Nora is 17 Months Old!

Since there are plenty of extra hands in the house today, I'm happy to be able to record some of Nora's "data" at seventeen months. Just a few weeks ago, it seemed that she was still so much a baby; there's nothing like having a little sister to make you grow up in a hurry! She seems so big to me now!

(sweeter than a powdered donut!)

At seventeen months, Nora is...

• a big sister! She adores her little sister, and wants to be with her/touch her/kiss her any chance she gets. She's trying to learn her big sister boundaries, which will just take a little time.
• talks all the time. She is using many more words consistently and clearly; I'm seeing the light at the end of the "communication frustration" tunnel. Nora has also learned how to say, "No." (Sigh.) Nora also successfully repeats most words I can get her to attempt. She pronounces her own name as Nona.
  
• the owner of eight teeth! I figure we'll get one year molars about the time she turns two, and hopefully before Ruthie starts teething.
  
• still a little songbird, and will sing along to and do the hand motions for several of our favorite songs. She is very choosy about the songs she wants to sing. Her favorite is still "Jesus Loves Me". My favorite to watch is the Monkeys on the Bed song.
  
• a dancer! We have regular dance parties in the kitchen, and my heart explodes with delight when I watch her and her sister twirl under my feet. I don't think Nora knows how to be still when music is on.
• learning not to thrash. Nora expresses displeasure with gusto... we're trying to teach her that tantrums will get her nowhere.
• in love with books. She will sit in a lap for an unlimited amount of time to read. She will ask for "one more" (with a pointed "one" finger and with the words "one mo'") about...oh... twenty times.
  
• using both a fork and a spoon on her own, and does not like to be helped.
• a bathing beauty. Nora would take three baths a day if I'd let her. When she tags along with Mommy to go to the bathroom, she usually stands at the bathtub and says please. She particularly loves bubble baths (who doesn't?), and "bubbles" is one of my favorite words to hear her say.
  
• a fan of transfer games (moving objects from one container to another), coloring (and other arts and crafts), and just being darn cute.
• the giver of some of the sweetest kisses and "nose nose" that I know.
  

Nora is about as exuberant is they come. She went for an overnight with Mops last night while Mops had to head back home for a dentist appointment. (I still can't lift that sweet bug, and Michael needed to be at work.) I was amazed at how quiet the house was without her! I am so thankful that the Lord has given us the joyful noise of our little Nora.