Talk, Talk

Over the past few weeks, Natalia has gotten so much better at communicating. For quite awhile, we had been asking her to show us what she wanted, and she dutifully drug us around the house with quite a bit of success. But then I noticed she started asking for "more," especially at meals. And to make sure we knew she wanted more, she would say the word and sign at the same time. (Not that she ever used the sign BEFORE she knew the word. I'm afraid she thought it was a package deal. Or she liked torturing us.)

I was so relieved to hear her asking for more instead of just screaming, that I pretty much let her have at least a little of whatever she was asking for more of. The good news is she usually had pretty healthy food. The bad news is that no one really needs a third banana, but hey, Pampers loves us.

Following the success of "more" she started trying out other words, and now the words are coming faster and faster, with her saying several new words every day. One of my favorite words she tried out early was "ice." She never just says the word. Instead, she gleefully exclaims, "Aisssssss!" Every time.

After months of saying, "No, no, no, no, no!" and shaking her head, she also started hissing out "yessssss," too. Even more fun, over the weekend she figured out how to nod her head yes, and it's comical to watch her concentrate to make sure she gets the neck movement just right.

She can now chastise all her siblings by name, and she loves reprimanding them. For a long time she has worried about our dog "Poo" (aka Pru), but she can now also yell at Max when he gets in her way.

My parents and grandmother were visiting for the past week, and today when I came home from work, she said hi then asked, "Gene? Graa? CiCi?" (Grandpa Gene, Gran, CiCi) since they often arrived for dinner at the same time I got home from work. I told her they had gone bye-bye. So she ask again. And when the answer was the same, she slugged me. Sadly, I knew exactly what she meant.