Summer Lovin'

At dinnertime on Sunday, I realized that it had been one of those weekends when I hadn't taken any real photos of our happy little girl. To make matters worse, I hadn't taken any photos of her during the week, either--with the exception of iPhone pics, of course. Thankfully, there was still plenty of time (and daylight, yay summer!) to fix that.

After dinner, we head outside to find a backyard set for exploring, toys to be played with, and... beautiful light. I even busted out my favorite lens (the "nifty fifty" 50mm f/1.8) for the occasion.

While I'm sharing, I figured I should probably do a little update on Miss Nora, since I haven't posted many stories or updates on her recently. I certainly haven't been great at chronicling her second year of life in written format (I did monthly posts her first year), but hopefully I've at least hit the highlights. Now... first, I want to address language, since we've seemingly been picking up words left and right lately (nevermind that most of them still seem to start with "B" and "M"). :)

Nora currently says:
- Dada, Mama, Tessa
- No, Yeah
- Uh oh
- "Sssssss" = Shhhh (hush)
- "Muh" = More (with the sign language, too)
- "Boon" = Balloon
- "Buh-buh" = Bubbles
- "Moo" = Cow (She will point to random pictures of cows--like in the dairy section at the store--and say "Moo")
- Bye-bye
- Ball
- "Bloooo" = Blue
- Bobo (the long dog toys from the PetSmart commercials. Nora loves giving it to Tessa)
- "Peez" = Please
- "Too Too" = Peek-a-boo
- Diaper (I'm not even sure how to phonetically spell what she says for this, haha)
- "Dat" = That. She uses it as an answer AND a question (like "what's that?")

She also makes animal noises: Rahhh (bear), Moo, Baa, Meow, Ruff (dog), Ssssss (snake)

It's hard to remember them all, really. I know I'm forgetting at least a handful--I guess I'll have to keep coming back and updating over the next day or two for my own sake!

We're currently going through a pretty good period as far as tantrums are concerned. Last month, we had a week or two when tantrums were CONSTANTLY occurring, over pretty much everything. Try to get her to sit down for a meal? Tantrum. Declare a meal over? Tantrum. Get dressed? Tantrum. Time to leave the house? Tantrum. Get in car seat? Tantrum. Going inside from playing outside? Tantrum. Bathtime? Tantrum. Bedtime? Tantrum.

All of this, accompanied by biting, hitting, and thrashing about.

IT WAS FUN.

Of course, she's nearly two (OMG, sniff sniff), so those things still happen (including the hitting, and sometimes biting), but I would describe the incidents as occasional instead of constant now. MAYBE once a day? Even her daycare provider mentioned to me this week that she has been a lot better with tantrums lately. I'm sure we'll be due for another round of fun soon, but until then, we're enjoying our (usually) happy girl.

In Nora's eyes, Daddy is the bee's knees right now, you guys. I would say that up until this point in her life, she always preferred me--just slightly, but still, it was there--but I've seen the "Daddy's Girl" side of her begin to play first fiddle. It's actually been sad for me and a little tough for me to deal with at times, if I'm being honest. Last night, I was planning to put her to bed but she just wanted Michael, so she started crying and hitting me. She even bit me on the shoulder (which resulted in her going to bed with NO bedtime routine with EITHER of us, by the way). My feelings were hurt and I even said something to Michael like, "That always happens when she wants you, she never does that with me."

And then sure enough, this morning, she wanted me. She cried when I gave her to Michael to take downstairs for breakfast. Huh. Guess I was wrong about that.

So I guess she just has moments where she prefers one of us over the other. I don't know whether it's best to just "go with it" (when possible) or if it's best not to cater to those preferences. There is so much to think about when raising little ones, isn't there?

At this age, Nora knows SO MUCH. She can point to probably hundreds of different things when asked to do so. Body parts. Animals. Objects. People. Characters. We're working on colors; for right now, she thinks every color is "bloooo!" :)

She follows commands and is actually a pretty good listener most of the time. She uses our names (Mama/Dada) to get our attention.

She continues to looooove Tessa. She brings Tessa toys and "hands" them to her. She giggles at Tessa's antics. She pets Tessa. She tries to pick her up.

Nora loves all things outdoors. She likes to systematically bring everything (toys) out of the garage, one by one. She's not so much a fan of bringing them back in. She likes to scribble with sidewalk chalk, and loves to color with crayons as well.

In her playroom, Nora will set up a tea party all by herself. She takes stuffed animals and dolls and places them in the chairs at her table, and pulls out plates, cupcakes and sprinkles from her cupcake kitchen. She "pours" tea from her tea pot, and pretends to drink it. She also loves taking care of her baby doll--holding, feeding, kissing her. She brings her to us whenever her little hat pops off, because baby NEEDS her hat, don't you know?

Nora is OBSESSED with the alphabet. She loves to "sing" it--every letter is "dah" but she does carry the tune! She'll get the song started on her activity table and then dance. Or, she'll go to the book shelf and pull out her alphabet book, turning it to the last page where the entire alphabet is displayed, pointing to letters as the song plays. She's not pointing to the correct ones, yet, but the fact that she knows that letters go hand-in-hand with the song is adorable to me. She'll also point to the alphabet up on her playroom wall. One morning, she even pointed to the letters on Michael's shirt. She's a smart little cookie.

She will "fill in the blanks" to her "Moo, Baa, La La La" book by Sandra Boynton.

At 22 months, she is still shy. She still gives the cold shoulder to people--even our families--at first. She does warm up pretty well, though (usually). I was "painfully shy" (so said my kindergarten teacher) as a child so I am not surprised or concerned about this at all.

She is stubborn and determined. There is a strong will inside of her, despite the shy exterior.

She laughs. And giggles. And subsequently gets the hiccups.

Nora is a pretty darn good eater. She goes through phases, just like most toddlers, but for every night when she won't eat anything, there will be a night when she will eat EVERYTHING. We have followed our pediatrician's advice from the beginning--to always offer her what we're eating, and to not allow ourselves to become short-order cooks. If she refuses what she is being served, she goes without anything until the next meal or snack. It seems to be working really well for us, and it's not like she's going to starve. She still has some control over her meals--whether or not to eat them--but we will not let her control what that is, if that makes sense.

There is so much more I could say. And so much I'm sure I've forgotten that I *would* say. But this would go on forever.

Overall, our little Nora Grace is just a healthy, happy kid. Who is dangerously close to turning two years old already. I can't quite believe it's getting to be time to plan another party.