Just an update on this VERY HAPPY little lady!!

March and April have been exciting months at the Lowe house....Natalie has adopted a few words like"more", "bye-bye", "ball", and other various approximations :). The procedure is to sit on the floor in the kitchen with a pint of Haagan Daz between us, and trade bites for words. Highly effective.:)

She still loooves school, and is now signing full sentences - mostly those that start with, "I want...". Hey - ya gotta start somewhere, right? I figure that's a good a place as any! She is wearing big girl panties now - and is really doing very well. The #2 is sometimes an issue, but a reward system has inspired her. I picked up a couple My Little Pony dolls and told her if she did her poops in the potty, that I would give her the "horse dolly" (wasn't sure about the sign for 'pony' in the moment:)). Well, she was pretty mad the first time she attempted without success and I was a stickler about the reward - but when she finally succeeded - she was thrilled and kept signing, "horse dolly!" over and over. When I noticed again that she needed to 'go' - FYI, she's rather obvious about it - I asked her if she needed to go potty, and she signed, "horse dolly?". Uh-oh....better stock up on a sweet My Little Pony sale ASAP!! She is super cute about it, and I don't know if there are too many people in the world who get quite as excited as Natalie about going potty. It's inspiring to see her enthusiasm. :)

Nattie has continued to make friends wherever she goes, and loves to read books and play outside. She has grown 2 1/2 inches since September, and is stretching out quite a bit. Some of the jammies and clothes I had for her when she first came home are total floods on her now - and it seems crazy that she has already been home for 7 months. Where did the time go? Life has become exponentially easier, and it's so nice to see how she has molded in so perfectly to our family. We can't imagine a single day without her, and we feel blessed every day to have such wonderful children.