Bakka, Steeka and Steekers

Grandpa is "Bakka", Auntie Krista is "Steeka" and stickers are "steekers". We enjoy listening to Norah's versions of different words! There are so many more cute ones that I'll have to add when I hear them or think of them. To me, a lot of these words now sound normal!

Tea Party

So this was the cutest thing that happened in our house in awhile I thought! Norah often goes to our basement to watch cartoons in the morning. This morning she was down there and she usually plays around with her toys. She's got my exercise step set up in front of the TV as a little bench and wanted me to sit there with her this morning. I had to go bath Jack so I told her I'd come down when I was done the bath. So when I got down there, she had a "tea party" all set up. She had the "table" (which is really a stand for plants) and the "chair" (the exercise step) all ready and stuff on it.

So then she said "mommy, peas sit here...eat (with) me" and patted the spot beside her. So of course how could I resist that?!

So I sat with her and then she said we had to pray.

So she started praying which was the cutest yet! She put her hands over her eyes like she does when we pray and then I heard"....Je-us....(a bunch of words I didn't understand)....tea party....(more words I didn't understand)...Amen". Then we started eating and pouring. This happened several more times. I had so much fun and was so glad I took those few moments out of my day to play with her. Often I get frustrated and wish she would play more on her own or I'm busy with Jack at the moment, but it's moments like these which I hope to repeat more and not forget. I love having tea parties with my little girl!!! (and I was so glad it happened when Nate was still home and could capture it on camera!)

I have to say it's so cute to see kids mimic the things they learn at home. Makes you feel as if something's stickin' in their minds at least. Though that's a bit scary, too at the same time!

Miss Rana

Norah will occasionally say, out of the blue, "i miss Rana". Rana is the sitter who looked after her at the second daycare she was at while I was working. Today, we were driving on the road that we would take to drop her off there and she said it again. I feel a bit bad for her every time she says it cause I do think she enjoyed playing with the kids there. Usually after she says she misses Rana she names the little girls she played with there - Sophie (who used to be "Hophie"), Chelsea and Elly. It's funny cause somehow I asked her once a long time ago if she missed Rana and she picked up on that and says it now.

Saying Bye

Well, Norah knows that when daddy wears his suit, he's going to work. Now, as soon as she sees him with his dress shirt and pants on, even if he's not leaving for another 15 minutes, she says "bye bye daddy, see you soon". It's quite cute!

Kind Strangers

Well, I've now fully realized and accepted that Jack is not a real portable evening baby...and that he for sure doesn't do well shopping. Last night I took him grocery shopping wondering if he was different now than he was a couple of weeks ago with shopping...he's not. I left right after I had fed him so I knew he wasn't hungry, but he cried/screamed almost the whole time I was in Superstore. By the time I got to bagging my groceries, I had the sympathy of several strangers around. I kept having to alternate between bagging a few groceries and then putting and trying to keep the soother in his mouth. The lady behind me in line offered to, and did, hold his soother in for me while I quickly bagged as much as I could. In the meantime this really nice older couple was walking by and looking at me (he's not the quietest cryer so I think almost everyone in the checkout area heard him cause he was real worked up and mad by this point). The lady came over and helped me bag the rest of my groceries so I could get out of there. And then just when I put the last of my groceries in the cart, the lady from the customer service desk came over and asked if there was something she could help me with. I told her I was thankfully done and leaving. I was so thankful for the help of these kind strangers cause I honestly have very little tolerance for crying and my stress level continues to rise as the crying continues. Not sure if they felt sorry for me or just wanted me out of there fast, too so they didn't have to listen to it anymore! In any case, little Jack will not be making trips to the grocery store anymore for quite awhile...that's OK though - just the way his little body and mind are wired.

Non Stop Talk

Well, I didn't realize how much Norah chattered until my sister recently asked her if she just talks all day long. Then I thought about it and realized how true that is -from the moment she gets up till she goes to bed basically. Maybe that's why I need the break in the afternoon when she naps for silence if nothing else! And it's getting progressively worse now that she's had an attentive audience of Nanna, Poppa and Uncle Dan for the last several days. It's very cute to hear all the new words and phrases that she comes up with and mimics, but man sometimes I do have to say I wish she had an "off" button or at least a volume button!

Guys

So the last couple of days when I've gotten Norah up from her nap have been so cute. Today for example, I thought I had heard her awake but wasn't sure. So eventually I went closer to her room and just heard her happily singing and talking away. When I went in there, she was sitting there talking to and holding a couple of her many "guys" (the numerous teddy bears she has in her bed with her). Yesterday she had put a couple of them on her pillow and covered them with her "bankie". It was so cute!! Glad she has entertainment in her bed to keep her occupied - there's almost so many "guys" in there that she barely has room herself!

Pee-yuh!

Yes, this is what Norah says whenever someone toots or poops as she calls it. I think she gets all those bodily functions mixed up and thinks they're the same thing. Anyway, still on poop-watch for little Jack. It's been 10 days since he last went...and counting. I can't remember what Norah's record was - it was around the same time that she hardly ever went, too.

2 Minutes

I guess I must have used "2 minutes" as the warning time for a little too long. Now often when we want Norah to do something, she'll look at us very seriously, lift her pointer finger and say "2 mintues". I think if she knew how long 2 minutes really was, she wouldn't be so eager to say it!

Little Miss Independent

Yep, that's Norah nowadays! Everything is "I do it" or "Nowah do it". Which is great that she wants to learn and do those things, but it does require some patience. And some things just don't work so well yet for her to do them herself. But whether it's climbing into and buckling into her booster seat or her carseat, to just about anything else, she wants to do it herself.

Norah also loves "su-shine" or the word at least! We bought

a window shade for her window in the car cause otherwise

we'd hear the entire car ride "su-shine in my eyes, su-shine in my eyes". It's quite cute, but gets a bit old! And whenever she wants to color in her coloring books, she wants you to look through every page to find the su-shine and then that's all she colors! And one time when we were playing with playdough, I made her a su-shine and now that's her request every time we get out the playdough - it's quite cute and thankfully something easy for me to make!

And oh, this morning I wished I had a camera with me! I think it's a new phase we're getting into which kind of scares me a bit - getting closer to her wanting to pick out what she'll wear out of the house! Today I had to go to the chiropractor and she wanted to wear her sunglasses which was so cute. Then she wanted to take her purse as well! She just hangs it around her neck and it was so cute with her glasses on!

And now a little something about Jack. I noticed today the cutest thing. Sometimes when he's about to cry, he sticks out his lower lip and whimpers just a bit. It's the cutest thing (or at least his mommy thinks so!). I think it happens when he's kind of on the verge of falling asleep.

Some Thoughts

So these first few posts will likely just be "catch up" ones where I'll just ramble about things that come to mind, not necessarily that they just happened.

Anyway, we'll start with Jack since he's the newest! I think with having a busy toddler to look after, and Jack not having been the happiest baby ever, I've kind of overlooked the really cute and amazing things about him as a newborn. Like for instance this afternoon I was sitting on the couch and when I finished nursing him, he just closed his eyes and was laying on my lap sleeping so peacefully. And that makes me think of how I need to enjoy this now cause if he's anything like Norah as an older baby, there will be no more baby falling asleep on my lap a few months from now!

And he's starting to smile and make sounds like he wants to laugh. Last night Nate was lying on the floor right beside looking right at him and doing some funny faces or sounds or something and Jack was smiling away and thinking it was funny.

He sometimes just looks up at you with these big wide eyes as if he's taking in all that he can.

I'm sure I'll have some better and more interesting stories to post about him as time goes on.

As for Norah, well, she's at an interesting point in life! She can test my patience to the absolute limit with her toddler antics, but she also does the absolute cutest things. I wish I could have a mental camera that would capture these images and stories in my brain forever. Like the other morning when I wanted to get her dressed, which is usually a big struggle to begin with. Well, I decided that day to give her her clothes and tell her to put them on. I turned my back and when I looked back, she was proudly wearing her gauchos - with both legs through one pant leg. It was so cute!!

And she has the sharpest eyes - she can spot things that I would never have seen. When we look out her bedroom window, we can see into our neighbour's beautifully landscaped backyard and immediately saw a "gutterfly" on the far fence (one of those decorative ones). Then today we were getting into our truck outside our friend's house and she noticed some "gutterflys" (decorative again) a few houses away (decorative again) on the wall outside the front door.

She has gone through different phases or liking her bath or not liking it. Right now, she loves it. She is obsessed with "yetters" (letters) so we bought her some for the bath tub. She likes to say all the letters as she puts them up and displays them. I don't think she actually knows any letters but it's really cute to hear her say all the letters with such confidence! And as you can see in the picture, she also likes to line up all her little containers with water, and all her little duckies. Then the ducks drink out of the cups and all kinds of other things. She can keep herself entertained in there for quite a good long time.

After thinking that I hadn't been consistent enough with having her say "please" when requesting something, and that she would never get the hang of it, she is now so good with it. And it's so cute to her "peas have more" whatever it is. Makes it so hard to say no when she asks so nicely!

Norah has liked to sing since she was quite young. And it's so cute to hear. She'll look you in the eye and start to sing "Jesus Loves Me" in this high soprano tone that just melts your heart. She'll sing along with most of it and then with gusto "YES, Jesus loves me..." and so on. I really hope we can record it on our camera sometime when she doesn't know that's what we're doing cause I'd love to have a copy of that to watch later.

I've noticed in the last few weeks that her imagination and role playing has taken off. It's quite cute to watch her when she doesn't know it or to hear what she's pretending. Grocery shopping is one of her favorites and she loves to play different things with all her "people" (her Little People and farm animals). She's also big into diaper changes on her dolls - too bad she's not as eager to get hers changed.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now. Who knows how often I'll post but hopefully as little things happen that we don't want to forget, I'll remember to post them and some pictures, too.