Cool Article!

Here's an article about Aunt Pam's blog in today's Detroit Free Press!

The Dawn of a New Day

Natalie started day care a week ago! She is now going to a small family day care a couple blocks from our house... we decided that she needed to be around more children, and it was time for something new.

Here is a pic of Natalie on her last day of share care with her wonderful former nanny, Rose... she really, really loves Rose. We miss her.

Trying to capture Natalie's former share care buddy Kai in the picture...but I was unsuccessful. Kai and Rose found a new family to take our place in the share arrangement, so they probably don't miss us as much as we miss them (ha! ha!) -
Last weekend, to get our minds off of the upcoming adjustment, we took Natalie to a place we hadn't seen in over two years - Cornerstone Place! The weather was about 20 degrees cooler than it was last time we were there, which means it was a balmy 90 degrees last Saturday. Ahh, refreshing.

(For our newer friends and blog readers, Tyler's parents held our lovely rehearsal dinner at Cornerstone Gardens two years ago - it was 110 degrees that day, and 115 the next as we said "I Do" in an OUTDOOR wedding at 4 p.m. - it's a miracle all of our friends and family members survived, particularly one of our attendants who was six weeks pregnant at the time)!

As you can see, Natalie had a grand time. They have definitely made some changes to the gardens and shops in the last two years, though some exhibits remained the same. And they still have a blue tree.
And here's Natalie on her first day of "school"! She had her bag full of treats to bring with her (diapers, change of clothes, sippy cup, diaper cream - all the essentials).

(p.s. lest you think we are some freewheeling, unsanitary household - Reese is not normally allowed on the counter - in the mayhem of Natalie's first morning at day care, she must have taken advantage of our laxness...)

I wish I could say that all went swimmingly this week. I will say this though - Natalie is a model daycare attendee! While she's there, she is generally happy - eats well - naps well. When she comes home, though, she's so tired that she fusses until time to go to bed. It will take her some time to snap into the new routine with all of her new friends and in the meantime, we will be patient. She has also already brought back her first souvenir... a head cold! Whee!!!!

And a lovely video of little miss wobbly-walker. She's doing wonderfully with her new skill, though since she is tall and skinny with a large noggin, she wobbles and falls a lot. But she improves every day and keeps trying, and we are quite proud!

Snapshots: Labor Day Weekend

Natalie was treated to this gift by her mom and dad a few weeks ago - her very own sand castle kit! She has a propensity for trying to take other kids' buckets and shovels when we go to the park, so we figured she was ready to learn how NOT to fling sand around. She's a quick study.
She still likes the swing, though I think the slide may take first place in her park-loving heart. And more than either, she just likes to crawl around in the sand and watch all the other kids.
On Labor Day, the three of us went to Taylor's at the Ferry Building here in San Francisco for lunch. The Ferry Building is one of my absolute favorite places, so it is always a treat when we get to go. Natalie wore her birthday dress (which she so sadly didn't get to wear to her birthday party) and got to share some of my chicken sandwich. She loves food best when she's stealing mine! This picture I am posting because I find it so humorous and always want to remember it. We have tons of books on our bookshelves, and Natalie loves to pull a few down here and there to look at them - but the two she goes for time and time again, which she *can not resist*, are My Life (Bill Clinton's book) and Living History (Hillary's book). In this 2008 election year, our girl is making her current political preferences known! Who knows what her leanings will be when she grows up, but for right now, she absolutely loves those two books. We often move the location of the books around to see if she will still choose them, and... she does.
Other notables:
On Thursday 9/4, she had her one year doctor's appointment. Stats:

• 30 inches long (73%) - which we don't believe! Other babies SHORTER than Natalie are measured at 31 inches by their doctor's office, so hmmmmph.
• 21 lbs 8 oz (53%)
• 47 cm head size (92%)

We had a long spell of 80 degree+ days here in SF. I filled up an inflatable pool in the back yard for Natalie... she cooled off on Friday in the pool, but that night, we had some unexpected visitors. The little masked visitors tossed all of her rubber duckies to and fro (and halfway across the yard), cleaned all the dirt off themselves, and basically had the time of their lives in her pool! Ah well. At least someone got to cool off and enjoy a dip.

She learned how to stand up by herself on Friday, not even holding on to anything! She still can only take one or two steps without falling. We are so enormously proud of her.

She can say the following: cat, dog, mama, dada, sock, shoe, car, ball, and a whole host of other words she has made up.

She points to her toes, chooses the zebra out of her little Fisher Price Noah's Ark toy, and retrieves a ball when asked. This is a surprisingly late achievement - it seems that many babies do this type of stuff much earlier. The thing is, you have to catch her in the right mood!

All right, that's enough bragging for one night.