Nora at 20 months

Here are some of the funny things she says and does:

“It’s okay, Abby”: She likes this Elmo book where Elmo comforts his friend Abby because she messed up her magic trick. Nora sounds so cute when she says it — sounds a little like “Sokay. Abby.”

“Night night oh maaan! (Swiper catchphrase)”: At the end of the day, Nora says “night night” to activities and things. “Night night, Swiper. Night night, Dora. Night night run, run, run. Night night hiccups. Night night swing. Night night it’s okay Abby.” And the funniest one: “Night night, oh maaan!”

“Ee I Ee I oh!”: She’s obsessed with Old MacDonald and shouts this at us from her little throne in the backseat.  If we try to listen to the radio or anything but Old MacDonald, she shouts, “Ee I ee I oh!” She also likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Row, Row Your Boat. (She sounds Canadian when she says boat.)

Occasionally she likes to speak in a squeaky falsetto. So she’ll be like, (squeaking) “Dora, Dora, Dora!” (Catching a theme? She’s a little obsessed with Dora these days.)

When you ask her to roar like a bear, she sounds just like a little bear cub. Her impression is getting really good!

She also likes to say “Cookie monster” in this hilarious gruff voice.

She makes us feel good by laughing along with us (with lots of enthusiasm) whether she understands the joke or not.

She has this giddy/insane laugh when she gets something she wants, like she’s been stranded on a desert island.

She seems so big lately! I think she grows inches every night! She’s so much fun. 🙂

empathy

A few weeks ago, Nora and her friend Olie were playing together in the baby pool when Olie fell face first into the water. I thought I heard Olie crying, but when I looked down, I saw it was Nora. Olie was fine, in fact. Her mom picked her right up out of the water. But Nora was really upset (and in fact, she wouldn’t go in the water for a little while after that.)

A similar thing happened the other day when a little boy she’d just met at the playground bumped his head on the monkey bars. He started rubbing his head and whining a little and there was Nora pointing at him and crying too.

It could be that she’s afraid that she too will fall in the water or bump her head, but I also believe that she is showing empathy. I asked her speech therapist if this was common toddler behavior and she said, “no, that’s just her personality.”

I hope she’ll always feel and be willing to express her compassion for others because I think that’s such a wonderful quality. She’s a sweet little girl and I’m very proud of who she is becoming.