Letters

Like many parents of children Norah's age, we've been very aware of introducing her to letters. I can't say we're great at really focusing on it, but we like to point out letters when we can and try to teach her the alphabet and that kind of thing. The one thing we have put a lot of emphasis on is spelling her name, so the letters she is most familiar with are N-O-R-A-H. For one reason or another, Norah really LOVES the letter "O" and can pick it out in a heart beat. In fact, anytime she sees an "O" she'll point and say, "Oooooo." Then today she was playing with her toys and she brought me one of her wooden blocks with an "H" on it and said, "a H!" So proud.

Say my name

Now that she's almost 17 months old, Norah officially says, "mamma." Took her long enough. Here's just a small sampling of the words that came before her own mother:

Dad

Banana

Stuck

Hi

Bye

Duck

Ball

Yeah

Yes

No

Down

Walk this way

Norah took her first steps on Sunday, but seems rather unmotivated to actually walk. When we do the classic "walk back-and-forth between your parents" exercise, she just sits down between us and looks up as if to say, "seriously? Why would I learn to walk when I'd much rather be carried?" Smart girl.

Communicating

Norah's constant "talking" is now starting to sound like actual words. Other than "dad," which she's been saying for a while, Norah can also say "duck" and "please." Although they sound more like "dut" and "ees," it sure is adorable. She also does the asl sign for "more" and "please" and folds her arms for prayers. Of course the arm folding lasts all of .25 seconds, but again, adorable.

Stand and deliver

Norah is now capable of standing, and her favorite thing to do is stand up in the middle of the room with a giant grin on her face waiting for applause. As soon as we give her what she wants, she sits back down and does it again.