Crazy

When I first used to go and watch Ken race, I had trouble identifying him as all the like-dressed cyclists flew by each lap. If it weren’t for the hair poking out of the helmet, I might have stood there the whole race failing to see the person I went to watch. Now, when Ken gets dressed for his rides, Nora knows he is about to go and starts to say bye bye. And when we see anyone on a bike as we drive around town she says, “DaDa” (or lately she’s been saying “Matt” since she knows Ken rides with Matt a lot).

The other morning Ken got dressed in his red riding “uniform” and went outside. I loaded Nora in the car for our morning errand and Uncle Ian rode up to the car window, dressed in the same “uniform” as Ken. Nora looked, waved and said, “Dada.”

One might think she just got confused since Uncle Ian was dressed in the same outfit as Ken. Maybe Nora was just having the same trouble I used to have at bike races. But really this stems from the larger problem Nora has with the times Ian and Ken are together.

It usually goes like this: Uncle Ian walks in the door. Nora stares and clings to me. Ian smiles his big friendly smile. He clearly sounds different than “dada.” But Nora stares and we can all see the wheels turning in her little head. Who is this guy that looks so much like my dad? How can there be two dada’s all of a sudden? Is this guy going to suddenly steal me away and pretend I’m his?

All of this prevents Nora from playing happily with Ian until some time has passed and those wheels in her mind have reassured her that her dad and Ian are two separate people.

And as Nora works this all out in her head, Uncle Ian smiles and laughs in his typical fashion. He took early dibs on the “Crazy” Uncle title. And as soon as Nora realizes just how crazy he is, she will be quick to welcome him instead of spending many minutes locked in her skeptical stare.

Imagine All the People

My favorite thing to watch Nora do right now is play with her dolls or her Fisher Price Little People. It is such a glimpse into her mind. Just now as we were passing the last moments before nap time, she gathered all her little people together, put them on her fingers one by one, had them converse in the most interesting babble conversation (I only understood "hi" as one of the words, the rest are a mystery), kissed each one and put them "nigh night." It is so amazing to me to see her actual imagination start to blossom in a way that I can perceive. And this kind of play reminds me that she is such a sweet baby.

And now she is napping. Hopefully for a while. Hopefully alone in her crib. We'll see. Back to school with kids tomorrow and I certainly need a nap too!

Hot Pads

I am enamored with Ken's new iphone video feature. And since I always think Nora's being cute, I always wish I was videoing it to show everyone else how cute she is. To capture her cuteness forever.

This video is of one of her new games. She takes a hot pad, places it on her leg, counts to two - "two, two", and then starts singing "row, row" while rocking and then she claps for herself very excitedly.

Enjoy!

Today it was me

I woke up at 5 today. Nora slept until 6:30.

I didn't get up or out of bed, but I opened my eyes, checked the time and then had trouble quelling the start of school thoughts that started bombarding my brain. Bulletin boards, photo copies, lesson plans (that's not important!), desk arrangement, cart building, supply organizing. The items on my to-do list seemed to go on forever. And they prevented me from sleeping "late" on one of the few mornings where Nora gave me that opportunity. Cruel irony.

I am still not ready. I will be going in tomorrow to clean and organize and to do some of the last photocopying. I have planned my lessons and placed my desks (and Ken built my cart!), but I still don't feel ready. Hopefully I will when Monday morning rolls around.

We are clearing some of the hurdles I wrote about last time. Ken went to the grocery store. Nora's diaper rash is so much better and she hasn't had another 4:30 day (writing that will surely curse me...). They started giving us more written notes at daycare to tell us what is going on with her each day. She seems to be napping at least 2 hours at daycare each day. And next week is furry animal week. And they are going to jump around in furry animal slippers! How fun!

Oh. And she's not allergic to peanut butter. They fed her peanut butter crackers at daycare and she was still alive when we picked her up.

Clearing the Hurdles

Nora ate cheetos for dinner tonight. They were the “natural” kind, but still a horrible horrible dinner. A symptom of the larger problem – we have not established our school year routine yet. Thus we have no plan for dinner each night.

We didn’t feed her the cheetos on purpose. Ken was snacking on them and thus Nora wanted them. He gave her one. I said, “oh-no,” knowing that one cheeto is never enough for any normal human being. And Nora proved to be normal, wanting cheeto after cheeto until they were “ga-ga” from dad’s bowl. So when I offered her three different choices of things at dinner, she was already full.

This cheeto dinner made a great ending to a day that began at 4:30 am. I hope that it is Nora’s teeth and the change of routine that is causing the sleep disruption. She was doing so well! I was feeling so rested! But I guess good things have to come to an end. And hopefully bad things do too.

As I’ve written earlier, routines are really important to me, and I think to Nora too (as evidenced by the 4:30 wake up). This first real week back at work is so hard because, not only am I taking Nora to daycare full days for the first week, but I am not at school for my normal routine. I have to be at different places at different times for different trainings, all of which seem pointless to me. Next week, when the kids come, my routine will be a bit more set, but I have to survive this week first.

So far Nora is a star at daycare. They told me last Friday that they hoped to have a cloning closet this week so all the new toddlers would be as agreeable as she is. She didn’t cry at all last week, not once when I left and not once all day while I was gone. She didn’t eat all of her lunch or snack, but I think she is doing better this week. And she did cry yesterday when one of the teachers was giving someone else some attention after a fall. Nora wanted attention too.

She comes home so happy it makes me happy too. She jabbers about buses and taxis all the way home in the car. She comes into the house and immediately finds something fun to play with. I wonder if I think she is so adorable just because I’ve missed her, or if she does just get cuter as she learns new things every day. Or maybe she is trying to be extra cute so I don’t hate her when she cries at 4:30 am.

Aside from the routine being all out of whack and messing with our healthy eating habits, despite her cuteness and resilience, it just isn’t the same to be away from Nora all day. Tonight before bed, Nora whimpered and said “butt.” She has a terrible diaper rash, and as I put layer upon layer of aquaphor on it I couldn’t help but feel so guilty. If she was here with me her little butt wouldn’t be so red. I would change her diaper more often since I know she is teething.

So the first hurdles of the year back at work. We will get over them just like we did last year. It is just painful having to start the journey.

Nora - Top Chef

Nora was busy cooking today. She had quite a system, with the cup and the water and the stirring. And thanks to our new iphones, we can now record all of her amazing feats!

Day One

I cried. She didn't.

That's the whole story.