12/31/10: Sally: Christmas was another good time for the kids. We did our traditional stuff, which consists of xmas eve doing skype with the California folks, xmas morning with just our family, xmas lunch with my family. The girls, of course, got way too much stuff, but they have played with it all. Natalya got to "meet" Santa and she wasn't scared (Primrose did a little thing). We decorated cookies and made holiday houses. Natalya is still talking about how Santa drank the milk she set out for him. 11/10/11: Sally: Lately, Natalya has been reading us books at night. She memorizes most of the words and then reads the book back to us. She also shows us the pictures like a teacher reading to her students. It's the cutest things. The kid loves books. She loves reading. 11/1/11: Sally: Natalya had a wonderful Halloween. She was a princess or as she told everyone, Cinderella. She had to have her face painted too as soon as she saw Alexa get her's done. She then had to look at it in the mirror 10 times. Her and I walked to about 10 houses and then she was ready to go inside. I think if we would have been with Alexa and Peyton she would have stayed longer, but I was fine being done in 20 minutes. Natalya has been going with Myra to her church for choir. She is loving it. We have always said how much she loves music. She can memorize songs so fast. She has most of Alexa's choir songs down. She just loves singing and dancing. 10/28/11: Sally: Natalya has switched in to the preschool room at daycare. The morning dropoffs have been tough. She cries and screams. She's a happy camper until we walk through the room door. Today I was pushing the door closed while she tried to hold it open. I felt terrible. She fine a minute later, but it's still tough to do those dropoffs. 10/3/11: Jason: For the latest videos of the girls, check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/HuskerLifer We have been putting videos up there that we have taken with our Smart Phone and iPad. Or go to www.youtube.com and search for HuskerLifer 10/3/11: Sally: Natalya grinds her teeth at night. It's like she's chewing on a bunch of rocks. She slept in our bed last night and I could not sleep listening to it. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Her poor teeth! Is this kid stressed or is it just "normal"? Guess we'll find out with her 3 year (and first) appointment in January. 10/2/11: Sally: This kid loves playing with my make-up now that she knows where it is. She would take that lip gloss every where she goes if I'd let her. She's also still my little enforcer. Every time we go by the water park that is part of Lifetime Fitness, Alexa asks when can we go there. Natalya answers her, correctly, "No Lulu, it cost money to go there." Natalya always remembers the reason's why we can or can't do something. She remembers when I say that in two days we'll go do something. She also remembers when I say they can have donuts in the morning, which is something I normally don't want her to remember - haha. 9/28/11: Sally: Natalya is so good at counting and showing the correct fingers on the first try. She'll say she wants three of something and shows three fingers. She'll look at something and say there are five or if I say she can have three, she'll ask for four. She's also very good at remembering her sign language they teach her at Primrose. Today we were watching Caillou and she was one where Caillou was signing. She then looked at me and said she wanted the signing one while she did the sign for sing (which we have never practiced at home). I was very impressed. 9/22/11: Sally: Natalya has been on a roll with making sure to let me know that she has her listening ears on. She says "I have my listening ears on" and then she makes a clicking sound while "turning" them on with her hand one ear at a time. It's hysterical. She will then say, if Alexa isn't listening, "Lulu turned her listening ear off." But the problem, yet highly funny side affect, is that Alexa gets very pissed about this. She gives Natalya the stink eye when she tattles on her. But the best story is a few weeks ago I was telling Alexa to do something and she wasn't doing it. Natalya chimes in that she has her listening ears on and Lulu has her's off. Without missing a beat, Alexa turns around, makes the clicking sound while turning Natalya's ears "off" and she then says "off!". Natalya's eyes got so big and just before she started to cry, I say, "go ahead and turn your listening ears back on." She does and then Alexa turns about around and flips them off. At this point Natalya bursts in to tears. I then yell at Alexa, "Stop turning your sister's listening years off." I almost burst out laughing after that. 9/17/11: Sally: "I'm not a baby anymore." "Hey, that your bus daddy." "I got my listening ears on." (makes a clicking sound while putting her hand to ears and turning them "on") "Lulu turn her listening ears off." Natalya is doing great at gymnastics. I barely have to help her. She does everything and listens so good. She's been in to these puff balls and gluing them on to paper. She also loves cutting paper. There are small pieces of cut paper all of the house. She'll sit in front of the tv and just cut paper. She's also still repeating my instructions to Lulu a lot and at times, pointing her finger at Lulu while scolding her.. This still drives Lulu nuts. She's doing great at Primrose. She gets a little sad when I'm about to leave some times, but she's learning so much. 9/5/11: Sally: Took our first family trip to Wisconsin Dells. We had a blast. We stayed at The Wilderness and would highly recommend it. Alexa could do almost everything. She was up for everything. Natalya did all the rides she could, but she didn't like the ones that were dark the entire time. She would cover her eyes the whole time, which was funny since it was already pitch black. They both also loved the Chucky E. Cheese like arcade and climbing thing. Alexa even went a few things she wasn't tall enough for, but they never measured her and she was only two-inches too short any ways. They both had a great time and it was a great first family vacation for us. 8/15/11: Sally: Natalya had her first offical play date on Sunday with her "best friend" Nadia or as Natalya says it "My Madia". She was very excited to have Nadia come over and play. They were pretty good. Natalya got upset a few times when Nadia played with some of her toys and wouldn't give her a turn at the exact moment she wanted to use the toy. They played with everything and even ate some lunch. Both girls ended up taking long naps afterwards. Last night, Natalya asked to have another play date with Nadia at our house ... glad she enjoyed it. 7/28/11: Sally: So, the other day we were at my dad's house and we were done swimming. We put the cover on the pool and Natalya was walking next to it when she tripped and fell in. I yelled at Jason to grab her (as he was closer than I was). She actually grabbed the side of the pool and Alexa reached down to grab her (both of which made me very happy to see). After Jason got her out and she stopped crying, she looks up at me and says, "Thank you for saving my life." I was astonished that she could comprehend what "life" was. We hadn't even said anything about saving her life or death or anything. It was just an amazing statement from a two and a half year old. Amazing. 7/17/11: Sally: Natlaya has been sleeping with her blanket over her face. Even if we take it off, she will pull it back on during the night. The poor thing gets all sweaty. It's just so weird to go in to her room and she's laying there on her back with her blanket completely covering her face. 7/16/11: Sally: Talz went to her first movie today, "Winnie the Pooh." My dad and Myra took her and Alexa. They said she did great. Movie is just over 60 minutes, so it was the perfect length for her. She only had to go potty once. 7/12/11: Sally: Natalya is my little enforcer. She will repeat my instructions/demands to Alexa like a little soldier. If I say "Alexa ...", it comes out as "A-Lex-A" when Taly says it. She repeats all my instructions when I tell Alexa no or stop doing something or to get moving or get her shoes on. It drives Alexa nuts. Alexa will give Talya the evil eye when she does it. 7/1/11: Sally: Natalya has had soo much fun swimming in the pool this week. She was like a fish to water. She instantly was trying to swim with her floaties and she must have jumped in 100 times. She was awesome. She's even jumping in by herself and going underwater. She hasn't been swimming since last year. 6/29/11: Sally: Three days diaper free and we've only had two small pee-pee accidents at home. She does really well at daycare and stays dry for her nap. We haven't tried the overnight one yet as we still give her some water at night. She doesn't ask to go potty yet, but hopefully soon. Last night at Alexa's tennis class, Natalya was standing next to me and I hear her say, "oh" and she puts her hand on her tush. I then ask if she had to go potty and she says, "go away" (her usual phrase to use when she has to poop). I grab her, rush her to the potty and she pooped in the potty. She's so excited to use the potty, but gets embarrassed if you ask her about pooping on the potty - haha. 6/19/11: Sally: "What the heck" - copied from Peyton "My diaper hanging low" "I go on the potty and wear big girl panties" (she will go if you sit her down, but won't ever tell you that she has to go) Natalya has been at Primrose for the last week. She cries when I drop her off. She's happy when I pick her up. She's been a little sick lately. She had pink eye a few weeks ago and is just getting over an ear infection. Tonight her temp is 102 and she's not eating anything and doesn't want much to drink, so it's back to the doctor tomorrow morning. But normally, she's very talkable and wants to run around with the kids in the neighborhood or go pet Peyton's new puppy Riley. 6/19/11: Jason: I have about 6 months of video to add to the site, but in the meantime, check out my YouTube channel. I have been putting videos up there that I have taken with my iPad. www.youtube.com/user/HuskerLifer 6/2/11: Sally: Pink eye, ear infection and diahrrea. Pool Taly-bali. For the last couple of days she has been saying her eyes hurt and they've been covered in a crust. She's also had diahrrea for two weeks. We now have to collect a whole bunch of it to get tested. Here's to hoping she poops a lot while staying home with Jason today - haha. 5/23/11: Sally: Talya is turning in to the little peacemaker in the house. Today I was arguing with Alexa in car about how she always make me late by not listening or doing anything in the morning to get ready, when I hear Natalya in the back going, "Shhhhh. Shhhhh. Shhhh mommy". I ask her what she wants and she just repeats. It was her way of saying that we should stop arguing. Another time was a couple of nights ago when we had our huge blow-up with Alexa the night of her birthday party and I'm telling Alexa she needs to brush her teeth (and she won't and was yelling at me), Natalya comes out to the hall with her tooth brush and says, "I brush teeth mommy. I brush my teeth mommy." Then she goes back in and starts to brush her teeth. It was so cute. It was like she was saying you don't need to yell at me, I'm being good. 5/15/11: Sally:"Oh my goodness" said in a very funny, I'm totally embarrassed kind of way "Go away", which is followed by "I poopy mommy. Change my diaper." Natalya just went through three activities for Alexa's birthday and she did great. She even did a spectacular job at Chuck E. Cheese. She wanted to sit with the kids and do everything they were doing. She was a great. 4/13/11: Sally: "oopy-daisy" Natalya is now pretty good at driving the pink jeep. It took her a week or two, but now she can drive it without much correcting by mom and dad. She loves playing in the circle with Alexa and Peyton. She rides the jeep and they play chicken with her while on their scooters. Driving the jeep is all part of her "I can do what the big kids do" thing. She also now refuses to sit in the little kid swing. She wants to only use the regular swing, which makes mom and dad very nervous. 4/7/11: Sally: Natalya loves making banana bread with me. She's so good at holding the measuring cup or spoon, I'll put the ingredients on it and she pours it in. She also loves licking the bowl. She gets so messy. She is talking so much too. The other day she looked up at me and said, "I want to go outside now." It was so cute and so grown-up. She will also let us know that she, "want the jumper out." She loves the jumper. She is loving being outside these days. She likes to chase the tennis ball when Alexa plays with us. My two kids are so different and one thing I really notice the difference in are books. While both like to have books read to them, they like different books and Natalya will try to read the book. She's go page-by-page saying a word for two from each page. We have a train book and on some pages, I say "toot, toot" and do the hand motion. She knows the exact pages and when she "reads" the book, she will say the toot toot and do the motion. She sings all the time. It's usually either Barney and the ABC's. 3/22/11: Sally: Banana bread and Barney's "I Love You". These two things are Natalya's favorites. I have been been making banana bread on a very regular basis. She loves it. I have been making it with whole wheat flour, so at least it's somewhat healthy for her. She also loves singing the Barney song. She doesn't even watch Barney much (not like Lulu did). The other say she was singing it loudly at Costco, it was so cute and I joined in. She sings it at night when she can't sleep. The kid loves, loves music and singing. Too bad music classes are so darn expensive and it perplexes me why since it shouldn't cost any more than other activities (she does do an extra music class at Kindercare). Maybe in a year or two we'll sign her up for them, who knows, she may not like sports and I should start readying myself now for that just in case ... haha. 3/16/11: Sally: "Lulu sister" is how Natalya says that Alexa is her sister. She's been saying it over and over and it's cute. She's also singing a lot. She almost has 1-10 down by sight, meaning you ask her what the number is and she'll say "8". She is talking so much these days. She's also been hitting us and Lulu a lot when she doesn't get her way. It's cute the way she does it, but it needs to stop. Lulu has been pretty good about not hitting back, but I get nervous that one of the days Alexa will whack her pretty good. Natalya doesn't seem to mind the timeouts and she's not the best at saying "sorry". 2/7/11: Sally: Natalya has been having nightmares about shoes. She'll wake up screaming and crying and when I go pick her up, she's saying, "Shoes. Shoes. My Shoe.". While it's funny to think about, I feel bad for my poor baby. I wonder if she's dreaming she's lost them or can't get them on. The kid loves shoes and how she's having nightmares about them ... poor thing. 2/1/11: Sally: The ABC song is Natalya's favorite. She sings it all the time. She's also big on saying "I did it" when she thinks she does something great or new. She talks so much now. She's forming full sentences and will have a conversation with you. Still a lot of "why's" and "cause" when you ask her why. 1/25/11: Sally: We took Natalya to her first concert on Saturday. We went to Sesame Street Live and saw Elmo and Friends. She loved it. When it started, she was jumping up and down with excitement. She stood and leaned forward on the seat ahead of us with her head in her hand and just watched the first 15 minutes with amazement. At the end, she would dance with Lulu to the songs. After it was over, she kept saying "More. More.". She got a little antsy towards the end, but overall she had a great time. 1/11/11: Sally: Natalya had her two-year check-up today. She did great. She has an ear infection (sister has strep), but other than that, she looks fabulous. She had to get one shot. She had no idea it was coming, I felt so bad. She was so excited by the sucker I had just pulled out and then the nurse stuck her. Her little face changed in an instance and she cried "owie". She didn't scream though, just cried, which was surprising since normally when she gets hurt, she screams and cries. She was such a good girl at the appointment. 1/2/11: Sally: Natalya now says "oh-kay" all the time. It's so cute. She tilts her head and opens her eyes real wide and says "oh-kay" when you tell her something. She can now count 1-10. If you point to a number and ask her what it is, she usually says 8. She knows the alphabet pretty good now too. Her and Alexa like to chase each other and at night they have been playing a game where they play music and then run from Talya's room to Alexa's room and then back. Natalya Links Natalya Blog 2011 Archive Natalya Blog 2010 Archive Natalya Blog 2009 Archive Natalya Second Birthday Natalya First Birthday Pregnancy Story