So How's Natalie?

With all this talk about soccer and the dentist, I feel like I haven't talked about our other little sweetheart too much lately!

Natalie is doing just great. She is growing before our very eyes and learning more every day. I love listening to her learn new words, and she can now name all the main characters in our Dora books. Pretty fun. She loves to listen to stories and just won't take no for an answer when it's time to cut them off and get ready for bed.

Natalie has also started doing something that Katie used to do. When playing in her room, she lines up all her dolls and animals on the floor and puts them to bed. She covers them all up with either burp cloths or receiving blankets, and then pats each one on the back, saying, "Shhhh! Night night!" before moving on down the line to pat the next one. I say pat, but it's more like a smack since this girl doesn't know her own strength. It is very cute to watch and just remember how Katie did the same thing with her babies.

Natalie's still working on getting all those teeth, but we'll get there! You can tell it bothers her at bedtime, so I hope to see some more popping through soon to give her a little relief. When she had her 18-month check-up a couple weeks ago, she was right on track with all her measurements and development. Hooray!

Natalie also made a friend at Sunday School last week. There's a family we're friends with at church, and their daughter Amelia is nearly 2. Amelia has never liked going in the nursery, or now Sunday School, and has huge separation anxiety attacks every time. This boggles her mom, Stephanie's, mind, because she goes to daycare during the week and does just fine over there. But Amelia is not very patient to sit through church, either, and her parents are feeling stretched to keep her entertained and quiet. Now that Natalie attends Sunday School, Stephanie and her husband decided to try Amelia in there again. They set her down next to Natalie, who was happily playing with the toy kitchen, and made a run for it. After the service, Stephanie and I walked in to find Natalie and Amelia, still together, having fun. The teacher, Ms. Cindy, said that they stuck together the entire time and that Amelia didn't cry a bit. We were so happy to hear that! How nice that the girls got along so well. I know it came as a relief to Stephanie that hopefully Amelia will like attending Sunday School from now on. :)