Brains! Must eat brains!

Holiday Trains

Nora got to go see the Christmas trains downtown with her sitter's family. She had a great time following the boys around.



Isn't she just such a kid? These pictures made me realize how big she is.

More New Words

"Meow"

"Down" (when she wants out of her high chair)

"Pretty" (pronounced exactly like "Birdie")

"Choo-choo train" (I am reasonably sure I heard this, after the beginning of a kids' song had some train sounds. I have not been able to get her to say it again.)

Rich swears she said "Can you reach that?" in reference to the little light on her kitchen play set. I'm merely reporting what he says.

It's incredible to be able to communicate with her by way of more than just grunts and pointing. I can ask her questions and she'll answer them with a yes or no. (Or silence, which I suppose is also an answer.) She can point to her ears, bellybutton, and nose when we ask her to. This will come in handy during job interviews.

Merry Christmas from the Worst Cinematographer in the World

Christmas was pretty wonderful this year, being the first year Nora could really begin to participate and understand what it meant to get presents. We were up until 2 am the night before, Rich assembling Nora's big presents and myself wrapping presents and cleaning up the house for the family the next morning.

Nora loved her presents, but as you watch these videos, remember that she's not a big reactor; she takes time to analyze and investigate things before pronouncing judgment. But it's a safe bet that the longer she spends with something, the more she likes it. That said, I'd have to say the push car was her favorite present, followed closely by the kitchen.

If Nora had her way, she'd sit in that little push car all day, with her servants pushing her from room to room and toy to toy. We eventually had to put it outside, but when she saw it out the window this morning she howled until we suited up and took her cruising around the neighborhood.

We didn't take her to sit on Santa's lap this year. For one, mall Santas give me the creeps. Always have. For two, I'm pretty sure Nora would be mortified if we plopped her down into some old man's lap, and I'm not going to do it just to get a "funny" picture of her screaming her head off. We may wait until she is able to understand who Santa is and indicate if she really wants to meet him or just continue with their current long-distance relationship.

Remember going to bed Christmas Eve night, knowing that the hushed frenzy of activity you could hear downstairs meant toys and magic and wonders yet to behold? Knowing that you could help speed the magic along by falling asleep? I remember Elizabeth waking me up (I always was a deep sleeper, even in my most agitated state) and then the two of us having to wait upstairs while final preparations were made. Our mom and dad would finally call us downstairs, and we'd descend in our footie pajamas to a spread of gifts as well merchandised as a department-store window.

No wide-eyed wonder or eager anticipation from the Nard Dog this year, but next year I think she'll be able to understand more what Christmas is. It was still great fun giving her toys that will be staples of her imaginative play for a long time to come.

Yak, yak, yak.

Nora's been coming up with new words right and left. Here's her current vocabulary, in chronological order (oldest to newest):

• Dada (now "Daddy")
• Mama (now "Mommy")
• Doggy (often pronounced "Dog-GEEE!")
• Ba-ba (bottle)
• Yeah (now sometimes accompanied by a dramatic nod-- head all the way up to the ceiling and then chin down to her chest)
• NO or NONO (always emphatic. Sometimes accompanied by head shakes, often said when she's about to do something she knows she's not supposed to do-- e.g. push buttons on the TV satellite receiver, or grab the table lamp)
• Go (meaning "Take me for a walk," we think)
• See (more difficult to define. I think she's just trying to draw our attention to things, which is a perfectly appropriate use of the word.)
• Uh-oh
• Whoa!
• Nana (banana, to my mother's disappointment-- she thought she was being addressed directly.)

Nora at the Museum Center

I know I'm terribly behind on Pooter posts; somehow there seems to be less time in the day lately. Here's a quick one with a couple of scenes from Nora's first visit to the Children's Museum at Union Terminal. She went with our neighbor, who's taking great care of Nora while her regular babysitter is on maternity leave. I'm jealous I didn't get to go with them (I was at work), but grateful she's being so well taken care of.