Merry Christmas!

We hope you and all your loved ones have a happy, healthy, peaceful holiday!

Yes!

Our little lady has finally begun to say "Yes!" as exuberantly as she's said "No!" for months. She also seems to be saying "down", uses the sign for "bath" and LOVES our Christmas tree. :) Proof of 2 out of 3:

Also, some cute pictures of Nora and Max hanging out by the window:

Good week

We had a very busy, but good week. Nora and I had play dates and meetings and errands to run and Chris did LOTS of studying for his LEED AP exam, which he passed with flying colors yesterday! Yay! I'm very proud of him and we're all glad to have him back. :)

Last week, Nora got her 3rd and 4th top teeth and then seemed to have a week long break from teething during which she slept wonderfully (and so did I!). She would go to sleep around 8 and only wake up once, usually around 2am when she'd join us in our bed and wake up for good around 7ish in the morning. It was great. The teething seems to have begun again, however, (3rd and 4th bottom teeth, I think) and she was up a good bit last night. Hopefully, once these next two make their entrance we'll have a longer break before the canines!

Beyond growing teeth, Nora seems to be spending her time strengthening her walking skills - she now goes up and down the small step between the dining room and kitchen with hardly a pause, and she just started marching in place and turning in circles!

She has also recently started to repeat funny little things with certain books, such as: at the end of one that says "and rock and rock and rock to sleep" she always grabs the book and rocks it back and forth and at "bumpity bumpity hold on tight" she hops up and down. Pretty cute.

Last but not least, she has definitely surpassed the dog in the smarts department and will fetch us our slippers or a book or whatever else we ask for (no, we haven't asked her to get us a beer yet...opening the fridge is still a challenge). It's amazing to realize how much she can understand - if I ask her to go get Mommy that blue block she'll get the exact block and bring it to me with a big smile...granted, I do point at the block I want but I still think she's a genius.

Now for pictures...last Wednesday, Nora and I went over to Ashley and Alta's for a morning play date. Such a cute little pair of walkers...

And yesterday we went back to celebrate Alta's 1st Birthday Party, which was a cowgirl theme. :) Notice little Fiona in the background...

Where did my baby go?

Don't worry, she's not lost...just growing up. It seems like every day lately Nora does something to amaze me and make me realize that she's quickly becoming a full-on toddler and her baby days are going bye bye. Of course, it's bittersweet for us, but is mostly just amazing to watch.

Some examples:

1. Last Tuesday I took Nora to work with me for a few hours in the morning. While we were waiting in the lobby (it's a nature center, so the lobby is full of fun stuff for kiddos) Nora made a beeline for the art table. So, I got her into a little chair and handed her a crayon and piece of paper, fully expecting her to try to eat the crayon. I was shocked when she immediately started to draw on the paper! It was a piece of abstract art to make a mama proud! So, off I go this week to buy some art supplies. :)

2. Nora gets lots of finger foods, but if it's food that requires a spoon I always feed it to her. At Thanksgiving, Nora was sitting on G'pa G's lap and grabbed his fork and started to put it in his sweet potatoes and feed herself! I know she likes to stir imaginary food in bowls, but I've never seen her actually pick up food w/ a fork/spoon and put it in her mouth! It started out well, then we switched the fork for a spoon and it went south in a hurry (see last post). :)

Proof:



3. Nora learned the sign for milk at about 7 months, but hasn't really used it much since then (she usually opts for sticking her hand down my shirt or saying "mummummummum"). I've continued to use the sign when we start to nurse and have been inconsistently using the signs for food, more and all done with no results. Until last week, when she started consistently waving her hands at us when she wants out of her highchair. So smart! Now when she's whining to be let down I just say "all done?" and she stops whining and waves her hands proudly. It gets even cuter when she signs "all done" and then stuffs a last bite or two in her mouth before emphatically signing "all done" again.

4. Finally, a few days ago, Nora started to put the colored rings back on the Fisher Price stackable ring thing. She loves that toy, but always prefers to take them off and eat them or throw them or bang them together. But, today she's realized she can multiply the fun of taking them off by learning to put them back on. What a smarty pants.

Some more proof of her feeding herself:



Here's a video of her "saying" all done:



And here she is putting the rings back on the toy and showing off her new skills to Sadie:

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was full of family, good friends and lots of food...just the way it should be. G'pa Gilbert and Uncles Steve & Kevin came for the long weekend and got in lots of fun Nora time. She sufficiently showed off her new walking skills and ability to control a crowd (i.e., make adults do whatever she wants and stop conversation to watch her being cute!).

Here are some pictures from the holiday weekend.

Nora's new favorite spot - the shoe "rack" by the front door, which happens to be the perfect height for a Nora bench...


Showing off her new/used winter boots! Pretty sassy!

Walking walking walking...


I can't imagine many things better than seeing your adorable daughter walk up to you with arms outstretched and a huge smile...


Nora helped me make the gravy...


Chris and me, cooking away!


Nora, greeting Sofia with Desre looking on...


The T-Day crew - the Boyd's (plus big, Desre & Itzel, and little, Sofia & Fiona, girls), G'pa & G'ma Bongorno, Jim, G'pa G, Steve, Kevin, and us (notice Nora eating off of my Dad's plate)...


Grandpa's food tasted much better than her's did...


Until she flung it on poor Kevin...


Finally, after the boys left this afternoon we went to Edgewater Park for Nora's first self-propelled walk down by the Lake!

Busy week

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week - it was a busy one! I worked M, W, & Th and had book club/girl's night on Friday night. And, more importantly, Nora decided to begin choosing walking as her preferred mode of transportation! The only thing that slows her down is her current inability to stand up from sitting, so if she falls she has to crawl to the nearest wall, chair or person for help. It's pretty cute!

Here's a video of said walking (I love her new way too big overalls from G'ma S...nice and cozy):



Nora, all ready to go out in the cold - she even brought an extra chin to keep her warm!


Playing in the hat basket...


And, here she is in "the chair" at almost 13 months, compared to 5 months - not much more hair, but a lot more lbs and inches!

Kiss the cook

We're heading to Yellow Springs for the weekend, so I leave you with this cute video of Nora playing with her favorite "toys". The non-toys are always the best, huh?

Fun n' Games

Here are a few videos from the past week or so of Nora playing two of her favorite games: tag (sorry if the camera work is a bit nauseating) and peek a boo.

Wow

I am overwhelmed today to wake up and feel filled with hope for our country and for the world. We had a wonderful day yesterday volunteering for Obama, which made his victory feel so much more like our victory too.

I canvassed the neighborhood for an hour or so by myself before Chris and Nora met up with me, and in that hour I fell more in love with Cleveland and Ohio City/Detroit Shoreway than I have in the previous 3 years combined. I talked with people young, old, black, white, hispanic, female, male, poor, and not-so-poor and I really felt like we were neighbors and were in this together. It felt absolutely amazing to walk around and feel that sense of shared purpose - I even got a unanimous round of applause when reminding people to vote in a local barber shop! The afternoon left me even more in awe of what Obama has been able to do during this election - it was clear that everyone I spoke to (except perhaps for the 18/19 year old guy who said he'd only vote if I agreed to go on a date with him - yes, I'm serious) really felt like Obama had their best interests in mind. That's a refreshing feeling.

I am really looking forward to watching Obama pull together his support staff over the next few months - I think he'll bring in a diverse and open-minded group of very smart people. What a relief!

Go Obama!!! Go America!!!

A Day of Inspiration: to Volunteer and to WALK!

[This is a joint post... Naomi started it this morning and is now out being a "houdini" for the Obama campaign. I'm working a half-day and will be home this afternoon to hang out with Nora and hopefully get out and knock on some doors!]

Naomi: Well, I'm both incredibly nervous and extremely hopeful and excited today.
Chris: Me too... I can hardly contain myself here at my desk. Can't we just fast forward to 10 PM???

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this adorable video from this morning... it is truly a landmark day!



We went out on Saturday to canvass for Obama again, knocking on doors, and enjoying a lovely Saturday afternoon in the neigbhorhood:

Tracey, fresh off her time in Australia, joined us for the day's work:

She brought Nora yet another Birthday present!

Nora got tired of smiling and being all cute, so she decided to close her eyes for a bit... or was she just checking her eyelids for leaks?

Just kidding! I'm totally awake!

After our turf was sufficiently canvassed, we went back to Gypsy for some hot chai and snacks!

And last, but not least, CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Liz & Jon and Baby Elzie, who has arrived just in time to witness history! We love you already!

Cautiously optimistic

We went downtown yesterday to see Obama (and Bruce Springstein!) along with 80,000+ other folks! The only downside to the event being so successful was that we didn't get anywhere close to where Barack was speaking. All in all, though, I wouldn't trade the fact that 80,000some people are excited enough about him to stand out in the not-so-warm weather for hours on end just to hear/see him speak. It felt like a historic moment. Pretty amazing.

Nora was a trooper and only had a few moments of frustration over not being able to get down and crawl around amongst the masses. Mostly she was just interested in watching everything going on around her. I did get a few stares when nursing (discreetely but obviously) and changing her diaper on my lap, but most of the stares were friendly and curious more than shocked or disgusted - good liberal crowd. ;)

Obama was great (mostly his stump speech w/ a few new tidbits thrown in) and The Boss was wonderful (I love me some Springstein).

I'm volunteering all day tomorrow (Chris is taking a half day to come home and watch Nora) and am very glad to have something to keep me busy. Go Obama!

The overflow crowd:


Larger than life...


Looking toward the stage:


Before it got dark and started raining...we look pretty comfy, huh? :)


This video isn't much to look at (dark with bright lights), but you can hear the beginning of Obama's speech...

12 month Dr. appointment

We went to the Dr. for Nora's 12-month appointment on Wednesday. Besides a nasty diaper rash (apparently when babies start eating lots of different kinds of foods it can make their poo much more acidic) that we're treating with Maalox - yep, Maalox - Nora is healthy and right on track.

She's just under 22 pounds (around 55th percentile on the old growth chart and 70th on the breastfed babes chart), is 30 inches long (~ 75th percentile) and has an 18.5 inch noggin. Good growing baby girl!

Here's our big girl playing some games with Daddy the other day:

Birthday Party No. 2

We had another (and final) successful Birthday party for Nora this past Saturday. Lots of friends and family came to celebrate and I think everyone had a great time - I know we did! Then my Dad and brothers came for a visit Sunday and Monday and got to see Nora at her silliest...I don't know if it was a sugar rush or a rush of happiness, but she was hilarious.

Yet again, Miss Nora downed her entire cupcake in one sitting. Our girl is no picky eater!


Nora, Alta and Sofia inside looking out...


Nora and Alta:


Nora and Sofia:


Opening presents w/ Zev and Ani...


Nora sharing with Jason and Ani...


The paparazzi, otherwise known as Great Grandma, Grandma and Aunt Beth...


Grandpa Rex finds the tickle spot...



With Uncle Kevin...


And Uncle Steve (and Daddy)...


Closing out the weekend with a healthy dinner - she actually ate the broccoli!


Sadie's hoping for some scraps. Nora has already learned to feed Sadie whatever she doesn't want to eat - what a team.