Nora is very into picking out her own clothes. Today, it was this hat.Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
No pictures, but....
OK, so the camera has not been out this week. Sorry about that. I haven't found a way to take pictures of us while on our bike. At least not safely. I do have to share some adorableness, though. Nora's coming out with new words right and left.
Last night in the tub, she was crying and pointing at the counter. I was babbling on about how yes, we sometimes put Monkey on the counter while she takes a bath, but he's not there now, and don't you remember what happened the last time Monkey took a bath... She just looked at me like I'm the biggest idiot around, sighed deeply and made the sign for "brushing teeth." Oh. Right. So I gave her her toothbrush and she was happy as a clam.
This morning, I asked her if she wanted more cereal, so she made the sign for "more." I said, "More, please?" as I went to get it and I heard behind me, "Mo peeeeeeeeeez." Fantastic. Much better than the other night when she dropped something and very emphatically said, "SIT!" I pretended I didn't hear that one.
This evening, it was "Meeeewwwwkk," accompanied by the sign for milk- just in case I'm enough of a dunderhead to not get that one. Entirely possible, given my track record. you can't blame the kid for not taking any chances when milk is involved.
So, Nora Lee speaks English. Look out, world!
Last night in the tub, she was crying and pointing at the counter. I was babbling on about how yes, we sometimes put Monkey on the counter while she takes a bath, but he's not there now, and don't you remember what happened the last time Monkey took a bath... She just looked at me like I'm the biggest idiot around, sighed deeply and made the sign for "brushing teeth." Oh. Right. So I gave her her toothbrush and she was happy as a clam.
This morning, I asked her if she wanted more cereal, so she made the sign for "more." I said, "More, please?" as I went to get it and I heard behind me, "Mo peeeeeeeeeez." Fantastic. Much better than the other night when she dropped something and very emphatically said, "SIT!" I pretended I didn't hear that one.
This evening, it was "Meeeewwwwkk," accompanied by the sign for milk- just in case I'm enough of a dunderhead to not get that one. Entirely possible, given my track record. you can't blame the kid for not taking any chances when milk is involved.
So, Nora Lee speaks English. Look out, world!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Stay of Execution
So, I showed up for work yesterday morning to blank stares and an empty schedule. They thought I wasn't coming back until today. So, I promptly left and did absolutely nothing with my day. Hey, it was a freebie, right?
That is, until late afternoon. I decided that since there was no agenda/schedule, I wanted to ride my bike to pick up Nora at daycare. I arrived sweaty and happy to blank stares for an entirely different reason. The cycling gloves in hot turquiose with the fingers cut off may have had something to do with it.
As usual, Nora saw me, gave me a big smile and kept right on playing. She often makes me chase her around the room while she giggles and squeals in order to take her home. So I said, "Nora, do you want to take a ride on the bike?"
She looked at me, looked at the toys, thought for a moment....Then she turned to the other kids, yelled, "Bye!" and ran for me.
Bikes are delightful. I've been saying it for a while.
At every stop sign, Nora waved, yelled, "Hi!" and generally charmed passers-by on foot and in cars. She got lots of waves, stares and honks.
Apparently, it's tiring to be a social butterfly, though. About halfway home, she fell dead asleep. She grumbled at me a couple of times when I had to stand up to make it up a hill, but she really didn't wake up until we were in the garage and I was taking off her helmet.
I think I actually detected some disappointment when I put her in the boring old carseat in the boring old car to take her in to daycare this morning.
Boring old Mommy.
That is, until late afternoon. I decided that since there was no agenda/schedule, I wanted to ride my bike to pick up Nora at daycare. I arrived sweaty and happy to blank stares for an entirely different reason. The cycling gloves in hot turquiose with the fingers cut off may have had something to do with it.
As usual, Nora saw me, gave me a big smile and kept right on playing. She often makes me chase her around the room while she giggles and squeals in order to take her home. So I said, "Nora, do you want to take a ride on the bike?"
She looked at me, looked at the toys, thought for a moment....Then she turned to the other kids, yelled, "Bye!" and ran for me.
Bikes are delightful. I've been saying it for a while.
At every stop sign, Nora waved, yelled, "Hi!" and generally charmed passers-by on foot and in cars. She got lots of waves, stares and honks.
Apparently, it's tiring to be a social butterfly, though. About halfway home, she fell dead asleep. She grumbled at me a couple of times when I had to stand up to make it up a hill, but she really didn't wake up until we were in the garage and I was taking off her helmet.
I think I actually detected some disappointment when I put her in the boring old carseat in the boring old car to take her in to daycare this morning.
Boring old Mommy.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Longwood Gardens
Some of you may be wondering if the adults in the house are getting any time alone together. We are.
Yesterday, Eric arranged for Margaret to take Nora for the afternoon and we drove to Longwood Gardens, the botanical garden outside Philadelphia. We had a great time. It was surprisingly nice to not have to worry about the milk, the monkey, the stroller....Is it time for her to eat? Is she dirty? Bah.
I still missed her.
Here are some pictures for those of you who enjoy non-Nora-related beauty:
Yesterday, Eric arranged for Margaret to take Nora for the afternoon and we drove to Longwood Gardens, the botanical garden outside Philadelphia. We had a great time. It was surprisingly nice to not have to worry about the milk, the monkey, the stroller....Is it time for her to eat? Is she dirty? Bah.
I still missed her.
Here are some pictures for those of you who enjoy non-Nora-related beauty:
End of Vacation
As vacation winds down, here are some super-cute pictures of my super-cute daughter. She's really big into hats and sharing right now. Adorable. She's also really into the word "Nnnnnooooooo." Not so adorable.
Although, this whole communication thing rocks. Yesterday I asked Nora if she would like more to drink and she said, predictably, "Nnnnnnnoooooooooo."
Exasperated, I said, "Do you even know what we're talking about?"
She looked up at me with her sunniest smile and nodded her head.
Then, my heart melted into a big messy puddle.
And you know, I think she does understand. She's using more and more words/phrases apprpriately. She likes "my turn," particularly. And you can ask her just about any yes/no question you want.
Of course, as she figures out that she can ask for stuff, she's also getting frustrated when she doesn't get what she wants. We've had many conversations about that. And many time-outs, too.
Such is life with a toddler. I just didn't think that it would happen this fast....
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Continuing Adventures of Kat and Nora on Vacation
We have been having an awesome time with our mommy-baby (ok, toddler) time.
The weather suddenly turned almost chilly (What do you mean a high of 68? I was planning on pool time!), but that really hasn't stopped Nora from playing in her wading pool. It just means that I have to change her clothes a little faster afterwards.
Today, since the weather was looking questionable, we went to Hershey Gardens. They have an awesome children's garden there. This may be Nora's new favorite place. Fountains you can touch? Delightful. Butterfly House? Grand. Fun musical instruments that you jump on? Fantastic. Mom's camera batteries dying, forcing (FORCING) her to take crummy pictures on her camera phone? Not so hot.
I will tell you, though- every one of these pictures was taken in the rain. The skies erupted shortly after we arrived. Tourists were running every which way for cover and there I was, standing in the downpour with a completely oblivious little girl who just discovered that there is a beach ball in the fountain. And that's hilarious.
After the gardens, we stopped by the outlets. They're right there- stop judging me. Nora got to run a little more someplace where I wasn't shivering. That is, until she discovered the playground. As you can see, the sun was trying to peek out by this time.
She still managed to get sopping wet. She did a very efficient job of drying off the slide for the next kids who came along. Their father apparently had some sense and wasn't going to let them play, but then he saw that the slide was OK and Nora got to chase around some big kids for a while. They taught her to climb the ladder up the jungle gym. Should I be letting her do that? This dad didn't think so...
It was fun to bring her home, tired, chilly and wet and change her into warm sweatpants. She wiggled her little butt around as she got warm and dry again. It's a great feeling- who can blame her?
She fell asleep early this evening. We're planning on trying the gardens again tomorrow.
The weather suddenly turned almost chilly (What do you mean a high of 68? I was planning on pool time!), but that really hasn't stopped Nora from playing in her wading pool. It just means that I have to change her clothes a little faster afterwards.
Today, since the weather was looking questionable, we went to Hershey Gardens. They have an awesome children's garden there. This may be Nora's new favorite place. Fountains you can touch? Delightful. Butterfly House? Grand. Fun musical instruments that you jump on? Fantastic. Mom's camera batteries dying, forcing (FORCING) her to take crummy pictures on her camera phone? Not so hot.
I will tell you, though- every one of these pictures was taken in the rain. The skies erupted shortly after we arrived. Tourists were running every which way for cover and there I was, standing in the downpour with a completely oblivious little girl who just discovered that there is a beach ball in the fountain. And that's hilarious.
After the gardens, we stopped by the outlets. They're right there- stop judging me. Nora got to run a little more someplace where I wasn't shivering. That is, until she discovered the playground. As you can see, the sun was trying to peek out by this time.
She still managed to get sopping wet. She did a very efficient job of drying off the slide for the next kids who came along. Their father apparently had some sense and wasn't going to let them play, but then he saw that the slide was OK and Nora got to chase around some big kids for a while. They taught her to climb the ladder up the jungle gym. Should I be letting her do that? This dad didn't think so...
It was fun to bring her home, tired, chilly and wet and change her into warm sweatpants. She wiggled her little butt around as she got warm and dry again. It's a great feeling- who can blame her?
She fell asleep early this evening. We're planning on trying the gardens again tomorrow.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Water Baby
Nora's had a great weekend so far!
We went to the pool on Friday which was fantastic, as usual. That is, until she fell. Nora was running on the pool deck and fell, scraping her knee to the point of blood running down her leg. She was over it in about 20 seconds. Meanwhile, Eric and I looked like those guys on TLC who clean up crime scenes.
No sweat, though. She went right ahead and did the same thing to the other knee in our driveway on Saturday.
Today, Nora was helping us hang flower pots when she decided it was way too hot....
Serves us right for the pool being closed. So we got off our duffs and went to the Magical Kingdom (KMart) to remedy this solution in a way that would out-Redneck all of our neighbors.
Sure, it's more expensive than a bucket, but that's an awful lot of joy for $9.99...
Friday, June 13, 2008
Vacation, morning, day 1
As some of you may know, I took a week off to try to fight the twin dragons of burnout and bitterness. Since I haven't had much alone time with my kid since, um, maternity leave I decided that it would be nice to just be at home with Stinks for a while.
So far this morning, she has attempted to eat:
1. Diaper paste
2. Cheerios with sun-dried tomato hummus scooped into her mouth with her toothbrush
3. Rocks
4. A pepper plant that we were putting in the ground
5. A grub (ew.)
And now, she's sleeping. Can you blame her? It's 9:15 and I need a nap, too!
So far this morning, she has attempted to eat:
1. Diaper paste
2. Cheerios with sun-dried tomato hummus scooped into her mouth with her toothbrush
3. Rocks
4. A pepper plant that we were putting in the ground
5. A grub (ew.)
And now, she's sleeping. Can you blame her? It's 9:15 and I need a nap, too!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Fun in the Sun
Nora visited the pool this afternoon. 
At first, she was not so sure.... 
Maybe, maybe. As long as Dad is here, I guess it's OK. 
This rocks! This rocks more than anything has ever rocked before!
You know what else rocks? This fountain!
Everything else has gone swimmingly (heh heh) today. Now...If only I could figure out how to climb up on this thing. Sunday, June 1, 2008
Further proof that she is my child
This is Nora's latest class photo. She's the one who looks like she's about to pop a cap in someone's... I don't know. But she looks tough.Now here's a picture of me from my one and only soccer photo. I was 5 at the time.
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