And Then She Was Three (2nd time around)

The Umizoomi cake I made for her.

Three weeks ago today Noel turned three years old. I took the day off of language class and spent the day making birthday pancakes and a pot of soup, cleaning up a bit, and decorating for her Team Umizoomi "party" (aka: people come over for dinner and cake). We spent the morning slowly opening her birthday gifts and Skyping/Facetiming with some of her grandparents. It was a fun day.

The first present Noel opened was a huge lollipop that Lane bought her with money she earned washing our windows.

She got some plastic dinosaurs and safari animals,

Tinkerbell accessories and a fun skirt (Lane got some wings, too),

And Bristle Blocks, the game Hoot, Owl, Hoot, and The Water Hole by Graeme Base. I'm sure she got other things too that I can't remember right now, too.

I spent her nap time hanging balloons and streamers and shapes on the wall. Lane put Umizoomi stickers on the dessert plates for me. Later that evening some friends came over and we had chicken noodle soup for dinner and tackled the monster-sized cake. (I don't seem to have a very good idea of how much cake to actually make and seem to always make twice as much as we can possibly eat.)

Thoughout the day I asked Noel the birthday questions that we begin when our kids turn three. She refused to answer some of them and others I had to solicit an answer for. So some of these are surely not right, but it was fun to hear her answers anyways!

1. Your favorite color is pink.

2. Your favorite toy is Lambie.
3. Your favorite fruit is pear.
4. Your favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse.
5. Your favorite movie is Madagascar.
6. Your favorite thing to wear is a costume.
7. Your favorite animal is "little baby calves."
8. Your favorite song is "B-I-N-G-O."
9. Your favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.
10. Your best friend is Lane.
11. Your favorite snack is grapes.
12. Your favorite drink is juice.
13. Your favorite breakfast is O's.
14. Your favorite lunch is grilled cheese .
15. Your favorite dinner is chicken noodle soup.
16. Your favorite game is The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel.
17. Your favorite thing to play outside is a bouncy ball.
18. You don't know what your favorite holiday is.
19. At night you sleep with Raffie, Bunny, and Blankie .
20. You don't know what you want to be when you grow up.

And just like that my middle girl is three.

And Then She Was Two

Noel turned two two months ago today. Eek. And while part of me feels extremely guilty about not writing about her birthday before now, the bottom line is that the celebrations took awhile.


Family photo at Noel's party the week after her birthday.

Noel's actual second birthday began with us getting up early to eat breakfast, take showers, and finish packing. We left around 9:30 a.m. to head to the airport to catch our first flight headed towards America. There was no birthday pancake, no birthday presents, no nothing. I'm not even sure if we sang to her on her actual birthday…it was such a crazy day that I honestly don't even remember, nor do I have a single picture of December the 12th. Our flight was delayed and then it seemed that some of our bags were missing, so we ended up not getting to our hotel until 6 or 7 that evening…we ordered up room service for dinner and all went to bed promptly. Poor Noel didn't even get a good night's sleep since she slept in the bed with me and Shannon (which she doesn't usually do), so in turn Shannon and I didn't sleep well. The only benefit to the overnight in the hotel was that Lane started our really long travel day with 8-9 hours of good sleep in her.

So Noel's actual birthday was a bust.


She loved this ride. It had animals that moved and made noises when you pushed their button. She sat in my lap and waited about five minutes (an extremely long time for a 2-year old!) for another child to finish their marathon riding session so she could ride some more before we left.

A week after we had arrived in America we took her to Chuck E. Cheese's for her "real" birthday celebrations. We purchased a Dora ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen, invited her grandparents, uncles, and cousin who live in the Birmingham area, and let that girl ride the same ride about 30 times to appease her poor, birthday-deprived soul. She had cheese pizza and apple juice for lunch and was happy as a lark until Chuck E. himself came by, when she looked down at the table and refused to look up until he was gone. She opened a few presents and fell asleep in the car on the way home.


Getting ready to be sung to and blow out the candle!


This is exactly what she did the whole time Chuck E. was near her. She looked at her plate, continued to eat, and would occasionally look up with her eyes (while keeping her head down) to see if he was still there.

It was a fun birthday bash and even though it was about 99.9% not what I ever wanted to do for any of my kids for their birthdays, the bottom line is that she had a blast. She didn't care that I didn't make her cake or plan anything beyond the day and time of the party and pick up some birthday plates and napkins. And while I still feel a little guilty about her "poor excuse for a birthday party," sometimes you just have to let things go. And when you fly across the world on someone's actual birthday, live with two different sets of grandparents/parents/in-laws the two weeks afterwards, and have jet-lag to deal with…fancy birthday parties just don't make the cut of important things in life. Maybe next year will be better, more up to my expectations. Although I don't think she'll give a rat's behind next year, either.


I mean, does this look like a kid who cares that her party wasn't color-coordinated and that her mom didn't make her cake? I think not.

24 Months Old (A month and a half late)

Yup, you read that right. My baby's 2-year post is coming in at 25.5 months. Dear gracious what will happen when our third is here? Maybe we won't be traveling halfway around the world on his/her second birthday, which is what we did on Noel's…but that's beside the point.


Playing the packing boxes back in early December.

So…at 25 months and 11 days, here's what Noel is up to.

*has all of her teeth. She actually had all of them before her birthday…poor girl was miserable and cranky for awhile but this mommy is loving life now that there is no more teething going on in this household!

*is 100% potty-trained. We had a few accidents in airports and in the days following our cross-the-ocean jaunt, but within a couple weeks she was back on track and is now completely potty-trained, day and night. There were a few days after we'd first moved when she was struggling with going on a "big" potty (she had done it before but definitely didn't prefer it) and when we would sit her on the potty she'd say, "Don't fall in. Make me angry, make me cry, make me sad." It was so funny. And one night she woke up in the middle of the night crying and screaming, "I fell in 'da potty, mama, I fell in 'da potty!" And that, my friends, is what toddlers have nightmares about.


Christmas morning.

*is sleeping in a big-girl bed. Or a mattress on the floor, whatever. We had cribs lined up for when we arrived in America and it became apparent very fast that she was just over sleeping in a crib. We made her do it while staying with my in-laws because all of their beds are so high up off the ground that I was very worried about her falling off and seriously hurting herself (I had forgotten about box-springs…goodness those make beds so far off the ground!). But as soon as we got to the house we're staying in we pulled a mattress onto the floor and she's been sleeping there ever since. She never gets out of the bed and hasn't rolled out of it. Crazy how different kids are so…different.

*is our little snuggle bug. She loves to snuggle and sit close and give hugs and kisses. A few times this month she's just approached me and said, "I wanna snuggle wif you." She's definitely energetic and loves to run around and be crazy, too, but if we're all sitting down she probably wants to be wrapped around us in some way.


Eating her birthday cake.

*Is wearing 2T shirts and 3T leggings. She has a couple of pairs of jeans and they're 2T, but she's wearing all the 3T leggings that Lane never wore (since she skipped from 24 month/2T straight to 4T). She's still in her size 6 shoes but I think she's outgrowing them…she trips a lot when running in them.

*is very sensitive to our disapproval. She doesn't get spankings very often because she doesn't need them…a time-out seems to be much more effective with her. If she's pitching a fit or doesn't want to finish her dinner (in a "just being stubborn" kind-of-way) usually she will sit in time-out until she's ready to comply and then will come and follow the rules. She does not like to be spanked or popped and will burst out in heavy, "you've crushed my feelings" tears and sobs if we do spank her…it is never necessary to give her more than a gentle swat on the bottom for her to get the point. I hate feeling like I'm crushing her feelings but love knowing that I don't need to inflict any kind of actual pain on her for her to get the message. Once again…crazy how different kids are so different. Lane would have just looked at us and laughed if we'd swatted her as gently as we do with Noel.



*is learning how to pronounce the letter "l" correctly. It's crazy to me that she just turned two but can get the "l" right if it's at the beginning of a word.

*is just so funny. I really wish I'd had more time over the past couple of months to write down things she's been saying. Yesterday she was showing my brother how to fly (with fairy wings on) by flapping her arms up and down and telling him, "Jus' flap your wings and fly!" She was jumping up and down and getting upset that it wasn't working. A week or so ago we were playing play-doh and I made a pretend sandwich (using molds [side note, since I just googled it thinking that in this case I'd spell it "mould"…did you know that "mold" is American English and "mould" is British? Both are correct for both fungus and a form, but only in their correct countries.]) with light brown bread, yellow cheese, and green lettuce. She was absolutely distraught that she could not eat the sandwich. Tears and whining and everything.


First time on a sled in early December.

*Is getting to the stage where she wants to do everything herself. She wants to brush her own teeth, put on her clothes, pull her own panties/pants off and on for using the potty, etc. Some things she can actually do pretty well…others result in lots of tears because she wants to do it herself but just can't.

*still loves television. Her current favorite (which she gets to watch almost every night after Lane goes to bed) is Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express.

*recognizes her name when it's written in capital letters.



*Is a pretty good eater these days. She definitely shuns new foods but usually will eventually try them. Some of her favorite foods these days are oatmeal, grapes, noodles (but NOT with any red sauce, heaven forbid), cucumbers, bell peppers, peanut butter, and fish crackers. She is also a big milk drinker…she loves milk.

And there you have it. The last of my monthly installments for this girlie. One more year of monthly photos before I completely neglect her each month on the blog! =)

23 Months Old

It's here. Less than a month until she turns two. Cuh-razy.

At 23 months Noel:

*has 18 teeth and her last two 2-year molars on their way. When Noel gets teeth, she gets a lot of them. I think of all the almost-20 teeth in her mouth that she's only gotten two of them individually. The others she has gotten in groups…2 here, 3 there, 3 again, 3 again, etc. I'm hoping we're done with teething by the time she turns two…the poor girl's mouth has taken a beating in the last year (she will have gotten 12 teeth [8 molars and 4 incisors] in less than a year)!

*is a hoot. She's started giving a "cheese" face for the camera (scrunching her eyes closed and "smiling"). She'll pick up our…phone that connects with the buzzer outside…and say, "Heh-do? Was your name? Is Miz Janna. Bye-bye!" The first time she heard our home phone ring she stared at it and then said, "Heh-do! Was your name?"


Playing with "Snow Dough" earlier this week. The girls played with this stuff for 1.5 hours.

*knows a lot of letters (can identify about 20 of them), numbers (can identify 8 or so), and the sounds the letters make. She doesn't get them all right, but she knows a lot of them. Thank you, The Letter Factory!

*is now napping in our bed instead of in the pack-n-play. Either Shannon or I lie down with her until she falls asleep, which usually doesn't take more than 15 minutes. She was to the point where if we put her in the pack-n-play for nap time she'd play and toss and turn for a good hour or longer, and then she'd want to sleep until 4:00. Then she wouldn't want to go to sleep at a normal bedtime, so…we're doing this for now. And it's working for now. She can also skip a nap if need be and be fine, for the most part, as long as we put her in bed quite early.



*has decided that she likes chicken. I remember that Lane was right around 2 when she started to eat meat, too. She does not like sauce of any kind on her noodles. She does like things that Lane still does not really like a lot…cucumbers and raw bell peppers. She still loves cheese and yogurt and fruit and pizza and french fries. She's a pretty good eater…I have found that she is more likely to eat something new off of my plate than her own, especially if I have it in a room other than the kitchen. I did that with Lane, too…would purposely bring my own lunch into the living room and let her decide she wanted to try it (and like it) before giving her her own. Reverse psychology, I tell you.

*is starting to get whiney sometimes. I'm sure that some of it is the new teeth (wow am I ready to be done with teething for awhile!) and some of it is just her age. She's pretty good at stopping the crying when I tell her to use words, though, and she'll tell me what's wrong. If I explain to her that she can't have such-and-such for whatever reason, she still might start crying again, but generally I can redirect her to something else and get her to stop the fit. When she's unconsolable, though, she goes to lie in her crib or on a bed until she's done.

*had her first tea party last week. We got some cold tea and dried fruit and the three of us girls set up at the table in their room and had a tea party. "Real" tea parties are old news for Lane, but for Noel they're still quite novel.


First real tea party. Excuse the sweaty bed head.

*can count to 14 accurately. Sometimes she can count objects correctly up to three or four. This is not consistent at all, though.

*loves to cut our cut-able fruit. As long as I will put the pieces back together she will keep cutting them apart.

*can successfully narrate what she did when I was gone, what she saw, what she ate, etc.

*is wearing a size 6 shoe. She's still wearing a few of her 18-month clothes but is mostly wearing 24-month clothes. Later this month when we start packing in earnest for the States we'll figure out what we still have stored away for her, because I know we have more clothes…I just don't know where they are right now.


That girl loves her some ice cream!

*is still just really good at playing by herself. She loves to play with someone, to have directed play, but if she's on her own…she's just so good at playing alone. And playing pretend alone. It's gotta be because she's not a firstborn…she's had plenty of opportunities to watch other people play whereas, for example, Lane, did not, and therefore it's taken her a long time to play well alone.

*still loves to be read to. Currently she loves this book called Wiggle Waggle. It's about how different animals walk and it's her favorite. Honestly it's kind of a lame book, but hey, she loves it! She also likes A Potty for Me, and our Little People Let's Go To the ______ books.

*lets me clip her fingernails and toenails, clean her ears, put a ponytail holder in, etc., with no balking or fussing or complaining. She's still not a big fan of getting her teeth brushed, but I think that has a lot to do with big molars coming in.

The next update I write about Noel will be about her birthday celebrations. I can't believe my baby will be two in 27 days!

22 Months Old

My youngest is almost two. I can't even believe it.

At 22 months, Noel:

*is just plain sweet. She often wants to be held, for us to pick her up, to just lie her head on our shoulders. She is generally compliant, will usually come when asked or stop when told to stop. Honestly it's a nice break after the hard-headed nature of our firstborn!



*plays well alone. She has a great imagination for not even being two. She'll put small toys "night night" in blankets, play hide-and-seek with toys, and so on. Of course she loves to actually play with someone, but she entertains herself well if no one is available.

*still loves farm animals. She's still sleeping with "big cow" and "little cow" every night. And if you ask her what she wants to play, 99% of the time she'll say, "Wes pway fawm animals!"

*has cut two of her 2-year molars in the past month. The bottom left one is about 3/4 the way through, the bottom right one is about halfway through.



*can put all the numbers in our Melissa & Doug numbers puzzle, and most (20 or so?) of the letters in our ABC puzzle.

*is getting better at eating a variety of foods again. Of course she still has her favorites, but she's trying different things again. I think it has to do with her teeth finally being through and not hurting so much.

*speaks so well. It's so crazy that she can form complete, correct sentences. And not just 3-4 word sentences, but 6,7,8-word sentences. I'm still amazed.

*is potty-trained. I think I can say it's official. She's only had two accidents in the last two weeks. She takes her nap in undies. And she's dry in the morning if I go get her within 5-10 minutes of her waking up.



*loves to play with Lane, and they are actually starting to be able to play together. Of course both girls are still opinionated and want to do what they want to do, but they are capable of communicating with each other and playing together. It's wonderful.

*is getting good at using a spoon and not spilling.

*does this hilarious saunter thing. I can't describe it, but hopefully just by writing it down I'll be able to remember what she looked like one day. She also still loves to jump, and is getting better at it. She probably actually gets an inch off the ground now.

There you have it. 22 months. It's almost time to start planning a birthday party, I think!

21 Months Old

Well I'm a week (ok, ok, nine days) late, but better late than never!


Wearing a dress that belonged to a little girl I nannied five years ago. I asked for the dress when she outgrew it in hopes that I would one day have a little girl to wear it!

At 21 months Noel:

*is still doing well in the potty-training department. She's not 100% trained (like, she won't always come up to me and tell me she needs to go), but she is trained enough. She tells us often that she needs to go. She is dry about 85-90% of the time after naps or even in the morning when she wakes up. She has accidents when we're not paying attention to her small signs that she needs to go. But overall, for not even two years old, she is quite potty-trained. It makes this momma happy.



*is starting to cut one of her molars. Lord help us.
*likes puzzles. We have an animal puzzle and an ABC puzzle and she's a fan of both, and can get most of the letters in their slots. She's a master at the animal puzzle.
*speaking of ABC's, she can sing the ABC song. She of course does not pronounce all of the letters correctly, but she gets a lot of them right, and she has the tune down. She also likes "twinkle, twinkle" and "the wheels on the bus."



*loves animals. She loves to pet one of the strays in our courtyard, and she loves to play with every farm animal toy we have. There are a few Little People cows and horses that she frequently sleeps with. Actually, she doesn't just sleep with them, they go everywhere with us. It's really funny how attached she is to those small plastic cows.
*has reached that stage where you have to repeat back everything she says so that she "knows you heard her." It's both endearing and annoying, but she will repeat whatever she's saying (at a very high decibel as well) until you repeat it back to her.


Her first time eating corn-on-the-cob. Neither she nor Lane could figure out that they were supposed to pick up the corn to bite it!

*has graduated up to 24-month clothes and size 6 shoes. She can still fit into a lot of her 18-month clothes, but since the weather has cooled down and most of her 18-month things are summery, we've just swapped out most of her wardrobe.
*gives us good-night kisses on both cheeks. It's very sweet.
*is just plain funny. Yesterday she was so upset because we didn't have any grapes. I showed her in all the fridge and in the fruit bowl that we didn't have any. So she looked at me and said, "Get some. Go outside. Now." Bwahaha, she's too smart for her own good!



*loves to be read to. She really loves our Little Pookie books, but really she likes any of our board books and a few of our "regular" books as well.
*will lie in her bed for a time out when she's pitching a fit. We'll ask her, "Do you need to go lie down in your bed?" and she'll say, "Yeah." We'll put her in her crib and she'll lie there, quietly, until she's ready to not pitch a fit and then she'll start yelling for us to come get her.
*loves to watch Mickey Mouse or Dora. It's kind of funny because Lane is about over those so she doesn't ever want to watch them, but Noel loves them. We sometimes let her watch one if she's up earlier than Lane in the morning or after Lane goes to bed at night.


Notice she's got that beloved cow?

20 Months Old

I missed Noel's 19-month post because we were traveling the two weeks before and the two weeks after, so...here goes month 20!



At 20 months Noel:

*is potty trained! She's been "trained" for about a week now but has only gone two days with no accidents and seeming to really understand the whole thing. Tonight she was playing and suddenly shot up (she was squatting), said, "Oh! Poo in da potty!" and ran for the bathroom. It was hilarious. And great. We did the "Three Day Potty Training" and I have to say...days one and two were awful, days three and four were alright, and by day five I think she pretty much had it. She is definitely enjoying wearing panties and seeing what she produced in the potty.



*says some really funny things. Some of my favorites recently are that she says, "Umm...yeah," a lot when you ask her if she wants to do something. She also gets all worked up about wanting something that she can't have (cookies, for example) and will pitch a mini-fit, yelling, "I. Want. SNACKS!" and lifting onto her tippy-toes at "snacks" and throwing her head up. And then she'll burst into a fit of giggles because all I ever do is laugh at her when she does because it's so funny.
*really enjoys coloring and is always asking me to draw her something...a ladybug, a giraffe, a cow, whatever. It's a good thing she's easy to please since my artistic abilities are seriously lacking.



*knows all the main colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, white) and can usually tell you what color something is.
*calls all letters "ABCDs."
*has finally been swimming. We spent a week in Cyprus so we took her to the pool a lot and she had a blast. She really enjoyed walking around in the mini-pool and jumping to us in the big pool. She did not enjoy the sea, though.
*can walk up a few (four or five) steps without holding onto anything/anyone.



*has had a rough couple of weeks. She got an ear infection (to the best of my ability to tell), was really fussy, and didn't want to lay down to sleep, so I ended up holding her to fall asleep for a few days. Then she decided she didn't want to have to fall asleep on her own ever so has been pitching fits at bedtime and nap time for probably a week now. I think that she may finally be broken of it, after letting her cry it out at bedtime last night and nap time today, and at bedtime again tonight but she only cried for maybe five minutes before she gave up. I'm glad, as it's been rough!



*can sing along with some songs; "10,000 Reasons," "Wheels on the Bus," "Sanctuary," and a few others. Of course she can't sing all the words but she gets a surprising number of them correct.
*cut that last incisor tooth about a week before she turned 19 months old. I have definitely noticed an improvement in her mood!
*repeats, "I do it" about a million times a day. I've determined that toddlers want to do it themselves as soon as they learn how to express it!




*is still pretty picky when it comes to food. Four weeks of traveling followed by two weeks (with ten days to go) of single-parenting (with a week of potty-training thrown in there) are not reinforcing good eating habits. I seem to recall that we didn't really start cracking down on Lane until she was two and a few months, so I suppose we'll tolerate Noel's pickiness (but not cater to it) for another few months. I've noticed that she is big on texture. She doesn't like quinoa although she likes rice. She doesn't like pesto. She even turned her nose up at spaghetti sauce last week even though she used to really like it. She goes through phases with fruits, veggies, and varieties of crackers that she likes, though, so I think she's just a typical toddler. We'll focus on it more when life regulates itself a bit.

So there you have it. I'm sure there's more but as anyone can see from my lack of posting, I'm busy, busy, busy. So this will have to do. 

18 Months Old

Every month when Noel turns another month older, I go back and read Lane's corresponding post. It's so fun to me to be able to do this, and I'm so glad that I'm keeping track of some of these things!

At 18 months, Noel:

*is great at playing by herself. She is easily entertained and it's amazing to me to watch her imagination unfold at least a year before Lane's did. Watching her big sister has really helped Noel's ability to play at age-appropriate things much earlier than Lane was able to.
*is a royal hoot. We laugh so, so much because of her. I think that the fact that she's talking so much just makes her so much cuter. A couple weeks ago she went through a phase where she was saying all the time, "Fwiper, no fwiping! Ahh, mant!" She would repeat it over and over again, with an emphasis on the "t" at the end of "man." I find it hilarious that she was emphasizing the "t" when there isn't a "t" at all at the end of "man," yet that's what she was hearing I guess.
*still loves accessories. Bows, necklaces, bracelets, shoes, all of it. She's a mini diva.




*still has not cut those stubborn eye teeth. They've looked like they were going to pop through tomorrow for about a month now. (Update since I started this at least a week ago and haven't had time to finish it: at 18 months old she didn't have them, but at 18 months and eight days she has cut three of the eye teeth with another on the way soon.)
*is still pretty picky about what she'll eat. As a result we've cut out snacking, at least in the morning. We end up eating lunch pretty early some days, but I think it's helping her to at least try the food on her plate, or at least to eat what's there that she likes instead of shunning it and asking for a cracker.




*weighs 24 pounds to the best of my deduction. We'll get her to a pediatrician in a couple weeks for the first time in about nine months. She's in all 18-month clothes and in a size 5 shoe.
*has been on her first camping trip. (More to come on that in a "Life Lately" blog post one day, hopefully!)
*loves: strawberries, cherries, milk, peanut butter, pancakes, cooked bell peppers, beans, rice, Mickey and Minnie, Dora, shoes, necklaces, books.
*is doing much better at sleeping all night. She and Lane actually go to bed at the same time most nights now and they seem to do ok with it.
*is showing signs of being cognitively able to potty train. I'm not sure if she's actually ready or not, but I think we'll try a 3-day blitz in August when Shannon is traveling. We're just talking it up a lot until then, talking about going on the potty, about panties, and so on.



*has unfortunately picked up some bad habits from Lane. Lane is not very good at sharing, so neither is Noel. They bicker a lot. I feel like I usually can't leave the room for more than about 20 seconds before Noel will be screaming because Lane took her toy, is trying to play with her in a way she doesn't want to be played with, or because she wants something Lane has that Lane won't share with her. Today I taught Noel how to say, "my turn!" so hopefully they can start to understand the concept of taking turns. Often when other children come towards Noel when she's playing with something, she'll gather it into her arms and scream, "no!" at whoever is coming towards her. It's humorous (because she looks just like Lane when she does it) and sad all at the same time.
*can stack blocks at least 10 high.
*can walk up and down stairs when holding onto someone's hand. She can't do it alone yet, but she does pretty well when holding onto someone's hand.



*can say at least 242 individual words. That's when I stopped writing them down about two weeks ago. She also says lots of phrases: "I find mama!" "I wuv you, mama." "da doggie's gonna get you!" (a game she plays with Lane and Shannon) "my chomps on da couch." (my alligators are on the couch...I love how she calls alligators "chomps.") "get out," "get on da bed," "my turn!" and so on. Today she told me after I got home from class that Lane got a spanking for throwing a toy. Of course she didn't say it just like that, but I understood that that's what she was communicating.

Here's a list of the words she was saying before we left on our camping trip on June 7th (I haven't written any new ones down since then):
elephant, tiger, kitty, fish, sheep, pig, cow, frog, bunny, cock-a-doo (rooster), chicken, duck, moose, mouse, monkey, octopus, bee, goose, giraffe, panda, fly, lion, turtle, hippo, rhino, crab, bug, ladybug, snake, rabbit, zebra, doggie, birdie, apple, coffee, cheese, cracker, candy, cookie, rice, strawberries, banana, lemon, carrots, bean, water, milk, orange, olive, egg, juice, pancake, noodles, apricot, kiwi, broccoli, nut, raisin, sandwich, bread, corn, chip, yogurt, cherries, walnut, muffin, mama/mommy, dada/daddy, Lane, Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Cinderella, Dora, Boots, Harper, Micah, Matt, Courts, Jennifer, Erica, Marvin, Shannon, Noel, Brittni, Dan, Mark, Ashley, Calvin, Faith, Luke, Whitney, Grant, Janna, baby, Elmo, Abby, Ernie, friend, you, me, I, guys, come, go, splash, run, swim, drop, jump, find, hide, tickle, sit (down), drink, bonk, sleep, cry, dance, eat, help, sing, play, clap, hug, kiss, color, yucky, mine, yummy, blue, pink, sad, silly, ugly, funny, hot, gross, white, red, green, yellow, purple, garbage, ball, pillow, book, potty, zoo, blankie, bath, balloon, phone, poop, puzzle, boat, pee-pee, clock, flower, sun, moon, slide, hat, bed, fork, spoon, plate, cup, leaf, tree, button, show, jammies, pants, shoes, shirt, socks, bow, dress, coat, glasses, rock, blocks, train, bite, feet, hand, teeth, eyes, belly, face, medicine, clothes, house, marker, octagon, towel, map, lotion, necklace, tree, up, one, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, yes, no, yeah, more, done, sorry, oops, bye-bye, nite-nite, please, again, amen, hi, hello, boo!, wow, ok, boo-boo, on, where, the, a, this, that, and



And that's it for now. I'm sure there's more but seeing how I'm already so late...I'll go ahead and hit publish and try to come back for another update in three weeks!

17 Months Old

Noel's vocabulary has EXPLODED this month. It's insane. I had a list going on of new words she was saying at the beginning of the month but it's just useless to try to keep track anymore. She says things like, "I hine-ing" (I'm hiding), "Ok ya mama?" (Are you ok, mama?), "Wice, pwease" (rice please), "yucky feesh" (she said this looking at fish swimming in the tanks at the grocery store), "I wanna dance," "yanes muk" (Lane's milk), and so on. It's insane. And hilarious. I love it.

Here's a bit of what else she's up to this month:

*new words: dance (dense), tiger, peek-a-book (pock-a-you), Micah, cheese, eat, lamby (ma-me), toast (toes), candy (can-ee), elephant (e-fent), Harper (happy), Matt, please, rice, phone (hone), bean, pot, hot, teeth (teef), bow, dress, nummy, apricot (cot), these (dese). And a million more I don't have time to write down...most of these were toward the beginning of the month when there weren't so many.
*will come up to me and slap my thigh and say, "seet, seet, seet" until I pull her into my lap. She'll look at me and say, "Hug, mama," and snuggle in as I get close to her.
*can climb a ladder.



*can climb up onto our couches and can get off of beds and chairs and what-not. She can also push our stepstool over to the counter in order to get to whatever's on top. Oh boy.
*loves, loves, loves animals. She goes crazy when we see a cat or a dog on the street.
*is shy of strangers. She's not an introvert at all but is very cautious with new people.
*will cry, "BOO-boo" when she gets a booboo and come running to me or Shannon, holding out the injured appendage and saying, "kiss!"



*is cutting both eye teeth. And is still in disposable diapers as a result. I miss my cloth diapers! But I don't miss cleaning nasty-teething-diapers without a diaper sprayer...
*has been having some sleep issues. She's been waking up at night, having a hard time falling asleep, waking up early, etc. She usually only sleeps about ten hours at night with a 2-hour nap during the day. I have a hard time believing it's enough sleep for a 17-month old. Maybe it's due to the teeth? Or more daylight?


Her first Subway sandwich (olives, cheese, and turkey. She shared with Lane.). I think she likes it.

*drinks like a camel. Seriously, this girl can down 4-5 ounces of water like it's nothing and then come back for more five minutes later.
*knows lots of animal sounds. "Rarr" for lion, "Tomp tomp"(chomp chomp) for alligator...I forget if there are any other new ones this month.
*definitely defends herself against Lane. Lane does not want to share most of the time, and of course always wants whatever toy Noel is playing with. Noel has no problem smacking Lane in the head or pulling her hair when Lane takes something away from her.



*loves to play hide and seek. She'll "hide" and say, "I hine-ing" when you ask her what she's doing. Then when someone finds her she'll grin and say, "Ahh, fine-ing!" Or she'll pop her head out and say, "Boo!" And, if I just start counting she'll run off to hide, whether I said we were playing hide-and-seek or not.
*likes to color, scribble, draw...do whatever Lane is doing!
*can count to three, and can count 7-10. I have no idea if she knows what she's doing, but I've heard her count 1, 2, 3, and 7, 8, 9, 10 on separate occasions.



*is good at playing by herself. I don't know what she does, but she plays alone very well! She especially loves their Minnie Mouse stuff, jewelry and shoes, and books.
*loves, loves, loves books. Still. We got a new Dora book yesterday and she has been toting it around, looking at it. When I read it to her she shrieks through most of the pages, pointing at things: "Fwah-wuh! Fwah-wuh! Doh-wa! Sun! Doh-wa! Fwah-wuh! Boots! Doh-wa!" I have got to get her on video being read to.



She's getting to such a fun age...I think I'd forgotten how much fun 18ish months was with Lane. I'm not looking forward to the eminent discipline for hitting her sister, throwing food on the floor, and so on, but still...she's a hoot. And I'm loving every minute.