22 Months

Nora is now just two months away from turning the big 2! It has been a good start to the new year with lots going on. Developmentally, Nora is really turning into a little girl, no longer a baby. She's grasped the concept that there's a baby growing in my belly and is giving this baby so much love and attention already. Everyday she wants to see and hug and kiss the baby, so I'm really loving the love and cuddles.

I have said this before but enrolling Nora into music class since she was about 8 months old has been the best decision ever! We are always so entertained by the songs that she sings, the dances and actions she does with the songs and just her general music interest. The fascinating part is how quickly she is learning things! Our first day of this new session we sang a new song and by the time we were in the car on the way to a lunch, she was already singing it to us! I love it. The only thing now is that she has certain song requests in the car so I've had to really try and remember which cd and track number they belong to! :)

Other things in the world of Nora:

• Observation... Nora has always been an observer in situations. Quite often she'll have a very serious or stern look as she watches what's going on, whether it be music, gymnastics, playdates. She prefers to not engage but just observe. But the crazy thing is that the moment she's at home, in her own environment with us, she'll go and perform whatever it was that she was watching. So, gymnastics has been okay during the session but she pretty much keeps to herself and doesn't do anything, but at home, she's jumping and rolling and doing her actions. That's why it's been really neat to try and capture some stuff on video lately, some people just don't really get to see the 'other' side of Nora much :)
• Running commentary... I find it pretty cute how Nora is always telling us what's going on or what she's doing. Her verbal is going really well and she's picking up on putting many words in a sentence. It's cool because we can now ask her what she did during the day and she's able to tell us and replay what she did or what someone did
• "I do it!"... along with learning how to do things herself comes the experience of her being very adamant that she must do certain things, without our help. It's good because she's learning but sometimes when you just want to get things done quickly, it takes patience ;)
• Power struggles... I have to learn very quickly to also put my foot down. She's learning that she can get away with certain things and sometimes we can't have her running the show all the time :) Arching of the back, resisting and power cries are a few of her main tactics that we're having to deal with but for the most part, we've been able to get through it by being empathetic and then talking through it.
• Putting on a show... Nora enjoys entertaining us and makes sure that we're all watching her while she does her 'stunts'.