Nora Lately

I was tickling Nora before her nap today, and I could hardly stand how much I love that little bug.  She is turning into such a delightful, independent little girl!

Lately, living with Nora has been like living in a musical.  She is singing all the time.  Literally all the time. If she is not speaking, she’s singing.  In falsetto.  Some of her favorite songs right now include “Awesome God”, “Jesus Loves Me”, and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”  The other day, I found her under the coffee table with our baskets singing “Blessed be the Name.”  No lie.

She’s also taken to sleeping with two Wilburs.  One Wilbur she occasionally will call Lovey Bunny.  She really wants both if she wants one, but I can very occasionally convince her that one has gone on an adventure so that she’ll sleep with just one.  And I can’t bring myself to get rid of her nay-nay.  Seriously, we’ve talked about going to get a nay-nay bear something like four times, and I just can’t bear the thought of taking it away from her.  She will be devastated.  

Nora is still sensitive, emotional, and extremely social.  I marvel at how God has created her so uniquely from her sisters, that they’re all so sweetly different.  Nora cries big, gets frustrated big, and is happy big.  She also much prefers to play with her sisters than alone; it’s hard for her mommy to remember that sometimes her much more independent big sister needs a break.  Nora particularly loves to be Mommy’s special kitchen helper.

There is something so sweetly tender and small about Nora.  I often forget that she’s not even two-and-a-half; she does so much that her big sister does.  But I particularly see this tenderness in her book selection.  Nora’s favorite book right now is Baby Dear, and she’d read it multiple times daily if she could.  And Nora especially loves to read sweet bedtime-style stories with sing-song words and illustrations of soft, cuddly animals.

 

She’s begun to independently initiate dress-up, and she especially likes to sport accessories (glasses, hats, purses), although I’ll occasionally find her wanting help with a dress.  She also loves to pretend to be different characters:  lately, it’s been Cinderella and Clara.  The other day before church, she insisted that I call her Cinderella, not Nora, and would correct me every time I made an error.

I struggle with feeling that Nora gets lost in the shuffle as our middle girl, so I treasure moments with just her and try to carve out a few daily -- even if it’s just a minute with her on her bed before naptime, or perching her on the kitchen counter for a little chat.  As Nora grows, she continues to delight us and challenge us, and I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bless us with our spunky, tender little girl.