Yoghurt Moustache

Watch Video 258 of Natalie eating yoghurt and giving herself a yoghurt moustache! She is so playful now and talks non stop all the time. Her observations can be very funny, too!

Natalie-ism

I come home from work (a bit late) and Clark is already at home playing with Natalie.
Clark: "Natalie, can you tell mommy what's in Ba-ba's nose?"
Natalie (without looking): "Ba-ba have hair in the nose. Eeew, gross!"
Me, laughing: "Does mommy have hair in her nose?"
Natalie examines my nose. "Yes. Eeew, gross!"
Me: "Does Natalie have hair in her nose?"
Natalie shakes her head. "No, only booger."

Natalie enjoys school

We are so happy to see that Natalie is really enjoying herself at school. She really looks forward to going every day and we even play "school" when we're at home!

Now that it's winter time in Hong Kong, all students have changed into their winter uniforms. See photos of Natalie below. Also, see Video 257 of Natalie ready to go to school. She was ready to go and really impatient to leave even though it was a little too early so I distracted her with the video camera.

Here is Natalie ready to go in her yellow PE (phys ed.) uniform.

"Open the door! I want to go to schoooool!"

I said, "Natalie, wait, it's still too early to go." and she said, "But I want to go to school."

Earlier this week, Natalie also posed in her "normal" winter uniform. It's a white turtleneck with a plaid dress. Then you have to add grey stockings, black shoes and a red boxy jacket.

Here's Natalie "smiling" for the camera. Not sure where she learned to put her hands to her face for a smile... maybe at school?

More visitors in town

This weekend, we also saw Li Meng, Mae and baby Kiera from Singapore! Natalie was very keen to see "baby Kiera" and to tell us that "Natalie is not a baby anymore, I am a big girl now." We've set the stage for her "big girl" activities like getting rid of the pacifier, sleeping by herself and using the potty!

Natalie, me, Vivo, Mae, Kiera, and Li Meng at yummy, spicy dinner. Clark, Que and Kevy were behind the camera, later joined by Amy and Dave.


Kiera has the cutest, sweetest face.

Al and the new Computer!

Natalie has a new favourite toy... a small, pink computer! She received it as gift from our friends Al and Zahra. Thanks Al and Zahra!

Al came to visit Hong Kong and we spent some time together over a weekend. Natalie LOVES her computer! She will show it everyone who comes over and will ask to bring it out or bring it to school. And, because she loves her computer, she also loves Al :) She reminds us that "Al give" and will pat her computer.

Natalie and Al became instant friends. Here they are chatting and reading together.


Natalie pointing out something important to Al.


Now they're turning the page together. Al was really patient.


Natalie doesn't usually take to someone so fast. She's usually very shy and reserved, although the computer may have helped a little. Remember, if you want kids to like you... bring gifts!

Eating out with Natalie

Natalie is really easy and great to take out to eat at restaurants. She loves sitting in highchairs (she calls them "Natalie chairs"), she can feed herself her entire meal and, most importantly, she can sit still for a long time (sometimes 2 or even 3 hours!). She is super patient when it comes to waiting for food to arrive and also when waiting for us to finish eating.

Here is Natalie entertaining herself with crayons and an activity paper at Tony Roma's.


Tony Roma's is great because they are really child friendly. They have plenty of highchairs and crayons and the staff are friendly towards kids.


The crayons were held together by and elastic which Natalie liked playing with. It was her bracelet.


Natalie gives a little smile for the camera. She seems to like eating out with us.


We love how patient she is :)

More Natalie-isms

We are downstairs in our lobby waiting for the elevator. A chinese woman is speaking very loudly into the telephone in mandarin. Natalie listens, fascinated. Then she hangs up.
Natalie: "Mommy, who's that screaming?"
Me: (I ignore her and pretend to be busy doing something else, hoping she'll drop the conversation.)
Natalie, even louder: "Mommy, who's that screaming?"
Me: "Um... The nice lady."
We later get in the same elevator with her.

Natalie is crouched behind a chair.
Natalie: "Look, I'm hiding!"
Me: "Why are you hiding?"
Natalie: "Because I'm silly!"

Natalie and I are preparing Clark's birthday surprise.
Me: "This is Ba-ba's birthday card. Will you draw on it?"
Natalie: "Yes!"
Me: "Ok."
Natalie (after a while): "This is Ba-ba's birthday card. I tell Ba-ba Happy Birthday?"
Me: "No no, don't tell Ba-ba. It's a surprise. Okay?"
Natalie: "Okay."
Me: "Good. So... what do you tell Ba-ba?"
Natalie: "Ba-ba, surprise!"
Me: "No no, tell Ba-ba nothing! Okay?"
Natalie: "Okay."
Me: "So what do you tell Ba-ba when he comes home?"
Natalie: "I say Ba-ba nothing!"
Me: "Umm... ok."

I am putting my shoes on, ready to leave for work. Natalie runs out from her room with no pants on.
Natalie: "Mommy! Mommy!"
Me: "Yes, Natalie, what is it?"
Natalie: "Stop! Come here! I want to kiss you!"

Decorating presents

Natalie really enjoys decorating gifts we've wrapped for our friends. We wrap the gifts in a plain, mural paper and she goes at it with markers, stamps and stickers! Here she is decorating a gift for her new little friend Tobias who was born only two weeks ago (the gifts were given during the past baby shower we attended).

Natalie loves to use all the colors in the marker pack.


And here she is using stamps to stamp different colored animals on the paper.


Later, we move to the sofa area for some sticker action.


Natalie selects the sticker she wants to use and then Clark helps her to peel the wax off the back.

And then Natalie sticks the stickers onto the present.

Natalie looking through her stickers collection with a little smile. She loves stickers!

Natalie pauses long enough to smile for the camera.

And then puts the finishing touches on her "masterpiece".

Chopstick noodle slurping

Natalie has continued to gain skillz as a chopstick user (with her trainer chopsticks). Watch Video 256 of Natalie happily slurping down noodles with her cousin Vanessa. They're both really great chopstick users!

Hallowe'en 2009

This year was Natalie's 3rd ever Hallowe'en. For her 1st one, she was a little pink monster. For her 2nd one, she was a little duck. Now that she's older this year, we let her choose what she wanted to be and she decided that she didn't want to be a butterfly and she didn't want to be a duck again. Instead, she wanted to be... a black cat. Here's presenting, Natalie the black cat!

Natalie loved being a cat.


Here we are testing the make-up for her black nose and whiskers. It went really well with her new black cat ears.


Clark wanted to try out the black nose and whiskers, too.


Not sure what Natalie thought about that, but Clark likes it!

Later, we put on the full outfit, including a velvety black dress which fit her perfectly.

Here is Natalie wandering the apartment and doing her thing with her costume on.

Here's a close up of her chubby cat face.

That's her cat tail on the sofa. With the dress, we couldn't figure out how to put the tail on!

Natalie got to dress up to go to school on Friday, Oct 30th and then spent Hallowe'en day with her cousins and at QQ club. She didn't ANY candy. All in all, a great Hallowe'en!