Over Half Way To Two

Friday at 9:16 p.m. marked 19 months since our baby girl entered this world at a teensy 5 pounds 3 ounces. Today she is nearly 25 pounds and a smart, funny, adventurous little girl with an attitude that can go from gleeful to tantrum in 2.5 seconds.

Her most recent, and possibly new fav, word is dude, which is admittedly hilarious and comes out sounding more like a drawn out "due".

I'm amazed every day at how loving and compassionate she is -- hugging everyone and blowing kisses to strangers -- and equally amazed at how quickly she can do a 180 when she doesn't get her way.

As the weather warms and we spend more and more time outside, we're starting to see she has inherited her mamas grace -- or lack thereof. With a skinned knee that keeps breaking open and a bump on her head the size of a golf ball, we're lucky we haven't been accused of abuse.

Some things we've been doing are composting, building a laundry line and getting ready to plant our first garden. Nora loves to be involved and active.

Our most recent venture was riding a bike, which to say the least, didn't go so hot. After a month or more of searching, I finally found the perfect bike trailer to pull her in and she hates it. Despises it. Wiggles so hard I can't get her near it. We will rest and try again later, I suppose. Hopefully she come around because there is a beautiful trail along the river just down the street from our house.

What else? She's starting to love dressing herself. She continues to love to eat. This weekend N got her first dance pictures taken, even though we won't be doing recital this year -- and she's still loving tumble bears. Most recently, she learned how to balance on one foot and she now enjoys practicing all.the.time. Oh, and ring around the rosie has become a regular family activity in our home...just make sure you remember to fall down because N gets really angry if you don't!

We're still working on weaning. Some days she is completely fine with it, and others not so much. We often go several days without nursing, and then she has an off day or gets overly tired and becomes relentless that she must nurse. Originally, I was so burnt out and ready to be done, but with our new arrangement it doesn't bother me as much. As long as we've weaned completely by the time she turns 2, I'm OK with the every once and a while schedule we currently have. I definitely never imagined we would continue this long, but am very proud of us for our accomplishment -- and I have a whole new respect for mamas that are able to breastfeed for an extended period or with one child right after another!

Cheers to a happy, healthy, loving toddler!