Natalie’s Blog

Check out Natty walking with her walker…

Here: http://www.delhall.com/natty_on_demand

Or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6oMdaCNtBQ

Today was Natalie’s first day of preschool!  We packed up her Minnie Mouse bookbag with a change of clothes, her Epi pen, and her folder and off we went.  Del had a meeting so he was not able to be there but my mom came up for the big event.  Natalie was a little skeptical when we first walked into the room as evidenced by this expression: 

Then she warmed up and started crawling around checking out the room(sorry pic is blurry because she was moving too fast):

Here I am trying to get her to stand up and stay still for a picture:

Mom and I left with no tears shed (by anyone) and went back about 2.5 hours later to pick her up.  Miss Davis reported that Natalie did great!  She did not cry at all and got her pants dirty having fun crawling around the playground.  She did some swinging and went down the slide!  Here we are leaving the school at the end of her day:

Here are a few pictures that I took of Natalie in our backyard recently.

Natalie has had a busy summer so far.  I can’t believe it’s August already.  Where to begin?

In June Natalie was evaluated by the school district to start preschool in the fall.  She qualified for special education services so she will start preschool on September 1, just one day prior to her 3rd birthday!  Her class will consist of 8 student with special needs and 4 typically developing kids.  Preschool is 2.5 hours 4 days a week but we worked it out that she will just go 3 days a week since that’s the only way it will work due to my work schedule.  Above is Natalie practicing her reading.  She still loves books!

This summer she also participated in Hippotherapy again (therapy done while riding a horse).  She adjusted to it much more quickly than last time and there was much less crying.  We have been impressed with the gains she has made in actual skills while riding and how this has improved her skills in other areas.  Her core strength has improved greatly and we hope this leads to walking with her walker soon.  It was after her last hippotherapy sessions last fall that she started crawling really well so hopefully walking is next! 

 We celebrated Aunt Hez’s 30th birthday at St. Mary’s lake a few weekends ago.  We even got to go out on the boat for awhile which was nice.  Here are Carter and Natalie all geared up in their life vests.  They look excited, or is it scared? 

FINALLY, Natalie likes to swing!  We have been putting her in swings for the last year or more and she has always hated it.  A few weeks ago we went to the park with my friend Heidi and her four kids so I decided to try the swing again and Natalie loved it (she was even giggling).  Here is a picture of Heidi’s daughter Kiersen helping me push Natalie. .

Dear Daddy,

I love you because…

-you get up with me on Saturday mornings and let me eat breakfast in the living room while we watch cartoons together

-you can be as silly as me and never get tired of trying to make me laugh

-you play the music that I love when we are in the car together (even the songs that I know you are sick of hearing)

-after a long day of work you drive me all the way to Eaton for hippotherapy(even though it may appear that I hate it since I cry a lot)

-you never worry about what I can’t do and get so excited about what I CAN do!

-you love me unconditionally (even when I wake you up from a sound sleep by kicking you)

Love,

Natty

Natalie was having fun at Max’s birthday party on May 16 and fell on her chin a little harder than usual.  She had to get 4 stitches.  She was with Cook Cook while Del and I were at a wedding out of town when this happened.  She only cried a little and calmed down immediately when the nurse sang to her as the doctor put the stitches in.  What a brave girl!

First picture of all the cousins with BOTH grandparents on the Grubb side.  Look at all those cute little feet and toes!

We’ve had a lot of fun outside the last few weeks now that the weather has been warmer.  Natalie likes the grass this year!  She recently realized that it’s fun to throw a ball, crawl to pick it up, and throw it again (over and over). 

Last Sunday Natalie and I went to the pool with my friends Cathy and Amber (and Amber’s kids and husband Andy).   We hung out at the baby pool and Natalie was not a fan.   She whined and whimpered a lot and wanted  to be sitting on my lap most of the time.  I tried dipping her feet in the water in the baby pool and she cried each time.  Eventually she was happy sitting right next to me playing with a bucket.  Oh well, we’ll try again soon!  Enjoy the pictures. 

We had a great dinner at Uncle David & Aunt Lauren’s on Sunday.  All the cousins were there and had fun playing together.  Unfortunately, on Monday came a diagnosis of ear infections and pink eye for both Kiernan and Carter and by Tuesday Ronan had pink eye too.  Here we are on Wednesday and despite my feeling that the abnormal crusty stuff coming from Natalie’s eyes this morning meant she too had it, her Pediatrician says no.  However, just in case, we were given a prescription for eye drops.  I could be wrong but I have a feeling that we may need them!