Natalie’s Blog

It amazes us how an 18-month-old with a limited (compared to an adult) vocabulary has such a sense of humor and can even make jokes.

Natalie finally learned the word “truck,” after many, many conversations in the car like this one. This morning, she pointed to a truck and said (very proudly) “Tuck!” After I reinforced that she had indeed seen and correctly identified the truck, Natalie (looking quite impish) said, “Bus??”

Understanding Natalie’s latest joke requires some lead-in…Natalie and Grandpa Smoky (”Pop Pop”) often have the following conversation whenever Natalie starts shrieking or yelling or loudly babbling.

Pop Pop (with mock inquisition) asks, “Who’s making all that noise?”
Natalie (trying to look all innocent): smiles and shrugs
Pop Pop (exaggeratedly): “Is Meemah making all the noise?”
Natalie: smiles and shakes her head “no”
Pop Pop: “Is Pop Pop making all the noise?”
Natalie (giggling and shaking her head) confesses: “Nah!”
Pop Pop: “Oh, Natalie made all the noise?!?!”

So yesterday, Natalie and I were alone playing when she started shrieking. I asked her, “Who’s making all that noise?!?” Her reply? With a big devilish grin, she exclaimed, “Pop Pop!”

Natalie continues to learn and grow every day. At her 18-month check-up I had to fill out a developmental questionnaire, which the doctor said Natalie “passed with flying colors.” She is now 33 inches (90%) and 22 lbs., 12 oz. The doctor was a little concerned about Natalie’s weight because this is the third visit in a row that it’s dropped in terms of percentiles (she’s now below the 25%). It’s also the third check-up in a row that immediately followed an illness that significantly decreased Natalie’s appetite. I’m not super concerned, but we’ll follow the doctor’s recommendations to try and increase her good fat intake. We don’t have another check-up scheduled until Natalie turns 2, which feels odd after having such frequent check-ups thus far.

Natalie’s latest cute thing is to raise her hand and say “I do!” in response to any question that begins “Who loves…?” She is learning her colors and can correctly identify orange, purple, yellow, and blue—if she does it on her own accord. If you ask her what color something is, she says “Bwoo!” every time. She also loves to jump like a frog, which involves her doing deep knee bends and shouting “‘bit! ‘bit! ‘bit!” since she can’t actually get her feet off the ground.

Happy half-birthday, Natalie!! May you always keep your sweet sense of wonder about the world…

We celebrated Natalie’s half-birthday and our 5-year anniversary by going to the Aquarium!

We bought this harness for Natalie a couple of months ago, but this is the first time we’ve used it. It was great! Natalie was free to run around through the crowd and we could relax without having to keep our eyes on her at all times. Plus she really liked wearing a backpack like Mom and Dad do.

I realize having a blog and allowing people to comment on it leaves us open to people’s judgements. For the most part, the people who read “The Chronicles of Natalie” love us and leave supportive comments. Sometimes, though, we get hurtful comments from strangers (at least I think/hope they’re strangers). Over a year ago, someone left a comment that said something to the effect of “why are you putting your child at risk for being kidnapped by putting her pictures online for all the world to see?” We decided not to publish it. We have taken precautions as far as not publishing where we live, etc. The harsh reality is that children are much more likely to be hurt by a family member or someone they know than by a stranger.

It’s hard to become a parent. Our culture is overwrought with judgements (especially of mothers) that make it hard to for parents to feel like they’re doing a good job. Mothers are criticized for working, for staying home, for using too much discipline or not enough discipline, for not breastfeeding and for breastfeeding too long.

The most recent judgmental comment was in response to my post Tooties. The person wrote:

are you kidding? the kid is eating a cookie and still beoing [sic] breast fed, that is utterly disgusting and disgraceful!! Is she going to go to school like that?

I wasn’t really sure how to respond. Part of me wanted to just put the comment in the spam folder and ignore it. I’d love to be secure enough in my decisions to not feel defensive, but the comment rattled me. And I do feel the need to defend my own choices as a mother. And to shout, with pride….YES, I’M STILL BREASTFEEDING MY 18-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know not everyone makes this choice. I know that some people are uncomfortable with breastfeeding—especially with extended nursing. I knew publishing that photo might have made some people squirm. Too bad. Judge all you want. The fact is that extended breastfeeding is good for kids and moms.

Breastfeeding a toddler “disgusting and disgraceful”? More like healthy and commendable!

And I’m sure Natalie will be fully weaned by the time she starts kindergarten…Hopefully by the time she has children, the our culture will be more supportive and accepting of breastfeeding.

Yummy smoothie:

It’s about to spill…

Brain freeze!

Big bite: