Miss Natalie

Natalie told me recently, "Mommy, you know why I want to be a dolly?" Hmmm, I wasn't sure, "Because then I won't have to lose any teeth or have a baby." (o: Natalie worries about unpleasant things a LOT. She asks almost weekly when she has to get shots again. (It's 11 years old, by the way - 6 years away, not including flu shots.) And apparently she is also concerned about losing her teeth. Sarah and Natalie are both fascinated and terrified of how babies get out of a mommy's tummy. I try to be honest with them without giving too much infromation. The bottom line is that they know it hurts and they don't want anything to do with pain. No matter how much I tell them the pain is definitely worth it - they don't believe me. (o: And that's okay - I don't want them to change their minds for at least 16 or 17 more years!
I think I've mentioned this before, but Natalie's latest fashion statement is rolling her pants up to her knees. She insists on this even though it secretly drives me crazy. I try to give her some fashion freedom and let her express herself. She says it looks cool. My only stipulation is that she rolls them down when she is outside so her legs don't freeze.

Natalie is learning to write and read. She is learning so much this year in Kindergarten. Her favorite thing to do is to write letters and cards to people. She is such a sweetheart and hardly a day goes by that she doesn't draw a picture or make a card for one of us. Here is a cute sample of her sentiments in their original spelling...
"dad u (with a line over the u indicating it is a long vowel) or ufishule the best"
translation: dad, you are officially the best. (o:
"mom I lik slepeen"
translation: mom, I like sleeping. (o:
"mom, I luv u. u or the best."
"Anjgula I luv u Bcuz u or the best"
"Gramo I (heart) u bcuz u mac the best cuc"
translation: Grandma, I love you because you make the best cook
"Sarah u or the best"

My sweet Natalie woke up not feeling well today. She has had a few days here and there this year where she's wanted to stay home with me rather than go to Kindergarten. Sarah went through the same thing (and frankly, I don't like the separation either - I love having my girls close). I have to do the tough love thing and tell her she's fine and she'll have a great day. Some days I am almost pushing her on the bus. It makes me so sad, but I know that if I drag out the goodbyes, Natalie will get more clingy. She always does just fine - the first few times she did this, I e-mailed her teacher and discovered that Natalie was always her usual, happy self by the time she got to school. Anyway, I thought this morning was just one of those days. She told me her tummy hurt, but she was giggling and laughing with Angela just minutes before she shared this. She had no temperature. I told her she was just hungry and her tummy needed food, but she did not want to eat her breakfast. We had a rough morning because this put a kink in our plans for her playdate, getting Angela to preschool on time and made me miss the class I wanted to attend at the gym. I figured Natalie just needed some mommy time, so I went along with it.

We snuggled on the couch and read a book together. About halfway through Hop on Pop, Natalie told me her stomach was gurgling funny. Then she asked so sweetly for me to please move the cat so she wouldn't get throw up on her. Isn't that the cutest thing ever? I suggested rather than moving the cat that we head right to the bathroom. (o: And we got there just in time. Poor little thing. When she was done throwing up, Natalie looked up at me and said, "See mom, I told you I was sick." Ugh - I felt soooo bad! Needless to say, Natalie got the royal treatment and I took very good care of her to make up for not really buying the sick thing. She was so cute and loved all the coddling - the big blue, soft "sick" blanket, the microwaveable heating pad, the special juice in a bottle, jammies, a movie, the whole nine yards. I know it might sound weird and don't get me wrong, I hate when the kids get sick. But I love to mother them and spoil them when they are feeling crummy. Luckily, Natalie's "yuck" only lasted a couple hours. We are pretty sure Natalie had some funky food or a really fast virus. We threw the PB crackers out that were recently recalled, so it wasn't that. Who knows???

Natalie LOVES her new robe from Santa. She wears it all the time. Sometimes she'll wear just the robe instead of pajamas to bed. And she looks so darn cute in it.

I got to help in Natalie's class last week. She was sooo excited. It made me feel so good that she was so excited to see me. We kept waving to each other while her teacher read a story. (o: Kindergarteners are such a cute age. It was fun to be sort of a fly on the wall and see how Natalie is at school. She is so cute. I noticed a lot of times she is kind of in her own little world, I can tell she's thinking about things and using her imagination - like I see her do at home. She is a wiggly little thing and was very distracted by her bandaid at one point (something she wears a lot of lately thanks to Twilight and Natalie's insistance on holding her constantly). But Natalie does a good job on her work (especially her coloring and artwork), is a good little friend and interacts so cute with the teacher and helpers. She is just a fun personality and I love to see her enjoying school and her friends. She loves everyone. I never really see her consistently with any one or two classmates even though her two best buddies from the neighborhood and church are in her class.