Long Overdue Update

I know I've been terrible about updating the blog for the past few weeks, so I'm going to try to do better, but here's my attempt at a catch-up. :)

Natalie now has four animal sounds that she will consistently tell you: cow, sheep, snake, and kitty. Before kitty, there was doggie, and it was my favorite - also because she picked it up all on her own. She said "bow wow wow" in the cutest way. Well, I decided to try to teach her that a kitty says "meow" and Santa says "ho ho ho," and she learned the kitty (very cute!), but not Santa, and ever since then, now when you ask her what a doggie says, she has a very unintelligible string of sounds, part of which sounds like "meow." So now we're back to working on "bow wow wow" again!

She just recently started saying thank you when she hands us toys. ;) It sounds more like "tee cu," but we know what she means. ;) Also, when she stands on the couch, I ask her to sit, and when she does, I say, "thank you." Now she's taken to standing up and at the same time, saying "tee cu!" Not exactly what I was going for!

She just got over her first ear infection. Boy, was that rough. I was glad that we finally figured out what it was and were able to start her quickly on (her first) antibiotic. It took about 3-4 full days for her normal sweet, funny personality to return, so I know she must have been feeling terrible. I feel like I have a better grasp of what she might act like with an ear infection now, so hopefully she won't get more, but I think I'll be able to spot it more quickly if she does.

Miss Nat still LOVES to eat. Katie made potato soup this week and the girls had it for lunch yesterday. She said Natalie had a spoon in one hand and was using the other hand to scoop handfuls of it into her mouth. Also, we've decided that she prefers Braums milk over Borden. She must get that from Opa! ;)

She still loves Casey, and the word "Casey" is still probably the clearest word that she says right now. She's learning better how to pet Casey gently, which is a good thing. Casey is sooooo tolerant of Natalie though. My mom says Casey is a gift, but we don't always feel that way when we have to clean up her messes! Natalie sure loves her, though! :)

Natalie is really big on putting her hands up and making a "Where did it go? I don't know!" face when a person hides or when she hides a toy. It's pretty cute. She'll put toy food in her play microwave, shut the door, and look at us as if to say "Where did it go?" Then she opens it and smiles. A couple days ago, we were all in Natalie's room and Brad left to do something. Natalie followed him out, but somehow lost track of where he went. She got into the kitchen, and Brad could see her but she didn't see him. She saw Casey in the kitchen, and put her hands up and made the face, as if asking Casey, "Where did he go?" Brad was cracking up that she really thinks of Casey as one of us and thought Casey could help her out. ;)

Well, I'm sure there are a million more little things I could write, but I'm out of ideas off the top of my head. Hope everyone out there is enjoying the holiday season!