What does a ____ say?

No mystery the kid loves animals: dogs, cats (poor Cici), birds, horses, the entire zoo....so, we've been working on learning what sounds the animals make.  She does them way better when she's not being filmed.  It's the pressure of the stage, perhaps.

We're also working on some more conventional animals, too, but these are the ones she really likes, for some reason.

Poop

No pictures today, but I promise this story is funny enough that you probably won't be that disappointed.

Yesterday Natalie and I had plans for a lunch date with a friend of mine.  We were all ready to go, and about 15 minutes before departure we were going to do a diaper check when I thought I smelled poop.  Nat cooperatively laid down on the floor for me to check, and, sure enough, her diaper was full (bummer number one that we didn't make an attempt to get to the potty, bummer number two that the poop was a little messier than normal--I blame her grape and strawberry obsession--and it got on my finger).  So, upstairs we marched to find a clean diaper.

I should interject here that lately Nat has thought it hilarious to run around her room, and the rest of upstairs, naked at every opportunity.

We gathered the necessary supplies, Nat cooperatively laid back down, and I stripped the diaper off and put it to the side.  After wiping off one cheek, I needed to refold the washcloth to find some clean real estate.  At that precise moment, Natalie kicked her legs, sending the dirty diaper flying poop side up into the front of her dresser.  She rolled over and stood up to run away.  I reached out to grab her, which she thought was hilarious and backed up to evade me, but fell and skidded twice along the carpet on her poopy behind, leaving two huge poop smears on the floor.

I finally corralled her and got her the rest of the way cleaned up and in fresh pants.  Then, we assessed the damage.  One poop-covered foot (from the kick into the diaper), one poop-covered hand (from grabbing her poop-covered foot to point out that it was, in fact, poop covered), one very poopy dresser drawer, and two poop skids on the carpet.  Estimated time of departure?  Like 5 minutes ago.

We marched to the bath tub, where Nat was put in, in her clothes, to wash her feet and hands.  Done.  Next was dresser clean up.  The carpet was a real mess, and required us to go downstairs in search of pet stain remover/carpet cleaner.  On the way to the laundry room, I kept smelling poop despite Natalie being thoroughly cleaned and ready to roll again.  This is when we discovered that I had quite the poop stain of my own, down the front of my pant leg, most likely acquired when the diaper when sailing.  Luckily, we were already headed to the laundry room, so (leaving my pants on, of course) I wet my pant leg, scrubbed some laundry detergent on it with a wash cloth and scrubbed vigorously until clean.  Now, carpet cleaner.  Aha.  Back upstairs.

A few minutes later and the carpet was good as new.  (By the way, even tonight Natalie was still pointing out the spot on the carpet, which you cannot even see anymore, where the poop was.  Kind of makes me chuckle.  Some day, her prom date is gonna love this one.....)

And, finally, out the door.  Only about 15 minutes behind schedule at that.

Totally worth it, right?

Surely It Can't Be That Easy

No more babies here.  I've been putting it off for weeks, but finally decided it was time to pull the plug on the bedtime bottle.  Natalie has been without bottles during the day for several months.  We had to employ the "remove cold turkey" strategy, one bottle at a time.  And, eventually she got the memo that milk comes in a cup, not in a bottle.  Except for at bedtime.  

Judge me if you want, but our bedtime routine was rock solid.  You could have added it to the list of things you can count on: death, taxes, and Natalie going to sleep at bedtime.  So, in the back of my mind, I've always been leery about how it would go when it came time to pack up the bottles for good.  And then I ran out of excuses....

For all the haters of my routines and schedules and rules out there, let me say this.  Taking a bottle out of the mix has not effected Nat's ability to go to bed like clockwork or sleep (mostly) through the night.  In fact, she's at least been sleeping all night, just waking up a touch on the early side for my liking, since her bottle went bye-bye.  

But can it really be that easy?  After 5 nights in a row, I'm calling it good.

So, officially, I'm calling her a big kid!  Of course, we still have potty training and the transition to big girl bed to work on, but let's focus on today!

Jack Wyatt

I wouldn't be doing my job as an aunt if I didn't dedicate a post to my brand new nephew, Jack.

Jack was born two weeks ago yesterday.  He is just as handsome as he can be....see for yourself.

Jack at two weeks old

Nat giving Jack "I love you" pats

and smooches, lots and lots of smooches

Nat, Aunt Beth, and baby Jack

Natalie just loves her cousin, Jack, too.  She wants to hold him so badly, and of course is too little to understand why she can't.  But, so far, she has been really good around him, getting only a little jealous yesterday when I was feeding him (which took quite awhile, and I think was the main cause of her angst).  We all can't wait for the day when the two of them are running around causing havoc together.

Down on the Farm

So, mom fail two Easters in a row.  I did not, once again, take any festive pictures of Natalie on Easter.  This year we didn't even get her dressed up in a frilly dress.  Partly because we spent Easter in Wisconsin and the temperature was a little too chilly for any of her dresses, and two because I guess Nat's not really the dress-wearing type.  At least not right now.  

We did have a very nice holiday weekend spent, as I said, in Wisconsin.  We took in Brewers Opening Day, went to the Milwaukee County Zoo, and capped the weekend with church, Easter lunch, and an Easter Egg hunt.  

Because no post would be complete without photos, here are some from a day around the house:

After digging in the dirt, we washed hands in the outside faucet.  

Natalie is now obsessed with trying to turn it on herself.

This kid LOVES her wagon

Showing off her skinned up eye, acquired by taking

a header into the mulch a few days prior.

Overalls and a stray corn husk blown in on windy day.

Does that say "I live in the country" or what?

Keeping an eye on a family of geese on the pond

and checking on our peach tree

All part of a farm girl's day.

And fence climbing!