Can't
believe that Norah is almost five years old already! A whole hand, as
Norah as said. What a gift! Norah, being your parents is a blessing.
We love you so much and are so proud of who you are.
Norah is
smart, kind, and funny. She is a protective big sister and is a big
mother hen. She loves to look out for, and sometimes bother, her
sisters. She is so good with babies and really loves to help younger
kids. We watch a friend's baby one day a week and she loves to hold
her and help with her. Sometimes she talks about having an imaginary
brother; not sure where she gets that from. Norah started preschool,
Sunday school, and Kindermusik again recently and has done well with
them all. She is a bit hesitant starting new things, but does well
with talking about what it will be like and what will happen, and it
has helped her this year that she already knew a couple kids in each
class. She is more comfortable in smaller groups- bigger groups,
especially if there are lots of older kids, make her nervous. She
seemed ready to go back to preschool and we are thankful that she is
excited to go and has good things to say when we pick her up. It has
been so good for her! I'm amazed at all the things she is picking up
already in just a couple weeks time. She is exploding in letter
learning, in identification, sounds, finding letters in words, etc.
She can correctly identify most of the letters and knows words that
start with many different letters. She knows some of the sounds too!
She is even picking up on exceptions to the rules, like the other day
she asked me what letter Phoebe (my sister's dog) starts with and was
confused how it could start with P when it didn't make the “puh”
sound. I want to practice writing more letters than just the ones in
her name. She knows all of her shapes, colors, numbers, etc. She can
count to 29, but then sometimes gets mixed up and starts counting by
tens. She also likes to pretend to speak Spanish. She knows a few
words, but then just makes up things (our neighbors speak Spanish).
We did a few pages each day in her “school books” this summer,
like preschool workbooks, and she did a great job of doing it
joyfully- a great way to keep practicing and learning!
I was
thinking recently about different phases Norah has gone through.
Sometimes it doesn't seem like a big deal until it's over and then
when you think about it again later you miss it. Norah went through a
big Coldplay phase awhile back, and has asked to hear a couple of
their songs again. Last summer Norah loved to take bags outside and
go on nature hunts and put random stuff in it. She hardly ever did
that this summer, but asked for a bag once this week and it made me
so happy to remember/revisit that stage again. Norah used to always
ask me to help her change the clothes on her dolls, but recently I've
noticed her dolls in different outfits, so she's doing it herself!
When she was three, she said her favorite color was dark blue, but
all of this year it's been pink, sometimes pink and purple. She used
to like to sleep with socks on, then not for awhile, and now likes to
again.
A big
excitement for Norah this summer was learning to ride without
training wheels! We worked on it for a long time, and she was so
close, but was too afraid of falling so she never really took off. We
let it go because she wasn't showing much interest and we didn't want
to force it, so she didn't even try for a couple weeks, but then at a
friends house she just picked up a bike and did it! It was like it
just clicked. She loves to ride bike now. She also got a new “big
kid” scooter with two wheels (her old one had three), and has liked
riding that as well. Norah loves to make creations with
sand/mud/water in the backyard with the sand toys and dishes from the
play house. She loves to play with Elizabeth, our neighbor friend,
whenever they are out together. She loves to go to the park.
Norah
loves to make crafts with paper, colors, scissors, and glue sticks.
She likes to draw/write notes on her clipboard and play restaurant.
She enjoys reading books, dolls, building things, and helping cook or
bake. She loves to play golf, help in the workshop, and make
sandwiches with Kley. She enjoys her allotted screen time each day
watching the PBS app. She recently started sleeping with her closet
light on (along with the nightlight), which she never used to do, but
thankfully is a good sleeper. She occasionally wakes in the night to
use the bathroom, but falls asleep easily because she rarely naps.
She has rest time in her room and she does very well playing quietly.
If she does happen to nap, it takes her a long time to fall asleep at
night. She still needs encouragement to take her vitamins. She has
always done well at the dentist, but last time did especially well
and sat so still, did everything they asked of her, and even did
x-rays! We did have a few follow up hearing checks because Norah
didn't pass her preschool hearing test last spring, but it was just
some fluid that thankfully went away on its own and everything is
okay. At the beginning of the summer, Norah switched to size 6/girls
small clothes (goodbye toddler section!) and just switched to size 11
shoes at the beginning of the school year.
Norah is
intuitive and has an incredible memory. She loves milk and her
favorite food is macaroni and cheese. She has been praying more,
which is incredible, and almost always thanks God for babies and
bounce houses. She doesn't like to say goodbye or Facetime, I think
because it makes her sad or miss them. She loves when Kley comes home
and wants to be around him. Kley and Norah recently started reading
bits of Little House on the Prairie before bed. One of my
favorite moments of the day is reading books with just Norah before
rest time in the afternoon after we lay Lucy and Ellory down. Norah
is a pretty good rule follower and listener. We love you so much,
Norah!
