Norah- Seventeen Months. ~ A Day with the De Jongs

Norah, we tell you regularly that you are the best baby in the whole world and it's true! You are growing and we are really enjoying seeing your thought processes being displayed more. You are learning new ways to communicate often! She is still wearing size 4 diapers and 24 month/2T clothes.

Schedule/Eating: Norah has officially switched to one nap (at the end of the month). I'm sure there will be a day here and there where she takes two if we are on the go or something and they are shorter, but you are a one nap girl now! The transition went smoothly. I did panic a few times and wonder what to do, but if we are patient and just follow your clues, you know when you are ready. It was a few months of transition, but more and more you started to take one. If we laid you down for a second, you would usually not sleep, and if you did it would take you a long time to fall asleep and then we would have to wake you and you wouldn't fall asleep at night quickly. All in all, Norah is an awesome sleeper! She sleeps from about 10-9 at night and from about 1-3 in the afternoon. Sometimes it's a little shorter, sometimes longer.

Norah got hand, foot, & mouth at the end of the month (poor baby), which made her loose her appetite, but it's starting to come back. Sometimes Norah eats pretty well, and other times needs encouragement. She's not really picky, but sometimes will like something and other times not. Her favorite food is cheese, and she loves to get snacks out of the kitchen jars (usually pretzels, teddy grahams, or goldfish).

Teeth: 14^th tooth- top left canine on 2/24.

Developments: It's so much fun to watch Norah play and to see her thinking come out in what she is doing. She loves to play with her baby and will take her for walks and put her in her high chair to eat. The other day we were playing with pom-poms in the basement, and Norah started going upstairs and was babbling about something. I didn't understand what she was saying, but she went right to the cupboard and took out a mixing bowl and brought it back downstairs. About two months ago, she was playing with pom-poms in the kitchen and I let her put them in those bowls. She remembered that and wanted to do it again! She knew exactly where they were and how to get it. We were so impressed! We regularly say that Norah is advanced. (I know we are biased parents, but of course we think you are the smartest!) Seeing her thinking come alive and watching her understand is so neat. She is a pretty good listener!

Words: Norah is getting better at communicating all the time. She regularly signs eat, more, up, please, and bath. New words she learned this month were down, water (wah-wah), dog, car, and walk (along with the many she already says like baby, ball, bye bye, dada, grandpa (ba-pa), hi, up, hot, please, wow, belly button (bah-bah), Daisy- my parent's dog, and Ainsley- a friend). She's also gotten better at saying different family names (like Karlie, Kayla, Brett, and she said Biz-beh for Elizabeth once!). She understands a lot of what we are saying and the sequence of events, like going outside means getting shoes on, etc.

Favorites: Norah wants to be up on our level to see what's going on. She's always liked being held, but now wants to sit up on the counters, whether that's in the bathroom getting ready or in the kitchen cooking. (And she especially likes being on the counter in the kitchen to sneak treats!) Norah loves her Bitty Baby doll, going outside and walking around, flipping through books, balls, and listening to Daddy play guitar in the basement/going down her slide. She likes to put on/play with my chapstick, give her friends hugs, wipe things, and stir things, which involves a lot of loud playing with measuring spoons and bowls. We love you, Norah!

These are probably the worst photos of Norah I've ever taken, but it's what we got- sometimes it happens! She was in a really grumpy mood today. She's recovering from hand, foot, & mouth and has a cold on top of that. So, you can see her rash on her face and her nose running- a lovely sight. Also, she is totally wearing her "let it snow" shirt one more time because it's snowing here today. Boo.