Natalie at 18 months

It has been a while since I've updated the blog. We've had a very busy October! In my previous entries, I've focused a lot on Caden and what we do on Fridays. In true second-child fashion, I haven't focused as much on Natalie. Today is all about her.


Natalie is such an adorable little girl. She is a cacophony of girly interests and tomboy activities. She is easily scared by loud noises, but is fearless on the playground. She loves shoes and bows, but will dig in the sandbox with her bare hands. She insists on cleaning up any dirt visible on the floor or couch.  Yet, she will eat yogurt with her hands, then use her hands to move her hair out of her face.  She takes a lot of impromptu baths in the kitchen sink.

If Natalie has one distinguishing trait, it is that she is very, very observant. A recent example is that she has noticed Caden eating his oatmeal out of a ceramic bowl with an adult spoon. Do not try to feed her oatmeal out of a plastic bowl with a child spoon. She will unleash all her toddler anger upon you and the oatmeal.

October has brought about many changes in Natalie. She's taken up a pacifier but doesn't quite get the concept. She takes it in and out of her mouth. I'm sure her sudden interest is because all of her little friends seem to really enjoy their pacifiers (as observed by the startled looks and intense crying when Natalie removes it from their content mouths).  Natalie's copy-cat nature does not bode well for the crucial teenage peer pressure years.

Secondly, Natalie said her first sentence this month. One morning she looked up at me and sweetly asked, "Where Daddy?" She has also added, "Where go?" and "MINE!" to her vocabulary.

Natalie loves to dance and play hide-and-seek. She can do the hand movements to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and requests the ballad at least 50 times a day. She's even started cuddling a little bit. Or she's learned how to manipulate me with her snuggles.  Whatever the motivation, I'll take it.  Natalie is still solidly in the 50 percentile for height and weight. I think she will always be the petite girl with the big personality.

Lastly, if there's one thing she loves, it is babies. Marshall Quin is one of her favorites. He visited us at home recently and Natalie insisted on holding him in her lap. Obviously, that is a terrible idea.  Laying him on the floor in front of her made her and us happy. She couldn't get enough of patting and hugging on the sweet boy. Here are a few photos....
 
 

Natalie holding Marshall

 
 

rubbing his head

patting his belly

hugging

Marshall doesn't seem to mind all the attention

 

A Moment.....captured

I captured this photo of Caden and Natalie recently.  They were having such a good time laughing in the backseat that I couldn't resist taking the photo of them in the rear view mirror. 

Hmmmm, maybe this will become a series.  Snapshots From A Rear View Mirror.

Hangin' with Caden - September 25th

I have mentioned that Caden loves trains?  In fact, he's just a little obsessed.  And by "little" I mean "completely thoroughly, and overwhelming" obsessed.  It seems so ironic now that I was stopped by a train on the way to the hospital when I was in labor.

So, when I heard there was a railroad museum across town it seemed like a great place to take Caden.  This week we headed to the

Rosenburg Railroad Museum

The museum is located about 60 miles from our home.  The original train tower No. 17 is the site of the museum.  In addition to the tower, there is a collection of railroading artifacts, a caboose, a Thomas the Train table, an amazing O-scale layout, a reading nook, and fully restored sleeping car.

The sleeping car belonged to the Prime Minister of Quebec at the turn of the century.  It underwent a $30,000 renovation which was completed this past June.  It was stunningly beautiful inside.  It felt like being inside someone's wealthy grandmother's home.  Beautiful, ornate, and very delicate.  Caden and I only had a few minutes to explore before we were informed by The Grumpy Man that the train car is for guided tours only.  And that were were not to touch anything.  I sure wish Mr. Grumpy had told me that before I let Caden climb all over the sleeping bunks.

Here are some photos from our trip.

Caden playing on the restored Tower 17

Caden inside the Caboose

Caden outside the restored sleeping car

If you're worried about the train being jostled to the point that it starts to roll down the track, no worries.  They have some strategically placed rocks that will clearly stop the momentum of a 90 ton train car.

We had another wonderful day together.  Caden was all smiles as we ate lunch.

The museum was a lot of fun.  We plan to visit it again in the Spring.

Hangin' with Caden et al.

This week we were invited to join some of Caden's friends on Friday. So, we picked up Molly and brought her with us as we visited...

The Houston Zoo

 I have not taken Caden to the zoo in a very long time.  We had a membership for a couple of years and went pretty often.  I expected the visit to be animal-centric now that Caden is old enough to pay attention to things for an entire 5 minutes.  Going there with friends probably changed the way Caden acted.  At least I hope so.  The kids pretty much ran the entire time.  I'm not kidding.  The entire visit was about running at full speed with just a few moments of stopping to call the animals names ("Hey there stinky head!"). 

We started off our visit with a ride on the train

Here we are with Molly, Caden, Jack, and Reed.

The weather was great.  Overcast and warm but not hot.  A lot of animals were outside.  We saw a lioness.

And Giraffes.

 

But no visit to the zoo would be complete without a stop at the Lion water fountain.  Even when Caden and Molly were little we always stopped at the fountain.

2006 above.  2009 below.

Even if the kids could care less about the animals we still had a great time at the Houston Zoo.

Help Wanted: Catchy Phrase Needed. Apply Within.

After much inner turmoil about how many days to send Caden to preschool (3 vs. 4) my internal debate abruptly ended when I realized that by sending Caden 4 days a week, I would be able to have one day where he and I could spend the day doing fun stuff - by ourselves.  Natalie goes to school on Fridays and Caden does not.  That gives us 5.5 hours to do something fun together.  I am very aware of how this is the last year that this is even possible.  He's so much fun these days and I feel like I'm missing out on being a part of it.

So, today was our first outing.  I'm not sure what to call our weekly time together.  Fieldtrip Fridays?  The Cox and I? The Weekly Adventures of Caden Cox?  If you have any suggestions, please comment.  I sure could use some help!

This week we made a special trip to....

BLUEBELL CREAMERIES

Caden wanted to go visit the "Ice Cream Factory."  I assume it had to do with all the Talking Words Factory videos we've been watching.  Regardless, Brenham is only an hour away so Bluebell Creameries was our first adventure.

The tour is very brief (45 minutes).  Cameras are not allowed.  The best part is that when it's over you're allowed to have a bowl of one of their 24 available flavors.  Caden chose green/orange/pink sherbet.  I went for the white chocolate almond ice cream.  Yum!

I forgot to mention that Caden woke up this morning at 5:30.  In the morning.  As in, before the sun was awake.

When we arrived we had a few minutes to take photos before our tour.  Caden loved the delivery truck outside the factory.

He even cooperated in taking a few extra photos for me.

 

Afterwards, we enjoyed our ice cream outside.

Guess who got tired on the way home?  You bet I did!  Apparently Caden was pretty tired too.  I tried to figure out the best way to snap a photo of a backseat passenger while driving 80mph on the freeway.  This is what I came up with.  If I weren't so busy endangering the life of my child I would think I was pretty darn smart!

And that was our trip for this week.  What's planned for next week?  Nothing definite yet.  Stay tuned to find out!

First Day of School

On Wednesday Caden started his last year of preschool and Natalie started her first.  While I've been looking forward to this day since May, the kids were less than enthusiastic.  It takes a tremendous amount of pre-planning to have two kids dressed and out the door with both packed lunches and backpacks filled with all things necessary to survive 5 hours away from home.  But we made it there right on time.  Whew!

I managed to snap a few photos before we loaded up in the car.

Heading out the door  

stopping to hug

 Caden

Natalie

 

When I picked them up in the afternoon, they were both in good spirits.  I asked Caden how is day went.  He said it was "boring."   When I asked Natalie, she said, "     "

Nighty Night!

There must be something magical and fascinating about my bedroom. The kids love playing in there. Maybe because it's filled with interesting things like Shoes! And Clothes! And Laundry Baskets! I really don't get it.

Regardless, we created a night time routine that involves the kids and I climbing into my bed and watching some educational videos. The Leap Frog series are particularly great.  They are animated videos that teach not only letters but advanced reading skills like phonics.  With a boy who is quickly growing up and away from all things childlike, I love that Caden thinks it's funny when the vowels get all sticky and stick to the consonants.  And that he's not too big to cuddle with his Mom.

As for Natalie?  Maybe she'll be the only 2 year old who understands phonics.  She'll also be the only 2 year old who doesn't say "Mama."