Baby and her baby

In the mornings, Natalie is happy to be awake and, usually after a bottle, will run around, mess up her toys, climb on the sofa, and shout encouragement for us to play with her. Below are some photos from this morning.

To cut Natalie's nails, I turn on the TV briefly (on the baby TV channel). Here she is totally stoned and mesmerized by the sounds and colors on the screen.


On her lap was a little doll and the lens cap for the camera. We think it's funny because it kind of looks like her... wears pink and no hair!)


When I finally turn the TV off, Natalie grabs her little friend and presses her belly button over and over again (the doll makes gurgling and laughing noises you press her belly button).


Then Natalie tries to feed her baby doll the lens cap. Mmm... yummy!


Then she protects her baby doll from being taken away by her mommy. I just want to look, can't I just look?


After a few minutes, Natalie gets bored, dumps her doll and the lens cap on the sofa and moves on.

Cousins' day at the Park

Natalie is starting to spend more time with her cousins. It's great to get all the babies together for a playdate and funny to watch them interact. Natalie adores her older cousin Vanessa and will watch her and follow her around and try to copy her. Vanessa cries whenever Natalie touches her and will tell Lisa, "Mommy, Natalie touched me!". When I put Victoria on the ground to play with some of Natalie's toys, Natalie takes the toys away one-by-one to play with them herself. Poor Victoria. The small one is always picked on by the older ones. Good thing Carol Yee-yee will have a son soon ...and the cycle begins again.

Below are a few photos from our visit to the park last week.

Lisa is "super mom" watching three kids while I snap a few photos. Here she is mopping Natalie's sweaty head. It was hot!


Now Lisa is wiping Vanessa's sweat head. It's funny how little kids work up a sweat head so easily. And why just the head?


Someone is going down the big spiral slide. Who is it?


It's the cousin with the most hair... Vanessa! She was also able to climb UP the slide.


Natalie tapped on the bottom of the slide and looked at me. She wanted to slide, too, but she is too small and had to stick with the smaller slide.

The independent little artist

After work today, Natalie and I created an original work of art. I passed her the markers and she scribbled on the easel. When I tried to take her hand and draw a circle, she pulled her hand away and was annoyed with me (already, so young). She's very independent now... my little girl is growing up!

Natalie proudly pointing out her work of art.


A close up. It's a masterpiece!

Self-preservation

Natalie is old enough to understand the concept of "self-preservation". When she falls, her arms come out in front of her and she lifts her head to prevent it from banging on the mats. Here's another excellent example of self-preservation, but this time for protecting her eyes...

Geez, Mom, can you please turn that flash down a little please?

Natalie can recognize a lot of objects and animals now. Whenever we go out, she loves to point out the things she knows. Watch Video 150 of Natalie helping Clark sort her animal bowling pins.

Also, lately Natalie has been very grumpy and fussy and clingy. She refuses to eat her congee and prefers eating bread and corn and other "chewables". Just last night, I reached into her mouth and realized her molars (the left ones) are coming out. Poor girl, no wonder she wants things to chew on! And what another milestone for her :)

Ocean Park

On Friday, Clark and I took a day off from work to go to Ocean Park with Natalie, Carol, Lisa, Vanessa, and Victoria. It was sooo hot! We spent most of our time in the restaurant and inside the under-the-sea exhibits such as the Chinese Sturgeon and the Atoll Reef. While there, Natalie pointed out the fish (she says "ffeh") and turtles. Clark and I bought season passes and hope to take Natalie again.

Clark and Natalie at Ocean's Park.


Tracy and Natalie at Ocean Park.


Posing with the cartoon statues. Natalie is waving at all the people standing behind Clark who are shouting "Natalie, look here! Over here!" and trying to make her laugh.


Lisa, Victoria, Vanessa, Natalie, and Tracy posing with the statues.


Natalie and Tracy on the cable car to lunch.


Look how hot it is. Even with the nice breeze coming in through the windows, Natalie had a huge sweat head.


Natalie pointing out the water (she calls it "ogh! Ogh!")


Here is Vanessa happily enjoying her jell-o while at lunch.


Natalie and her daddy Clark at the Atoll Reef exhibit. It's amazing! But hard to take good photos.


Lisa, Victoria, Vanessa, and Carol in the other cable car.


Their cable car again. We kept yelling "Yee-yeeeee!" and "Yee-juuurn!" back and forth, and eventually Vanessa started yelling too.


The view. We're almost back!

At the airport again...

This weekend we were at the airport again. We weren't traveling, but went instead to drop Uncle Dave off at the airport and enjoy a lunch together.

While there, something made Natalie do this...


You can't tell from here, but Natalie is freaking out (kicking, crying and screaming her lungs out) about the big scary "animal". She did NOT want to stand next to it for a picture.


Here she is being comforted by her Carol Yee-yee after her mommy was so mean in bringing her so close to the scary animal.


Natalie fell asleep in the car on our way to the airport. She was sleeping so soundly, we didn't want to wake her (and we didn't have her stroller) so daddy Clark came up with a very innovative idea. You can see she is way too big for her rear-facing car seat now. We need to buy a "big-girl" car seat for her soon.

Shoe girl

Natalie loves to put on other people's shoes. I grabbed my phone camera and snapped a few blurry shots below.

Natalie wearing Clark's running shoes. She has trouble walking in them (they're heavy!)


Natalie wearing my high heels. Her entire foot can almost fit out of the peep-toe front.

Bookworm

All the time we have spent reading to Natalie seems to be paying off... she LOVES books! Sometimes, she will sit quietly by herself, leafing through a book, studying each page carefully. Once done studying a page, she will turn the page herself and keep going. Amazingly, she will do this for one or two books at a time without anyone sitting or reading with her.

Clark joins Natalie on the floor with a book of his own.


Daddy and baby reading together.


Clark is really proud of his little bookworm.

Upside Down

These photos need no explanation...

Last time when we were at Toys R' Us, Natalie became very excited and worked up about all the different things she could identify like "boh-boh" (balls) and "woah-woah" (dogs) and "fah-fah" (flowers). She walked everywhere, yelling and waving her arms, and very importantly pointing out these objects to us. She is learning new words every day.

Watch Video 149 of Natalie reading through a book of first words, identifying her favourites objects and turning the pages.

Playing on the slide

Natalie still enjoys climbing up the slide at our local park. Below are pics taken last night from our brief stop at the park. It was HOT so we didn't stay too long.

Natalie eyeing the prize... the top of the slide.


Look at the determination on her little face. Even with full pants (slippery knees) she kept going.


Half-way there!


Still going. Doesn't this look fun?


Almost there.


When she reaches the top, we help her slide back down.