I know no one really cares exactly how old Norah is anymore, but she is 2 years and 2 months. It's such a fun age! Every age is fun, but she is talking so much and it's so fun to see her little personality and to have real conversations together. Here are some things she has been doing/saying/up to:
-For awhile, she would respond to everything related to time, going somewhere, or doing something with, "tomorrow," whether it was applicable or not. She loves to say, "Okay" in response to something instead of yes, or sometimes, "Sure." She also likes to say, "I do" in response to things, even if it doesn't completely make sense. Like, "Did you have a good nap?" and she'll say, "I do." She's getting much better with using directional words correctly and using them in sentences more, so she's speaking in more compete, full sentences.
-Her favorite phrase is, "What you doing, Mama?" Even if I'm doing the same thing as before, she'll ask what I'm doing again. We hear that question often! Or, if she can't find me in the house, even just for a few seconds, she'll call out, "Where are you, Mama?"
-Here's a funny story: We were having pizza one night, and the pepperonis were spicier than she's used to. She tried a bite of one, and was shocked by the spiciness, but didn't know how to handle it. She immediately began shouting, "Temperature! Sick! Temperature! Sick!" like she wanted us to take her temperature because she thought the only logical response was that she immediately got very sick. It was hilarious.
-It was so fun to watch Norah experience Christmas this year! She loved doing her advent calendar each day, and finding baby Jesus in all the different manger scenes. Her favorite Christmas songs were Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and Away in a Manger. She was so excited to ride the Christmas train at the mall in Des Moines.
-She is growing in her pretend play too. She loves to take care of her babies and will dress them (well, basically just undress them), change their diapers, feed them, go for walks, put them to bed, etc. It's so cute. She also loves to pretend that she's going somewhere, like she'll say that she's going to drive to church to play in the nursery or to to the grocery store to get milk. Probably her favorite pretend play is to pretend that she's going to Kindermusik class or to the office to work with grandpa. She also has recently been saying that she's doing to Des Moines or Sioux Falls (where we have family live and travel to the most). She will put her shoes on, grab a bag, and go stand by the door for a few minutes, like she really left, and then she'll walk back in and say, "I'm home!" She also likes to say, "See you next week!" because that's what they say in the goodbye song at Kindermusik.
-A few weeks ago we moved Norah to her big girl room/bed, and the transition has gone amazing! We are so proud of her! It really couldn't have gone better. She was excited to set up her new room, and on the day we were setting up her room but it wasn't ready yet and she had to nap in her old room, she cried because she wanted her big girl bed and not her crib. She loves to show off her big girl bed to anyone who comes over or on Facetime to family. She sleeps the same in it as she did in her crib, and has never gotten out of it! Even if she doesn't fall asleep immediately, she'll just lay there and sing to herself, and she waits for me to come in to get her in the morning. (I'm watching her on the monitor, so it's never very long that she's waiting, but it's amazing and I love it!) Way to go, Norah! We went and got a doughnut at the bakery one morning to celebrate good sleeping in her bed and she was so excited, and picked a chocolate sprinkle one, of course. There was one night where she fell out (which is funny because she has guardrails on both sides, so she somehow slid out at the bottom of the bed), but it didn't phase her, thankfully, and she was sleeping on the floor!
-She is getting really in tune to musical things, especially guitars, from Kley. She can tell the difference, mostly, between acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, and will shout out if the radio is playing a guitar or piano. She always thinks John Mayer playing is daddy, which we think is an extreme compliment. Her absolute favorite songs/videos currently are Sky Full of Stars and Paradise by Coldplay. She calls them "drummer back" and "elephant ride bike" because in the stars one he's playing a guitar while he has a drum strapped to his back, and there is an elephant that rides a bike in the paradise video. It's so cute. When Kley gets home from work, she'll call out, "Drummer back! Drummer back!" because she wants to watch it.
-One of her favorite things to do is rock in a blanket, because they do that as an option during the quiet time song at Kindermusik, where you lay in a blanket and people rock you back and forth, basically like a hammock. Once you get her to start, she doesn't want to stop, and wants you to go higher and faster. It usually ends in a tantrum because she loves it so much and requests it until people's arms hurt and they need a break. She also loves to rock her babies, and basically any other object she can throw into a blanket.
-She recently started calling us Mom and Dad instead of Mama and Daddy/Dada. I don't know what spurred that on, but it makes her seem older!
-When she had a cold, she would try to clear her throat, and I would tell her she had a frog in her throat, and now she thinks it's funny and loves to make fake throat clearing noises.
-She just started smiling on command for pictures. Not every time, but sometimes, and I'll take it! It's been hard to get good pictures of her smiling, because she usually just gives a stone cold look to the camera, even if she's happy.
-She's been more attached to her blanket, which is cute too. Not a specific blanket, but just the one that she's sleeping with at the time. (I just rotate through her blankets, so sometimes she gets sad when we wash it, but then she's fine if I tell her she can just have a new one.) She will sometimes just go get it and hold it, or ask to sit with it on the couch, or say that she's cold and she needs it. She also likes to wrap it around herself and say that she's getting married like Aunt Karlie.
