Nora Evelyn McGowan

Nora took this photo of Jen yesterday morning. She was pretty proud of herself.

We took Nora to another free Rackham students with kids event this Saturday: a free morning of bouncing at the Xtreme bounce zone. It’s basically a giant warehouse with a padded floor and 6 or 7 giant bouncy things (bouncy castles, bouncy obstacle courses, bouncy slides) it was bouncy boot camp for a little bouncy army (including a special bouncy castle just for toddlers and babies). Fantastic fun and worth many times the price we paid to get in.

The best part, though, was Nora getting to see nearly every little kid she’s ever expressed an interest in (Harper, Kacie, and Samantha’s absences were duly noted): Salomé, Oda, Pei Pei, Isobel, Anja. It was really wonderful. At one point Nora saw Pei Pei just as Pei Pei saw Nora so they screamed each other’s names, ran at each other, shared a crashing hug, and then squealed and ran off to attack the bouncy obstacle course.

This photo was a mistake, but I like it.

I finally got this video to work; enjoy. At about 1:50 Nora notices the camera and the exchange is:

Nora: *curious face, shakes head* no camera, please.
Jen: what, honey?
Nora: my daddy did it.

Apparently she can tell the difference between a camera that is sitting on a chair and a camera that is sitting on a chair and recording. :)

Nora’s second Christmas morning at our house started with this little dollhouse and a poor wooden doll family trapped in frog wrapping paper. Fortunately, Nora was kind enough to free them.

Nora’s Granny bought her a table and chairs for her birthday. This now forms the basis (with some posterboard wall protection) of Nora’s artwork display area/studio. Here are some photos of her hard at work on some of her latest creations. Also visible in these pictures is the giant cold air return vent in the floor that Nora loves dropping puzzle pieces and crayons into. We’ll be installing screening over winter break.

We helped Papa and Baba put up their new tree this weekend. We’re not crazy enough to tempt Nora with a tree in our own home this year so it was nice to get the tradition without the temptation.

last year Nora had a good time at cookiefest, but this year she had a blast.

Jen found a wooly bear caterpillar on the floor in the foyer.

me: Nora, do you see the caterpillar?
Nora: (waving) hi, caterpillar!
me: Do you see how he curls up in a ball when I poke his tummy?
Nora: *nods*
me: what should we name him?
Nora: outside!
me: “Outside”? that’s a funny name for a caterpillar.
Nora: (waving again) bye bye, caterpillar! bye bye!

Last week we went in for Nora’s 2 year Dr’s appointment. She’s in great health, a crazy rambunctious 2 year old, and still unable to break the elusive 10th percentile weight barrier. You know how your broken car always works when you take it to the shop and kids never do cool new things when you’re telling friends about it? While we were explaining to the Dr that Nora’s current favorite trick is tearing off all of her clothes, tearing off her diaper, and running around with her arms in the air she … tore off all of her clothes, tore off her diaper, yelled “I did it!” and started running around the room laughing and waving her arms wildly above her head. Laughing only encourages her, but how can you not?

Here’s how this picture looked just 20 months ago. We have a nicer camera now but everything else is basically unchanged, eh? ;)