Archive for January, 2009
Josie & Natalie: Drinking Buddies
Not to worry, it’s just water.
You can hear Mark in the background saying, “Fast forward to when they’re 16…”
And then it’s not so funny anymore!
Natalie’s Beloved Blue Hat
At my baby shower, Auntie Bethany gave me a beautiful hand knit blue sweater and hat set for Natalie.
Natalie started wearing the hat when she was 1. Notice how all these pictures from last year are of Natalie wearing the hat outside.
Playing in her cozy coup:
Walking at Howell Living History Farm:
Going down the slide at the park:
Digging in the sand:
This year, Natalie’s love for her blue hat has grown to be practically an obsession. She wears it all the time. Indoors. Outdoors. In all kinds of weather and temperatures. One night she had a meltdown about taking a bath—not because she didn’t want to take a bath, but because taking a bath would mean taking her hat off. Almost everyday when I pick her up from Melissa’s, Natalie is wearing the blue hat. Some days Melissa convinces her to take it off for her nap.
Making a play dough beard:
Playing with her new bunnies on Christmas Eve:
Lounging around in the red chair:
Helping decorate the tree:
Opening presents on her birthday:
This morning, eating oatmeal in her jammies. The first thing she did when she came downstairs in the morning was put on her beloved blue hat.
Thank you for the beautiful hat, Auntie Bethany!!!
Natalie doesn’t like boys?
Or maybe she’s afraid of them? Our conversation from today:
“Natalie, let’s go to the toy store!”
“No! I want to stay here!”
“Really? Don’t you want to go and get a new toy??”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want to stay here.”
“But why don’t you want to go to the toy store?”
“Because there might be boys there….”
“Oh? What’s wrong with boys?”
“I can’t play with boys.”
“Why not?”
“Because….I am shy.”
After I promised to hold her hand or pick her up if she felt shy, I finally convinced Natalie that going to the toy store would be fun. We met up with one of her friends, who is a boy. As soon as she saw him she boldly said, “Look, I have a red coat!” They played together very nicely and Natalie didn’t appear to be shy at all. And it was fun, just like I promised her.
What They Said…
Not that I am delusional enough to think that I have a readership anywhere near dooce or girls gone child, but it’s an interesting discussion.
I’ll be back soon with pictures and stories….I promise.
Explaining Death to a Toddler
A week before Tillman died, I noticed him limping a bit. I looked at his toes (he’d had an infected toe before) and didn’t see anything, so we kept watching him. Then the night before he died, I noticed that his back leg was twice the size of the other leg. He used to sit on my lap every night, so I wasn’t quite sure how I didn’t notice the growth before it got to the size it did. When I took him to the vet the next day, she confirmed our suspicions that the problem was a tumor.
The most difficult part of our decision to euthanize him was wondering how Natalie would take it. When I left for the vet’s office, I wasn’t thinking we would be at that point yet, so I told Natalie that Tillman was sick and I was taking him to the doctor. So when I came home without Tillman, we felt completely unprepared to talk to her about it yet. She didn’t seem to notice that he wasn’t with me until I slipped and mentioned his name. When she asked “where’s Tillman?” I distracted her easily by pointing out some Christmas lights we were driving by. The next day, Meema and Pop Pop were watching Natalie when she said “I miss Tillman” when a cat appeared on her Barney video.
A few days went by before we figured out what we wanted to say (after getting lots of great advice from friends). The plan was to sit down with Natalie together, look at pictures of Tillman and talk honestly about what happened. But before we got a chance, I was home with Natalie because she was sick. All she wanted to do was watch videos of herself and I unknowingly played one that had Tillman in it. So I took the opportunity to have a talk with her about death. Since she was sick at the time, I didn’t tell her that Tillman died because he was sick. I told her that he was very old, his body stopped working and he died. Then I explained that dying meant that he wouldn’t be living with us anymore, and we wouldn’t see him again. And I told her that it was okay to be sad, and if she missed Tillman or felt sad, that we could look at his picture and remember him.
I waited for questions, confused looks, or some reaction, but she didn’t really have any. Today we were looking at the pictures of Tillman on the blog, and she recognized him, but didn’t ask where he was or anything. As much as we miss Tillman, we are sort of glad for the timing. If he had died a year or two from now, I think it would have been a lot tougher on Natalie.