Norah- Twenty Two Months.

Norah, we say we love you all the time, and we always want you to know how truly, deeply, and fully you are loved, both by us, and more importantly by your Heavenly Father. You are a one of a kind gift, and we are so thankful for you every single day. You light up our lives.

Schedule/Eating- Norah is a schedule champ and we are very thankful for that. She is pretty predictable and her schedule is pretty consistent. She is an okay eater- she obviously eats enough as she's continuing to grow, but some meals she eats more than others. I feel like I used to say she was a great eater because I didn't have anything else to compare her too, but now that I see her friends eat, I would say she is not the best eater. It's not a problem, though, and she usually does pretty well. Her favorite foods are noodles, fruit snacks, cheese, pizza, and strawberries/raspberries. She still sleeps from about 10-9 and about 1:30-3:30.

Developments- Norah is basically 100% consistently pooping on the potty, and we are thrilled! We hope to try more in the fall, now that our travels are over, and hopefully peeing on the potty will come soon too! She will tell us when she has to poop. We had one time this month where she told us, but we didn't make it to a bathroom right away and she went in her diaper, but every other time she made it!

Norah started requesting hugs this month when she gets hurt, sad, or upset, and it's my new favorite thing. I love that she can know she is sad and knows that we will try to help comfort her, and I love that she is still young enough that a hug from mom/dad can fix the whole world. It's amazing!

Norah has also become a legitimate helper, in some cases. She can help me unload groceries from the bags and put them on the counter, put laundry in the machine, throw things away, etc. It's so awesome! I love when she takes initiative- she enjoys helping and I hope she grows up to continue to serve and help others.

Norah loves to try to count things. She will flip through her favorite books and “retell” them. She loves to color and says random letters that she is writing (it's almost always A). She currently says that every color is red. She is great at matching things like puzzles or shape sorters. She knows tons of animals and sounds. She remembers lots of things- we've got a smart girl on our hands!

Words- Norah is speaking so well. It's so fun to watch her be able to express herself. There is, of course, the occasional tantrum, but for the most part she speaks very well. We rarely have a time where we can't understand her or figure out what she wants. She can repeat anything we say, and will say short sentences. She still loves watching people mow the lawn, but now instead of just yelling, “Lawn!” every time, she yells a mixture of, “Lawn! Grass! Mower! Loud!” Her favorite phrases to say are sit down (when she wants to play with us or doesn't want us to leave) and excuse me (she will even make random noises on purpose just so she can excuse herself). Her favorite words are still mama and dada, and loves to say her friends' names and anything related to outside/transportation.

Favorites- Norah loves playing with Ainsley (a friend we babysit), identifying/spying all sorts of transportation (trucks, airplanes, buses, tractors, etc.) She loves getting fruit snacks as a treat, and M+Ms after she poops. She loves being outside- her favorite outside activities are swings, slides, pulling weeds, finding sticks, and watching the neighbor's dogs. She loves watching a nursery rhyme video on our phones or watching videos of herself. She enjoys “watching” us do things and wants to be up in the action, especially now for washes dishes. She is also recently obsessed with donkeys, since so many of her Bible stories have pictures of donkeys in them. She always wants to find the donkey pages!

                 

I tried so hard to get a good photo shoot- it wasn't happening. Oh well.