One of Norah's favorite games

So Norah LOVES to be chased. Anytime one of her little friends even acts like they're going to start running, she'll chase after and want to get chased, too. She and her little friend Ty enjoy chasing each other around the little island in our kitchen giggling at the top of their lungs. Well, lately I guess she hasn't had enough chasing time with friends cause she'll ask Nate and I to do it. So as much as it makes me dizzy, how can I resist "mommy, peas chase me?" in such a hopeful tone! So I do and she giggles and I smile cause it's so cute how she finds such joy in the little pleasures of life!

Our bedroom

Norah now likes to play on our bed under the covers. Today after her nap she wanted me to play there with her. She says "peas pay under here". So then we had to get her dolls and their bottles and accessories and play under the covers - feeding the babies and so on. She obviously has no sense of claustrophobia which is good because I sure couldn't stand to be right under there like she is for as long as she wants! She also likes to pretend she's sleeping in our bed. When my mom was babysitting one time it was quiet and she went in search of Norah and found her "seeping" in our bed - she gets right under the covers and lies her head on the pillow and even closes her eyes sometimes!

She also likes to "get dressed" in our closet. She pretends she's showering in there and then she'll rifle through my shirts hanging on the low bar in the closet and act like she's getting dressed. Guess she's seen that a few times...!!

Tinkertown and Therapy!

We went to Tinkertown with our friends Jon and Janelle and their son, Ty, the other day. Ty and Norah are 3 months apart in age and are such great little buddies. They rode the rides and Norah had a blast. As soon as we got through the gate, the first ride you can see is the carousel. I could see she was just longing to go on that ride. She pointed at it and said something about wanting to go on it. So that was the first ride we went on. I took her on it and the experience for me was absolutely priceless. She sat on the "horsie" and thought that was great to begin with. But then when it started and the music came on and the horse started moving...the look on her face literally brought tears to my eyes - it's really not that big a deal but the look of wonder and excitement made the entire trip there worth it for me. Then later, when we got home, I was in Jack's room feeding him and Nate was in Norah's room trying to get her ready and into bed. All of a sudden she came to Jack's room where I was and just started saying things. It was stuff like.."horsies, cars, bang Ty car, aiplan, boat, apple..." and so on. I realized she was listing all the rides she had been on that day. I think her mind was just reeling and whirring with all she had done that day - it was so cute to realize she had such a good time there, too she was wanting to tell me all about what she all did.

On a completely different note, the other day, Norah was coloring with crayons. She has in the past had some trouble remembering that crayons only color on paper, not on walls and other things. Well, this one morning, she had started to color on something again and I reminded her that we don't do that or we'll take the crayons away. Well, I was on the computer typing away and she came running into the room to admit that she had colored on the table. I went to check and yes, she definitely had taken the brown crayon to her little table. So I started packing up the crayons and took them away. She had such a huge fit (not sure when she'll figure out that she at least shouldn't come admit something to me that she purposefully did wrong!) and we couldn't get her to stop crying. So I came back to the computer and kept on typing. She eventually came and sat on the chair with me (still wearing her pj's!) and picked up the cordless phone on the desk and started talking. She was still sniffling and getting over her big cry and talking away. I heard the words "crayon, table, obey mommy, obey daddy". I don't know who she thought she was talking to but it was if it it was therapy for her to tell whoever it was what had gone on. After that she was fine!

Words Disappearing

Well, it's a good thing I'm recording some of Norah's cute versions of words cause some of them are becoming extinct. "Bakka" has become "campa" and no doubt others are on their way out, too. And she went through a phase when she would hear ANY noise and say "hear that?". I don't think I've heard that in awhile now. It's exciting that her language and vocabulary is growing and changing, but sad to hear these cute renditions go.

A variety of things

Norah somehow has gotten into scissors. Not sure why or what prompted it. But she wanted to cut with my scissors. So I went and bought some kid ones and let her cut some paper. First of all, she calls them "sharps". Not sure why but it's so cute that I don't have the heart to correct her and I even call them "sharps" too around her cause i think it's so cute! I'm assuming she calls them that cause she's heard me tell her so much that my scissors are sharp and she can't play with them. But anyway, I've realized that she needs constant supervision when using them or else she'll all of a sudden be missing a chunk of hair or a piece from her clothes (not that she's that proficient with them yet - I usually have to help her to get a good cut and then she's quite fascinated). The other day she made a comment when she was playing with them "i cut hair" and then about cutting Jack's hair (his is almost all missing anyway from having combed out his cradle cap so much!!)

Norah is becoming a bit of mommy's helper. She now likes to help me set the table. Here's a picture of how she sets it. I love how she puts the cutlery so neatly sideways at the edge! And all the stuff ends up right at the edge, but she has such a smile on her face as I hand her things one at a time to carry to the table. Too bad it won't stay a treat for her to help out with things like that!

The other day I gave Norah her snack to eat downstairs as she usually wants it. Well, no more will that happen when she has this particular food item. It was one of those pretzels and cheeze whiz handi-snacks. I got a phone call while she was in the middle of the snack and by the time I got off the phone (it was not a social call!) she has smeared the cheese whiz all over her legs like lotion. I didn't let her know that I thought it was kind of funny - she just heard how that's not allowed.

Some cute things Norah has said lately (cute, but not necessarily "good"!).

- this morning when I came downstairs dressed, she said "cute shirt mommy"

- then later when i accidentally spilled her snack out of the bowl and was picking it up, she said "good job putting back mommy" - nice to know she mimics the praise comments as well as the getting in trouble comments!

- this one is kinda cute but not necessarily one to be so proud of - i've heard her saying "oh my gosh" - i guess i've said that one too many times around her

Little Jack just melted my heart tonight! He's got such bad cradle cap that I've been oiling his head every night before bed. Well, tonight I decided to put a little hat on top of the oil. So he was lying all swaddled in his bed and I was rubbing oil on his head. I've realized he LOVES to have his head rubbed. He was starting to fuss a bit and as soon as I started rubbing, he calmed right down and was smiling up at me. I thought for sure he'd object to the hat, but nope, he was fine with that, too! So I gave him his soother to get him to go to sleep but he couldn't even keep it in his mouth cause he was so busy looking at me and smiling. Boy, I wished I had a camera cause it was just too cute for words even - him smiling all happy and content swaddled up tight in his blanket with a little toque on his head. But he went to sleep like a dream so hey, maybe i'll continue with the oil and hat even after his cradle cap is gone!

Pictures and Video

Just a few pictures and videos from this morning. Norah has started asking for some water in her little teapots and dishes to play with. At first I was hesitant about it, but then I thought it's only water, it'll dry - let her be a kid. So now we give it to her sometimes. Here's a few pictures of her playing and pouring this morning.


The other picture is of her displaying her paper with stickers and writing on. She went to a birthday party last weekend where she got some stickers and a little pencil in her goodie bag. That has provided endless entertainment for her (thanks Samanta's!). We gave her one paper and she spends time putting her stickers on, using the pencil to write and draw on the paper, taking the stickers back off and so on. It's very cute - she usually voluntarily sits nicely at the table to do it, too.





And I finally got on tape a bit of her singing Jesus Loves Me. She has gotten quite self-conscious about it lately and isn't so openly singing it anymore. Cute anyway. The other video is of her counting. I was sitting there with the camera on, hoping she would start to sing but out of the blue she started counting. (for some reason I couldn't figure out how to rotate the videos so they're sideways!)

Bugs

Not sure where Norah got her love of bugs, but she is so fascinated by them. And I try not to let my true feelings show (that I hate them!) so that she won't develop a fear of them. And every kind of bug is a "yadybug" whether it's black and red or not. So this morning she saw this tiny black bug on the carpet which I thought was a fuzz or if it was a bug, I thought it was dead. Well, she picked it up and carried it around with her for a good while. How that bug survived as long as it did I have no idea cause she had it pinched between her thumb and pointer finger pretty good while she carried it around. Then she'd sit down and let it crawl on her leg while she talked to it "bye yadybug" or whatever. Next she was trying to put it in her baby's ear or mouth. Then she'd pick it up again and put it in her purse. Well, we finally got him out of there and then she wanted to put it on me and Jack. Well, I drew the line there. I may not want to let my true feelings show but I quickly found a reason why no bugs are allowed on me! So then she carried it over to her little teaset area and wanted to put it in her teapot. Not sure if she had success with that but all of a sudden she was on to something else and the bug is forgotten...until she spots the next one!

A bit of This and That

Another important Norah word that I thought of...sii-sis - meaning soother. We have no idea how that word ever got started since it sounds nothing like the real word...but it's cute anyway. She's only allowed to have it for sleeping and when she gets up in the morning or from her nap, she's supposed to put it on her dresser in her room. Yesterday morning when Nate got her up and told her to put the soother on the dresser, she said "sii-sis two minutes". So we gave in and let her have it for a couple more minutes...her request was just so cute!

Another word of hers, because she can't say "l's" is "bankie" for blankie. I didn't know just how precious these were to her (she's got 3 in her bed, but 2 are really special apparently). I really had to wash her bunny and I know not to ask her to do it cause she doesn't like when he gets washed (seeing him in the washing machine is the issue I think or parting with it). Anyway, so today after her nap I snuck upstairs and got her bunny, her blankies and Jack's bedding to wash. I wrapped her stuff up in Jack's so that she wouldn't see it and stuck it in the front-loading with a window washing machine. Well, she followed me into the laundry room and I had just started the washing machine and she saw a little corner of her blankie in there. She pointed and said "bankie" in such a sad voice and then her lower lip came out and she started to cry. It was so cute and yet so sad at the same time. She was so sad her bankie was in the washing machine. She seriously cried about it for about 10 minutes I think. Finally I gave in and let her watch a little movie and she calmed down. At least now we have a clean bunny and blankies again until the next traumatic time when they need washing.

Norah has liked books since she was very young (as if she's so old now!). She will often say "weed sto-wies". Well, I can't believe how much she takes in when a book is read to her. Though I guess when you re-read a book millions of times, some would start to sink in. She now sometimes "reads" her own stories. And she'll talk out loud and say some of the words that are on the page. It's really quite cute and amazing to me how she can memorize that. She'll be chattering away in a language I can't understand and all of a sudden a totally clear English word pops out and I know which page she's on. And now when I read to her, she is also often wanting to know what everything on the page is. So she'll point to each thing, sometimes several times, and say "wass dat?". And then you can tell she's storing it away in her brain cause she'll repeat it and next time she'll know what it is. Or sometimes, she'll point at each thing and tell me what it is. I find it so amazing the stage she is at with learning and grasping stuff and how much she understands and has in her little brain.

And now something about Jack since he seems to be getting a bit left out. But he's finally starting to get interesting! Unless you consider bi-weekly blowouts interesting (though for anyone who's interested, he had one 2 days in a row!!!). Anyway, he's really starting to like his little playmat. He's long enough that he can bat at the toys hanging by his head and kick the ball at his feet. This morning he was really going at it with a smile on his face. He's such a cute little boy. This evening when I put him to bed, he was so calmly lying there looking up at me and it was so precious. Wish I could stamp some of those pictures on my brain cause even if I did have a camera there, it doesn't always do it justice.

No Fear

Yes, that's our little Norah. We've thought that before about stuff - animals, water, people, climbing on play structures...she just doesn't have much fear of people and things. If she sees an older kid do it, she thinks, hey why can't she?! She's finally developing a bit of a fear (a healthy fear I would say!) of men. She warms up to them quite quickly but at least she may not just go walking off with someone. However, if she saw a dog or a kid or something, she wouldn't hesitate to leave my side and follow it and not worry about where mommy is. Kinda scary.

Today we were at my sister and brother-in-law's and went swimming in their town's pool, which by the way is amazing for kids. Norah swam for 2 hours straight after not napping and she would have kept going except we wanted to leave. They had a little waterslide for kids and after Nate helped her up and down once, she would climb up the steps, slide down on her own with a huge smile on her face, walk from the slide to the side of the pool, climb out and do it again...and again...and again. Then she walked across the little shallow end of the pool to the other side to play there. Then she was enjoying jumping off the side of the pool into the water (with my help) but was ready to jump into a deeper area by herself I think. At one point I was sitting on the edge of the pool at the bottom of the kiddie slide and this couple next to me was observing her when she was coming down the slide and they commented to me about how she has no fear. I guess I figure what she does is normal for 2 year olds but maybe not...seemed there were a few more people surprised at what she was all doing on her own with no fear.