Say It Isn't So

My baby will be starting school in the fall. Today I sent off the check to hold her place in the local Montessori school. I've posted before about our interest in Montessori, and my love for the method has only grown since I first stumbled across it.

This spring I taught a Junior Achievement class to the fourth graders at this school. I was in awe of the dreams and ambitions, passion for learning and exceptional communication skills of this group of kids. Now maybe I just don't spend enough time with this age group, but they were truly fascinating to watch and interact with.

One moment that particularly stands out to me was when I had divided the room into two groups to complete a worksheet. One group was social and quickly finished their work by working together. The other seemed to take more of a fend-for-yourself method to doing the work. I noticed one girl was struggling and looked very frustrated that her group members weren't helping her understand how to do the assignment, and just as I stood to see if I could help, a boy from the other team came over and asked if she needed help. He proceeded to walk her through the steps and explain how his group came to the conclusion that they did. I felt teary.

Near the end of my class, I toured the school with the director, and as I suspected it's fabulous. Four rooms make up the school: 2- to 3-year-olds, 3- to 6-year-olds, first through third grade and fourth through sixth. Each classroom has learning stations appropriate for the age group present. All of the common subjects are displayed in an artful, interactive way.

In the morning the children come together as a group for an activity such as singing or dancing. Then they are released to go to the learning station of their choosing, and can move about freely throughout the day. They can work independently or interact with the other children.

The teacher primarily is an observer, but is present for questions and anything the children may need. As she learns each child's learning style, she will make note of areas they need improvement on and create opportunities for them to hone their own skills.

We had initially decided to hold off another year since N is only two, but ultimately decided that we thought this was not only as, if not more, cost effective than day care, but it was also best for her restless mind. She will glean so much more from this environment than she does at her current day care.

She has to be two before she can enroll, so she won't start right at the beginning of the school year, but since her birthday is just a few short weeks after school begins they were willing to hold her spot. Gah, I thought I had a couple more years before this day came!

Oh and for those of you who don't read my other blog, check out N's new Montessori room.

18 Month Review

In case you missed that, I said 18 month review, as in Nora is 18 months old today! I can honestly say it has flown. I've been twiddling my thumbs trying to think ingenuis commentary to write, but I got nothing -- I'm still in disbelief.

One year ago I was blogging about Nora's first time at the playground, and now I stand back and watch her run, talk to the dogs, give hugs and kisses (oh and high fives), read books, and tumble. I never cease to be amazed at her newest talent and her ability to absorb her surroundings.

I don't blog as much as I used to (though I try to post pics often!) and I feel like I skip over so many stories that give us endless entertainment.


Last week, Charlie was on his hands and knees looking for her nuk in her room when Nora came up, grabbed the back of his pants, looked down and said, "Poo?" And I continue to laugh even as I type.

She's also becoming quite resourceful with her words. Recently she's picked up:

• Bee
• Poo
• Pse (please)
• Mo (more)
• Na (banana)
• Eat
• Teau
• Dog dog (Charlie firmly believes she says it twice because we have two dogs)
• Me (not to be confused with Mimi)

She enjoys coloring (and eating the crayons), being outside, and showing off. She loves to dance and will do so to any type of music, including elevator music.

She also loves people. We will be in the grocery store and she will walk up to strangers, take their hand, and try to lead them away. I'm fairly confident if anyone were to try to abduct her, she would gladly go along. At Aunt TJ's dance competion a couple weeks ago, she squeezed her way into the center of a circle of women who were chatting, and crossed her arms, moving one arm up and down like she was gesturing her sentance, and started babbling...loudly...as if she were a part of the conversation. And then laughed when everyone laughed at her adorableness.

Nora is a big helper these days. She likes to throw things in the recycle bin and trash for me, loves helping in the kitchen by pouring measured ingredients into the bowl or pan, and if you're sad, she will gladly retrieve a tissue for you.


I still can't say I have a favorite age because so far I've loved them all, but watching her grow is so fun and rewarding. She is so affectionate, and maybe I'm biased, but she seems so smart for her age. I look forward to seeing how she changes and grows in the next 18 months.

A First I'm Not Sad I Missed

Poor Bear must have been feeling under the weather on Wednesday. Day care had closed due to a power outage, so Mimi and I split the day taking care of N.

I dropped her off in the afternoon and headed off to work, and about an hour later Mimi called to say N had thrown up :{ Not only that, but it had gotten all over Mimi when it happened! Can't say I'm disappointed I wasn't there...there may have been two of us to clean up after!

For what it's worth, N seems like she's been fighting some sort of mild bug, but she's handling it well and doesn't seem to be slowed down by it one bit! Tough girl.

Officially a Quad Citian

It's like a rite of passage. And she handled it beautifully.

Out With the Old, In With the New: Recapturing 2009

January: Nora hit quite a few developmental milestones including learning to roll and starting to teethe.


February: All dressed up to go out for Mama's 23rd birthday!


March: Nora started eating (and L.O.V.E.D) solid food. She still does.


April: First encounter with the Easter Bunny. In hindsight, this was much more successful than Santa.


May: First I-Cubs game.


June: Busy month! We made a couple trips to Onawa for Aunt Shannon's bridal shower and wedding, Nora had her first trip to the Omaha zoo, and Nora finally got to meet cousin Milo, Great Aunt Julie and Uncle Ken, and Great Uncle Butch and Aunt Chris at the Wood family reunion.


July: Nora got to experience frozen yogurt at the Pleasant Hill Days parade...I'll let you decide what she thought.


August: First steps! We also celebrated Grandma Mary Lou's birthday, retirement and her and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary.

September: Our Bear turned 1! We also said goodbye to Grandpa Cupp.


October: Nora played in the snow for the first time. We also made a trip to Missouri to visit Grandpa Barnes, and Nora dressed as a flower for Halloween. We also put an offer on the house that 31 days later became our new home.

November: Most of the month was spent packing. Nora was a big helper.


December: Home at last. We settled in to our mini house and enjoyed travel-less holidays with family and friends.

Catchin Up

Have you missed us? Sorry to keep you in the dark -- lots going on lately.

First and foremost, we got an offer on the house! The buyers want to take possession Jan. 1, so I'm frantically searching for a place for us to live (if you know of anywhere, I'm open to suggestions!) and I got a good start on packing already.

Nora is constantly on the go. Her new favorite venture is sprinting for the stairs every time we turn our heads, and our less-than-ideal staircase doesn't really allow for a gate of any kind -- definitely keeping us on our toes.


She's becoming quite the problem solver. In addition to climbing the stairs, she has also learned that if she goes up to the kitchen landing she can crawl onto the couch, which puts her at perfect height to snatch halloween candy from the bucket on the sofa table behind the couch.


Daddy returned from the QC with a beautiful tutu and some yummy homemade applesauce from Nana Buskirk.


Nora recently learned how to brush her fuzz. She brushes her teeth every night before bed too.


We just got back yesterday from a weekend in Missouri. Mimi, Nora and I drove down to visit Grandpa Barnes in the Ozarks. It was a lot of driving, but well worth it! Sure wish Grandpa could be closer :( I think he enjoyed his time with Nora though.





Now we're off to bed

Playing in the Snow

My profuse apologies for my lack of posts -- toddlers are tiring!

Saturday morning we woke up to a wintry, snow-covered wonderland. It had begun early in the morning and a layer had already coated the grass and trees. Thankfully, it melted shortly after the snowfall ceased -- but not before Nora got to feel (and eat) some. Since she was so small this time last year, it was her first time playing with snow.





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The Celebration Continues

Hat Nora came home in from day care on her birthday.

Sorry I've been a slacker lately with the blog updates and photo uploads. It has become apparent that I officially have a toddler... I find that at fairly regular 2 minute intervals I am dragging her away from something she shouldn't be playing with and redirecting her to her toys. I am ramping up the baby-proofing today. I just bought a couple of new baby gates and have been installing latches on the cabinets. She's a smart girl though, I wouldn't be surprised if she quickly figures them out. I tried tying twine on the cabinets I really didn't want her in yesterday and she's already deciphered how to untie a bow...

She also doesn't like to be held as much. Normally, I can knock out my biweekly grocery shopping all in one day -- Aldi, Sam's, then Wal-Mart and occasionally a stop at Hy-Vee (I'm a bargain hunter, what can I say?) -- and Nora is content moving between being carried and riding in the cart. Yesterday, not so much. She just wanted to run and play and had no interest in anything I had to say. We ended up having to stop home to let her burn off steam before finishing our shopping.


I need to get a new video up because she walks everywhere now. We are still breastfeeding but I have quit pumping at work, so any bottles she gets while I'm away are 1/2 breastmilk from our freezer stash and 1/2 whole milk. She seems to be taking the transition really well. Once the freezer stash runs out, she will have one bottle of all whole milk per day. I still haven't set a deadline on weaning. At this point we're both still comfortable with it and it sure is easier, especially at night since we're still co-sleeping.

I did, however, recently convert Nora's crib to a toddler bed. I figure she can get down from our bed fine so maybe the conversion will allow us to start transitioning her to her room for naps and, eventually, nighttime. Good thing we got a convertible crib because she never used it as a crib...at least we're still going to get some use out of it! Right now she mostly enjoys standing on her bed and climbing up and down and up and down and up...

We had her 1 year appointment last Thursday. She was 20lbs 14oz and 28 inches long -- 50th percentile for weight and 25th for height. Doctor said she looked great. Her iron is a little low (which admittedly is probably because my iron is low) so she recommended we try to increase her iron intake through foods like chicken and even adding baby cereal to regular meals.

Mimi came up to babysit while Mama had to go out of town for work. While she was here, she taught Nora to talk on the phone. And yesterday I put Mimi on speaker phone so she could talk to Nora and Nora said "hi" to her. I think it made Mimi's day.


We also got to pick up a birthday present from Nana Shropshire yesterday. She's too cute -- she will walk from the couch all the way to her table, pull out the chair and sit down. Gah where does the time go?!?


And the final update to mark in the list of parenting firsts: I got to call poison control for the first time today. I was changing Nora's diaper and she was playing with a bottle of baby shampoo. Concentrating on not getting any potato-soup-scented-poo on me, I look up to see Nora gulping shampoo from the lidless bottle. It wasn't that the lid just popped open, she actually got it off completely. Now I know it's baby shampoo and they probably think of these things, but I wouldn't have been able to calm down if I hadn't called. So I did and the lady basically said she may have an upset tummy but other than that she will be fine and that there was no need to bring her in. What she failed to mention is that Nora would be burping and spitting up bubbles all day...and laughing about it. What a day -- I'm scared to see what the next diaper I change looks like!

Caught on Video

Watch Out World -- Here She Comes

She's walking! It started with 2 steps. At first I thought it was a fluke, like she started falling forward and her feet just caught her , but then she took a few more -- mostly 1 step, then fall, repeat. She did it again for Charlie when he got home!

Oh boy -- we're in for it now!

I haven't been able to get a photo yet, so here's a diaper on her head instead:

Standing!

Saturday afternoon Nora was helping me fold (OK I was folding and she was unfolding) laundry in the laundry room upstairs. It was nothing out of the ordinary as she pulled herself to standing using my shoulder as a clutch, but then she let go. There was no thinking about, no hesitation, just let go and stood there. It lasted about 5 seconds before she casually sat back down and proceded plowing through the freshly washed pile of diapers as if nothing significant had happened. Fourty-eight hours later she has shown zero interest in doing it again, so I'm starting to wonder if it was just a figment of my sleep-deprived imagination.





Speaking of sleep deprived, Nora has 4 full-blown teeth now, and either they are gearing up to push through further or more are on the way because our nights this past week have been anything but restful.


We have made arrangements for Nora's 1 year photos, and we are planning to have her birthday party (yup, its almost here already!) on Sunday, Sept. 13. Details are TBD.

That's our world right now.

Is It Possible? 10 Months Already?!?

Here we are, two months from a first birthday!

She's crawling, she's pulling herself up, she walks well while holding on to fingers, she bables (and screams - happy screams of course) a lot, she says Dada all.the.time., she says Mama when she's anrgy, she loves being chased, she thinks tickling is funny 1/2 the time, she eats ev-ry-thing in sight (food or not), she claps at things she likes and breathes quickly in and out of her nose in protest at things she doesn't, she likes to read books (short ones), she loves music (Carrie Underwood and Kelli Pickler are her favs), and her favorite toys are ones that play tunes or make loud noises when banged together. It is quite possible her favorite pasttime is turning the knobs on Dada's reciever, which has resulted in programming the max volume it can reach to significantly lower than its actual capability.

Lots of firsts this month! First visit to the zoo, first visit to the beach, first time meeting cousin Milo, first teeth appeard (4 are now poking through, but none are fully in), first time on a boat, first wedding...I'm sure there are more, but I've been terrible at documenting this month! I'll edit if I think of more.

We are proudly still breastfeeding and plan to continue, though she is up to two solids meals a day now and we'll probably increase to three soon.

We are also still co-sleeping, though it's getting a little violent with the thrashing of the legs and fingernails in my eyes at 2 a.m. (I have a post in mind on this coming soon, but haven't had time to get down all my thoughts).

Oddly, Nora has for the most part quit doing baby signs completely. She was getting very good at using signs for milk, come here, and all done, but she has abruptly stopped this month, mostly resorting back to screaming with no other indication as to what she wants, just that she (obviously) wants something. It's a little frustrating, but as the saying goes "this too will pass".

Here are a few pics from the month:

First trip (of many I'm sure ) to Olive Garden


Dancing at Shannon and Slim's wedding


On the Celebration Belle for lunch with Wood side of the family





Dare devils


Cousins!


Sharing popcorn with Mama for the first time (puffy part only of course)

...tantruming when Mama didn't have anymore popcorn


"Did you see that guy cut me off?"