Birthday Fun

Happy Birthday Miss Natalie! We can hardly believe a year has past since you were born and joined our family. We are so blessed. 

Natalie has come so far! On Monday evening, she took her first few steps. They are few and far between right now, but she is incredibly proud of herself. She stops to clap, which makes her fall down! Of course, she is very motivated to catch up with her big brother and chase him around the house. Watch out, Harrison. One more reason to hear, “NO SISTER! GET HER AWAY FROM ME!!!” But it works both ways. Natalie barely got to open any of her own birthday gifts—Harrison got to them first and felt very strongly that she was too little to handle the task by herself. She was also apparently too little to be the first to play with them. We keep asking him how he will feel on his birthday if she takes his toys away. He pretends like he doesn’t hear us. Oh well. Learning how to share is a process, right?

They are both so smart. Natalie is trying to say words, make animal noises, and uses her index finger extensively now to show us what she wants. She tries to put on her own socks and shoes and brush her hair. She is also getting really good at puzzles and putting items inside their containers.

For his part, Harrison continues to develop his reading and writing skills.  He is starting to “read” from memory and identify several letters, and of course, his own name. And he is really excited to start learning about geography. We’re still working on the difference between planets, continents, and states, but he has great songs that he likes to sing from school to keep them all straight. Favorite recent question: “what continent does Johnny live on; South America?” We are all starting to get outside more and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Say a little prayer for us that our house sells soon so we can find our new home in Kansas City and get settled! Enjoy the new pictures from this last month and Natalie’s birthday.