Summertime IV: That Nat!

We once again have a 2-year-old in the house. Natalie had been preparing for her role for many months, so when she turned two in July she was ready to take on all the lovely attributes that come with the job. All I can say as I haul her bodily from, well, any place and every place, kicking and screaming and trying to bite and/or scratch me, is, "She's two." Luckily she is equal parts crazy and hilarious, so while she makes me nuts she also makes me laugh. And sometimes she crawls into my lap and nuzzles against me and I rest my cheek on her curly head and relish the moment, knowing all too soon she won't fit on my lap anymore.

Here we were at a rockin' Joe McDermott concert. I think I asked her to say CHEESE and got a mouthful of fruit snack flashed at me.

Here's Natalie with her first "co-cone". She's hooked.

Grandma Kathie made Natalie's birthday cake and Nat was a BIG help, I am sure. When she senses that the mixer is coming out she comes running and drags a chair across the kitchen so she can help. After the first few ingredients are in the bowl, she scampers to the silverware drawer for a spoon and climbs back up into the chair, waiting for a taste. I have to watch her carefully because she's not patient about the waiting. One day I turned my back for a second and returned to the mixer to see her with a spoon in her hand and a nasty look on her face. In her impatience for the good stuff that she knows eventually comes out of that mixing bowl, she had scooped up and eaten a spoonful of unsweetened cocoa powder.

Pure Nat. The eyelashes! The curls peeking out! The drooly shirt! The toothy grin! The dimples! Oh, the Natty goodness.