Anomalies of Parenting

Why is it that when kids get to bed later than normal, and are more tired than normal, they seem to sleep worse?

How does Natalie hear me so accurately when I mumble something (sometimes not appropriate) under my breath, but she fails to hear me speak the words "no" or "stop" when she is right in front of me?

How do my girls test every last piece of my patience and yet manage to completely melt my hear with one look or sometimes a few words?

How can someone so small and seemingly helpless teach me so much about myself, life, and what is important? I thought I was supposed to teach them?

Reading

The other day Natalie brought out a couple of Curious George books while I was sitting in the living room with Kaia. I asked her if she wanted me to read them to her and she emphatically told me that SHE was going to read them to ME. So I sat back as she opened "Curious George Goes Camping". Keep in mind that we have only had this book for about two weeks and we might read it to her once a day or occasionally twice. Natalie started on the first page and "read" it word for word! I was surprised but I figured that maybe she had the first page or two memorized, but after that she would just make something up while looking at the pictures. The crazy thing is that she turned each page and told me exactly what each page said with the exception of a word here and there. I am pretty sure she can't truly read yet, but she had the whole story memorized word for word! By the time she was at the end of the story I could hardly congratulate her enough...I was just so amazed. But I guess Natalie has always had a really good memory.
But who knows, maybe she is starting to read. The week before Easter, a local church came to hang fliers on our door knob telling us about their Easter services. I grabbed the flier and set it on the table where Natalie found it. She picked it up and asked me what it had on it. I told her it was words and asked her if she could tell me what words it had on it. She said "God". OK, I figured she just made a guess, and as coincidence would have it, it was a church flier that DID actually have the word "God" on it. So I asked her where the word "God" was and she pointed directly at it! This kid amazes me and kind of scares me already.

Camels

About a week ago we decided to take the scenic route home from town. We drove out through the countryside where I grew up and decided to go past a farm where the owner has collected and bred exotic animals for several decades now. While there was not a lot of animals there this time, we did get to see a couple camels and a cute "little" camel that looked like it had been recently born.
Natalie liked seeing the camels, but I did not realize that she remembered the event so well since it was pretty short. Well, this weekend we went to my parents house for Easter. The first morning we were there, four elk walked through my parent's yard pretty close to their house. As we all looked out the window and watched them, Natalie said, "look at the camels." So there may not be many wild camels just outside Seattle, but at least she has a good memory and associated them with a similar animal.

Potty Training

So we are starting the gradual process of potty training with Natalie. It has definitely been a gradual process as we are trying to encourage her to tell us when she needs to go to the bathroom but she often doesn't say anything. So we have started to try to find ways to motivate her. We will cheer for her, clap, sing songs, and tell her how proud we are when she does use the toilet and that seems to help a bit, but so far the most effective motivator is if we give her a hanful of M&M's every time she goes to the bathroom in the toilet.
Well a couple weeks ago we were at some friends house when we noticed that Natalie had followed one of their daughters into the bathroom and was standing right in front of her watching her go to the bathroom. Jamie rushed in to tell Natalie that we needed to let her have her privacy. The other girl was about four or five years old so I would guess that she has been potty trained for a while. When Jamie told Natalie to leave the bathroom and let her be alone Natalie looked up hat her and said very sincerely, "But I am just so proud of her!" As Jamie held back her laughter and started to pull Natalie out of the bathroom, Natalie broke out in a cheer and said , "Yay!" and started clapping for her.
Well I guess we have at least been successful in teaching her that going to the bathroom in a toilet is something to be celebrated...now we just have to teach her the appropriate time for celebrating and the people to celebrate with!

Going on a Date

So last week Natalie started asking more about times when Jamie and I would go out on a "date". So we decided it was time for me to take her on a date. I have taken her out to do special things before, but this one was actually called a "date".
So Natalie got all dressed up in a pretty dress, put on some make up, and borrowed a pretty necklace from Jamie. Then we left for our date. We headed to a pet store for the first stop. While we were driving there, Natalie asked me when we would get to the date. I told her that we were already on the date but she quickly corrected me saying, "no we're not on a date, we're on the road". Ok, so the concept of a date as an event might be a ways off. She actually asked me that several times throughout the night.
So the pet store was fun, and she had a great time walking around a large glass tank, chasing a tortoise. She also like the tarantula and the birds a lot this time. In fact, she told me that when she was older she was going to get a pet bird so that she could "throw it up to the ceiling and it could fly all around and around and around and around." Maybe I will just get her a hamster.
After the pet store, we went to dinner at IHOP to get some pancakes. She was very polite and after I had ordered our food she looked at the waitress very pleadingly and said, "please can I have some pancakes?" Apparently she did not realize that I ordered her food as well as my own. Either way it was very cute. then to finish off the night, we went to a store down the road and bought her a magnifying glass. She had seen one somewhere and liked them, so I got one for her to play with.
It was a fun date, but the best part was at dinner when she just leaned her head into me and said "I love you daddy." That is what it's all about. She can make my heart melt like none other.

Sickness, sleep deprivation, and bad dreams

So we have all been sick off an on for a few weeks now and seem to be passing around the colds and recycling them in our house. It is a miserable version of the cold that settles in your chest and gets you all congested in their so that you cough and sound like you are trying to cough up a wet rag. Anyway, that has led to less sleep than normal (it is possible) and long nights. Last night was actually a "good" night in my opinion because I was only up 6 times, and only one of those lasted more than 15 minutes.
The most interesting part of the night though was when Natalie woke up screaming. I went in her room and she was crying and saying something about holding hands with Grover from Sesame Street. Apparently she had a bad dream that involved Grover, her, and her having to let go of his hand. It breaks your heart to have your child wake up from a nightmare, but at the same time, it is hard not to laugh out loud when she tells you what the scary dream was. I held it together though and managed to pray with her and rub her head until she was almost asleep again.
Oh, the joys of everyday life!

Politics and a 2 Year Old

So on Tuesday morning, the day of President Barack Obama's inauguration, we decided to flip on the TV and watch what we could of the event. Natalie was a bit disappointed that she didn't get to watch Curious George, so I tried to explain to her that on that day, Barack Obama was becoming our president so we wanted to watch. Shortly after that conversation, I had to leave for work. Then, just a few minutes after I had left, Natalie walked out of her room and came right up to Jamie and said "Barack Obama is coming over today and bringing presents!". If only it could all be that simple - Barack Obama and presents, at our house.