So that I won't forget (and for your entertainment...)

I thought I would write down some funny things Norah has been saying/doing. This is mostly so that I can remember them, but I thought some of you (particularly the grandparents) might get a kick out of them, too.

This happened around Halloween: Norah was Cinderella this year, but we were talking one night at dinner about next year. Since Norah loves Curious George stories, I suggested that next year, she could be Curious George, and Daddy could be the “man in the yellow hat” (I thought it was a GREAT idea!). Norah looked at me in frustration and said, “No, Mommy. Daddy be Uncle Jim. Mommy be Auntie Alessia!” So, I guess it’s decided: next year, James will be Norah’s Uncle Jim, and I will go as my sister!

James has been away on business a lot this month, so Norah and I have been spending a lot more time together in the evening (that is usually when James plays with her). One evening, we were doing puzzles, and she was telling me all the names of the different birds in her bird puzzle. I asked her what her favorite one was, and she said the woodpecker. She asked me what Toucans eat, and I gave it my best guess (fruit loops?). Then, she looked at me and said, “Mommy, are we talking?” and I laughed and said that yes, we were. I guess she too was taken aback that we were having a conversation consisting of more than 1 or 2 sentences!

She has a toddler bible from Grandma and Grandpa Hemsley, and she has been into the stories in it lately. She has been wanting us to read it to her a LOT, and she takes it to bed with her to “read it in bed”. The other night, she wanted me to read from it, and so she started looking frantically through her bookshelf in the living room. Then she asked me in a worried tone: “Mommy, where’s God?” I asked her what she meant, and she repeated “Where’s God?” and then added: “Where’s my God book? My Bible?” And I told her it was most likely upstairs in her crib. She said, “Will you read God to me?” and I said yes! What a neat way to think of the Bible!

Along the same lines, on the way to get James from the airport after one of his trips, she was holding her princess balloon that she got for getting a flu shot (that’s another story altogether). We were just riding along on the way to the airport, and she said, very seriously, “Mommy, God’s not gonna take my balloon.” I agreed, noting that He probably has more important things on his agenda than plucking a 2-year-old’s Princess balloon from her hand!

The other day, we were having lunch, and she asked for chocolate milk, so I gave her some. Then, she took some sips and said, “Chocolate Milk is my favorite! What’s your favorite, Mommy?” I said I loved chocolate milk, too. I asked her what her babysitter Amelia’s favorite drink was, and, without missing a beat, she said, “Beer!” It makes me wonder what goes on when I am not home!

If Norah notices something remotely similar about she and I (i.e, we both have pants on), she says excitedly: “We match!”

Norah calls salad “leaves” and says when we are eating it: “I want some leaves, too!”

When I ask Norah what color her eyes are, she says without hesitation, “Purple!”

Some other things that I am surprised she knows about:
In the morning, “Mommy, I don’t want to watch the news”

A funny story:
One evening I was grading some student quizzes, and Norah kept asking me, “Mommy, what are you doing? Can I watch you?” I told her, “I am grading papers” and said sure, she could watch. Then, the phone rang, and I talked for about 5 minutes. When I came back, Norah was in my seat, holding my red pen, and had written all over about 6 of my students' papers. She looked at me happily and said, “I am grading, too!” I gasped, and she started to cry—she was only trying to be helpful. All I could do was laugh (and apologize to my students for the angry red marks all over their papers).

Well, I hope you have enjoyed these anecdotes. If you are bored stiff, sorry! This is as much for my benefit (I can barely remember my name on some days) as it is for yours!