Learning new things every day...

Natalie can reach her dresser drawer from her crib and likes to pull her clothes in with her. She also likes to find her belly button, which she is doing here.
The other day she got a hold of the nail clippers and did this. She knows what to do with them!

So Natalie has been learning all sorts of animal noises. When she was a baby and I would read her animal stories, I would always make the noise. It got me wondering --why do we hurry and teach these children animal noises as soon as possible? What use does that have when we don't live on a farm or see animals besides cats, dogs, and birds on a daily basis? Why not teach them something more useful, like the alphabet? Well, now that she can make the noises, I have figured out why we do it. It's because it's SO DARN CUTE!!! Plus it's like they're communicating, ya know? If she is thinking about a dog, she can make a dog sound and I'll know what she means! It's truly amazing once you can start communicating with your child.

She can do dog, cat, bird, elephant (including her arm stretched out to look like a trunk), camel (a spitting sound), monkey, cow, sheep, chicken, rooster, horse, and we're currently working on duck. My personal favorites are the elephant and the monkey.

Natalie is also learning her body parts. She just recently found her nose and stuck her finger right up her nostril. Lovely. She can also locate her mouth, teeth, ears, eyes, head, hair, belly button, toes, hands, arms, and elbow. The elbow one was sort of by accident because whenever I change her diaper, my left elbow is moving around in front of her face. When she was littler she would grab it and try to suck on it, so I told her what it was, and now she has discovered that she has one too.

Well, that's it! TTFN.