Nora's Big Week

At 33 months now, Nora has had a big week of firsts in this first week of January. It just shows us more and more how much she is growing up and taking on the world, one day and one moment at a time.

Montessori Preschool - we've signed Nora up at Yaletown Montessori for two days a week (3 hours a day). Both Nora and I are quite looking forward to the idea of having some time for school where Nora can learn and do fun things with other kids, and for me to get some time to hang out with Lily on my own.

Nora's first day was on Tuesday for just an hour. To make her transition as smooth as possible, I was able to stay in the class with her for the hour, letting her become more comfortable with the idea. She did great! She went off with the teacher by herself to the circle time, while I sat in the back of the classroom. Nora would look back once in a while to make sure I was still there, but she stayed in the circle, observed and participated (answered questions when asked). This was a big step in the right direction! I was very ready for her to cling onto my leg and not leave my side but she didn't, I am so proud of her...and it was so sweet to see her sitting with the other kids, almost made me cry in class :). We go back next week with the hopes of seeing if she'll let me leave the class without her, so we'll see how we do. FYI.. .both Trav and I are known for not doing very well with first day of school transitions!! But she has been very excited about it all and loves to tell everyone about it... so we'll cross our fingers and hope Monday goes well. *Mommy's got to be brave too!

Dentist - Nora had first cleaning at the dentist on Wed. We have a book called, 'First Experiences' that we are always reading and one of the stories is about going to the dentist... so she knew what was going to happen. But when she got there, she didn't want to go on the chair... so to lure her we put Lily on the chair to go up and down, we put dad on the chair, and then we put Nora on Trav and they both sat on the chair and went up and down. Finally, she went on the chair on her own and was given the glasses to cover her eyes, and earphones so she could watch 'SuperWhy' on the tv above her. The dentist took quick advantage of Nora sitting still and not really saying anything... and did a quick clean (including the swishing of the water and the suction pipe and flossing... brave brave girl!). At the very end, the dentist put foamy flouride in Nora's mouth and made her cover her lips over the mouthpiece with the suction pipe in her mouth as well and that did it... Nora was not going to have any more, she was done! But wow, I was very impressed with how she took it all. Brave girl. Now's she's pretty proud of going and is happy with her new toothbrush!

Her first run on a bike -today we went with Grandpa Bear and Grandma Pat to get Nora's christmas pressie... a new run bike! It was pretty cool to see her in the store trying out the different types. At first, she was very attracted to a bright yellow one with training wheels... but in the end, we opted for a run bike (bike without pedals) so that it will teach Nora how to balance on a bike and control her movements. She loved it! She walked it to the grocery store and then back home... and just within that first half hour of getting it, she was starting to build confidence by saying 'wheeeee' while lifting up her legs to balance... all so cute in her new helmet too! Can't wait to see how quickly she's going to pick this up!




Swim Lessons - today was also Nora's first swim lesson. She's been pretty comfortable going in the pool but we thought it be best to get her into official swim lessons so she can learn more, especially how to hold her breathe etc. Trav took her while I spent some one on one time with Lily. She said she enjoyed it but did not want to jump into the pool when others were jumping in. Nora still likes to observe what's going on first before going with what everyone else is doing.

Potty trained - for 6 nights now, Nora hasn't peed in her night time pull ups which is just awesome! We're not quite ready to go fully without the pull ups but we can see she's really trying and is very proud of herself when she wakes up in the morning to tell us she hasn't peed! So hopefully the trend continues and we can be fully done and out of pull ups for her!! YAY! Day time she's now in underwear but I still have to get her over her reservations about public toilets... she doesn't like the noisy flushes and the noisy air hand dryers.

*Phew... what a week! It has been really rewarding to see Nora go through all of these 'firsts'. It's one thing for her to talk and talk about things (school, dentist etc) and another to actually see her experience it. She's definitely a brave girl for trying new things and we are so proud of her. We can see that some things may make her anxious but it's good to see her trusting us and that she'll brave out what she needs to in order to get through it all. And of course, we just love it when she re-lives it by telling all her stories to everyone... what a beautiful and confident girl.. we love you Nora!