One of my favorites, already mentioned: bouf = juice (I don't know where that came from; she used to say juice pretty well)

op! - oh = popcorn (one of her favorite foods, just like me...one of those she absolutely positively should not have because it is a prime choking hazard food but she really loves, so we just try to watch closely...though she likes to eat it just like me, which is by the handful...but anyway...)

dok - dog = hot dog

pieee = potty

(nodding in the direction of someone) = thank you (just can't get her to say it OR use the sign...she just nods)

Pop-pa = grandpa

Rah rah = Aunt Sarah

peee = please

didee = kitty (says while doing the sign for kitty, which is good since her word sounds a lot like daddy!) 

up = up, down, here, there, wherever I am not but I want to be

spie = spider

guck = duck

bool -boo = balloon

kik-kin = chicken (pretty close)

ree = read (not too bad either; usually said with much glee and in conjunction with "book"; one of the words she has down perfectly which isn't surprising since that's what she does for probably three-fourths of every day)

moo = cow

aaa mesh = I'm a mess (she says when her hands are sticky and gooey and she wants a napkin; usually she says it while clenching and opening her fists to show me how sticky her hands are)

a batch = (I, mommy, or daddy) is taking a bath

mik = milk

datty = dirty (says while shaking off hands)

wadi = water

pree = hair tie or clip ("pretty")

wek = wet (another one of my favorites; she says all kinds of words with the t sound in them, but still says "wek". Whenever I come down from out of the shower, she always pats my hair and says "wek!")

mam-mo = Elmo (it was one of her first words, said correctly; now she calls him this)

drll-olr = stroller (kind of hard to describe how she pronounces it; she kind of rolls the r's)

clunk = trunk

wok = work (actually she says it sort of between "wok" and "work", with a bit of a British lilt)

There are lots of other ones, like I know she says fruit, pineapple, and block a funny way, but I can't think of how she says them right now. I'm going to have to start writing all her Natalie-isms down somewhere, as she says them, because they are just so very cute and I don't want to forget.

September 21, 2003 - Good news today! After not having my car since, oh, I forget, sometime in early July, we got it fixed today! (It broke down the same weekend this summer that we lost our air conditioning.) I've actually gotten used to driving Phil's car the past couple months. I still don't like it, but at least I am used to driving it now. It was odd when I got back into my car this afternoon. It just felt strange. For one thing, the driver's seat sits upright. Phil's driver's seat is broken, stuck in a reclining position that I always feel like I'm laying down in the backseat to drive.  I'm happy to have two cars back now, but we found that although it is a little irritating to only have one car, if we absolutely had to we could survive with one car. At least as long as Phil's office is only about five minutes away; I'm sure it would be more difficult if he was farther away, but we just coordinated who had to be where and most of the time I took him to work and then picked him up for lunch and then after work. I'm glad to have my own car now though!  Maybe now it won't feel like I'm stopping at the gas station every single day (because of many more trips with the same car) either. God has really provided for us lately, which is why we could get my car fixed finally. 

September 12, 2003 - Happy fifth anniversary to my friends Allie and Jason! Their first baby is on the way. I need to update their link at the bottom of my page to go to her baby journal now! :-)

I'm so proud of Natalie the last few days. She's gone pee in her potty every day - just once a day, but that's so amazingly wonderful as it is. Every time she has to go pee, she grabs her diaper (actually her "punda" -our Czech word for that area) and says "pee pee!" We usually don't make it upstairs in time, but a few times we have. She's so cute, she sits there all nakie and makes a face as she tries to push the pee out. Then when she does start peeing she looks up at me with a very accomplished look on her face. As soon as she sits down on the potty, after ripping off her diaper, she likes to pull her pants all the way off. I think them being around her ankles bothers her. Then after she goes pee (or after she sits there for a few minutes if we've missed it) she stands up, folds up her used diaper, and says "away" as she walks over and dumps it in the trash. This has been a new one for the last few days - now she wants to "away" (meaning throw it away) everything. Today she tried to "away" her shorts (which of course had been pulled all the way off) and also her old washcloth from last night's bath. I had to tell her that no, we don't throw away shorts or washcloths, just old diapers and other trash. After "away"ing the old diaper, she likes to step on the scale which is next to the trash can, and then she raises her hands in the air to say "so big!" She'll do that until I respond with "Natalie is SO BIG!" Then after everything is finished and she has wiped with TP, and I've poured the little potty bowl into the big toilet, she likes to flush. She figured out how to flush by herself now; something she'd never really attempted before. I think it's time to bring back the toilet lid lock so we won't soon be plunging toys out of the commode! I'm mostly just so impressed that she's already able to feel and understand when she is peeing, and that she actually gets some into the potty is just a bonus. I know that back when I was growing up, it was typical to start potty training at her age, but now it's pretty much unheard of until after the second birthday and even then is considered very early. I never thought I'd be doing this at least until after her second birthday, but hey, if she wants to pretty much train herself I'm not going to stop her! 

One more thing I wanted to mention from last month, we got Natalie a new clip for her car seat. Her car seat came with a chest clasp that was attached to one side of the belt and you basically pushed the other belt under the plastic clip, with the clip (somewhat) holding down the straps.. Natalie was escaping from that contraption and then getting out of her car seat in no time at all. It was really worrisome when she did it when it was just us in the car and she'd get out of her seat on the freeway, where I couldn't pull over right away.  She wasn't getting out of her seat to be obnoxious; the clasp was just something fun to play with. We got a replacement clasp that is made for another brand of car seat, but I was able to unthread the current belts and thread it through the new one. It's much better - it's solid plastic and requires you to push in buttons on two opposite sides and then slide the thing apart. She hasn't figured it out yet. This should last a little while longer!

September 9, 2003 - Okay, I admit it. I'm sorry to all. I did a very bad job at journaling August! I don't know quite what happened. I stayed busy but not all THAT busy during August; I just didn't get online all that much. I also haven't taken many pictures. I need to remedy this. The only reason I think I didn't do much online this month is because I spent much of the month driving around in the car or going to the library or other places that had air conditioning. But then, yes, it's true, Phil himself fixed our air conditioner. No, really! We bought a new motor for the unit and decided we would save a lot of money if we could figure out how to install it ourselves, so we did. Through a little trial and error (and Phil being electrocuted only once!) he got it working, and I'm proud to say it's been a comfortable 76 degrees in our house!  Which is especially good since we have around 15 people in our living room every Friday night for our home group meeting - air conditioning has been a nice addition. 

So much has happened in the last month that I'm afraid I'm going to forget something. I guess I'll just start with the most recent and work my way back. Today Natalie is 19 months old, and we've had a VERY big development the last two days. I recently got Natalie a baby potty at a garage sale, and I set it up in our upstairs bathroom. I've just let her play with it and get to be comfortable with it, but I didn't expect anything else other than her using it as a toy drop box. Yesterday morning I went to the bathroom, and as usual when it's just us here, she came along with me (note to those currently without children: enjoy your private potty times now). This time, she motioned that she had to pee also, and she tugged down her jeans, so I helped her out of her jeans and her diaper and sat her on her potty, and she sat there while I went. After I was done, I asked her if she was "all done" too, and she said "nooo" and then "pee pee". So I sat down in front of her and read her a little book and talked to her for a minute, and then asked again if she was done. She shook her head no and then pointed to her bottom, and then suddenly she started peeing! After a little bit she stopped and I cheered and yelled hooray and everything, but then she signed "more" and then started peeing again. After she was really done, we had a big cheering party, and then ceremoniously wiped with toilet paper and then poured it all down into the big potty and then flushed. (She likes to flush.) I was so shocked at this whole series of events! I didn't even think I'd be beginning this process at all for about another year, but maybe Natalie has other ideas, which is fine with me! She hasn't actually gone in the potty since yesterday morning, but every single time she gets ready to pee, now she grabs toward her diaper and either says "uh oh!" or "pee pee!" We either go upstairs or I set her on our toilet here downstairs, and take off her diaper (which sure enough does have fresh pee in it), just so she can keep making that connection. I'm not going to rush this in any way, but as long as she's obviously becoming aware of when she is about to start going pee, I'm going to encourage her! She enjoys sitting bare bottomed on the potty now, and whenever I tell her "okay, it's time to put a new diaper on" she tells me "noooo" and signs for "more".  She's so cute!

The next shocking thing Natalie did this past month is let me know she's learning her letters. I had no idea. I know we read to her all the time and many of her books are alphabet books, but I just still don't realize that she is making the connection. (You think I would start to be less surprised, but once again, nope!) We had a garage sale this past weekend to get rid of some superfluous furniture (and odds and ends cleaned out from Phil's dad's storage unit), and when we were in the basement looking for some things, I was holding Natalie on one side and looking over to the other, so I didn't see what she was doing. She leaned way far over and then said "D!" I looked down, and she had grabbed one of her foam letter blocks, toys we had picked up at a garage sale this spring but hadn't gotten out yet. Sure enough, she was holding the D block in her hand. When I looked at her, she held up the block to me and again said "D!" I almost fell over right there. I said to her, "Yep, Natalie, that's a D, you are right!"

There's of course lots of other things Natalie has done in the course of almost a complete month that I didn't write, but I have to get ready to go to bed now. At least those two things are the highlights; the major things I definitely didn't want to forget. Oh, and I did want to mention what Natalie's stats were from her 18 month checkup. I was going to write right after that appointment but then, well, I just didn't.  One month ago, she weighed in at 26 pounds, which is the 75th percentile. She has most definitely slowed down her growth in weight, but she's continuing to stretch taller and thinner now. Her height is 2 feet 9 and a half inches (90% still), and her head circumference is 19 1/2 inches, which is not off the charts anymore but is now at 97%. 

I'll write more sooner next time! Really! (And also get a new Picture of the Day up as well. At least I did change the banner picture for the new month though...cute little pigtails!)