Thanksgiving With Ben & Jerry

Brian took Nora out shopping on Black Friday today while I stayed behind to study, and it included a stop at Ben & Jerry's where our nephew John works (pictured, on the left).
The picture of Brian with her is also too cute not to post too.
So today Brian went to the store and got her a pair of shoes (size 9, GASP) and a Nemo book, and some cards for Mommy and a movie...but the piece of resistance was Nora coming home with a Buzz Lightyear action figure: She calls him "BUTH", which in and of itself is hilarious, but when you say "To infinity!" she raises her arms and responds "and EON!"

I Feel Like The Worst Blogger Ever

But that will pass, SOON. I promise!

Nora, Brian and I all drove up to my sister's for the week as Brian works and Nora and I hang out. Mom came with us and between her and the Branhams, Nora's had lots of company! She said "Hi Non" to John as he came in the door today. She sure loves her uncle John!

Then when Brian came home from work tonight, he asked her who she saw today and she said "Non" and "Eh-eck" for "Erik".

Nora and I went to see a friend in Auburn today too -- Cindy and I went to high school together, and her youngest is Nora's age, so we had a good time watching the Mine-fest as they played with trains together (they actually did quite well, with only a couple of outbursts) and her oldest wanted to play with ME as much as she could squeeze between Cindy's and my conversations! She was so sweet.

My final in one class is next week, my other final the week after that, so I've gotten some studying done this week too.

Nora's doing great -- talking more and more -- and when Brian walked in tonight she said "Daddy's Home!" which is really her first full intentional sentence that I can think of.

I had a cold, which turned into a secondary sinus infection with a barky cough I thought would shake the house loose. I had to pony up a few bucks to see a doctor here in my sister's neighborhood and get some drugs, and I'm doing better now.

I also went to a seminar this past week on the nursing school program at one of the schools I'm applying to. I'm very excited about getting my application filled out during Christmas Break. Amazing to think I'm less than a year away from nursing school!

What else have we had? A leaky roof that I fixed alone since Brian was out of town, he's working a lot, and Nora's growing like a weed. Still. She's obsessed with Monsters Inc. (thinks the big blue Sully character is a dinosaur so she calls him "Dino", and says "BUTH!" for Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. I wish they made a plush doll of Buzz, but I haven't found one!

That's about it from here for now! In December I'll try and post more since we'll have more time!

Monster Moppet

Nora's pediatrician saw her today for her 2 year appointment.

Dr. A. is a seasoned pediatrician, so I like his wisdom and his "don't panic" attitude towards most things.

But today he was a little surprised when he came in and said "She's grown 3 inches in 6 months. Again."

She's still off the charts!

Nora, unfortunately, wasn't very impressed.

She isn't a fan of being naked, or other people being without their clothes either. She frequently points that out to me as I'm getting dressed in the morning, and says "Uh oh, Mommy" when she points at my legs before I've gotten a chance to get my jeans on.


Brian went with us this time -- he hasn't had the opportunity to come for many appointments, so we got to go together this time. I figured if nothing else, I could point to Brian, towering over our 5'8" pediatrician and say "THIS is why she's off the charts, as you can see..."

But he read stories to her (while I took pictures, obviously!) and helped hold her while she got her shot and helped divert her attention to the wise choice we made to bring a few M&M's along for afterwards...

And she got over the whole thing rather quickly.

The good news is too, our medical center had some H1N1 shots and mists available, so Nora got to get a dose before we left for free. It's the mist too, so it's not a live virus, and doesn't have the small amount of mercury I just DON'T want to expose her to, so we took care of that too.

So our nearly 2 year, 2 month old daughter is 38 inches tall, 28 pounds, and the only healthy kid our doctor got to see today!

After hearing that, I had her wash hands on the way out!

Ha.

Nora's Coup -- The Zoo

Miss Nora has gotten to the zoo (and a few other places) quite a bit this week, in large part because I have a major exam in Anatomy & Physiology every TWO weeks this quarter, and Brian has a big test for a licensing thing for work in about 6 weeks.

That translated into a lot of "Mommy Time" or "Daddy Time" on the weekends, so Brian would take her for the better part of the day, then I'd take her.

With a zoo pass and some breaks in the weather the last couple of weekends, that meant at least one trip per parent to the zoo!

It's cute to watch Nora see the elephants and make their noises. She says "BEAR" now for a bear. And can say a host of other words to go with animals and other things she sees.

We're still working on "please"...

The weather has been iffy because well, this is Oregon. But on the rainy days even if we go to the zoo, it's a great day because it's fairly empty AND different animals are out that might not usually be.

This picture is one of the Hat of Many Colors Bestema made her...

And Miss Nora loves to dance, so the drums at the Africa / Predator Ridge exhibit are just the ticket to get the girl moving!

What's really funny is this is Nora's "CHANGE MY DIAPER PLEASE!" stance. She'll lay down in the middle of anywhere, including pavement.

This is a cute one of her playing with her "baby". She feeds it, and rolls it around. It would have been even better if the baby weren't so huge, but I didn't see the size of the stroller/crib/stuff set Aunt Kathy bought, and instead got a bigger doll who you think is going to break its legs getting in and out of there.

I have been scrapbooking Nora's life a bit, and she LOVES here Baby book. All family members are in there, and she loves naming them. She says "Dette!" for Odette...

And when I showed her the page with Joel on it, I said "that's Joel." and Nora said "JOEL! HI JOEL!"

Halloween

This picture is of Nora's very first hit on her very first Trick-or-Treating expedition.

Several neighbors asked if she'd be out Saturday night. I guess the figure what we all do -- and that the littlest Trick or Treaters are just some of the most fun.


We couldn't get the kid into the bee costume to save our lives this year...

But Aunt Judy sent over a few things for Nora that Hannah used to wear, and the t-shirt gave me an idea when Hannah said she was going as a nerd.

The t-shirt was one that I gave Hannah when she was little, and it says "Cute, Cute Cute, But Nobody Says Anything About My BRAINS."

So along with some plaid shorts, socks under sandals and a very poorly coordinated outfit, we sent Nora out as Hannah's shadow this year for Halloween!
It didn't take long for Nora to "get" the concept of door-knocking in exchange for candy. She thought she was going over to people's houses at first though, and made it into the living room of a total stranger's house down the street, and everyone laughed and she looked around like "WHAT? What'd I do?"

The best part of Halloween was that Nora got her OWN PERSONAL "Wump" -- Nora as you know loves ANYTHING in a large furry costume, so when Hannah's best friend Ana showed up with her boyfriend and Mom, dressed in this original idea of a "Wump" -- Well, Nora just thought that was pretty cool.

I wish the "Hugging the Wump" picture was clearer, but this will have to do...She just loved it though!


We made it all the way around the block pretty much...By the time we got home it was just dark enough the other kids were out and we got to answer the door a few times. It was pretty fun!

Cute Picture(s) of the Day

Brian took Nora to the zoo yesterday so I could get more studying done. They made a run for the lions, who at the early hour they arrived at the zoo, were up against the glass so close that that half inch plexiglass suddenly just doesn't look like enough of a barrier.
I've taken a few cute pictures of Nora on her lion cub -- it's at the entrance of the Portland zoo's new Predator Ridge that houses their new lion pride, cheetah exhibit, and wild African dogs, among MANY other animals.

So this one is just too cute not to post too. She loves the little lion cubs and runs up and says "hi" to them. Sometimes she says "hi baby!"


The last couple of times I've taken Nora to the zoo alone, I've ridden the train with her. She rides free, and it's only $3 for me, so we get to ride the loop while she says "choo choo!" most of the time and we get a chance to have her contained and we still see a few animals.

Well when I was on the train with her, I knew where it would cross one of the paths for people, so I'd say "Nora, wave! Hi People!" She never did it with me.

So this time with Daddy, he decides to take her on the train, and without any prodding from him, she waves at the crossing and Nora says "Hi People!"

It just amazes me how things go in that little head and are stored for later...

She's VERY interested in letters now too. She went to the library with Daddy this weekend too (I am STILL studying....) and got a new alphabet book. She's pretty obsessed about the alphabet right now and can say A, B, and O and a few other letters pretty consistently. I even got her to say "C" for C and she pointed at an M and said "M" twice now too.

It is amazing what that little brain is picking up!