Norah- Twenty Months.

Norah is 20 months! What a big girl you are becoming! It is a joy to watch your personality develop and shine through. You are sweet and caring- you met some babies this month and were so gentle and loving to them. You love seeing your friends (in small group settings), and playing with/around them. Along with showing such sweetness, you've also developed a little sass in throwing more intense tantrums. They don't happen too often, but you have a loud, angry, forced scream when something really sets you off.

Poor Norah was sick again twice this month with pink eye and food poisoning. I feel like we are just adding every sickness possible to the list in the last six months. The pink eye wasn't a big deal, but the food poisoning set you back a few days, including vomiting 12 times one night and a trip to the ER to make sure you weren't dehydrated. Thankfully everything turned out fine and you are better now!

Schedule/Eating: There are definitely no complaints about Norah's schedule, we can actually rave about it! Norah consistently sleeps through the night (except when sick) from about 10-9, and takes about a 2-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon at 1:30. She is a pretty good eater. I wouldn't say she eats a ton compared to other kids her age, but is growing and at the top of the charts, so is obviously getting enough! Her favorite food is still cheese, and noodles are a recent favorite. We used to have to encourage her to take more bites, but recently has been eating more- in quantity and in independence.

Developments: Norah likes stacking things and knocking them over. She can identify many animals and some sounds. She understands that books and other things have letters that mean something. We have practiced a few letters, but she says that everything is letter A, sometimes Y. We've been practicing colors and she can repeat them, but are working on identifying. She loves to count and knows a few numbers (basically 1-9), but says them in random order and 2, 5, 6 are favorites. She understands the concept of two and know when she is holding two things. Her hair is getting longer and she gets annoyed if it's in her face, and she also likes my hair to be out of the way if she is laying her head on my shoulder. She is also starting to poop on the potty more! She's done it several times near the end of the month. Sometimes it's my noticing cues and asking her, and a few times she's brought it up on her own.

Words: We have lost track of all the words Norah is saying. Kley sometimes says that I can understand her better than he can, but I reassure him that's only because I'm with her more. Norah is starting to say words more clearly. She understands quite well and is a pretty good listener. I can trust her not to go into the street or to touch things she shouldn't. It's fun to watch her start to differentiate things, like she loves to point out cars vs. trucks. Sometimes she associates the wrong word with something, but it's so cute, like whenever someone is mowing, she shouts out, “lawn!” over and over instead of mower. Sometimes we call her a parrot because she repeats everything (careful what you say!). Her recent favorite things to say are, “Don't cry.” to her babies, “Wow, amazing!” whenever she likes something, and “Funny!” when she thinks something is funny or others laugh. She loves to say Marley (the neighbor's dog), and observe whatever he's doing. Her favorite words are probably Dada, Mama, dog, car, bye, and outside.

Favorites: Norah's favorite job is to throw things away, especially when she gets to go into the garage and throw something into the recycling. She loves to look at books and watch a nursery rhyme video on our phones whenever she can grab them (we are trying to be careful about limited screen time). Wheels on the bus is still her favorite for sure! She absolutely loves to go outside and wants to go out all the time. She loves swimming, in her own little pool and the big pool. She even loves the water slide this year! She's also had fun in her water table and the sprinkler. She still loves the swing, but not for as long as she used to because she wants to get up and climb all the playground equipment now. She climbs up and goes down the biggest slide at the park with no fear! She also loves to sweep (both inside and outside), help water the flowers, play with her baby, and play in her sandbox.

We love you, Norah! You're the best baby in the world and we're so glad you are ours!

I love how when she says, "Cheese!" really loudly she also closes her eyes.

A picture to prove that she really does love sweeping. (Though she does it upside down because it's easier to push that way, so she doesn't really actually sweep anything. Ha.)