the calascione connection: a day in the life of natalie

* she wakes up around 7:30 every morning and comes in the room to get her daddy to lay on the couch with her, AFTER he gets her her morning cup of strawberry milk, then they watch morning cartoons

* before breakfast time, she likes to change once or twice into her dress up clothes to be some sort of princess

* although i give the kids bananas with their breakfast, she hates to eat them, and hates fruits in general (just like her mommy...). i try to make her eat one little box of raisins every day to help with her BMs (isn't she too young to have this problem!)

* she has a love-hate relationship with her brother: loves to laugh and horseplay with him, loves to antagonize him for no reason while he's playing by himself, and hates when he comes within 5 feet of her playing with her toys

* she will find ANY excuse to laugh -- even if it means her starting random laughter for no reason. her laugh is contagious and you can't help but laugh with her, even if you have no idea what is so funny.

*her fake laugh sounds like the "Gonzalez" laugh! (my mom's side of the fam)

* she loves to be tickled - probably because she just wants to laugh

* she has become quite the chatterbox these days; asks all the "why" questions, which why i even bother to answer them, i do not know, because she always follows up with another "why?"...

* sometimes she likes to touch your face and get in your face when she is talking to you, and is so sweet she'll even caress your face (if you're lucky)

* she has the shortest attention span, and will zone out sometimes when you are talking to her (this worries me with her starting pre-school this year!)

* she doesn't forget ANYTHING. do not tell her something like "one day we should do this or do that together" because she won't rest 'til it happens

* natalie is not a fan of food. unless it is a cookie. cake. candy. and ice cream (which is always a treat for them, not something we eat a lot of in our house)

* she takes FOREVER to eat. while we're eating at the table, she talks, worries about the way russell is eating, or hugs and kisses on her daddy (who sits in the chair next to her). when we're done eating and realize that her plate is still full, of COLD food by now, we repeatedly remind her to finish her food, and we're lucky if we can get about 10 bites down...

*natalie counts down her bites of food she "has to eat" ("ten more bites left, mommy?...nine more bites left...")

* natalie loves babies. when she sees one (usually a stranger at a store) she says [loudly]: "is that a baby mommy? is that a girl or a boy? oh, she's so cute!!" and of course, i am forced to awkwardly look at the mommy (who i'm sure feels just as awkward as me) and smile.

* natalie's favorite movie right now is Monsters, Inc. even though the first scene of the movie scares her (and russell) so she turns her head to keep from watching it.

* her favorite movie character is Wheezy from Toy Story 2, whose role in the movie is very minimal (yet cute). finding a wheezy toy was nearly impossible, since he is not one of the main characters, so since he is a penguin i found every penguin toy i had and told her that it was wheezy. she slept with them on her headboard every night. she also turned wheezy into her imaginary friend and will talk to him at random times when we are out, or will pretend that he is next to her

* natalie's favorite book is a "step into reading" book called "what is a princess" that titi bought her recently. she does not yet know how to read but has that book memorized and acts like she is reading it like a pro

* she is very sensitive and cries easily if her feelings are hurt. if someone else is crying, she will go and hide because she doesn't like to be around that

* she LOVES to color and is REALLY good at it. she uses lots of different colors and stays within the lines, which is not something i necessarily taught her but i've always noticed her trying to do

* she is super clumsy and will trip over her own two feet if there is nothing else in the way. also, she runs into a wall just about once day, seriously.

* she has good manners. sometimes i have to remind her but usually she will say please and thank you all on her own :)

* her new thing is when asking for something that she really really wants, she says: PLEEEEEEEASE mommy [or daddy], can i have it? PLEEEEEEEASE?

* natalie stopped napping about 2 years ago but never acts like she needs a nap during the day (you know when you can tell your kid needs a nap...). her bedtime is at 8:00 and she never fights it, she goes right to bed like a good girl -- after she puts her jammies on by herself (god forbid mommy tried to help her!), brushes her teeth and says her prayers :)

ADDENDUMS (since my original post):

*natalie is TERRIFIED of bugs. whenever she sees something that she cannot identify, like a string, peice of lint on the floor, crumb in the kitchen, etc... she calls it a bug and yells for me to come get it. if she sees a REAL bug, she screams and squeals out of pure terror and cannot sit/stand still. this is definitely something i have to work on... i mean, i know i don't like bugs either, but her reactions are getting out of hand... lol

* natalie is overly-friendly with strangers. she says hi to, and wants to befriend any kid she sees just about where ever we go. and while we're out shopping, she likes to say hi to the people we walk by or who happen to be standing in the same aisle as ours. again, this is something i need to work on...you can never be too trusting of strangers these days!

*natalie somehow knows the days of the week... or at least she knows her fridays because that is the day we normally go eat at "brooklyn pizza" with the family. when she says its friday and mentions brooklyn pizza i think to myself, how on earth does she know that when i can hardly keep track of my own days!

the little things about natalie that i love:

- her beauty mark in between her right eye and her nose

- her eyebrows that she inherited from her grandma

- the dimple under her right eye when she smiles that she got from her grandpa

- her cute little pointy chin that she got from her daddy

- her hands which still look so baby-ish to me even though she is growing up so fast

- her smile.

- her tiny little voice and the way she accents certain words when talking

- the way she pronounces certain words, for example: "broken" for brooklyn [pizza]; "what's wrom?" as in "what's wrong"; and "grampas be-tired" as in "grandpa's retired"

- her big heart and fun loving personality