Favorite things and germs go away!

Because kids grow and change so fast, I want to keep track of Matthew and Natalie's favorite things every now and then.  I cannot believe our first born will soon be four and that our second surprise, Natalie, is over a year and a half old.  Parents always say that time flies when you have kids, but I did not believe it until I had children of my own.  I love how they grow and develop new skills, but I will miss these days when they are older.

Matthew's favorite things these days include Batman (we had to special order his Halloween costume this year, because he had to have the original Batman costume and not the Dark Knight one), dancing his "booty dance,"  puzzles (he can put together one faster than I can), and trains of any kind.  He has been a picky eater since about one, but he will always eat yogurt, applesauce, cereal, and granola bars,  Thank goodness for yogurt and the ability to hide small amounts of pureed vegetables in it, or else he would never eat them.

Here are pics of Matthew in his special order costume and doing his "booty dance."

Natalie's favorite things are changing a lot, but she consistently has to have her "entourage", as we call it, of her pink blanket with her name on it, a ribbon tagged lovey, her sock monkey, a stuffed cat, and a giraffe she got as a Christmas gift.  How we let her start taking all these items with her to bed and around the house I have no idea, but she sleeps great with them and they always calm her down, so we will take it.  Natalie also just discovered her love for baby dolls and plays "mommy" all day.  Her appetite is great when she is healthy, so I cannot complain, except for when she climbs on the table to go steal someone else's food if she runs out.  The only thing we are trying to stop her from eating is dog food... yes dog food.  She loves it.  She is not picky with the brand and will shovel it in as fast as she can before I can catch her.  Gross I know, but this is the child who kills flies with her bare hands and eats them (barf).

Caught eating Payton's dog food

Sneaking over to get Matthew's dinner

 Now, I consider myself a bit of a clean freak when it comes to germs and keeping the house sanitized. So, I don't know what is going on, but it seems as if everyone is sick!  Natalie is getting over RSV, I have had a cold off and on for over 3 months, Matthew has a constant stuffy nose and one of our little friends is stuck in the hospital trying to hurdle over a bad case of RSV and pneumonia.  We are praying this cold air that came into STL can freeze and kill all these nasty germs, so we can all stay healthy for more than a few days.  Spring is just around the corner and I am ready :)