What are you doing moon? Are you up in the sky?

 – Nora saw herself in the mirror. A strand of her hair was sticking straight up. “I have a unicorn,” she said.

–  She speaks in full sentences and tells stories about her day: “We meet baby Hanya aaaand see Seryn… aaand run around… aaand eat graham crackers and animal crackers and Seryn have some aaand we play with bubbles.”

–  She seems to finally get it that I’m a space cadet who constantly loses things. She walked into my closet the other day and said, “Uh, I’m looking for my belt. I can’t find it.”

– Randomly, she opened the door again, looked at me and said, “Let me know if you have a poop.”

–  She walked up to a little girl at the playground. “I have my jacket too,” she said, pointing at her own orange coat. “I’m Nora.” The girl just stared at her and then ran away. I was in near tears. How cute is she? Introducing herself to somebody?

(She’s transitioning out of parallel play and starting to really interact with people. This is exciting, but also nerve-wracking, because she’s about to enter a new world in which she cares what others think about her. I will have less and less control over how others treat her and how she internalizes things and that’s kind of scary. But, I realize this is an important step in her development. I’m so proud of her. Sniffle.)

–  While I was trying to pack, she put on my swim cap and held the goggles up to her eyes. “This is my mommy’s hat,” she said.

–   It happened. She climbed out of the crib. Oh boy. I knew this day would come. Nana and Poppop were babysitting and they heard a thud. They ran upstairs to find her quietly standing by the glider chair, looking a little shocked. “I bounced out,” she said. (I’m not ready to put her in a toddler bed! I can’t imagine her left to her own devices in her room! She would probably climb the walls and start eating bottles of Desitin! Has anyone been through this? Advice?)

–  We’ve been dealing with some poopy messes lately in her crib. It hasn’t been pretty, I’ll tell you that. I’ll spare you the gory details… let’s just say she likes finger painting. I’ve been strapping her into those footy onesie pajamas for every nap. I’ve been trying to concoct mixes of lemon juice and mouth wash to get the smell off her hands. I need a vacation! (Advice?)

–  She calls the stuffed animals in her crib “my guys.”

–  She squeezes our faces says we’re “so cute!” in this French-sounding accent. “Mommy’s zo cute, isn’t she? Aw, Daddy’s zo cute!”

–   She holds the page of a book in her little hand and says, “Take care of books. Don’t rip it, right?”

–   If you give her something, she might think you made it. “Daddy made these elephant banjamas (pajamas), right?” (I like the idea of Kevin sitting down at night after a hard day’s work to sew some elephant pajamas.)

–  I asked her if she wanted to hear music in the car and she said, “No. I’m singing Rockabye Baby to my sheep.”

–   Her improvisational skills are getting more and more advanced. “Old MacDonald had a stuffy nose,” “And on that farm there was a pants,” “And on that farm there was a Brianna.” She can sing Row Row Your Boat and Twinkle Twinkle little star to the tune of David Melach Yisrael.

–  She talks to people from afar so that they feel obligated to stand there until she’s done. “I have my leopard bear!” “I take my shoe off!” “This is my mommy!”

–  A woman was carrying a baby in a sling, and Nora said from afar, “See the baby hugging the mommy?”

–  She has so much ENERGY! She sometimes holds both ears, makes this weird face and shakes like the hulk. She does this while running around the yard.

–  Other funny/random things she’s said: “My name is cutie pie,” “Oh I found this in my hand!” “I wanna take a little bath and watch Dora and pelay (play),” “Kermit’s going for a ride! To the grocery store!” “That’s a biiiig poop,” “I want to hear Led Zeppelin. Is this ‘I Gotta Woman.’?” “Don’t break Daddy’s watch, right?” “The kitty cat is zo cute. Hiii kitty cat.” “I’m zo cute. I’m little. I’m a baby.”

–  We took a walk one day and you could see the white moon against the blue sky. “I see the moon,” Nora said from her stroller. “I see it,” I said. Then she yelled, “What are you doing moon?! Are you up in the sky?!”