One and Two-Thirds

Sorry, folks. This post celebrating Nora's 20-month birthday languished in the draft folder for awhile ...

We've posted about this before — the compulsive, parental practice of measuring. In those early weeks and months of Nora's life, we kept notes on intake, output, height, weight (especially weight, remember? she was so small.) There's a log, somewhere, tracking her milk consumption in cc's. Milliliters, for goodness sake.

These days, we count number-of-words (countless, at this point), number-of syllables ("elephant" puts it at three), number-of-words-strung-together (suddenly, four or more: "mama, big bed, read?")? How many really ticklish spots does she have (two - belly, for dada, and under her chin, for mama)? How many green vegetables will she agree to (at the moment, only broccoli)?

How many nose kisses can we coax from her? How many handfuls of Cheerios, today? How many months until preschool? How many ways can we try to keep her little forever?

We're told to write it all down, lest we forget. Who is she right now? What makes her miraculous and surprising? In another year, the memories will be covered with fog, and she'll want to hear the stories, someday. So, humor us, will you? There are lists below, meaningless to most of you, but pretty much the sum of the meaningful universe in our house.

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Vital Stats
31.5 inches tall
~21 pounds (by the bathroom scale)
Clothing size: 18-24 month
Shoe size: 5.5


Things She Knows That We Think Are Remarkable
-she can name six colors by sight (red, blue, yellow, green, black, pink)
-she can name all 26 letters by sight, and knows the sounds for about half a dozen
-she counts up to 2, recites numbers 1-10
-she can stir, stack, sweep ("wees"), hop (sorta), stomp, blink, knock, dance ... the blinking was a special accomplishment.
-possessives ("mama's" versus "mama") and present participles ("ing" words - "running" versus "run")


Things She Loves Most of All
-"Reet-ing" (reading - sometimes on her own--paging through books and telling a sing-song story, with an adorable little lip-smack, breathless hiccup between "sentences"h; and, of course, she loves being read to endlessly)
-Running ("Run-ning! Mama, run-ing? Dada, run-ning?" - we do laps around the block)
-"Wa-tee" (her water table) and her water smock ("'mock!")
-"joos" and "tea" (two words for the same thing - water with a splash of juice)
-her binky. don't worry, we have a plan.
-airplanes and other Things That Go
-"Whee!" (swings and slides)
-"ba-boons" (balloons)

Things She Hates
-brushing her teeth (update: if we pretend to be chasing a caboose or elephant around her mouth, she'll oblige)
-getting put into pajamas
-ending a walk
-loud or strange or new noises. ixnay on the battery-powered toys. they freak her out.
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Nora wants to hug everything — the neighbor's dog, the "big! truck!" passing by, the blue sky, steam rising from the soup pot. "No-wah, hug?" she says, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to embrace the world. She twists up her face with desire and affection, and looks us straight in the eye as we try to explain that the airplane is too high for hugging.

Our Nora, our Pickle, our Bee-Boo! We love you, too.