Natalie @ 2 1/2 years old

Natalie is 2 1/2 today!  The time has gone by so fast and she has grown so much.

She is talking up a storm (more on that later). She is running and jumping everywhere.  She loves to spin around and sometimes even manages to stay standing up. 

She loves to color, loves to play outside, loves to read books, do puzzles, play with play-doh, and take baths.

Her hair is getting so long!  I've been doing pigtails with little pom-poms, but they are getting kind of heavy and don't stay in too well.

Last week I tried braids!  I did them after her bath, while bribing her with you-tube videos on my phone (hey, there is no way she will sit still that long without a bribe!).  They turned out pretty cute, but I've gotta practice my braiding.

Natalie loves art projects, especially painting (and she's been practicing her "cheese" face).

Here's a cute one - wearing Daddy's shoes.

Natalie is getting pretty good at her colors.  Gets some of them mixed up, but for the most part she knows them.  She randomly sings the alphabet but skips a few letters here and there.  She can do her alphabet puzzle and identifies some of them on her own, but when she sees any letters she usually says "A,B,Cs".  She does know "O", "T", "W" really well and likes to point them out.  As for numbers, she counts to 20, but usually skips the number 12.  She is counting things in books pretty well.  I taught her to "get her pointer finger out" (she will remind you of this if you are with her) and then she points to the objects and tries to count them.  Funny though, she likes to start "two, one, two, three", so sometimes there is an extra one or two of whatever she is counting.

I took these pictures last week, because I thought she looked so old in her pig-tails!  (and her 2T jammies that are getting too small...these went into the pile to be boxed up for Rhys after she wore them)

And, we are full swing in the middle of The Terrible Twos.  I can't wait until they are over.  This sweet little face has such an independent, defiant streak.  In the past two weeks we've had family gatherings with both sides of the family, and after various tantrums someone has said "oh my, that is exactly how you were when you were little" - funny thing is "you" meant both David and I.  Guess we are doomed!  The Threes have to be better, right?!  The good thing is that in between all of the tantrums and craziness, Natalie is very sweet and loves to help.  Here's some proof:

She helps do her laundry!  Not even joking.  Anytime I get the basket out, she runs in and begs to put it in the washer and helps transfer it to the dryer.  Now, if I can only get her to fold and put it away...!

We are still trying with the potty training.  Some nights she completely refuses to even try (mostly just because we suggest it), and other nights she'll humor us and sit there and actually goes!  Because she is so independent, she doesn't like us to help or ask her to do it, but I think that might work in our favor - when she decides she wants to potty on the toilet, she's probably just going to do it.  We'll see!

Natalie has been saying some funny stuff so before I forgot, I started writing it down in a draft post and have been adding to it for a few weeks...here's what we've got!
A few weeks ago, we were sitting at breakfast on Sunday morning and she got all excited and said "my brother and sister are coming over! Yay!" To be sure, I asked her to repeat herself, and sure enough, she was announcing that her (unknown?) brother was coming over.  No idea what she was talking about. And no, she's not getting a brother!

Then we came home one afternoon, and the guys across the street were using power tools and she said: "Mama! do you hear that? That sounds like a daddy!" haha.  David hasn't really used power tools much lately...too much going on, but she somehow associates power tools and daddys. Very intuitive!

Her favorite thing is to go up to Rhys and say: "Hel-doe Rhys" in her baby voice. Translation "Hello Rhys". Then she continues saying "she's so cuuuute", "tickle tickle", or "kaboo!" (she sort of truncates "peek-a-boo"). All of these things make Rhys laugh or at the very least, smile.

We were quizing her on body parts the other night...ears, tongue, elbow, ankle, etc.  She was standing in front of me and I asked her where her Booty was.  She spun around and stuck out her bottom and said "riiiiight there".  We all laughed so she kept repeating.
She was laying on the couch the other night and kept putting the pillow over her head.  David was sneaking up and tickling her.  One time she pulled the pillow away and said "Surprise!".  Definitely surprised us...that was a first time she had ever done that.

She got up on the arm of the couch the other night (not usually an "approved" activity, but what she said was too funny).  She started saying "yee-haw, I cowboy horsie" and was "riding" the couch.  No idea where she gets this stuff. And too bad it's so hard to be serious about not wanting her on the arm of the couch when it makes you laugh.

And tonight she told us that she had a "boo-boo" on her toes.  (Her Easter shoes rubbed on her toes and gave her little blisters).  She kept saying "boo-boo" with this southern drawl and it kept making us laugh and so she would say it again until she started doing her delirious laugh.  She does this when she gets tired.  Vicious cycle of laughing! Too fun!

2 1/2 year stats:
Height: 35.5 inches (45%)
Weight: 30 lbs (65%)
Diapers: size 4 - ugh, was hoping we'd be done with them by now!
Shoes: depends on the brand, but we've been buying 7s and they have a little wiggle room
Clothes: mostly 3T, but again depends on the brand.  Her jeans are still 2T, but some of them are on the short side.