Natalie turns 17 months

You are now walking, running, smiling, laughing, talking, yelling and you are still enjoying your morning and night nursing sessions and so am I.

You are a very funny little girl. I say little but I do not know exactly how tall you are since I missed your 15-month check. We will find out next month.

You love to eat and it is a pleasure to watch you eating. You don’t want me to help you anymore. Eating with your fingers seems to be fun but you have now mastered the use of the fork and spoon.
You were a very shy baby and still are but you will let our friends pick you up and play with you.
You love playing with water and enjoy the sandbox in our backyard. You even played once with Heidi’s water bowl when I was not looking. You feed Heidi (6-year German Sheppard) and you do a good job and she sits patiently while you pour her breakfast or dinner.

You want to sit on the sofa or join your sister on the rocking chair to watch tv.
You think that hitting is fun and you cry when I yell “NO”, then caress my arm and give me a kiss. When you fall or bump into something, you point to the object and say “no no no no” and it takes care of it.

You bring me clean clothes from the drawer in the bedroom but put them back when I ask you. You put your dirty diaper in the trash.

You think that running around naked is the way to go and I can not blame you.
You used to tell me when you had done #2 and I appreciated it tremendously. We started experimenting with the potty in the morning and we have had some good days.

You love your sister and run to her when she cries and give her a big hug. You do the same with the baby at the daycare.

You and your sister Rachel share the same bedroom and you delight in your sister’s stories, songs and her yelling “Natalie”.

Right now you re in love with your “bebe”. You feed it, hug it, kiss it and push it around in the stroller and scream if Rachel tries to take it away.

In the morning you want to wake up Rachel but when I say that she is sleeping, you put your little finger on your lips and say "shuut". If you hear some noise in our bedroon, you immediatly call "papa" which makes him proud and happy.

We went back and forth about expanding the family after having Rachel and I can say that we are SOOOO glad that we did.

Photos to follow
We love you babusha

A day @Auntie Kay at the Chesapeake Bay

Natalie and Meme

That's it Natalie gave her ok and Meme was able to have her on her laps.
Last night, I was chasing Natalie to take her to bed and she ran to Meme and extended her arms for her to pick her up. I stayed then in the kitchen and let them play for a few minutes.

Last night Rachel said I don't like Meme, je veux Charlotte (I want Charlotte), she is the daughter of a good friend in Belgium who stayed with us part of last summer. Charlotte you made quite an impression on my daughters. When Rachel picks Azalea flowers for Meme there is for Charlotte.

Meme - #2

Natalie still doesn't want to sit on Meme's laps but we will keep trying.
When I bring them home from the daycare around 5.40pm, Natalie now wants to walk towards the park and refuses to go home, she then screams when I take her in my arms --don't know what the neighbours will think but do I care. Once we are at home she forgets all about it and is happy again. The trick is to take them to the park then for 15 min and everybody is happy and a little bit more tired. I have found an easy way to leave the park. When the bells ring at 6pm, it means it is time to go back home and Rachel is ok with that.

Meme Frieda has arrived

Last Saturday Yossi's mother made the trip from Tel Aviv to Newark, NJ where Yossi went to pick her up. They arrived very late and did not see the kids that evening.

The next morning, we went to Meme Frieda's bedroom (Rachel, Natalie and I while Yossi was still asleep). Rachel gave her a warm greeting, jumped on the bed, gave her kisses, and held her hand. Natalie was more reserved but gave her a few smiles. Two days later, Natalie has made some progress and allows Meme to play with her and tickle her. Natalie goes to her, grabs her hand to be tickled. Last night I asked her where Meme Frieda was and she pointed to her and said "la (there)", not bad for her a 16-month.
Frieda said she would have walked if she had to see her granddaughters (she is 84!)

Natalie is fascinated with the potty and sometimes she tells me when she has made or started #2 and I sit her on the potty without a diaper. She stands there for a few seconds, then check the inside of the potty, tries to put her hands in it!, and sits again.
Natalie is now more independent as she is walking. There were a few weeks where we wonder if she would be able to walk as she was not very sturdy on her legs and kept falling. She likes to walk alone on the sidewalk, carry her coat, tries to put her shoes on, put her shoes back into the basket at the entrance of the house, walks around with her stroller in the house (from the dining room, into the kitchen and into the living room/she goes around and loves it). She piles up things into that stroller: dolls, sippy cup, ..

Our new morning routine is going very well (to my surprise) and Laurie you were right it is nice to share moments with our hobby in morning. Natalie asks to see her daddy and that makes Yossi's day.

Rachel is speaking more, still mixes French with English but has made good progress with her French.
At the daycare, she copies everything the caregiver's daughter "Lidi" does -she is a year older than Rachel. Yesterday she came back with a rhinoceros and told me it was a hippo. I corrected her and she replied "no maman Lidi said it was a hippo". Ok if Lidi said it..

Rachel discovered the pleasure of saying yucky. She smells Natalie's feet and yells yucky feet to her sister's delight.

There isn't one day passing by without us saying how lucky we are to have these 2 beautiful daughters in our live.