An Update on Miss Nat

As we were eating breakfast this morning, I realized that there are so many cute things that Natalie is doing right now that I really need to get them down on paper, so to speak, and share them. Here are some facts about Miss Nat:

1. Her favorite breakfast is Cheerios. She calls them "Ya-yos." She is doing really well feeding herself with a spoon now! She gets HUGE spoonfuls, though! At least she seems to chew them well before putting another one in! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for other forms of eating. She's one to shove her mouth FULL of food and scare us! Anyone know how to stop this?!
2. Everyone probably knows this, but she LOOOOOOOVES to play outside. Pretty much anytime we put her shoes and/or her jacket on, she smiles happily at us, and then says, "Side." Like the wearing of a jacket or shoes absolutely equals going outside to play.
3. Natalie loves Elmo. I'm not even sure how it happened, because we have never really been big on letting her watch TV. A few months ago, we did start DVR'ing Sesame Street. Now she wants to watch "Elmo" all.the.time. She doesn't really stay interested unless Elmo himself is onscreen. We've been giving in a lot while she's been sick, but it's time to cut back on the Elmo! What amazes me is that she can watch the same 15-minute Elmo's World episode over and over and over and over.
4. Whenever we sit down to eat, Natalie is the first to say "Pay!" and put her hands out for us to hold hands and say a prayer! We love this!
5. When you ask her where Mollie is, she points to my belly. I really think she just considers it another body part that Mommy has and she doesn't, but it's a step. ;)
6. She might initially balk just a bit at going to bed when she realizes we've started her bedtime routine each night, but by the end of her bedtime books and prayer, she says "May-men," promptly flips over onto her tummy and asks for her "bebes." She has 2 dolls that she sleeps with. Then she says "Nigh nigh" and she's totally fine with us leaving so she can get some rest!
7. She loves to pretend-call her Poppy on the phone. For some reason, it's always Poppy that she calls. :)
8. Natalie is almost totally potty-trained. We started when she was about 17 months since she was showing interest after Katie potty-trained Brooke. It's gone really well, with only a few setbacks. She pretty much only wears a diaper now at naptime and at night, but she wakes up dry from her naps almost every day. When she gets out of bed in the morning, she goes right for the drawer in her dresser where her panties are, gets a pair out, and heads for the bathroom. :) Now we just pray that she doesn't regress when Mollie arrives!
9. She still LOVES her big girl bed! And, amazingly, she stays in it even when she wakes up in the morning. She just lays in bed and talks until we come get her up. It would be wonderful if this would continue!
10. She knows a ton of animal sounds - I won't even list them all. Funny, though, she knows which animals are which by name if you ask her to point one out, but she calls them by their sounds instead of their names when she tells you what they are. The only ones that she calls by name are fish, duck, and bird. Not sure what makes those different!
11. Natalie loves to throw things away. She has taken to throwing away things that she thinks are trash, but that's not always the case. From time to time, she will come up to one of us and say her word for trash, which is similar to "trash" but not quite. If you're not thinking "trash" yourself, you might not know that's what she means. Or she might just say, "tee cue." It takes us a minute to figure it out, but it often means that she's just thrown something away that we need to retrieve, likely a washcloth, for whatever reason!
12. One night before her last swimming class of the season, she leaned down into the tub during her bath and blew bubbles! She had never really done it in class, although that's the first thing that they wanted us to work on. She does it all the time in the bath now. Maybe next summer she'll get more out of the classes when she's a bit older. This year, it was just a fun distraction.
13. It's 10:00 am, and she is asleep on my lap. It's really not like her to take a morning nap, but since I feel like her teeth are bothering her so she's not sleeping too well at night, and our days alone together are numbered, I'm just going to relish having my little girl lightly snoring in my arms for a bit this morning.