Earrings

Natalie had her ears pierced 2 days ago (May 7) and she loves it. We love it, too! She looks so cute and feminine with her little diamond studs. They are solid 18k gold (to prevent allergies) and she must wear them for 6 weeks before removing. Thanks to Por-por and Gong-gong who treated Natalie for her 2nd birthday!

Natalie smiling happily at the camera while sitting on the toilet. She LOVES her new earrings and will point them out to people she meets. She says, "Nat-lee ee-wing!"


Are you surprised I got them? Yes, mommy and daddy have mutilated me!! But I like it. I hardly cried at all (only at the beginning because I could sense mommy was nervous). After it was done, I didn't cry at all and only smiled while admiring myself in the mirror.


I really like the shiny (pronounced "shy-nee!").


Don't I look more girly now? I dare you to call me a boy now!

Canada!

It's been a while since the last post because we've really been enjoying our time in Toronto/Waterloo too much and forgot to update. We've barely been taking enough pictures! We've just been enjoying ourselves. The weather is gorgeous, the food delicious, and the company has been a lot of fun... especially for Natalie! See photos below of Natalie at Waterloo Park with her Nai-nai and Yeh-yeh checking out the animals. She loves animals.

Natalie with Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai looking in on some animals. I think this was the rabbit cage where we saw a MONSTER sized rabbit (think quadruple chins). Natalie calls them "ab-bit!"


Natalie posing with Yeh-yeh. Poor Natalie had really bad hay fever. We didn't even realize what it was (we thought it was the dust mites again) until we went out on a windy day with Vanessa Yee-yee who also has hay fever. You can see in this photo her eyes are puffy and small. She was a bit dopey while out as well.


Natalie was very happy to see a beautiful peacock and lots of chickens. She recognized the chickens and identified them as "chih-kens!"


Natalie spending time with Yeh-yeh looking at the Lhamas. There was a big white one and a smaller brown one.

The lhamas were good friends.

Here is Natalie at the dock looking at geese, ducks, and swans. The swans were beautiful and were very brave coming close to eat the bread Yeh-yeh had.

Although Natalie liked to look, she didn't like getting too close. She kept a cautious distance.

It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun. Here is Natalie posing with Nai-nai and Yeh-yeh at Waterloo Park.

Natalie jumping off a window ledge

Natalie LOVES to jump now. Every day she jumps. When she wakes up she jumps. When we go outside for a walk, she'll insist on stepping up a curb and jumping down back onto the sidewalk. And sometimes, she'll even climb up high and jump down (usually someone catches her).

Check out Video 211 of Natalie jumping off the window ledge in her room.

Also, see Video 212 (a little longer video) of Natalie reading with her daddy.

Friends with Ethan

Last week, we went to Ocean Park with Annie and her little boy Ethan. Ethan and Natalie are exactly one month apart and are good friends. See them posing next to a giant hippo on a bench in Ocean Park.

We just put them on the bench. They're warming up.


Ethan and Natalie are both saying, "Look, a hippo!"


Then they both give the hippo a big hug!

Natalie at Play

Here are more videos of Natalie. Now that she's older, she's more interactive and funny. She definitely has her own opinions and has started to throw tantrums or cry / whine if she doesn't get her way. She's also very affectionate still and will kiss and hug us all the time.

Video 208 - Listen to Natalie describe the things she sees as we "read" a book together. She loves to communicate and sometimes even stutters in her eagerness to tell us things.

Video 209 - Watch Natalie as she dances with Elmo. Elmo comes with a built-in song and she knows to press his hand to make music. She also loves to jump, especially now that she consistently gets air (both feet in the air).

Video 210 - Here is Natalie playing with playdoh. This is her first time and her first creation is... a snake! She made over twenty snakes in one sitting.

Natalie as mommy

Last week, Natalie tried on my dry-fit shirt. It was a little too big, but she liked it.

Hey, where are my hands?


Yeah, I got one out! Natalie is very expressive now.

Easter weekend

This past Easter weekend, we had family over for an all-day play date followed by dinner including friends. Natalie had a great time hanging with her favourite cousins. See photos (courtesy of Lisa) below.


Natalie looking sincerely between bars at the park.


Natalie with Vanessa climbing up the stairs. Vanessa loves collecting leaves.


Little Victoria got in on the fun, too. Here is she climbing on the equipment.

Later, indoors, the babies play with some toys together. Natalie really loves to play with her cousins and can call them each by name.


Then Vanessa joins in the picture. It's a miracle, but somehow, we got all babies looking in the camera's general direction and 3 are smiling!

Vanessa loved to make fake "glasses" for herself.

Here is Natalie copying Vanessa but she doesn't get it quite right.

Later, Clark turns into a horse and gives rides to Natalie and Vanessa. They loved it.

After naps, Victoria, Vanessa and Natalie all took a bath together. They LOVED it and all had a blast. By the time we took them out, all their fingers, toes, and even the bottom of their feet were wrinkled.

All in all, a great day!

Videos backlog

Over the past week, we have taken several videos of Natalie. She is really blooming into her own little person and learning new things every hour it seems! See the videos below:

Video 202 - We have trained Natalie to give us shoulder massages. She's quite good at it and does it very enthusiastically.

Video 203 - She also loves to go out and can be a little impatient while waiting for the elevator. It's very funny because she will pace up and down the elevator hallway and occasionally shout because she is so happy to be going out.

Video 204 - Watch Natalie use intense concentration as she patiently learning how to use a digital camera with Carol yee-yee. It's still a bit hard for her because the button needs to be held down for 3 seconds before the photo is taken.

Video 205 - Here she is demonstrating for the camera how to jump. Most of the time, she keeps one foot on the ground and gets zero air, but occasionally both feet will leave the ground.

Video 206 - Listen to Natalie having a chat with her daddy Clark. She's busy eating little fish crackers at the same time.

Video 207 - Watch Natalie make small eyes, big eyes, and her "surprised" look.

Bollywood

Natalie's friend Nana had a birthday party themed "Bollywood". Although we didn't get to go because we were sick, Natalie did have a nice outfit picked out for the occasion. See her with her many poses and expressions below.

Natalie with her little bowl of cereal. She has a small little smile.


She understands what the camera is now. When I take the camera out, she knows to move further away so the camera can "see" all of her.


When I say "Smile!" she can give a big, happy smile.


Occasionally, she also does a little fancy posing.

Later, she generously shares her cereal flakes with her daddy Clark.

Clark gives it back to Natalie.

For some reason, she finds this really funny.

Here's more smiling for the camera from Natalie. When it's not a "real" smile, sometimes, it looks like she's in pain.

Serafina's Birthday Party

A few days ago, our family attended Natalie's little friend, Serafina's 2nd birthday party. The apartment had 11 toddlers and 16 kids in attendance. As you can imagine, there were toys everywhere and we all had a great time!

Natalie looking at Serafina accepting birthday gifts while munching on a sandwich.


Natalie meeting some new playmates. She really liked her outfit with Minnie Mouse on the front. She now likes wearing dresses!


Natalie watching Serafina play with the bubble gun in the house. We had to move them outside because the floors became too slippery.


Here they are playing with more bubbles on the balcony with Clark.

Natalie (and all kids) LOVE bubbles.

Group photo! Can you find us?

This is our attempt at a "group" photo with the tots. Not quite as successful. Natalie is one of the quieter ones who will sit for a while and smile at the camera :)

Here is Natalie snacking on a cookie with her two friends Sabrina and Serafina. The best way to take a good photo is to feed them.

Serafina LOVES ice cream. Here is her cute milk moustache after drinking the last of the melted ice cream from her birthday cake. Poor Natalie did not even get to try a bite. I'm a mean mum!

Natalie's many expressions

Natalie has so many different expressions. Most of them are funny, some are serious, and the ones I like the most are when she is concentrating on something (some times with her tongue sticking out).

Lately, Natalie has really enjoyed playing with plastic shuttlecocks. She likes to pull them out and count them by saying "three four three four" and putting them back in. Check out her different expressions below.

Natalie concentrating on stacking the birdies just so.


She's reaching into the tube to pull out more birds.


She found one!


She asks, "Do you like how the birdie stack is growing?"

"I do!" Here she is being pleased with herself.

Only one birdie left. It's a long reach all the way to the bottom of the tube.

All done! No birdies left. Natalie shows me the empty tube.

Then we put them all back inside. Here is Natalie trying to figure out which way the lid goes on.

She got it!