Natalie is 2!!!

Wow, I just can't believe Natalie went from this little baby. . .

To a 1 year-old baby. . .

To a 2 year-old girl!!!

*Okay, sometimes I can believe it. Natalie definitely acts like a 2 year-old when she wants to! Meltdowns, tantrums, fits, yep we're in that territory now. Dangerous waters, I tell you!

There are so many things to love about Natalie! Here are a bunch of details about my 2 year-old Natapillar. . .

*In typical 2 year-old fashion, Natalie is fiercely independent and wants to do everything herself and everything her older sister does! She won't let you help her drink from a cup, she has to hold the cup herself and spill it all over. She doesn't want you to help her eat snacks so she won't scatter them. She has to hold them herself. You get the picture. . . she's 2 and she won't let you forget it!

*She is full of wonder for the world around her! She has a vocabulary that's growing every day and it's so funny to hear her try to say new words. She's starting to put a few words together into little sentences (nothing too complex. . . "Bye-bye, doggy" and "I want this", stuff like that), and one of her best new words is "Baby food." The word she probably says most often: "More!!!" She asks for more of everything, all the time.

*She loves to make all the animal noises and will say them on demand. Her default animal noise when she doesn't know the right one: "Rawr!!!"

*She's starting to sing a few words to songs, and it's hilarious! Her latest is "Baby Beluga" and she shouts, "Baby Abuga!" over and over and over.

*Natalie can hold her own on the playground! This girl is pretty fearless. She follows Kirsten around, climbs things with reckless abandon, and even climbs to the top of giant slides without being afraid. Sometimes it really makes me nervous! She loves slides and being pushed on the swings.

*Natalie needs to STOP growing! She is in the 99'th percentile for height. 99%! That is just crazy! And she's 31 pounds. So of course she grows out of everything way too fast. At barely 2 years old, she's already wearing 3T clothes. She wears size 7 shoes and size 4 diapers. Slow down, kid!!!

*Some of her favorite things include:
-Animals, especially kitties. She goes NUTS over kitties, and chases ours around, calling "Key-ah! Key-ah!" I love that she's an animal-lover like me!
-Swimming and anything to do with the water! Just like Kirsten, she would swim every day if she could and was VERY upset that she couldn't take swimming lessons when Kirsten did.
-Books! She loves to be read to, and as soon as I'm finished reading one she'll say "More, mommy!" and run and get another one.
-Dancing and singing
-Balloons, bubbles, and balls, just like Kirsten (are there any kids who don't love those things, I wonder?)

*Natalie loves food. She really just loves to eat, and is always asking for more. It's a big switch from Kirsten, who often doesn't want to eat. Natalie is much less picky and just attacks her meals. Some of her favorite foods: Fruit, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, popsicles, tacos, spaghetti, and cheese. She's not a big fan of bread or crackers, and usually eats the middle out of sandwiches and leaves the bread.

-Even though she's the middle child, Natalie makes sure she doesn't get lost in the shuffle. She is by FAR our loudest kid. When she cries at her full volume, people around the block can probably hear her. She was always loud as a baby, and she still is just LOUD. Kirsten was always very quiet, Brooke has a quiet cry, Natalie is loud. When she's unhappy, the whole world has to know about it.

*She always behaved well on car rides as a baby, and for the most part she still does! She loves to look out the windows, listen to music, and she's generally very well-behaved and quiet in the car. She has opinions about music now too! After certain songs she'll say "More!" and wants to hear them again. She seems to love upbeat music like 80's pop, Kesha, and the Warblers from Glee.

*She does really silly things, and loves to make us all laugh! Climbing into the bathtub with her diaper on, saying "My Daddy!" and pointing to people who clearly aren't her Daddy, stealing things and laughing while running away. . . I could go on and on. She's a little imp, for sure.

*She's also a major antagonist. She does things to get a reaction all the time, so she's constantly bugging Kirsten, taking things and hiding them, just doing troublemaker stuff like that. She thinks it's hilarious to run away from me, get into things she shouldn't, make messes, steal something and run away with it at full speed. Grrrrrrr, that girl!

*Natalie is a very sweet sister! She has always been very good to Brooke, and even though they're only 18 months apart has never acted jealous of her. She's so loving and sweet, and is a little nurturer who loves to carry her dolls around and put them in the baby swing or the stroller.

*She has a great laugh and a big smile, but it can be tough to get her to smile for pictures.

*She has never once in her whole life said the word "No." She only says "Uh-uh" for no and "Mmm-hmm" for yes. It's pretty funny, I don't know where she picked that up!

*Natalie is definitely in the "Mine" stage. She thinks everything is hers!
An airplane flying in the sky. . . "My airplane!" (with heavy emphasis on the word "My")
A boat on the lake. . . "My boat!" (I sure wish it was your boat, Natalie!)
"My Daddy!" She has some fun little arguments with Kirsten over that one. . . "My Daddy!" Kirsten: "He's both of our Daddies!" Natalie: "MY Daddy!" and on and on it goes. . .

*She loves to create things with Play-doh and experiment with paints and colors. She had a blast with the bath paints I created one day out of shampoo and food coloring!

*She is MESSY. Dirt and messes just don't bother her one bit. She smears food everywhere and gets dirty when she plays outside. I'm trying to get her interested in cleaning, with no luck so far!

*Natalie has beautiful blue eyes, soft blonde hair, cute rosy cheeks, and is looking more and more like Kirsten. I get told often how much they look alike, even though they didn't at ALL as babies.

*Before she was even 2 years old, Kirsten taught her to climb out of her crib. (Sigh). So she doesn't nap every day, and sometimes spends her whole naptime playing in her room instead. If she does nap, it's usually around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and doesn't last too long. She falls asleep in the car if it's around that time, and takes a VERY long time falling asleep at night, especially since she shares a room with Kirsten. Unless she skipped a nap, she's usually awake until 9 or 10, making noise and messes in their room.

*Both girls fall asleep to music now, and I created the "Night-night CD" that they both love. Natalie loves the first song on the CD, "If I Could Visit the Moon" sung by Ernie.

*She's never been as interested in the TV or movies as Kirsten, and she still isn't, but she does love Sesame Street. She can name most of the characters, and her favorites are Elmo and Ernie. She also likes dance-themed movies or ones with lots of songs that she can dance around to.

*She has a total thing for shoes! Already loves them!

*She's interested in the potty, and has gone in it a few times! I think she'll be potty trained much earlier than Kirsten was, and that makes me happy. It's interesting to compare the two, because she's much more physically adept than Kirsten was at 2, much more fearless, but also talks a lot less. Kirsten does most of the talking for her, I guess.

*She loves playing the piano! Anything that makes noise, really, Natalie likes.

We love our Natalie! She has such a big, notice-me personality and refuses to be ignored, and I guess that's what she needs to have to survive life in the middle of 3 girls! She's a lot of fun, funny, and also a cuddly sweetheart with a big heart. She still loves to sit on laps more than almost anything, and she'll plant herself down on your lap and not even move unless you make her. So sweet!