19 Months!

November 21st

 Just when I was almost caught up, I started to slack off! With Christmas preparations, the flu, taking an online class for my teaching certificate, and most recently blogger acting strange, I have not had any spare time to blog! It's now a game of catch up, and I need to get caught up while I still can!

Natalie Grace is now 19 months! I know I continue to say this but she is growing up so much these days. She is becoming a big talker, and I'm pretty sure she loves that we understand her more now. It makes it a lot easier to get her point across. Every night before bedtime, as part of our nightly routine, Natalie says goodnight to Nathan. She gives him hugs and kisses, tells him "night night", and we practice saying I love you. After this we gather up all of her six babies (Elmo, Bear, Giraffe, Hippo, Baby, and "Quack Quack") and her milk sippy and head upstairs for books, music, and prayers. Natalie finally told Nathan 'I love you' on her own this month! Usually we prompt the words, but this was a precious first! You could see the concentration on her face as she combined the three words.

Natalie still loves to play outside and jump on the trampoline. She is so good at jumping. I have never seen a toddler as little as Natalie jumping like she does. She is very coordinated and must get it from her Daddy! Her latest obsession is trains. She loves trains! When she discovered that there was a train in the mall, it was all over. The only reason we were able to hold off this long is because we would do just about anything to NOT shop with Natalie. She is the worst shopper ever! Natalie hates shopping, unless she goes with Grandma currently called "Mong Mong". When Grandma goes with us, Natalie rides the train, the little rides in the middle of the mall, plays in the play area, and sometimes gets a cookie too! Of course now she thinks we go to the mall so she can ride the train! And most of the time we do :) Have you ever tried to fit inside a kid sized train caboose with a 10 inch wide seat while pregnant?? It has its challenges but is worth the sweet smile!

Mong Mong and Natalie riding the train.

Natalie living it up in a gigantic duck!

Doing one of the things she loves most- park time with Daddy!

Hanging out with her BFF Elmo.

Doing another favorite- trying to make a mess! Thankfully the park uses ground up tires not sand!

19 months and getting more difficult each month!

She decided the chair needed to be turned around.

Big "cheese"!!

And then it became an everyday event until the chair went back upstairs!

Day 3! Every time she saw the chair she would try to hand me the camera, sit, and say cheese!

Current likes: Elmo, trains, lollipops, her babies, doing the Gator chomp, cuddling in the big bed and watching PBS Kids videos, M&Ms, helping mommy, and park time with daddy.

Current dislikes: car rides, shopping, sleeping in, behaving like a civilized child in public, and hair clips or anything that goes near her hair to pin it out of her face!