I can hardly believe that I am writing these words….my daughter will be TWO on Saturday. MY little one will “officially” be an “official big girl” at 1:53am on September the 13th. Is it just me or do all mommies still see their babies as newborns? I still look at Nora some days and see this:
And then I’m snapped back to reality when she turns around, poses perfectly without any prompting and gives me a smile like this:
I can’t get over what a little person Nora has become, especially in the last few months. Here are some fun things about our sweet little lady that stick out the most in my mind as she moves into the next year of her life.
Nora has (finally) found her voice. She talks non-stop, 24/7, at all and any volume she pleases. She has been starting to say some phrases and sentences the past couple of months, learning new words that she picks up all on her own. I seriously am so proud of how far she has come recently. She tries so hard! Some of our favorite things she says:
“OK, see ya! Bye, bye!”
“Hey, homeboy!”
“Oh, happy day!” in reference to her new favorite worship song we sing at church that she CONSTANTLY wants to sing.
“Daya, Papa work. Nora work tools. Hammer!” Nora loves to go out to the house and “do work” with her Daddy and Papa. She has her own set of tools that she takes along.
“Mommy, I’m awake!” her way of letting me know she is ready to get out of bed.
“One more book! Nora want more eat,” when she is trying to stay up longer at night or nap time, which usually ends with her getting an extra book read to her along with a cookie 🙂
Nora is a very active girl. She loves living on the farm and takes advantage of playing all over the place. She recently has picked up playing “pass” with a big kick ball and loves to chase the ball around the yard. I see a little soccer player in our future. She LOVES to swing – the girl could swing for hours. We sing songs and do motions to them while she sways back and forth. Her two favorite songs to sing while swinging are Little Cabin in the Woods and We’re from Nairobi. Speaking of singing, Nora enjoys music and dancing, as any little girl should. She squeals and giggles while she twirls around the room and sings in a super high pitched voice. She has learned quite a few songs, but has only figured out how to say the last word or two in each sentence of the songs. Her very favorite song to sing, as mentioned before, is “Oh, Happy Day,” by Jesus Culture. You should see the look on her face when she hears the song play.
Nora loves to read books and have them be read to her. She is really into Curious George and Clifford right now and has her Bible Story Book for Little Girls memorized to a T. She loves playing with Play-Doh in her little kitchen set and is constantly making us apple pies, cookies and sweet tea. She has a fabulous imagination, more that what I ever thought was possible at her age. Even when she has no physical toys to play with, she will make imaginary food and serve it to whoever will “take it,” rock imaginary babies and ride imaginary horses. It makes our play time so much fun together.
She loves animals, mostly horses and puppies, and always looks forward to driving past and counting “Joe’s red cows,” who graze in our pasture. My close friend Kati takes Nora horseback riding on occasion and Nora constantly talks about “Kati’s horse Jack,” and always waves at him when we drive past him on the highway. We go fishing quite a bit, and she is totally obsessed with quickly touching the fish we catch, then squealing and running away while yelling, “Yucky!” but then gets upset when we throw them back because she can’t touch them anymore. Poor gal is so indecisive about what she wants! She also has a soft spot in her little heart for her family. This girl loves her Hammy and Pop Pop, Nana and PaPa and all of her aunties and uncles. And of course we can’t leave out how much she loves her cousin, Dakota. She is pretty lucky to have so many people who love her so much!
Nora is a pig when it comes to food. She will eat anything put in front of her, but continues to be hit or miss with eating meat. She loves to go out back to our garden and pick vegetables, specifically cherry tomatoes. She has a sweet tooth like her dad and would devour as many cookies or pieces of candy as she could if I would let her. But she also has a huge preference for vegetables and will eat them as fast as she does chocolate. She drinks just about anything, but was introduced to Orange Pop this month….and now it’s the first thing she asks for every morning when she wakes up, haha! Silly girl!
Our little girl is also growing physically! She now wears all 2T, which isn’t going to last long, as 3T is already fitting better! She wears size 6-7 shoe and continues to wear diapers. She enjoys picking out what she gets to wear each day and has started to have a love of clothes shopping. No, I’m totally serious. She will walk up, pick up a sweater, hold it up to herself and say, “Oh, cute!” I’ve created a monster, no doubt 🙂
Nora talks a lot about her new baby sister (coming any day now!) and loves to come up and kiss my tummy and listen to her heart beat with her play stethoscope. She also asks when the baby can come out and play with her. It’s hard to tell her that she can’t come out yet, but hopefully she will be just as enthusiastic once Baby Spach #2 actually arrives. Although I worry about her feeling neglected once the baby does come, I know that she is going to be a great, helpful, very hands on big sister. I can’t wait for them to finally meet!
Nora continues to be extremely independent and very inquisitive. While this is great, it makes doing everyday things hard, as she will throw temper tantrums when she can’t figure something out on her own or if we try and help her and she doesn’t want help. We are working hard on her communicating what she wants while trying to figure things out and trying to learn patience while she waits. While this is totally normal for a 2 year old, there are some days when the outbursts seem constant, so we are really trying to help her tone down on some of the little things. She has a ton of energy and needs to be kept pretty busy during the day, so she has struggled as of late when she hasn’t gotten our full attention, or is just having too much fun to take a nap. But then again, I love that she desires lots of communication and attention from us. It means lots of one on one time and going on some pretty fun adventures together and I wouldn’t change that for the world.
So here’s to our big birthday girl, Eleanor Sue. There are truly no words to describe my love for her or how incredibly proud I am that she is my daughter. She is the light of my life, and usually the reason that I’m grinning ear to ear. While she is still young, it is Eric and my prayer that we would raise her in a home where Jesus’s name is spoken often and that His truth is taught in our everyday life. We ask God every night to already be softening her heart towards Him so that she can choose Him as her own someday, and are so thankful for His hand of protection and health on her little life. What a blessing, honor and absolute joy it is to be her Mommy! I love you, Nora!
