Ruby may be taller...

but Norah is more flexible...

No Pictures For This One

Norah had her usual Friday play-date today and was exhausted and punchy by the time we got home. She rummaged through my laundry basket on the living room couch and pulled out all of my underwear (don't worry, they were clean). She lined them all up and then proceeded to put on a pair over her jeans. Nothing makes you want to get on the elliptical machine faster than seeing your granny drawers on a toddler. She got very upset that they wouldn't stay up, so I had to tie a knot in the back and the child walked around for the rest of the evening wearing my underwear over her clothes. She then played in her kitchen as I fixed her dinner in the real kitchen. Imagine my surprise when I turned from the stove to talk to her and found her sitting IN HER HIGH CHAIR. She managed to climb up the side, get in the seat, and then buckle the seat belt. I would have been really pissed at her, had I not been so impressed. After dinner she collected and put the following in the bathtub: 4 alphabet puzzle pieces, a crayon, a book, half a kleenex, my right flip flop, Baby Nor Nor, her valentine from Grandma Geri, a cd case, and the DVD remote. She then attempted to put the following in the bathtub: the cat.

At the Park

This is my favorite park. The play structures are awesome and Norah loves it.

All of a sudden, she has no fear of any slide. And BVZ is getting awesome with the iphone video. Win-win for everyone involved.

Babies

Norah is mildly obsessed with babies.* At the mere mention of Baby Kevin's name she launches into 'baby, baby, baby, baby, baaaaaybeeeee' and proceeds to show me how she plans to tickle his feet and kiss his cheeks. Whenever she does see him it is game on.

So, it was no surprise that she was similarly infatuated with the deliciously adorable Baby Wyatt who we got to meet for the first time on Sunday. She kept kissing him right on the mouth and showing us where his eyes were. Whoever was holding Wyatt at any given moment also got to hold Norah.

Congrats, Mike and Maggie. Wyatt is amazing and we look forward to many years of Norah mauling on him (we'll make her stop by high school, we promise....)



*Just in case anyone has any ideas that Norah should get a brother or sister anytime soon, bite your tongue. We have LOTS of sleep to catch up on from her first year of life. For the time being, she is going to have to be satisfied with her baby doll (who she named 'Baby') and her special soft doll (who she named 'Baby Nor Nor'). She is very sweet to Baby, she kisses her and cuddles her; pretends to feed her, change her diaper, and put her to bed. She also walks down the hall holding Baby by the leg and whacking her head against the wall. So yeah, it'll be a while.

Happy VD to Me

BVZ got an iphone a few weeks ago and at the store I begged and pleaded for him to take mine and give me the new one since mine doesn't have video. After all, I think he has taken 3 pictures of Norah since she's been born compared to my 17,685. Needless to say I was totally bummed when he said no. I have been harassing him since he got it to actually USE it when he is out on his adventures with Norah and low and behold, today he came home with a ton of funny pictures and video of their trip to the park.

There is a play structure across the street that they visit frequently. Norah loves the swings and the little slide, but is afraid of the tunnel slide. I go down it all the time to show her how fun it is, but no dice. So, imagine my surprise when I got the report that as soon as they got to the park she marched right up to the tunnel slide and went down (and up) it about 50 times.

Good work, BVZ.

My Funny Valentine

We decided to take our sweet Valentine out for her favorite meal in the entire world--a burger and shake. As we were gearing up to leave, poor BVZ's back and leg seized up (for those who may not have heard, BVZ is currently broken. After months of nagging back and leg pain, about a month ago it got unbearably bad and so he finally went to the doctor. Several visits, a specialist and an MRI later and we now know that he has a severely herniated disk. Last Thursday he got an epidural steroid shot in his spine, and we are waiting to see if it worked). As of this morning it appeared to not only NOT have worked, but actually seemed to be worse. I was set to scrap our burger and shake plan and go to the ER instead, but he insisted we still go. Problem is, he can't ride in the car for more than about 45 seconds, because it is so painful. I was not convinced as he could barely stand, let alone walk, but I was willing to give it a try. So, Norah and I drove to the restaurant and BVZ walked. It is probably 3 miles from our house.

Needless to say, Norah and I got there first. She looked longingly at the tall glasses the shakes came in and was not pleased when the waitress brought hers in a plastic cup with a lid. All was forgiven as soon as she tasted the sweet cherry vanilla goodness.

We then had an awesome lunch of sliders and sweet potato fries. BVZ joined us as we were finishing up and was happy to report that the walk stretched out his leg to the point where he no longer wanted to cry.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Wheels on the Bus

On recommendation from Jams' House, we recently got Norah a Wheels on the Bus DVD. She totally loves it. I think it is a little weird--there is a scary clown; the songs are a little grating; and some people on the bus are real humans, but some are puppets. The driver is a dragon voiced by the lead singer of The Who, so that's pretty cool.

Anyway, Norah loves it and asks me to sing Wheels on the Bus all.the.time. She likes to do the sound effects and hand gestures. This is what happens when we sing 'the wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish' while eating yogurt.*

*Yes, there are peas and carrots in banana yogurt. Norah eats almost anything if it is coated in yogurt.

The Perfect Song

I randomly ran into this song on a blog I accidentally found the other day. I tracked it down and this is the only version I could find on You Tube. Apparently, it is from the Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack, which I immediately ordered off of Amazon (the song itself is Bedtime Lullaby by Mark Kozelek). I think it is the perfect song. Every time I hear it I get a lump in my throat. Along with the accompanying cartoon about a mouse who goes on a rocket ship adventure, for me it represents everything that is pure, good, and just plain right about childhood.

That's My Kid

*

When I was a kid I loved books more than anything. No toy, no pet, no sister (kidding!) could even come close to how I felt about story books. My mom, being the good elementary school teacher that she is, set us up a library in the garage/playroom with a kid-sized bookcase and plenty of comfy space to lounge and read. I loved the way books felt in my hands, the way they smelled, and how delicious the words could be.

So, imagine my delight when Grammy showed up to meet Norah for the first time with an entire suitcase full of my childhood books (yes, the woman flew from Texas to California with an entire suicase full of children's books). Some times being a hoarder, I mean, saver is a good thing... She brought my absolute favorites, which included all the Sweet Pickles books, Swimmy, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, and Ferdinand. She also brought Pierre, a dark and funny story by Maurice Sendak (of Where the Wild Things Are fame), about a little boy who has a very bad attitude until he gets eaten by a lion and discovers that apathy is no good because it will get you eaten by lions. It isn't a short book, there are more words than pictures (the age range on the book is 4 to 8), and there is nothing cute or cuddly about it.

As such, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Norah is absolutely obsessed with it. We read it first thing when she wakes up, multiple times before bed, and any time she catches sight of it (I have started putting it on my dresser, out of her immediate line of vision). She thinks it is hilarious. To her credit, I do give the mom, dad, Pierre, and Lion different voices, which I am pleased to report that she appreciates very much.

I absolutely cannot wait until she discovers all the treasures books have in store for her.

*The picture has no relevance to the subject of this post, I just thought it was cute. We are going to Yosemite in a few months and Norah needed snow clothes. No way was I going to buy her new snow clothes, so we got these second hand from a mom in my neighborhood. She loves to wear the boots. Mainly over her pj's in the morning.