Vocab Lesson and Chair Surfing

Norah has a new name for Grandpa Gilmore-- "Bah boo". If you say "Grandpa" to her, she'll repeat "Bah boo" back to you, as if to say, "Yeah, that's what I just said'.

While Norah was showing off several of her new words this weekend, my dad asked if I was writing these "first words" down. I hadn't even thought about it. I am, afterall, still a rookie at this mom business.

So, here's my first effort at making a list. These are "Norah's Words" as of 13 months of age:

"Mah"= More, usually accompanied by her version of the sign for "more" (left palm face up, right index finger pointing into the palm, as if to say, "...and you can put it right here") We've shown her the correct sign over and over, but she prefers her version, and since she's staying consistent, I'm just happy to know what she wants.
"Mmmmm"= Norah's reply to the question, "What does a cow say?"
"Rah"= Norah's whispered reply to the question, "What does a lion say?"
"Arf-Ruff"= Norah's answer to "What does a puppy dog say?"
"Bah bulls"= Norah's second favorite bath-time diversion
"Dut-ees"= Norah's favorite bath-time diversion
"Ice"= Usually said while pointing to her ears, but also her answer to the question: "Norah, what are these?" (while mommy or daddy points to their eyes)
"Hi!"= Norah's most favorite word. Almost always said with an exclamation point.
"Dad eee"= Sometimes easily confused by non-family members with the like-sounding "dut ee". Also used, interchangably with "Da Da"
"Mama"= Yes, she can say it, but unfortunately, she must think its a body part because she emphatically points at her own chest every time she says it. (Probably from seeing me point at myself over and over in hopes that she'd get it) However, if we ask her "Where's Momma?" or instruct her to "Go to Momma", she does, at least come to me.
"Cheese"= One of Norah's favorite foods
"Nah Nah"= Another one of Norah's favorite foods, this one of the yellow variety (Have I ever mentioned she likes to eat?)
"No-No"=Usually accompanied by rapid shaking of the head, or wagging of the finger (haha...no clue where know where she might have seen this)
"Tuh Tull"= Turtle (there's a painting of one in her bedroom and she likes to point and say his name)
"Nack?"= Norah-speak for "Hey! Can I get some food over here, please?"
"Mahk"= Norah's most favorite beverage
"Bow"= pronounced with a very cute pucker--those colorful things I like to put in her hair.
"Dah tee"=Norah's favorite animals are doggies. This word is often barely distinguishable between "Daddy" and "Ducky", but if there's a dog within a 10-mile radius, live, toy, or merely depicted, she will tell you all about it!
"Bahb"= Bob. As in Bob & Larry. As in, "How about some Veggie Tales, mom?"
"Shoos"= One of Norah's favorite accessories (preferably the black flip flops that she requests by pointing at them every day when its time to shod her)
"Beats"= Another of Norah's favorite accessories, beads (and she knows exactly where I keep them)
"Bah bye"= What we must tell everyone and everything we part with. (Including, but not limited to the toothbrush and the water in the toilet as it's being flushed)

I have a feeling I'm missing some, but at least I got most of what I could think of. Of course, I'm gonna be partial and think she's brilliant because she's mine, but I feel like she has a pretty good command of the English language for at 13-month old.

One other occurance of note...Norah discovered how to rock herself in the rocking chair in Jason's and my bedroom today. After a few times rocking herself, with a great deal of effort, in a seated position, she beamed as she turned herself around, pulled up, and began rocking herself, standing up, with much more ease. Now, granted, we don't intend to let her stand up or jump on the furniture, but it was too cute to not photo document. I just wish I could have put on the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari" for her, because her stance looked like she was ready to "Hang 10". (By the way, these photos were taken "mid-dressing stage" this morning, and she did, at some point, finally put on her pants, which obviously did not take presidency over the black flip flops)

13 Photos of Nordstrom

AA asked for "more photos", so this week's T13 is thirteen pictures of Norah...





She loves brushing her 10 teeth













Driving, this time without baby










She LOVES shoes...











and talking on the phone...her special talent is listening with her neck









Striking a pose









Still loves books







She learned how to blow her nose while I've been sick











Decked out in mommy's beads









Goofy grin







This is the face she makes when she "roars" like a lion (which, by the way, is what it would sound like if a lion could whisper). She also likes to makes noises like a doggy and a cow (which is really funny)












She knows where her nose is...










and her mouth...











and her ears--smart girl!

Time for an Update

For the first time in almost a week, I feel like posting! I've been suffering through a case of what nearly everyone in town has aptly named "The crud". Congestion, sore throat, and a nagging cough that still wont let go. Thankfully, Jason and Norah have seemingly, somehow escaped its clutches. I'm praying they'll hold out through the rest of the cold/flu/crud season.

Despite my posting hiatus, I have managed to take a few photos here and there, so I thought I'd share them in hopes of giving you a grin or two. I think the first two would make a great "Make up a Caption" contest, so feel free to post your original captions.

When I discovered Norah driving with her baby last week, I thought about warning her of what happened when Britney pulled that stunt, but decided she was probably better off not knowing who Miss Spears is.



I snapped this shot while I was putting away the groceries. (As you can see, Robinson County stocked up on TP this week.) Norah chilled out on that package of Angel Soft for the duration of my grocery putting away rituals. Which makes me wonder...if she like putting away dishes so much, maybe I can get her started on helping with the groceries too.







And finally, there's nothing like posting your "To Do" list on your blog to hold you accountable. I'm pleased to inform you that I have accomplished several of my goals from last week's T13.


Finish Cake Order--Check!
Wash Sheets--Check!
Fold Laundry--Check! (And I'm happy to report that I haven't stacked any more in the laundry basket so far this week...I've been folding it as I go...like I should have been doing all along)
Read--Check! (I've been keeping up with my One Year Bible and still had a little time to read "Wild at Heart" and I'm loving both)



Organize Norah's Clothes and Shoes--Check! Thanks to a church buddy, Denise P, I was able to locate a shoe organizer just like I was looking for. It was so affordable that I bought two, and organized my shoes, too. (Granted, I couldn't fit all my shoes in there, but at least I have more room in my closet than I did before...which is funny, because I never really thought I had that many pairs of shoes)

Norah's closet and dresser are now ready for Spring. I have sorted through, folded, and stored all of the things she's outgrown. (It's amazing how short-lived baby clothes are...but at least they can be re-used!) Thanks, Jen, for a fresh load of new clothes!

Well, speaking of To Dos, I guess I'd better get going so I can check off a few more. (Don't worry, I wont bore you with all the details every time I accomplish one, I just wanted to let everyone know that I did, actually do more than just make a list last week)

13 To-Dos

We are having GORGEOUS, spring weather this week, which always gives me the itch to get things done. So, in light of that, this week's T-13 is a montage of my lofty list of "Things To Do". (Ok, so they're not all lofty, but I can't lead an entirely glamorous life, now can I?)

1. Weed the front flowerbed. I confess. I don't weed during the winter months. Its cold (yes, I remember I live in central Texas, and compared to some of those Northern states, it never really gets "cold" here...but I'm not conditioned to the cold, so cut me some slack) and I just don't have the desire. But now, its beautiful outside, so any excuse I can come up with to be outside (even pulling weeds) will do.
2. Clean out the garage. Through the winter months (due to my aforementioned determination to stay warm, and the fact that our garage is not heated), the garage has become a burial ground for a fat lot of boxes. If I just throw out the empty boxes alone, it will probably double our space in there!
3. Finish knitting my blanket. This one's not as overdue as the first two. I only started knitting it Tuesday, but its for a baby shower on the 3rd of March, so I've gotta step on it!
4. Wash the sheets. Ours and Norah's. I didn't get around to it last week, so it's definitely time! I love the feeling of slipping into bed with clean sheets!
5. Fold the laundry. I have about 5 loads sitting in the "clean" laundry basket. I've just been piling them in there (does anyone else do that?) so I could keep turning over the laundry. I don't know why I hate folding the laundry so much...
6. Finish mom's quilt. This will probably be one of my long-term goals...but it needs to be done. I've been working on this quilt since before Norah was born. I think its going to be pretty--she chose the colors: pink, brown, and green. It might sound strange, but they really look nice together. I've been stalling long enough. It's time to proceed.
7. Finish remodeling the master bathroom. Just before Norah was born we replaced our master shower and toilet and put in a new, tile floor. We still need to finish the walls and baseboards. (And yes, I did say "we"--which means I'll need a little help...honestly, Jason will wind up doing most of the work, but I can at least do the painting, which I know he hates.)
8. Plant flowers. I love to drive up to our house and see pretty flowers in our front flowerbed. It makes me happy every, single time. I usually plant violas in September, and they bloom through May...but this year I couldn't ever find any healthy ones, so my flowerbed is just a weed bed right now.
   
9. Decorate this week's cake order. I only have one cake to decorate this week, so this will be a "piece of cake". The small order has definitely given me a chance to get more done around the house--mop, clean bathrooms, do lots of laundry (even if most of it is still piled in the "clean" basket). I've had 4-6 per week for the past month or so, so this was a nice " (almost) off-week.
   
10. File our Income Taxes. I've got all the paperwork together. It's time to bite the bullet. I'm secretly dieing to see if we'll actually get a return this year (after paying the last 3--we stink at this game!) Everyone has told us that having a baby really helps, so we'll see. Truth be told, once I get out the calculator and make myself sit down and to them, I almost enjoy filling out the form.
    
11. Go through Norah's Clothes/Shoes. With the season changing, its time to go through Norah's closet and box up and store/return to Jenny the clothes she's outgrown, or that are out-of-season. I also desperately need to find some way of organizing her shoes. I'm leaning toward one of those back-of-the-door hanging shoe organizers, but we'll see what I can come up with. This too, is one of those tedious jobs that I enjoy.
    
12. Work on Christmas Shopping List. I love finding the perfect gift for everyone on our list. I try to keep a working list of ideas, starting around February of each year. That way, I don't have to think of ideas for them all at the last minute. I already have a couple of ideas, so I'd better jot them down before I forget!
13. Read. I've got a lot on my literary plate this year, and I've been having trouble finding the time to read. (Our recent, newfound obsession with "Lost" on dvd has really curbed my evening reading habit, but we're nearing the end of Season 2, so I'm hoping to get back on track soon) I've been working my way through the "One Year Bible" and am really enjoying that. I also just started "Wild at Heart", for the second time. I have several others in the hopper when I finish it, but I mustn't get too bogged down with books, because I've got to be free by July 21st for the anxiously awaited release of the Harry Potter finale!
    

A Little Help Here

I am pretty confident that we are bringing up quite the "little helper". I've blogged in the past about Norah's affection for the vacuum cleaner (she loves to "pet it" while I work), and I've been noticing she's grown increasingly fond of the dishwasher (a girl after my own heart). Ever since she's been able to pull up, she's come crawling (and now walking) into the kitchen as fast as she can when she hears the sound of the dishwasher door opening. Up until now, I always thought she wanted to climb inside. So, Monday I decided to watch her and see what she was so desperately attempting to accomplish by sprinting into the kitchen when the dishwasher was ajar.

Now, you're probably going to think I made this up, but I have a witness who can independently verify that it is, in fact, true. As I stood beside her, Norah reached into the silverware basket, and pulled out a spoon. (No, she wasn't trying to remind me it was time to eat.) She handed me the spoon, and smiled as I put it into the silverware drawer (I opted to let her "play" in the dishwasher when it was full of clean dishes, and for those who were wondering, I did remove all knives and other sharp and/or dangerous objects prior to her entrance to the kitchen). Then she reached back into the basket and handed me another piece of silverware and smiled as I put it away. She did this about 4 more times, and then it clicked: She wants to help me! She handed me every, single piece of silverware, one at a time, until we had put them all away. Then she started handing me things from the lower shelf of the dishwasher! At this point, I told her, "Thank you for being such a big helper! Let's go play." (Most of the stuff on the bottom shelf is breakable and I figured she'd done enough to earn her keep for one day)

Later that afternoon, she heard me unloading the remainder of the dishes and came running. When she discovered that I'd already beat her to the bunch, she didn't miss a beat. She came over to the dishwasher and plucked the silverware basket right out, and took off, as my Grandad would say, "Like a scalded mother ape" (you'd have to know my Grandad :) She ran from the kitchen through the dining room and was headed into the living room when I finally caught up with her. I have to wonder if she was looking for more things to wash so she'd have something else to put away. (And no, I don't typically keep stray silverware on the floor, in case you were wondering)

At any rate, Norah has proudly helped me put away the silverware every time I have done a load of dishes this week. Granted, it takes a lot longer putting them away one piece at a time, but its totally worth it to me to give her the sense of accomplishment, as well as to teach her how to be a helper. I love my job!

Fun with Words

I was over at Bee's place this morning, and found the coolest link I'd seen in a while. You enter in a web address (such as http://www.robinsoncountypost.blogspot.com) and it converts that web page into a different dialect---like Cockney or Redneck. It's pretty fun! Give it a try if you've got some time on your hands!

Whispering Hope

I couldn't resist sharing the sweet photo I snapped when Uncle Johnny stopped by to visit. Norah loves Uncle Johnny!

Norah has been getting more and more talkative. She already has a lot of words (some of them more accurately pronounced than others--but she's consistent with them, which at least tells me she understands the concept of talking). At one year of age, she can say: "Daddy", "Bye Bye", "Dog" (which really sounds more like "dah", but she uses it for dog every time), "Snack" (always pronounced with a question mark at the end, as if in great anticipation) "Duckies" (more like "duh-dees"--we go to visit them every night in the bathtub), "Bird", "More", "Milk", and a very occassional "Momma" (most of the time she insistantly calls me "Da-da". Oh, and how can I forget her most favorite word, "Hi!"

She says "Hi!" to nearly everyone we come in contact with. Her favorite place to greet people is Walmart. Every person, every aisle. Thankfully, we seem to grocery shop at the same time as a lot of other very friendly people, who are always kind enough to acknowledge a friendly baby girl.

Another place Norah loves to greet friends is when we go to church. Now, this wouldn't such a big deal if she limited herself to greeting folks in the foyer, but no, she prefers to continue her loud salutations in the auditorium, especially when it is quiet, like during the sermon. Last Sunday morning was our hardest one, to date. She was just being loud. Finally, when she started to pump up the volume in the middle of communion, Jason and I opted to migrate to the training room, where we spent the remainder of worship assembly with a very wiggly, loud baby who was seemingly not responding to any form of discipline.

When we returned home for lunch, Jason said a humorous (but honest) prayer, asking God to give us wisdom and patience for raising and disciplining Norah, and to help us to be "more stubborn than she is". God is fast to answer our prayers. When we went to church Sunday evening (which, truth be told, we were both dreading a little, considering the way we had to fight Norah that morning), Norah fell asleep in the car and slept through about half of the service. She woke up just as Foree was beginning his lesson. This is when she usually looks around for people to say "Hi!" to. And she did just that, but apparently some of our early morning discipline had sunk in, because when she found her "greet-ee", she simply whispered a raspy and subdued, "hi". At first I thought it was a fluke, but she continued to do it all throughout the remainder of church! Her first whispers were in church. I thought that was pretty cute. Granted, I know she was still distracting the people around us by conversing with them during the sermon, but at least she's learning to be quiet(er). We'll keep working on good manners as she grows and matures, but for now, we're just proud that she's learning to whisper.

We've continued to work on our whisper ever since, and she's doing marvelous. Of all the things she's learned, I think I'm the most tickled by this one. It was just so unexpected. We never dreamed she could learn to whisper so young, so we never even tried to teach her, and here she just surprised us by coming up with it on her own! (Although, I really do think it is God's loving way of telling us to "Hang in there, she's gonna be just fine")