought that Natalie could help color eggs this year, but she’s still a little young. After she tried to eat the egg and drink the bowl of dye, Chris had the idea to give her a bowl of plain water and a spoon. Natalie thought dipping the spoon in the water and licking it was just as much fun!

Here she is opening her Easter basket. She’s too young for candy, so her basket contained rain boots, a hooded duck towel, peeps bubble-blowers, a rabbit hand-puppet, some books and a stuffed duck:

Here’s “Natalie the Duck” with her Dada:

Natalie warming up after her nap:

In her Easter dress:

Sitting with Mama:

My grandmother (Natalie’s great grandmother) who is 93 years-old, painted bunnies on these nested boxes for her:

After Easter dinner was over, we took Natalie to the park to get some fresh air and run around. Here she is going down the (6-foot-high) slide with my cousin Margaret:

Natalie with the giggles!

Our drive home confirmed my fears that nighttime plus car doesn’t equal sleep for Natalie anymore. Funny that in the past, the car used to be our last-resort, sure-fire way to get Natalie to sleep, and now it’s not working easily at all. She did go to sleep, but only after 2 bottles and us singing “Old MacDonald had a Farm” very slowly over and over for 30 minutes (after we already sang about 50 slow verses of “The Wheels on the Bus”). To make “Old MacDonald” extra monotonous, we sing “Old MacDonald had a farm, EIEIO, and on his farm he had a farm EIEIO, with a farm farm here and a farm farm there, here a farm there a farm, everywhere a farm farm…” As if it’s not hard enough to not fall asleep at the wheel…

Ah, sugar. It brings such joy! Look at how delighted Natalie is…

Everyone told us that the first few months of daycare are filled with illness after illness because your child is being exposed to a lot more germs. Is it true? I’ll recount our daycare experience so far:

Week One (3/3/08 - 3/7/08)

The Friday of Natalie’s first week of daycare, she woke up in the middle of the night crying. I made the really, really bad mistake of sitting down next to her in her bed before turning on the lights, cause when I sat down, I realized that she had thrown up. Ewww! She threw up a few more times over the next couple of hours, requiring several pajama changes for both of us. She eventually went back to sleep and was completely fine the next day.

Week Two (3/10/08 - 3/14/08)

That week was when she had her terrible diaper rash, bad enough to require Natalie to miss daycare on Wednesday and take a trip to the doctor’s office.

Week Three (3/17/08 - 3/21/08)

Natalie only went to school on Monday of this week, because Monday night she had a mild fever. She still had a fever Tuesday morning, which meant that even if it cleared up that day, she couldn’t go to school on Wednesday, because children have to be fever-free for 24-hours to attend school. In the middle of the night Tuesday, her fever spiked to 105.6!!! She and I took a luke-warm shower, which brought it down to 103. Then the motrin finally kicked in and she was able to go back to sleep with a temperature of 102.5. We took her to the doctor for the second Wednesday in a row this morning. The doctor found that her lungs, throat, and ears were all clear. He did a blood test to check for a hidden infection, (like a urinary tract infection) which was also clear. No elevated white blood cell count or anything else to indicate a problem. So, she has a virus that we’ll let run it’s course.

Was all this sickness because she’s in daycare or just a coincidence? We’ll ever know for sure. One thing I do know is that all these absences from school are not helping Natalie adjust to being there. It’s getting a little better, but still not great.

Grandma had the brilliant idea of taking some picture of Natalie’s teachers and classmates and spending time everyday looking at them. She got the idea because Natalie loves her Aunt Katy and has always been comfortable with her, even though Natalie has only seen Katy (who lives in CA) a few times in her life. The reason? Because we have pictures of Katy that we look at and talk about. If you ask Natalie “who’s that?” she says “Taty!” In fact, she learned to say Katy well before she learning to say Grandma or Nama.

The school director and Natalie’s teachers were enthusiastic about the project and took some pictures this week. Thank goodness, because between Natalie’s illness and the school being closed for Good Friday, she’ll have a whole week before going back to school.

Here is Natalie with one of her teachers and classmates at the beginning of the day, eyes still red from crying after Mama left:

And looking calmer at the end of the day, but eyes red from her impending illness:

More pictures of Natalie at the little playground around the corner from our house.

On our way to have some fun:

Close up:

Natalie still loves rocks:

Heading home:

And a bonus video!!

Sliding! from nataliecaroline on Vimeo.

We’re having a problem with our upstairs tub/shower, and after considering bathing Natalie in the kitchen sink, we opted to try the downstairs stand up shower. If only our drain had gotten hopelessly clogged sooner! After all the drama in the tub lately, it was a refreshing change to see Natalie having fun in the water again.

Don’t worry, there will be no picture accompanying this post! I’ll also spare you the most gory details…

Poor Natalie’s bottom was in bad shape this week. Of course, just as Natalie was starting to be her happy self again on the changing table, she developed a bad rash, which means every diaper change is painful and therefore a struggle. I first noticed it Tuesday morning, the day that Nama was watching Natalie. Nama looked at it and declared, “I’ve seen much worse!” so I didn’t worry too much. We continued using our usual diaper cream. Tuesday night, Natalie was crying out in her sleep and waking up frequently (although I didn’t make the connection—being woken up repeatedly in the middle of the night doesn’t allow for the most logical thinking).

By Wednesday morning, the rash looked a little angrier. Chris was in charge of taking Natalie to day care that morning, so I asked him to be sure to tell the teachers about the rash. Of course he forgot, because it’s impossible to think straight when trying to smile and tell Natalie to have fun at school while she’s hysterically crying. 10 minutes after he came home from dropping her off, Natalie’s teacher called my cell phone to ask me if I was aware of the rash.

I decided to call the pediatrician’s office, even though I was pretty sure they were going to recommend I use diaper cream and tell me to go away. But no, when I described the rash, the nurse scheduled an appointment within the hour. (What gives? In December I called to say that Natalie was coughing so hard she was vomiting, which didn’t warrant an appointment and now they want her to come in for diaper rash?!?!?) So I picked Natalie up from school (poor thing was pretty upset when I got there) and we went to the doctor. It was a good thing the school called and we went to the doctors, because by the time we got there, the rash looked worse than it had only a couple of hours earlier. The two doctors who looked at Natalie’s rear and a test for a strep infection (who knew you could get strep butt?) couldn’t determine the cause of the rash. Dumbfounded, the doctor recommended we try triple paste—a recommendation I could have gotten from my mom’s group without a $30 co-pay.

Thankfully, the rumors I’d heard about triple paste are true! 24 hours later, Natalie’s rash was much improved and now 48 hours later, it’s almost gone. Like everything else, the rash was probably related to teething.

What good is a baby blog if it’s contents won’t embarrass said baby when she becomes a teenager?

Natalie turned 15 months old on March 7! This month she’s added a few teeth to her mouth, added lots of words (and animal sounds) to her vocabulary, and has learned quite a few new skills.

First, the teeth. Natalie has 16 teeth! The top molars and eyeteeth are not fully descended, but the bottom molars and eyeteeth are completely grown in. I fear that she’s working on her “two-year molars” already. If the charming little gifts she’s been leaving us in her diapers this week are any indication, she’ll have the last 4 molars in well before she’s two. Even though I would have liked a break from the teething, I am excited about the prospect of it being over with. Natalie’s aunts Katy and Kary gave her this funny shirt for Solstice this year, and this week ended up being an appropriate time for her to wear it:

Second, Natalie’s expanding vocabulary. Natalie has added these words to her repertoire: window, stairs, yogurt, stroller, apple, horse, bath, bagel, pizza, bubbles, cheese, and please (and probably more that I’m forgetting). And she’s begun saying two word phrases, like “bye-bye dada,” “bye-bye pizza,” “big step,” “read the,” “help me,” and “peas please.” A couple of months ago, she communicated her first sentence with a combination of words and signs. She looked at Chris, who was asleep, and said Dada, then made the sign for sleep. She has also signed “good milk.”

Natalie has learned so many more animal noises that I would venture to say that she knows virtually every one, including sounds that snakes, birds, roosters, chicks, chickens, mice, wolves, frogs, seals, beavers, squirrels, otters, and bees make. She also can demonstrate how giraffes have long necks, porcupines poke, zebras have stripes, camels spit, bunnies wiggle their noses, kangaroos hop, penguins waddle, rhinoceros have big noses, koalas hug, and alligators chomp. I think she may grow up to be a vet.

Third, new motor skills. Natalie discovered reverse! She used to approach chairs by facing them, making it rather difficult to sit down. Now she starts from about a foot away, and backs up. Sometimes she sits down too early and ends up on the floor, much to our amusement. Natalie can manage walking up and down the two steps between our kitchen and her playroom by herself. Sometimes she holds onto the wall and sometimes she does it totally unsupported. Natalie also learned how to spin herself around and seems to enjoy being dizzy. And she’s trying really, really hard to jump, but hasn’t succeeded yet.

Here is Natalie riding Clifford the Big Red Dog at the park, wearing an adorable hat knit for her by Auntie Bethany:

Some other random news items for this month:
1. Natalie has gotten much more tolerant of getting changed, getting dressed, and taking baths. Thank goodness that was just a passing phase.

2. According to her teachers, Natalie had a “wonderful day” at school on friday, her third day. We’re hoping for a repeat performance this Monday. Perhaps the transition into feeling comfortable at day care won’t take as long as I anticipated.

3. Much to our delight, Natalie has been going to bed earlier since starting day care.

As always, Natalie loves being outside and exploring nature:

The second day drop-off was a little rougher than the first day. The first day Natalie really didn’t know what she was in for, so she had nothing to cry about. The second day she wailed like a heartbroken little girl whose parents just abandoned her. It was really, really, really hard to walk away. Then I made the mistake of calling the school only 15 minutes later to check on her. The teacher explained that another teacher was holding her and they were trying their best to distract her and transition her as best they could. I could hear her crying in the background. I felt physically ill—as if my heart could break. All morning I had a big lump in my throat and an ache in my chest. I felt so, so awful, which led me to imagine how awful Natalie must have been feeling…small…frightened…confused…in an unfamiliar place with strangers…unable to communicate. Then I had to stop that line of thinking for my own sanity.

Thankfully, when we called at 1 pm, we heard a very positive report. The teacher told us that although Natalie had a rough start to the morning, she perked up a lot when they did an art project. She also had fun reading stories and singing songs, ate nearly all of her lunch and went down for a nap with no problem.

When we picked Natalie up in the afternoon, she looked to be in better spirits than she had when we picked her up on Monday. The teachers reported that Natalie got upset when other parents come to pick up their kids—their theory is that she gets scared of seeing new people.

I have to keep telling myself that Natalie knows we love her. The fact that she reacts strongly to us leaving her shows that she has a healthy attachment to us. I have to remind myself that going to daycare is a tough transition, but I really think Natalie will love it once she’s adjusted. But I think tomorrow I’ll wait until the afternoon before I call to check on her.