Is It Too Soon for the Terrible Two's?

Remember that photo book I was super excited about? I guess I was so excited to get it that I didn't check my order details. Since the last photo book I ordered was for my parents for Christmas, "Norah's Little Book of ABCs" is currently on its way to Ogden, Utah. Yeah, I forgot to check the shipping information. Oops. Typical me, though. I guess my mom gets the first peek at it.

Here are some Norah details for the week:

• Norah has started to figure out how to string words into sentences. "I want Mickey!" "I pay [play]!" "I want bubbles!"
• Since Goldfish crackers ("shishes") are orange, the color orange is now "shishes." If you ask her to say orange, she says, "shishes."
• She loves pretend naps. She puts her dolls and stuffed animals down for naps all the time. She likes to lay down with her blankie and say "seepy" (sleepy), which is a total lie - she hates real naps.
• I usually let her watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while she has breakfast. She sets up her little table and chairs and has to have her baby doll in the other chair before she will allow herself to eat.
• She calls herself "Nuh Nuh" now. She'll point to herself and say it.
• She likes to list all the names she knows. "Mommy! Daddy! Nuh Nuh! Poppa! Ga ga [Grandma]!" She'll do this for a quite a while if you let her.

The past few weeks have also shown me just how strong-willed my child is. She is back to fighting naps again. Sigh. I think my plan now is to give her two hours to fall asleep. If she falls asleep somewhere in there, hallelujah! I'll let her sleep no later than 4:15. If not, at least we tried, and I had two hours to regroup. I just need to teach myself not to stress when she talks in her crib for hours on end. She never cries about it. (In fact, I think the problem is that she enjoys herself so much in the crib that she doesn't want to fall asleep.) There's no reason I can't get things done even though she's talking.

I think we have the beginning of the terrible two's around here. I used to think that was just an excuse for parents not wanting to deal with whiny children. Now I've realized that stubbornness is the reason behind the whiny-ness. (Wow, that makes it sound like I think I have this parenting all figured out. I know that I most definitely don't.) So many things have become a fight. Things she used to love, too, like bath time and putting on her jacket. She knows that she has the ability to fight things and makes sure she takes advantage of that.

All of the fighting aside, this age is still really fun. Norah is constantly discovering things, and it amazes me how much she learns everyday. She loves to repeat words and will repeat basically any word you ask her to. She likes to copy the things we do, like when I stretch or when Rich does sit ups. She is generally a very happy girl, eager to soak up the world.

And here are some pictures from the week:

I broke down and bought a new pair of Sperry Top-Siders with my birthday money. I've been dying for a new pair for years and always search for them at Nordstrom Rack. Rich talked me into the blue pair, over a pair of more plain ones.

 We had a ward culture night on Saturday. It was really well put together, with booths from lots of different countries and lots of foreign food. Norah especially enjoyed the Hawaiian dancers, including several from our ward.

We've started saying evening prayers with Norah before her bedtime. She is usually pretty good about kneeling with us, although she can usually worm her way onto Daddy's lap during the course of the prayer. 

 I took these pictures after a particularly bad bath-time debacle. She cheered up so quickly, and I wanted to remind myself that tantrums don't last forever.

Like her outfit? I wanted to try this skirt on her that I actually made for her last year (but it was too big). She refused to take it off after that, so I tried (and failed) to make a matching outfit out of it.

Maybe she'd take prayers more seriously if I didn't always try to get a picture of it.

 We went for a walk yesterday during a break in the rain. We had a crazy snow storm Saturday/Sunday, which has turned into lots of rain and melting snow since Monday. These trees did not have moss on them a couple days ago.

 I'm adding this picture to my all-time favorites. Man, I love this girl!

Today, my friend Aubrey invited Norah and me to go to a birthday party for Dr. Suess at the Mobius Children's Museum. Norah loves seeing Alivia and had lots of fun spending the morning with her, although trying to get these girls to leave such a fun place was a disaster.

 

 Norah started off listening to the story ("Mr. Brown Can Moo. Can You?" - not sure that's the best Dr. Seuss book they could have picked), but she soon realized it was much more fun to collect the confetti off the floor.

They made fake cake pops, which ended up being marshmallows covered in frosting and candy, or basically pure sugar.

 They also made these Cat in the Hat hats. (Well, technically the parents made them. It was a little advanced for a class of toddlers.)

After the class, the girls got to explore the rest of the museum. Norah immediately fell in love with the slide. Aubrey supermommed the morning with two-month-old Scarlett on her front.

I definitely don't do a lot of fun activities like this with Norah, so we were excited when Aubrey invited us along for the journey! It was lots of fun, though it's amazing how exhausting it can be for the moms!