Natalya's first movie

Last night Natalya and I met Stephanie and Mady at the movie theatre for Natalya's first movie theatre experience. We went to go see Enchanted.
:)

What a blast. All day I was teeling her that we were going to go to the movies, and that once the movie came on she had to be quiet so as not to disturb anyone else in the theatre.
Periodically, I would ask her, are you excited to go see the movie? And she would say "YEAH!! Mommy, you have to be quiet in the movies". :) I also told her kind of what to expect, and that there would be animals, singing, and a big dragon. I didn't want her to be scared, so I was warning her. She said, "Mommy, I'm not scared of dragons".

We get there and it was cheap! It was a cheap theatre, and being that it wasn't a weekend, my ticket was $1.50 and she got in free because she's under three. I let her get a kids meal, popcorn, fruit snacks and water. She was so excited to have her own little box. She and Mady sat between Stephanie and I and I had to fold up my coat to put on the seat for N to sit on, because it was the flip up seats, and they were threatening to close on her and flip her up in them. Oops! Once we got that straightened out she was munching on her popcorn and then the lights went down, and the preview came on. She did not move. Her eyes were as big as saucers and she didn't even eat her popcorn. LOL! When the movie came on, I told her, it's coming on! She didn't even look at me- she was so enthralled.

After a while, I asked her if she was going to eat her popcorn and she started gingerly taking one piece and putting it in her mouth- without taking her eyes off the screen. :)
About halfway through the movie, Mady reached over to hold Natalya's hand and they held hands the rest of the movie. AWWWwwww! So cute! We did have one bathroom break toward the end. Then when the dragon came on, Natalya said, "Mommy, I'm not scared of dragons!" in a shaky voice. :)

She really had a good time, the movie was super cute, and I can't wait to take her to another one.

Natalya the songwriter

Natalya's new talent, creating songs.

On the way home from running our errands today, She made up a song that she called her "I miss my daddy" song. It went something like this:

I miss my Daddy
I want my Daddy to come home
I miss my Daddy
I want my Daddy to come home
I want my Daddy to come home
I miss Daddy doggie
I miss Daddy doggie
Daddy drives a big yellow truck
I miss yellow doggie Daddy


(whenever she is an animal, we are then "daddy doggie" and "mommy doggie" or kangaroo, or whatever animal she is, by default.)

HAHAHA!

Dressing herself

So the issue of dressing herself has been taken care of ages ago. She likes to change clothes and will ocassionally disappear and come back wearing something totally different- usually pajamas b/c it's what she can reach. (in the bottom drawer of her dresser)
I recently moved the too big/too small things to the top drawer so she could more easily acces the things that fit i the bottom. Good plan, except she knew the top drawer existed and wanted to know what was in there. So she's forever dragging her stool in there and climbing up, rumaging around in there.

I also put her two pair of tights in there so she wouldn't shred them or play with them.

Too bad for me, she found them. A bit ago, she comes downstairs wearing her training pants (from the top drawer), a pair of tights (which she got on all by herself!!!) and a pajama top. She exclaims "Mommy! I put my leotard on!"

Tights? Really? All by herself?? I was shocked. Shocked I say.

Trucks

Natalya picked out a book the last time we were at Target that she wanted- it's a book about trucks. She is obsessed with them now that her daddy drives a "big truck".
The book is simply called "Trucks", and the cover has four different trucks and the word trucks across the front.
Natalya was eating lunch and looking at the front of the book. She started pointing to the letters and said "S-k-c-u.....t" I said "and 'r'" (the lowercase r threw her off) She said "r... that says 'trucks'!"
I thoght it was cute she read the letters backwards. :) But was thoroughly impressed she connected those letters spelling to the word trucks. !!!

She is so smart. I am in so much trouble.

Natalya

Today Natalya had her stuffed doggie and she said "awwwww, look at the baby doggie" in her little sweet baby voice. She then said "where's her mommy?"
I said "I don't know honey"
She thought about it for a minute, looked up, thinking then said, "maybe at the store" and nodded.

Natalya's obsessed with Mommies and Daddies and babies. If there's a Mommy Elephant, there's going to be a daddy elephant or a baby elephant. :) her animals have to have whole families. If there's only one cheetah, she asks me "where her mama is".

She's also reading some words. She knows the word baby and will read it when she sees it. She says, "Mommy, that says baby. B-A-B-Y, baby!" She also will usually recognize her name and "Daddy".

Officially Potty-Learned

Officially: Natalya is potty learned!! She's been doing very well the last 4-5 months, but I'd say as of a few weeks ago she's doing great! We're going to get a plastic sheet to put on her bed and go for nighttimes in a month or so, but for now, she's having very few to no accidents and waking up dry from naps and nights. We let her sleep with her panties on for naps, but still in a diaper at night.
:)

Yay for no more diapers!!!

Detox day 3

Ok, so last night I had the tinglies, but not nearly as much as before. Weird! It was more gooey. blech. I feel really good today. Not as tired and sluggish as I normally am, and I haven't had all that much sleep in the last couple of days, but also not as much caffeine. COOL!

They don't look as bad b/c I didn't take them right away, so they faded a bunch, so imagine them a lot darker in the white areas.



Just in case you think you might want to try this- I ordered my pads through a friend- they are Avon brand. I have another friend who tried Avon's and Kinoki's and she said the Avon were better, Kinoki were gel-like and really, really disgusting in the morning. YUK! Also, if you buy another brand, make sure they don't have an aluminum backing. Aluminum is not good for your body and would certainly not help if you are trying to detoxify.

To order from Avon, contact your local Avon representative, or mine, if you want her name/email info, let me know. :)

Detox for last night

Night 2: I had more tingling last night but no throbbing. I have had a migraine on and off for the last three days but it's gone today and I actually am in a pretty good mood, comparatively speaking. The pads don't seem as disgusting today as yesterday, despite the fact I had some Chianti at dinner last night. So, pulling less toxins? My thoughts, hey, these things may actually do something. NEAT!

Here's the results from last night:

Detox your body...through your feet?

There's a new product out, well, fairly new, called detox foot pads. The idea is using old Chinese remedies and thought of the feet being the release of the toxins and things such as that, (think accupressure and the points in your feet), these pads are supposed to draw out toxins from your body while you sleep. You wear them three nights in a row and it's supposed to help cleanse you.

I wasn't sure if it was a total crock, or if it really did something, but I figured I'd give them a go. Got some for Doug too. (Happy Valentine's Day honey! You're toxic. Here, go cleanse. :D )

So I tried them out. Doug too. Ewww! GROSS!!! The pads start out white, and there's a little pocket of green tea and vinegar and who knows what else in there. I didn't expect much. To be honest, I figured it wouldn't do anything and it would be an interesting experiment. I put them on and laid down to go to sleep. As soon as I put them on, they felt warm, basically I figured the warmth was because I had something stuck to the bottom of my feet, which was strange, to say the least.

Then, while not expecting to feel anything, a few minutes later my feet started tingling and throbbing a little. It sort of felt like when you put a bandaid on a cut and you put it on too tight- that sort of throbbing. It was really weird. It sort of kept me up and I wanted to take them off because it was an odd, and slightly uncomfortable sensation. Luckily, I was really tired and fell asleep anyway.

Doug say he didn't notice anything, a little tingling, but nothing very noticeable...but he also is sick- has a bit of a head cold, and was sooo stopped up he couldn't breathe, but he didn't snore at all. Also weird (and very nice!).

So we woke up yesterday morning and pulled them off. GROSS!! Pics below if you want to see the results of the toxin dump.

Also, I wasn't hot and don't normally have sweaty feet so the result wasn't from sweaty foot syndrome.

Here's the really disgusting results... (smallest size possible so as not to be toooooo gross!)

The passage of time

It occured to me today when I looked at my angel ticker that Margaret has now been gone as long as I was pregnant with her. Something about that feels very final.
Perhaps that accounts for the semi-depressed mood I am in today and the horrible dream I had last night about miscarriages and loss. I awoke with all those feeling of grief and loss as fresh as they were the week after it happened.

Where's Natalya?

Natalya's new thing is to wake from her nap and go get in my bed, whether I'm in there napping or not. One day last week I heard her get up, but couldn't find her when I went to look...but once I looked closer:

So...Where's Natalya?

Uh-Oh Mommy!

Those words you never want to hear your child utter.

Uh-Oh Mommy! The baby elephant is stuck! (her little plastic elephant)
Natalya, where is it stuck?
It's stuck in the tv.
(no. she didn't)
Can you show me?
In here Mommy (yep. you know. in the VCR.)

Now I have to go disassemble the VCR to find the baby elephant.

Add "electronics repairman" to the list of tasks Mommies do everyday. ;)

A tragic loss

For some reason the loss of Heath Ledger to this world is hitting me really hard. It might be because he has a daughter that is three months younger than Natalya, or because I think he is an extremely gifted and wonderful actor, as well as down-to-earth, genuine and honest person.

Whatever the reason, I am absolutely heartbroken by his loss. Especially knowing that he wasn't doing illegal drugs, partying, or drinking to excess. His loss was one born of a brilliant mind. He had said in the past he couldn't sleep, that he would wake to his mind racing. That is why he had the prescriptions he did. Every time I read or see something about him in the news, I tear up, with grief over what a horrible loss this really is.

The only good to come of this will hopefully be that people will be more aware of what they're ingesting, and be it prescription or over-the-counter, and how much of it.

Rest in Peace Heath. You will be missed.

You're the Mommy Gorilla

The newest thing now is that she chooses an animal to be - some days she's a dog, or a cat, or a gorilla or a giraffe. Now it's, "Mommy, you're the Mommy gorilla and I'm the baby gorilla." And at bedtime, I have to tell her "Goodnight Baby Gorilla" instead of "Goodnight Natalya". If I am wrong, she will correct me, "No Mommy, I am a baby gorilla".
Of course, when she said, "Mommy, you're a cow". I had to wait a beat to see if she said "and I'm the baby cow". She did. ;)

part 2

Natalya in bed tonight:
N: Mommy, I want to read another book
Me: Natalya, we can read more books tomorrow, it's time to go to sleep
N: (crying) I want my Daddy to come home- right now.
Me: I know baby, I miss Daddy too, he can read you books when he comes home next week
N: Ok Mommy
N: Mommy, (she stands up) I want to see where Daddy is on this paper (pats the map on the wall)
Me: ok, (turns on light) We're here (I point to Clarksville) and Daddy is here (I point to Ft Wayne, IN) and he is driving here (I point to Michigan.
N: Mommy, where's Daddy on this paper? (goes to the other map)
I show her the same thing on the other map
N: Mommy look, here's a picture of it (She goes to her US puzzle and gets the piece of Texas and brings it back over to the map, holds it in front of Texas) See, a picture of it.
Me: oh yes, that's Texas, very good!
N: See Mommy, it matches.
Me: you're exactly right. You're so smart and you figured that out all by yourself didn't you?
N: (nods)
Me: ok, go put Texas back and we'll look at the map again tomorrow to see where Daddy is.
N: ok Mommy.

later...
N: (babbling on and on)
Me: Natalya, it's time to be quiet and go to sleep
N: (blah blah blah)
Me: N go to sleep.
N: I already DID!
Me: No, you didn't
N: yes I did.
Me: Hush.
N: No Mommy, I not hush.

Out of the mouths of babes...

I heard Natalya crying and I went and asked her what happened (she was in the other room) and she said, "Mommy, I fall and busted my noggin". (I always tell her to be careful or she is going to fall and bust her noggin)

Today she was talking to Amanda on the phone and Amanda asked her what she was doing. She replied: "I am talking to you right now". no kidding? :D

When Natalya is having a rough two-year old moment and spirals into tantrum mode, I tell her to go to her room until she can calm down. She will go and sit on her bed, wailing at the top of her lungs. After a while, she will come out and say "Ok Mommy, I feel better now."
The best was when I told her to go to her room until she could stop screaming, and she stopped immediately, walked down the hall, went in her room, closed the door behind her then started screaming again. HA!