Nora Evelyn

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It’s been another year and Jen and I have now been married for 11 years (though I think we’ve aged ten in the last two) and Nora is 22 months old today. Here’s a shot of Nora this evening during towel time. She says “bunny bounce!” at the end of her bath then pulls the plug, puts her duckies up on the edge, puts her shampoo back in its cup and stands up with her hands in the air repeating “bunny bounce!”.

Today is Nora’s 21 monthaversary! She’s been 7 months old 3 times now; she’s one month more than 4 times as old as a 5 month old; she’s 3 months shy of her second birthday; ≤ 30 months ago she started to exist; she has 16 years and 3 months before she has to move out (just checking to see if anyone reads this far into the sentence).

Happy Anniversary, Nora! We celebrated by going out for pancakes with Grandma & Papa. I also celebrated by designing a future playtime activity wherein we bake a bunch of cookies together, measure their circumferences, measure their diameters and then find the ratio of circumference:diameter for each cookie. I call it “baking a pi” (baking, experimentation, the scientific method, measurement, ratios, pi). But this geekiness is all in her future; today playtime looks like this:

I think Nora might be tired of our incessant picture-taking:

It’s impossible for us to believe, but Nora celebrated her 19 monthaversary today. To celebrate we all went out to dinner and Nora got to use a big girl cup with no sippy top. Our crummy camera missed the adorable moment of Nora doing “cheers” with her Mom. She lifted her cup, held it out toward Jen’s, called out ‘cheers!’ very clearly, clinked cups and then did this:

We fed her anyway. :)

As of this morning Nora’s been with us for 18 (mostly) beautiful months. It seems like only yesterday she was born but we can’t remember what life was like before she got here. It also seems like yesterday that any of us got any sleep because it was yesterday when any of us got any sleep! For reasons that remain somewhat mysterious (I’m blaming precocious 2 year molars) Nora hosted an all night thumping and screaming rave in her crib last night.

Here’s a surprisingly spry little bean eating breakfast from a plate (and not throwing the plate to the floor). She also climbs up into her own highchair now and tries to buckle herself in, but I feel like photographing or filming this behavior would tacitly condone it. Anyway, it’s important to accessorize for the most important meal of the day:

Happy eighteenmonthaversary, Nora! We’re utterly exhausted by you but wouldn’t have it any other way.

Certainly it’s important for any new cyclist to get used to wearing her helmet, but it’s also important to learn how to show cars how fierce one can be. I’m pretty sure that Nora’s “grrrrr!” face will have even the most lost SUV during art fair squealing its tires and spinning its spinners to flee in the opposite direction (which will probably be the wrong way down a one way street).

This is also a shot of Nora being 17 months old for the first time. Which, predictably, she does with aplomb. Happy 17 monthaversary little bean; remember always to stay rubber side down.

Today is Nora’s sixteen monthaversary! It’s honestly hard to believe that in only sixteen months she’s transformed from this tiny, helpless little ball to a vibrant, irrepressible bipedal tidal wave of joy. She has 16 teeth (holding fast to her average rate of 1 tooth per month of life for, one hopes, the last month); can show you her tummy, nose, head, and self if asked; says “hi!” and waves; seems to now only use “dada” to mean me and Jennie; and finally weighs enough to use a forward-facing carseat. She is a very chatty kid when she can see you in the car. :)

Happy sixteenmonthaversary little one, we love you!

I hear you asking, “why is there tupperware all over your floor?  Didn’t you guys spend a tidy fortune on fancy magnetic locks?”

Why yes! Yes, in fact, we did spend a tidy fortune on fancy magnetic cabinet locks. Then we foolishly got into the habit of leaving the key where Nora could play with it (because magnets are fun) and she figured out how to do this…

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Happy 15 monthaversary, little one. We love all 19lbs 10oz of you.

p.s. One and a quarter comes after one.

Nora is definitely starting to feel better. She’s eating, playing, and almost smiling again. Here we find her having claimed as her own the bow from the bathroom curtains. I guess she figures if it’s pretty and she can reach it it’s hers. :)

Happy fourteen-month-a-versary, Nora!