Here We Go!

Sorry we haven't posted in so long! We've been up to no good, no good at all. Just kidding, we've been doing *some* good.
Like a couple of weeks ago we babysat for Olen while his parents got to enjoy a date night!
King Olen, laying claim to all the toys and books in Natalie's room.
Here is our girl, who is very focused on learning how to walk. It's an all-consuming passion.

All that learning to walk gets a body tired, though... sometimes she just reaches into her crib for her paci and her doggy snuggle blanket, and practically asks to be put to bed. She's her mama's daughter, as Carroll family lore reports that I often put myself to bed as a child, even before my bedtime.

This picture, more than any other, is indicative of what's been going on around the house though. She is just learning so much about what she wants - and learning to ask for it! Like today for dinner, she refused to eat anything from a spoon. Ultimately I gave her the spoon with squash on it to see what she would do. The result? Squash flung to all four corners of the room, but a fair bit in her mouth as well. We've tried to give her the spoon before and she has refused to take it. Her dad said it's almost like she woke up this morning and thought "I want to learn how to use a spoon today." This week she's also learned to drink from a sippy cup with a straw (thanks, Connor, for giving us one of those)!

She's doing well with learning her words, but sometimes you have to trick it out of her! The other day, I was pointing to Kai's sock and asking him what it was. Finally Natalie turned away from the book she was reading and said "SOCK" and then went back to reading. Will she do that for her own sock, if I ask her? She will not. And today I asked Kai "where's the ball?" and she went and got the ball and brought it to me. But if I ask *her* to get the ball - will she? Again, the answer is, we are learning that she is a willful child who does exactly what she wants to do.

Anna let us borrow her walker... at first (Sunday) Natalie wasn't sure what to do with it, but the video below shows that she gets it now! She laughs uproariously while she's walking behind it!

This Saturday we're having a birthday party for our girl, two days ahead of the big day. I can't believe she's turning a year old. I can't begin to describe all that this year has brought to us.