A Random Mystery of Toddlerhood

How is it that my brilliant child knows 50 words-- a mind-bending 47 more than the underachieving What to Expect: The Toddler Years advises me to expect-- and still has not mastered food-related words like "more" or "eat" or "food"?

It's not that she doesn't love to eat; my girl is off the charts in more ways than one. And if I run a little late for dinner, she'll retrieve a play spoon and bowl from her kitchen and position herself in front of me, pretending to eat and saying "Yummy!" How come all of a sudden she's so circumspect about demanding something?

Have I Mentioned?

Have I mentioned that Nora's favorite book in the whole world-- and this is an ongoing love affair dating from at least January-- is South Beach Diet Supercharged? I need to take a picture of the book so that you can see how extravagantly loved and dog-eared it has become.

Latest Accomplishments

Just for the record: Nora can point to her eyes, ears, nose (the finger goes all the way up, just to be thoroughly clear), mouth, hair, belly, knees, feet, and pee-pee.

She can also back into a chair to sit down-- a big improvement over the old climb-onto-chair-stand-up-turn-around-ease-down-into-sitting-position maneuver.

She can climb onto just about anything-- she is a true monkey child. Part of me wants to pull her down from dangerous objects, and the other part wants to watch and see how high she can go.

She can get her feet into my wool clogs and walk around in them, although if she tries to turn, she walks out of them and gets mad.

She can open a door by turning the doorknob, not necessarily a great thing for us.

She can run-- though she still appears on the verge of sprawling over, so this makes me nervous.

She can take off her shoes and socks, which she does at the earliest opportunity.

And she can walk down the stairs people-style, as long as she's holding my hand, rather than backing down them on her knees.

Nora, Good Mommy.

I'd like to be as confident about my mothering skills as this kid.



On the other hand, she also tries to feed her dolly ("Lolly") Desitin, so maybe confidence isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The Phone Call

"'LO? HI? Oh, hi. My ommy-may is all up in my ill-gray right now. Let me call you back."

"It's me. You would not believe what I put up with around here."

"Hang on a sec. Mommy, be a doll and rustle up a sippy cup for me, mmkay?"

"Over there is fine. Put a coaster down."

"Anyhoo. What were you saying?"

"HELLO, a little privacy, please! THANK you!"

"Sorry for the interruptions, Doggy. Now, where were we?"

"Right. Sell my Toyota stocks and put all my money into banannies."

Love Letters

Nora received her first love letter this week, from Ollie across the street-- at four years old, an older man.

This declaration of devotion was followed today by Nora's very first valentine:

Also from Ollie.

I approve of this pairing; Ollie and his little brother, Gus (or "Sussy" in Noraspeak) are incredibly sweet with "Baby Nora," as they call her. Plus, they have the most precious little Australian accents thanks to their Aussie dad.


But I have a feeling my funny, beautiful girl will be getting plenty of valentines in the coming years. Ollie will have some competition.


For Rich, the fretting has already begun. "I'm going to have to have a talk with that kid," he said when he saw the valentine.

Dancing Queen

Watch closely and you may catch a little Mean Face while she boogies.