Natalie seems to really “get” Christmas this year. Not in a religious sense, but in the sense that it’s a special day that we prepare for with lots of fun activities. Natalie’s been a very excited to help with all the preparations. First, we had our annual Elliott family cookie day:
Then, she helped us decorate the Christmas Tree—which took us two days to do. Every morning since we put it up, she’s come downstairs and said, “Oh no, the tree is dark!”
Natalie’s taken her love of books and reading to new heights lately. She loves reading by herself:

And loves reading to her stuffed animals and babies:

She even falls asleep reading:

Now that has nearly all her books memorized, we’ve been taking more frequent trips to the library to find new books to read. Natalie memorized almost all of this book after we’d had it for about a week:
Natalie “Reading” from nataliecaroline on Vimeo.
Natalie had her 2 year well-visit with Dr. Stephen on Friday. It felt strange to go from visits every 3 months to only every 6 months. We found out that Natalie is now:
26.5 pounds (50th percentile)
35.5 inches (90th percentile)
Amazingly, she did not cry, fuss, or even whine over getting her finger pricked or getting a shot!! Definitely a first.
Some new things since the last update:
Natalie learned the days of the week and months of the year.
She knows her last name, and that our first names are Amy and Chris.
Natalie has memorized nearly all of her books and likes to read to her dolls and stuffed animals.
Our favorite phrases this month:
“I better hurry!!!” (As she’s running to get somewhere.)
“Mommy, can I have more things to do, please?” (Completely unprompted. Isn’t two-years-old too young to be bored?)
“I feel the better now” (After putting ice on a wound.)