The Picker Family: July 2016

We've been living with a four year old for a week already! I've been a little slow with this update because Nora turning four was tricky for me emotionally. For some reason, it was a reality check that we're only two years away from school (yes, we've decided we're starting her at 6) and she's very likely to be our last child. Brent and I love babies and young kids, so it's a little hard to know we're moving out of that life stage.

BUT, in spite of my emotions, Nora was pretty excited to be another year older!

We celebrated Nora with two parties and a long weekend together. Her first party was Saturday night with Pickers and Riggins (our friends and neighbors) at our place. Then, at lunch on Sunday, we had Beckmanns, Moyers, and my grandparents over for the afternoon. Brent and I also decided to take a long weekend, taking Monday, July 11 (Nora's actual birthday) off work. We had a lazy morning then had lunch at Pizza Ranch and saw The Secret Life of Pets as a family.

Monday, July 11 brought the biggest change for our four year old...we started Operation Stop-Thumb-Sucking! We have been pleasantly surprised by how she's handled the change. She regulates herself well, but when we catch her she's been very willing to take her thumb out of her mouth (usually accompanied by a sly grin for being caught). She's certainly still showing her typical Nora spunk too;) One day she asked Gma to leave the room because she was watching cartoons and wanted to be able to suck her thumb. Just this morning, she was awake in bed with her thumb in her mouth (we allow her to suck her thumb while in bed...seriously, how would we monitor that???). Since she was awake and needed to get ready for the day, I told her "You're awake. Take your thumb out." Her response? She promptly closed her eyes like she was sleeping. Stinker;) But truly, all in all it's going very well and we're proud of our big girl!

The past year has brought many changes for Miss Nora.

Hair, hair, and more hair! Our kids take their sweet time getting hair as babies/toddlers, but then it comes full force. Nora has fine, wavy/curly hair that has a mind of its own. Some days I attempt to tame it, but most days we let it fly free. It's pretty indicative of our girl's personality:)

Third Birthday

Four Years Old
(Extra fluffy, freshly washed hair)

Long enough for braids!

Potty Trained! Last year at this time, I was dreading the goal of potty training Nora in the next six months (I wanted the deed done by the time she was 3.5 years old like Luke was). Thanks to Brent's initiative, we dove into the process around Labor Day last year. As with most things, it was not as bad as I thought it might be. This post recaps Nora's potty training process well and I'm happy to say that public restrooms are getting less scary for her. She still doesn't like automatic flushers and blow dryers and is still very aware of others in the bathroom who could flush their toilets at any time, but they don't cause paralysis any longer:) Two of my favorite comments/questions from Nora about the bathroom still make me smile: "I feel my pee" means she needs to go...we started using that language when we started last year and she still says it:) "Are these toilets loud?" is her way of asking if the toilets flush loud. As you can imagine I do not know this essential information about every toilet we encounter, so usually she leaves the stall or room before I flush:) The things we do for our kiddos;)
Separation Progress! Whew, this was a tough one for momma! This winter we started discussing plans for Nora to start preschool in the fall. I had no doubt she'd love the activities, but I knew that the separation at drop off might be rough. Since Nora was born, she has spent her days with family (no daycare)...this also means she is used to "ruling her world" and getting things the way she likes it most of the time. So...to try to get her ready for a classroom setting, I signed her up for some community education classes and started forcing the issue of going to Sunday School. The first community ed classes were dance classes, which were hit or miss. When she was in the mood and engaged, she followed instructions well and had fun. But, there were just as many nights that it didn't go well (didn't like separation, etc). These unpredictable separations went on for a few months. But then June came...and everything changed. She now goes to Sunday School with no hesitation and had a 3-day community ed class where she walked in like a champ each day and had a blast! Maybe I was forcing it too soon and she was finally ready, or maybe she learned from the past classes/experiences that it's fun going to class...ya got me (I'm just the mom after all;))! I'm just hoping this all translates well to preschool starting in September:)

These were major changes and milestones, but Nora is still the spunky, smiley, bright eyed, decisive, fun loving girl that we know and love.

Now, a trip through the past year...