Hello, September

As the Fall inches closer, a few things are becoming apparent.


First, there isn't a better deal alive than the Kids Club at L.A. Fitness. $5 per month for Norah-watching services for approximately 5-7 hours per week of Norah-watching services = awesome. Add in the fact that she actually enjoys going to Kids Club, and it is a beautiful combinaton.


Second, Norah enjoys talking. No surprise, sure, as she has always enjoyed making noise, but now she is talking. And loving it. When she wakes up: "Mama, get me!" When she is ready to go downstairs: "Norah go downstairs!" When it is bathtime: "Piggy watch Norah bath" (yes, Piggy is going everywhere with her now. And not just one, but two, as one is always the "little baby Piggy"). And so forth. Its quite fun hearing her talk and put her own thoughts into words. It certainly doesn't do anything to hide her stubborn and independent nature, however.


Third, Norah is becoming a big fan of TV. Perhaps a bit too big of a fan. She protested so vehemently at getting her teeth brushed months ago that brushing them in front of the TV was my only out. That's still the case. And now she gets to watch TV when Daddy gets cleaned up in the morning, too. And when she wakes up from her nap a bit earlier than Daddy would like. Granted, she usually only watches WonderPets or Diego, but she did see a bit of a 24 episode I was watching the other day. Right as people were being shot. And killed. I told her "they're OK!," which she cheerfully repeated everytime she saw the TV for the next half hour. My bad.


Other items of note as September is now here and it is almost time to say hello to Fall:

• Norah starts Mother's Day Out on September 8. I can't wait to see how excited she is to get back to her friends after almost 4 months away from them.
• Norah now has her counting abilities up to "3". Watch out 4...she'll be there soon!
• Though you can't tell it by the picture below, I am actually getting somewhat proficient at putting ponytails and pigtails in Norah's hair. And Norah is actually starting to leave them in for longer than 10 minutes at a time.
• Norah can now identify the three sports worth watching (golf, baseball (this year, at least. Go Rangers!) and football) on TV. Good thing, as she'll be seing a lot of them in the coming months.
• Like her Daddy, Norah has discovered that sunflower seeds make quite the mid-afternoon snack.

Countdown to Fall...

Hi everybody. August has been rather less eventful for Norah than her June and July were. Apart from a trip to see Mimi last week, she has stayed pretty well-anchored in the metroplex.


Norah finished up her swim lessons a couple of weeks ago, and as predicted, she enjoyed them immensely. While she didn't really grasp the idea of swimming forward while horizontal in the water, she did love jumping fearlessly into the water, and holding her breath for 7-8 seconds at a time. Each time she came up out of the water, it took less than a second for her to say "again!" Looks like she is a genuine waterbaby. Most notably, her affinity for water slides only grew more and more as the days got hotter and hotter, as she worked her way up from little dinkly slides to awesome tunnel slides and corkscrew slides. I would say she lost her "amateur" water sliding status somewhere around August 1.


Norah has become even more social and fond of talking over the past three months. She loves playing with her friends, racing her fire truck ("tire tuck") around the house and up and down the driveway, talking to the stuffed animals in her crib and all around the house, playing with Play "D'oh!", hugging and kissing Bram and Lucy, getting airplane rides on Daddy's feet, having Mama read to her, and getting and giving tickles relentlessly.


It has been a great summer. Better than we ever could have imaged. The long Fall is creeping this way, but I know Norah is looking forward it. After all, she gets to see all of her friends at Mother's Day Out again in two weeks, and hopefully it won't be too long before she will actually be able to play outdoors after naptime.


Keep a look out for this cute face coming your way again soon!