Norah Notes

With little brother's arrival (not to mention Christmas) quickly approaching, I thought now would be a good time to make a few 22month, Norah benchmark/memory notes.

Favorite Breakfast Food: dry blueberry pancakes---she especially likes to "help" make them by sitting on the counter top while they cook (and I'm sure she'd like them even better with syrup, but I'm waiting til she's a little neater eater)

Funny Sayings/New Words of Late:
"Mommy--how are you?" (Translation: "Mommy, where are you? Note: I hear this within seconds, just about anytime I leave the room she's in)

"Daddy/Mommy/Mimi--come back here!" (Again, very frequently spoken if anyone has the audacity to leave the room without taking her along or at least telling her where they're going)

"Pop-starts!"--quick breakfast food she sometimes eats (after, she's licked off all the frosting she possibly can)

"Mac-a-whoa-knee"--a current dinner-time favorite.

"Apottymomma?"--spoken as an all-one-word question, and usually repeated with increasing frequency and volume during the quietest possible portion of our Sunday morning worship service until I relent and take her to the bathroom. (I guess I should just be thankful that we are generally accident-free these days, with the occasional exception of nap/nighttime when she's still in a diaper)

"A bear"--surprisingly has nothing to do with a bear at all. It means "Up there", as in "I want up there". Almost always spoken if we're in the kitchen together (she likes to sit on the counter top while I work), or if she's feeling the need to be held. What's funny is, she's completely capable of saying it correctly. She knows it annoys me for her to say it wrong, so if she tries "a bear" and doesn't get results, she'll look me square in the eyes and annunciate, "Up there", and I almost always cave.

"I fast!"--and she really is. She loves to race up and down the hall to prove it.

"Sew-men"--(Translation: Snowman) also, occasionally mistaken for last season's favorite decoration, "Care-crow".

"Ormnament"--very cute to hear her pronounce this one, but it's easily understandable.

"Oh, no! We lost it!"--she says this anytime anything is missing. Yesterday I asked mom if she had her purse before leaving my house, and she replied it was in her car. Before listening for her answer, Norah had already replied, "Oh no! We lost it! Mimi's purse is missin'!" (I think that was one of the longest phrases I've ever heard her come up with on her own)

"Mota-cycull!"--declared anytime she hears a loud engine of any sort (our house backs up to a fairly busy street, so I hear this several times, daily, even if we don't leave home)

"Baby's cuh-why-in'"--noted almost any time we encounter a fussy infant, or even see a picture of one. She is very concerned about upset babies, I hope this is a clue that she'll be a good, sympathetic big sister. She's also into comforting her stuffed animals ("awww...it's ok, bear. shhh, don't cuh-why")

Favorite kid's shows:
Little Einsteins--just recently discovered this one and it is a perfect fit. She loves the classical music (she can hear the piece at the beginning of the show and will immediately announce which episode it is--and it's not due to the fact that she watches it so much--she recognizes the song after she's seen the show one time!) She also loves to "pat...pat...pat" and "blast-off!" and do all of the dances/hand motions with rocket and the gang.

Backyardigans--still a favorite. With her eyes glued to the tv, she attempts to mimic every, single dance number they do. It is hilarious to watch...and her rhythm is surprisingly good, especially considering she is the offspring of two, incredibly uncoordinated C of C parents!

Other memories of note:
She knows baby brother's name. Don't get too excited and think you can coax it out of her. She overheard us talking about it months back, and picked it up...so occasionally, at random, she'll just start saying it over and over...but unless you know she's saying it, you wouldn't know what it was. And for the record, if you ask her "What is baby brother's name?", her reply is "Boy."

We're still using a pacifier at nap and bedtime. Although, this morning she accidentally flushed one of the remaining 2 that we had. She flushed, then I saw her hand reaching into the toilet, and I shouted, "No, Norah!" which startled her enough to obediently draw back, but she looked up at me with sad eyes and said, "My PACI!" Then I realized why she had been ready to plunge into the depths of the toilet. I explained that her paci was gone, to which she replied, "Get it!" And I restated that it was gone. "Paci GONE!" she repeated, again and again about 30-40 times (Jason was my witness). I was hoping this might be our chance to ween her completely, so I said, "Norah, you might have to be a big girl and sleep without a paci". To which she immediately replied, "My green paci!" The one she flushed was pink, but she had not forgotten about her back-up (green) paci, so I guess we're still stuck with the paci, at least until some other tragedy befalls the backup.

Favorite Benchmark of Late: A few weeks ago she began praying for baby brother, completely unprompted, on her own. She's begun helping us with prayers at bedtime and meals, listing things/people she's thankful for, and she never forgets to mention "baby brudder".