Natalie-20 months

Natalie has a sparkling smile and a deep, contagious giggle right now. She's also a bit on the high maintenance side, too. She's getting so good at communicating to us what she wants or needs by doing things like standing in front of the pantry and saying "um, um" for a snack. She wants an "ums"...not sure where she got that, maybe from us saying "yum"? I don't know. Or she'll go to the fridge and ask for milk-which she says very clearly. She is loving playing in the water-give the girl a 5 gallon bucket and a few squirt guns or a ball and she's happy. The pool will be super fun this summer. She is sleeping so well, too. She goes down about 8:30 and is up after 7 most mornings. Plus she's taking two naps a day still.






She has really loved going to the sitter-our last day there was this past Thursday. I can't ask for a better situation-she does crafts with the kids, she feeds them well, takes them to storytime or the zoo, and plays outside as much as possible. Natalie has made some friends at her sitter's-Nick and Lulu. It's so cute at night when I'm rocking her and telling her about going to Sara's the next day. She'll then take out her pacifier and say, "Nick, ball" or "Lulu, baby" because she plays ball with Nick and babies with Lulu. Love it!

She is all about riding her bike-a secondhand Radio Flyer tricycle from the twin sale, and she will play happily for about 20 minutes on the porch with her sidewalk chalk. She will eat about anything we give her-which is such a contrast from the boys. However, that's my fault, I think. I didn't offer them anywhere the variety I offer her-I was trying too hard to follow what books and parenting blogs were saying. Oh well. She can't stand a mess-yea, she gets that honest. She'll pick up the boys' shoes and put them on the mat by the door, or she'll bring her snack bowl back to the kitchen and put it away.

She still loves her Mickey Mouse, and will call him by her personal nickname for him, "Mick". I hope she loves him that much next week when she sees him face to face... Also, she'll smile-in a very cheesey, face scrunched up kind of way-when I take her picture. And she has a new fascination with crayons and coloring.

Her words now include: ball, baby, milk, bike, gurt (yogurt), this, ucky ucky, and bowl. She weighs over 27 lbs, and is wearing some 2T clothes already. I can't believe how much she's grown!