Nora has really become quite the cute little copycat this month. She mimics EVERYTHING she sees us do, from facial expressions, to sounds, to actions. I’ve caught her fake yawning after I yawn, pretending to pull her hair into a ponytail, singing Jonah’s excavator song, and even tipping over while trying to balance on one leg to pitch a baseball like her brother. She continues to copy Jonah’s truck noises as she plays, and she squeals with excitement about the weather page in the newspaper (because it’s Jonah’s favorite thing to look at). She even copies hiccups and burps. If she hears us tell Jonah to stop doing something, she starts doing it. Nice.

She loves swinging in the backyard, and it’s not unusual for her to go straight to the back door right after she wakes up in the morning, signing ‘swing’. And luckily, the weather seems to have turned a corner and we’re getting more hours of nice sunshine for swinging and being outdoors, which she just loves. If she hears Sean and Jonah heading out to play and she’s not ready, she yells, “Uh oh!” and runs to get her shoes or jacket. The little sandtub has become a favorite of hers, too, and she likes to scoop and pour sand right along with Jonah. She also likes the slide and when I sit her up top, she’ll slide down all by herself and ask for more!

Nora’s also becoming quite the jokester, and her favorite one is to point at me and say “Mama… baby!” And then she and Jonah break into huge laughter about Nora saying that I’m a baby. But I guess that’s good because Nora loves babies. She also can’t get enough of playing her sneaky games where someone is popping out to surprise her.

She’s learning how to go down stairs safely, give kisses, ‘pretend eat’ play food, brush her teeth, and how to play baseball. She will put a ball on top of the tee, knock it off with the bat, and then run in circles. Sometimes she’ll even get one arm into her jacket by herself when she’s ready to go outside and she can usually take it off and try to hang it up when we come back in. She’s definitely our ‘neat’ kid who likes to put things back where they belong – laundry, toys, shoes, etc.

In terms of personality, Nora’s getting pretty adventuresome with her exploring.  She has no problem taking off on her own to check out parks, playgrounds, sidewalks, animals, etc.  She’ll climb and crawl through all kinds of stuff without caring.  It’s actually pretty sweet because Jonah will run after her and grab her shoulders to stop her if he thinks she’s going too far for comfort.  She also has some pretty good perseverance when she’s working hard to do something and keeps trying when she doesn’t get something on the first, second, or even third try.

This has also been the month of “Mama!”  When Nora wakes up in the morning, Sean usually goes in to get her, and I can hear in the monitor, “Mama!”  The few times I’ve run out to the store in the evenings (or take a shower), she has not been happy at all, apparently looking all around the house, calling for me while I’m gone.  But it’s not as if she doesn’t love the rest of her family, too, and she’s very generous with her hugs and snuggles these days.  What a sweetie!

So funny.

Thanks, Jonah. :)