22 Months

This month has been a fun one for us as Norah continues to surprise and delight us. She is quite the little mimic and has improved (or worsened depending on your point of view). She will play with her dolls by mimicking us. She will rock them to sleep, we need to feed them bites of food too, and she will blow kisses on their tummies to tickle them. We are constantly being told "shh! Baby sleeping" and she dances with them too.

When I observe her doing something she isn't supposed to, I will ask her what she's doing. Her response lately has been, "Ummmm....." She will also ask "What happened?" and when Justin emptied a bunch of cd's from the stand (with help I might add) she saw me coming, stood up, looked at Justin and said "Justin!" with arms outstretched.

She recognizes more and more animals, foods, and clothing in pictures, and has now added the sound a wolf makes to her list of animal sounds. It's too cute, and I had hoped to get some video of it, but she has so far thwarted any attempt to get it on film.

The city has been doing a lot of work around our neighborhood lately, so we have seen lots of big machines. She calls them all tractors and despite the construction workers' attempts to be friendly (by waving) and considerate (by slowing or stopping the vehicles as we walk by so as to not kick up dust on us) she is still a little frightened of them. She likes them, just from a distance. She also really really likes cranes (she's her great-grandpa's baby girl) and big trucks, which she is quick to point out any time she sees one!

Norah's new obsession is now Disney's The Jungle Book. She will repeatedly ask for "bears" and "Mowgli" and while the movie is a cute one, we are getting a little burned out. It's given us a break from Zoboomafoo, and she dances to all the songs, but after so many times we are ready for something different. We've had to limit the amount of time she spends in front of the television so we have also spent a lot of time coloring. Her favorite things to color right now are dinosaurs, which she asks for by name!

Since we don't get out as often as we would all like, going "bye-bye" is a big deal and something she would do every day if she had her way. She will go get my shoes, then her shoes, and then put her shoes on. She's gotten pretty good at it, and is now able to get them on the right feet almost all the time. We are pretty entertained by her shoe and sock selection as she loves to grab her black patent leather shoes and whatever socks are closest to her hands at the time. We get a giggle out of her style but always applaud her!

Our favorite new saying of hers right now is "Ta-Da!!". It's so much fun to hear her say it and it is always tacked onto something she is doing like a giant exclamation point. While we are still dealing with the tantrums that any almost 2 year old is going to throw, it's these things that make it so much fun!