The Fun You Can Have with a Boot Cup

Remember the boot-shaped cup Natalie acquired from this year's girls' trip and dinner at the Dixie Stampede?  She kept the cup as a souvenir, and today brought it to me proudly and asked for "wa-wa." Why not, right?  As long as she keeps it in the kitchen or outside, I figured what's the worst that can happen, a little spilled water?

So, here you go.  Picture evidence that drinking water from a boot cup makes a toddler immensely happier than a plain old sippy...

proud of her find in the cupboard

notice the drip marks down her shirt already?

I didn't let this bother me, even once!  Not even after she deliberately poured the remains of the cup on the newly mopped hardwood when I informed her it was nap time.

Isn't she sweet?

boot cup joins us outside for play time

Wait, when did my 19 month-old turn 3?  Is it just me or does she suddenly look a lot older?

(though, I hope she has a little more hair by her 3rd birthday)

Nat is saying all kinds of words these days, which I find thoroughly entertaining, and a lot better than talking to her and the cat without getting a response all day.

I find her speech to be particularly endearing.  Maybe because it's her, or because I think her voice is just the best.  Or maybe because most of what she says I think is astonishingly clear for someone who basically started speaking 6 weeks ago.  (Funny aside: Natalie has been saying two words that Eric and I have been struggling to determine the meaning of.  They sound like "goat cheese" and "sheb sheb" when she says them.  We've been desperately asking her to point to what she wants.  We sound like we are playing our own version of Mad Gab with one another trying to figure out what she is saying.  And, if you repeat them back to her that way: "sheb sheb" she thinkings it's just the funniest thing she's ever heard.  Today, I served her grilled cheese (goat cheese) and strawberries (sheb sheb) for lunch.  Hallelujah!  The mystery is over.  The meaning was confirmed by me asking her a thousand times to name the objects on her plate.  Whew.)

Where was I?  Some of the words that Natalie says are coming out with a southern accent.  I wish you could hear her little voice say "all gone."  It's priceless.  It even has a hand gesture.  I think my three favorite words she says are: "Cici" (which sounds kind of like she-shees), "horsey" (which comes out like horshies), and "fuzz."  I laugh every time she says fuzz.  It also has a gesture.  She got a mouth full of cat hair earlier this week, which prompted the learning of the word.  

BABY WATCH 2012:

Time has officially come, I guess, to start really getting ready for the new baby.  Still no name decided, though Nat is still committed to Jack.  Yesterday she did also throw out "Nat nat" as a suggestion.  Seems we already have one of those, though.  We are approximately 8 weeks away from d-day.  I wasn't particularly concerned about anything just yet, until my last 2 doctor's appointments in which two separate practitioners voiced worry about how quickly labor could go.  This seems like a positive, right?  Apparently not.  There is some talk about induction just to be certain we make it to the hospital.  Odd, no?

Natalie is napping in her new room, and she is completely moved out of the nursery, except for sleeping in there at night.  The drawers in the nursery are filled with newborn boy clothes.  I have a list made of baby items we need to pick up, mostly just little things since all of our newborn stuff can be reused (the bonus of not having found out Natalie was a girl, and having babies close together).

I suppose I could post a picture of the growing baby belly.  I remember being fairly diligent about taking those pictures with Natalie, but have yet to take a single belly profile shot and we are already at 32 weeks....