Norah recently.

I haven't done an update on Norah in a bit, so I thought I would do one again. Norah is one of my favorite people. She's growing up so much, yet sometimes is still so little, and is also becoming quite funny too. She is very entertaining to be around!

It's hard to summarize exactly what to say, because I have so many snippets of things, which I suppose is perfect anyways, because that's how two-year-olds are, right? Just jumping from one thing to the next!

Norah's current favorite toys are play-doh and legos. Her most frequent builds are high towers, airplanes, rocket ships, and diving boards. Her favorite play-doh activity is cutting it into small pieces with her play knife. That, and making anything small and round/long, like hot dogs, snowmen, pancakes, sticks, etc. She enjoys coloring with markers. Her favorite color is blue, and frequently her pictures/creations are full of mostly blue. She likes to take glow sticks into the bathtub and turn the lights off. She loves to be outside- always has- and likes to ride her pink trike the most. She loves to swing, and basically walk around leisurely with her bucket and fill it with whatever rocks, leaves, or sticks catch her eye. She likes to have her nails painted and help bake things, specifically with the stirring and taste testing! She loves to dance to Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!" She loves to jump off of everything , piggy back rides, and for us to hold her hands and "help her hop." She is shy in public if people talk to her and separation anxiety is still a thing for her, but is getting much more brave than she used to be with talking to people and will even do a "watch me do this!" and does some sort of trick or dance move to show off. She did so well at her dentist visit and first hair cut this summer. She is very excited for Halloween this year and talks about it often, even more than her birthday coming up. She changes what she wants to be all the time, and often says she wants all of them when we ask her what costume she wants.

She mentioned several times that she wants to be a mom when she grows up. She is the best sister and loves to get Lucy and Ellory toys, climb in their cribs when they wake up, talk to them, hold them, and is their biggest cheerleader. She still praises them every time they roll over, even though they've been doing it for weeks. She had a couple rough weeks with the transition to big sister, but since then has done incredibly well.

She does well with counting and we've heard her get to 16 and then go back and forth in the teens. She knows most shapes- circle, star, heart, diamond, triangle, but still gets mixed up with square and rectangle sometimes. She will have occasional mix-ups, but is pretty consistent with all her colors. We are working on letters. We've been practicing her name, and she will "write" in lines and make a separate mark for each letter in her name. (Makes my teacher heart so happy!) She likes to read books and has a few favorites memorized. She is very meticulous and organized. She likes routine and definitely notices when you do something different. She is a good cleaner, of her toys and even likes to help vacuum, dust, or wipe things. She loves to put things in boxes or bags and doesn't like if you mess it up or try to clean it before she's done with it. She likes to put change in her piggy bank and play with her cash register.

Most of the time, Norah is a very good listener. She is old enough now to understand consequences and knows what's expected of her, but she still has moments of testing and trying, like any toddler. She's recently gotten into the asking why phase, but not in a curious way, but in a challenging authority way. She's also recently started asking what we are going to do everyday. She has been doing really great with going to the bathroom and hasn't had an accident in a long time. She is good about telling when she needs to go, but still needs reminders if we are out of the normal or doing something really fun, like on a playdate or a trip or something. She is getting better at going independently. Most nights she sleeps through the night, but occasionally still wakes up crying, but usually just takes a hug and a bathroom trip and goes right back to sleep. She still sleeps about 10-9 and naps about 1:30-3:30. Her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, cheesy pretzels, goldfish, cheese sticks (see a theme at all?), oreos, donuts, and still loves milk. I wouldn't say she's a picky eater, but she just doesn't eat a lot compared to other kids.

Norah, you are incredibly special and we love you so much. She wants us to give her a zerbit before bed every night, and I always tell her than I'm so glad she's my daughter, and then she thinks it's hilarious to say that I'm confused and that she's the mom and I'm the daughter. She's been asking intriguing questions about Bible stories and songs, and it's so sweet to see her understanding. She will ask who the characters are in the pictures, what happened in the stories again, and will even pick out lines from worship songs and ask what they mean. She kept asking what "our hearts will cry" meant in a song for a couple weeks. She has started to pray independently sometimes, and her favorite thing is to thank God for bounce houses, and even reminds Kley and I sometimes that we forgot to pray for that.

The other day we saw a fancy old blue car, and she asked if we could just "go to Walmart quick and pick one of those up." You're the best, Norah!