Natalie is 4 (part II)

When people talk about the terrible 2's, I wondered what all the fuss was about. Natalie missed that phase. Hers was more like the terrible 3's. She's better at age 4, but now an attitude is starting to show. I really like it when I hear "Hmph, I'm not going to be your friend." or "That's not fair." I know she doesn't mean it though because she'll be back to her happy self in no time. I don't even think she knows what she is really saying.

Natalie is still ritualistic, but is getting better. The few things she must do or a crying session ensues are: every morning, she has to open Daniel's door and give him his cereal and milk. (she's usually holding her cereal too). She has to say see you later alligator, goodbye, and see you soon to Jon when he leaves and then goes to wave goodbye while sitting in the window with her monkey and bunny in hand. When I drop her off at Inez's, she has to say the same 3 goodbyes as above and has to shut the door for me. Feeding Ozzie when she comes home is also on the list of must do things.

She still loves to cut, color, glue on and sticker sheets of paper. At least the stickers are now usually on paper instead of her clothing. She is so proud of what she makes that she usually has to bring it to daycare to show Inez. She is really good at puzzles. We've graduated to the 100 piece ones. She prefers someone to help her with those, but all she usually needs is the border finished and then she's off on her own. She also still loves to sing. I especially like it when she makes up a song and asks me if it was a good one.

She likes bugs; she's fascinated by them. She isn't afraid to touch them either. One day when we were outside she exclaimed "Mom, there's a spider on me." I asked where and she said "on my jacket" while holding up her arm. I saw the spider was on the underside of her arm. I asked her how it got there and she said, "it was on the wall and I touched it." Apparently it crawled on her hand to her jacket. You got a ladybug in your house. She'll put it outside for you. I will say, however, she has no compassion for ants. Those get stepped on.

She is still pretty good with Daniel. I love her high pitched voice when she talks to him in a motherly way. It's funny to watch their game of chase. Of course she can run circles around him, but she's in for a rude awakening when the day comes that he'll catch her. I wonder how soon that will be. As much as they still get along great, I will say the older they get, the more they fight. It always ends with a "Daniel hit me." Sometimes I hear it so often that I feel like telling her to hit him back, but I'm trying to get him to stop, not promote it. I hope his hitting phase ends soon.

Here's some pictures through the years with her giraffe. (you'll have to excuse the quality, they are straight out of camera pictures.)

1 week old

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

More pictures:

Almost 3 months old

6 months old (Mom, this one is for you)

9 months old

If you think she always sat well and held the giraffe nicely, think again. There were struggles:

17 months old

20 months old