That's My Girl!

I've received a number of calls from followers of the Baby Bongorno Blog, asking about this wondrous new sign. Well, it hasn't been easy catching it on video, as one of the previous posts mentioned that she is often shy about showing off in front of the lens. She sometimes does it on her own and sometimes when prompted. In this case, she succumbed to parental pressure and gave us a little taste of it, so here you go:



If you're not a fan of basketball or have just never seen Lebron James do his pregame ritual, you might not know about his dramatic "chalk toss" before every tipoff. Well, it's something simple, yet somehow very special and memorable and the fans friggin love it. So, when it came time for Daddy to teach Nora one of the most important signs of her young life, I didn't choose a shooting motion or a dribble or anything mundane like that. I went straight for the flair! Nora now signs "Lebron" anytime she sees a basketball or a jersey or really just about anyone doing anything athletic. Sometimes, she even does the whole thing with the hand clap before throwing her hands up in the air. She apparently did it at the grocery store the other day when she and Mommy walked past a beer poster with a Lebron jersey on it. Just before the above video was taken, she noticed our neighbors shooting hoops in the backyard, went and grabbed the basketball and stood over by the window, watching and waiting for her number to get called. So cute!

In other news, Nora has also started blogging on her own. I overheard her muttering something about how we just don't get all the stories right and post too many pictures of her with boogers coming out of her nose...

Lastly, Nora wore a very "big girl" outfit the other day, complete with new Valentine's shoes imported from Yellow Springs (thanks Great Grandma!). She wasn't too big to sit down with Daddy for some storytime, though. Look for some adorable new video of Nora in her new outfit on Naomi's YouTube channel, coming soon!

Until next time!

On the up and up

We've had a little over a week of illness at the Bongorno estate. I had a cold, Nora has a quick cold, Nora had the flu, I now have the flu, and Chris has a cold. Nora's better, though, which is all that really matters, right? And C and I seem to be improving. Chris has been wonderful, taking on more than his fair share of work while I lie on the couch and go to bed early (he even let me watch trashy tv last night while he did our taxes! What a guy!). Yet more proof that I married a wonderful wonderful person. Thank you, baby.

Sickness has not made Nora any less cute, although significantly more whiney. One of her most adorable recent moments (this was before she was sick) was when she grabbed an entire head of broccoli out of the crisper and dove right in...







The snow FINALLY melted and we attempted to walk around in the backyard, only to find it strewn with melted dog poop. I guess that's what happens when you don't walk your dog for a week, huh?




And, Grandma Linda came to visit and brought Nora's kitchen with her! Nora and G'ma built towers and then N and I cleaned up the kitchen.



Nora is learning new signs every day - too many to keep up with, but perhaps proud Daddy B will grace us with a post about his favorite new sign. Hint, it's sports related.

Until then, I hope none of you get what we have!

Cute

I just love this picture of Nora - from Sunday when it was warm enough to go hang in our backyard without 5 layers of down and fleece! What a cutie cutie pie.

Snowed in...

So, recently my Dad asked me if I thought Nora ever got overwhelmed with all her new "tricks" and how often we ask her to show them off. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it until he said it and immediately afterward she seemed to send me a pretty strong sign that, if not overwhelmed, she was certainly sick of all the cuteness having to be caught on film!

Exhibit A:



And, Exhibit B:



So, you'll have to excuse me if I don't post videos of all her tricks for a little while! You'll just have to trust me that she's a genius. :) She learned the sign for owl tonight after two tries, did the sign for thank you - I don't remember doing that sign more than a few random times - and has been meowing like crazy. Adorable.

In teeth news: Nora's definitely getting her two bottom front molars now too - the top ones are almost all the way through. Poor thing. She woke up every hour and a half or so last night (she didn't even do that when she was a newborn!). That is, until 5:30am when I was just exhausted and turned so my back was facing her and she rolled over to Chris and played with his beard and slept until 9! I guess the boob was waking her up? Whatever it was, it was nice to get a few good hours of sleep.