Nora's Notables

This girl is three and a half years old as of January 11!

She remains spunky, unpredictable, clever, smart, chatty, independent, and lots of fun, but I thought I'd share some specific updates about her as well.

She has some pretty great sayings right now.  Some are just mispronunciations, like: plan-note (piano), e-nnoying (annoying), Mills Feet Farm (Mills Fleet Farm), and eyeflashes (eyelashes).  But, she also loves to dramatically say "Awwww, bummer" when she's disappointed.  Not sure where she got it, but it's adorable:)  I'm still hoping to get it on video.  She also says she wants some "energy" when she want she really wants is some "privacy".  She just never remembers that word:)

She is officially potty trained!  My goal for 2015 was for her to be potty trained by the end of the year and I think we even beat that goal by a couple months.  We officially started training around Labor Day weekend.  The first month was up and down, but she really caught on in October.  We kept her in pull ups until November just for mine and Brent's peace of mind, but decided mid-November to move to underwear and she's done great!  She still wears pull ups at bed/nap, but wakes up dry frequently (again, just a precaution).  The only real struggle I'd say we have left is overcoming public restroom anxiety.  Actually, I should say anxieties.  She's afraid of automatic flushers, hand blow dryers, and the prospect of any other bathroom patron flushing their toilet without warning.  Whew...as you can tell, this list entails just about every single public restroom.  It's a newer development in the past month, so hopefully it's just a phase.  It can get tricky when we have a busy day out and about or a road trip, but we're making the best of it.

This girl is a show girl!  Just last night she started singing a song she made up and ended up singing every word until she went to bed (about 20 mins).  She even stuck a few rhymes in the song...I'd love to believe she's genius, but it was probably just coincidence;)  She can't help but move to music and loves to chose her own songs to listen to on Gma's auto-play electronic piano.  We've also started an intro dance class.  She loves getting dressed up in her tutu that Aunt Audra made her and wearing her ballet slippers.  Even though dance is totally out of my realm of experience, it's very fun to watch her joy and excitement for it.  

After dance class last week

Before Christmas, Nora was very confused and even discouraged that there was no snow.  I don't know if it was Christmas music or cartoons that made her believe that there should be snow for Christmas, but she wanted it!  January has hit us smack in the face with winter here in Rochester (which was nicely delayed after a very warm November and December), so she's gotten her chance to play in the snow and build a snowman with Gma.

Adorable!

Even though Nora loves to dance, sing, and talk, she also LOVES to work on projects, workbooks, and coloring books.  Once she gets started on a workbook or coloring book, she goes completely silent and becomes committed to the task!  I often forget she's in the room when she's working at the table and I'm busy in the kitchen.  She got lots of craft projects for Christmas so we've been keeping busy this January!

Proud of her coloring work
on the grapes

Nora went through an e-nnoying stage this fall where she was "afraid" of her cousin, Piper.  Piper is a year and a half and adores Nora.  Nora, however, did not like Piper in her business once Piper got to walking efficiently.  But, Gma said that Nora and Piper have been getting along a lot better and really enjoy each other's company.  They both love to dance, swing (my parents have swings in their basement), chase each other, and watch Disney Junior:)  Nora better get ready because another baby cousin is coming on the scene in June!  Piper's little brother!

Watching toons together:)

Lately with Luke

There are periods of life that I have several blog posts floating around in my head, but I just don't take the time to get them typed out.  Well, sometimes waiting works out for the best:)

Today, I read this post about how our kids need us at all stages of life.

Just last night I had a reality check that my responsible, grown-up-in-so-many-ways, nearly 10 year old boy still needs me.  He may not need me to help him get dressed or to cut up his food, but he still needs me to protect him.

Luke is a sensitive, introvert, who goes with the flow very easily, but wears down rather quickly when he's had too much stimulus.  As a result, sometimes Sunday nights at bedtime can be sad times for him.  If we had too much going on over the weekend, and he didn't get enough down time (especially time with Brent) he can be quite sad or complain of a stomach ache.  Last night, he was even to the point of tears.  From my estimation, he was worn out from the weekend and already a little overwhelmed by the week ahead.

This was my reality check: my son may not even be able to voice it, but I still need to help regulate his time and his commitments.  Just because he wants to play traveling basketball, does not mean that it's the right decision for him or for our family.  Even though he likes to play video games, and we both see it as his "down time", it is still stimulus and he needs breaks without screens.  Even though he's very responsible, he is still maturing and we need to guide him through these decisions.

I wish I could just wave a magic wand and make it all work out, or see in a crystal ball how each decision will play out.  But, I can't.  What I can do is pray for my boy, listen to my intuition as a mother (and fellow introvert), and list to his verbal and non-verbal cues.

Luke, I love you and am
so very proud of who you are