Grandma Pat's visit

Well, February flew by, didn't it? February may be a short month, but this is going to be a mega-post, since, well, I have a lot of pictures to share (feel free to move along if that's not your ball of wax!).

We've been doing some spring cleaning:(Kidding. I mean, that is Natalie is the frog laundry basket. But, alas, in terms of actually translating into spring cleaning....)

Natalie did get another haircut, though. Here's a before shot:And after:We wrapped up February with a visit from Grandma Pat. Grandma Pat arrived on Thursday night, and straight away Friday for lunch, we took her out for barbecue. Natalie, of course, made lots of friends at the restaurant, but one in particular stands out.Natalie and Grandma Pat also spent lots of time together reading and singing. Natalie has a new favorite song (in addition to "The Eency, Weensy Spider" - or is it the "Itsy Bitsy Spider"? Very confusing, this). Anyway, Natalie's new favorite song is "Baa, Baa Black Sheep."Grandma Pat was also educated in The Way of the Tote Bag:Natalie's also had quite the language explosion recently. She can now clearly say "cah" (car: for all vehicles) and "teee" (tree: for all plants). I also think that she's said "puppy" a few times. And she definitely makes a good attempt at "Natalie", saying something like "Nah-nuh-nee". In addition, she's can identify her own knee and shoulder, and will point to your nose (but not hers?) if you ask where her nose is. Too cute!She'll also close her eyes on command, by squinting them shut and using her pointer fingers to hold them shut. The picture below illustrates Natalie's expanding comprehension. I think I had said the word "outside" as in, "let's go outside [of the bedroom] to the living room." Natalie, alas, had a different view of the situation. The other day, she was also thwarted, and she lay right down in front of this door and assumed her temper tantrum position. She loves to go in the backyard - so much so that instead of saying "outside" or "the backyard", we now call it "the derriere of the house."
She still loves hats:She'll also grab books and "read" aloud to herself.(In this case, the book is actually a cookbook entitled Frozen Drinks, but, hey, sister, we've all been there.)Natalie also loves Daddy's iphone. Right now her favorite apps are Peek-a-boo forest, Peek-a-boo barn, Talking Tom, and a drawing app. Here's a picture she drew recently:(Before one gets all Rorschach here, I should point out that we picked the color, and Natalie just dragged her finger across the screen, perhaps with not a ton of awareness)
Note that we've had pretty much no success with crayons. Still, the talent is clearly there....

The Saturday that Grandma Pat was in town, we'd also been invited to a birthday party. Since we were all dressed up(-ish), it seemed like a good time for a family picture:That was only fun for so long, though:Have no fear, Natalie recovered her good humor once we arrived at the party:It was still a bit cold and windy to be doing things outside, although one warm morning Grandma Pat and I did pull 4 giant yard waste bags full of weeds - fresh with inspiration from a landscaping class that I took earlier this winter, I'm determined to make our backyard a lovely space this year. So far, though, my daffodils from last year have come up. It looks like the tulips and about 1/2 the ranunculus (ranunculi? ranunculae?) are also on their way. In addition to Grandma Pat's help, I had another good garden helper.(regarding the blackberry canes in the background here: a) they are ouchita thornless, and b) I now know that they are to be trimmed back after flowering and fruiting.)
Last (in conclusion!), I share with you a picture of my latest knitting project, an octopus:This is a gift for my good friend Kris, and I'm only sharing it now, since it has safely arrived at his house. The legs are shaped with pipe cleaners, so it's not a kid toy, although I'm considering making another pipe cleaner-free one in the future for Natalie. I also am behind a baby gift, for a baby turning one next week (!), so, well, there's that, too.