i want to get back to blogging but perfectionism is jacking it up. So here's just some stuff. Notes I've had around. Stuff about these amazing girls who I get to share life with. Stuff.
November 3 2010. thirty-eight. It's really great. This birthday was one of my best birthdays ever. Probably THE best birthday ever. It was low key yet I was celebrated in so many ways. Wonderful.
20th class reunion. Nobody remembered my angst. And if they cared about my weight it couldn't be seen through their own set of problems. People were dumb. Geeks were nice. Populars were douches. Those who didn't come -- bigger douches or bigger chickens?
Things I love about Nora at age four: Nora has this place she refers to in most of her pretend play. It's called "Conuyet" I think it came about as a hybrid of Calliou and Calumet and sometimes California. She's used it for over a year. If anyone in a story is going anywhere, if she has to go anywhere, if she's FORGOTTEN to go somewhere, Conuyet (in my head, it's spelled much more exotically but I'm afraid to forget how she says it.
Another constant feature in her stories and pretend life are her 'bad boys.' She calls them 'my bad boys'. They came about when a boy at a park hit her and Nisey was living with us and got caught behind school with a boy who was smoking named David. Whenever David would call her, Joe would say, Oh, is that bad David? Oh the things her bad boys do! They're always needing time outs and are the answer to questions like, "Mom? You know who don't wike things that be good?"
Nora also has a 'brudder' in her pretend world. She talks about him constantly. When in the car we often hear, "Mom? Do you want to talk about my brother?" And so we do. His name is currently Eloise but that can change. His age definitely changes and so does whether or not he's still with the living. He is the subject of a majority of stories, paintings, and drawings. In fact, this week at parent teacher conferences we were looking at drawings and I said to the teachers, you know she doesn't have a brother, right? The one teacher tentatively said, "Well, yes... she told us he passed away..." We had a good laugh setting them straight. {there's a whole other story in here that i'll try to record some other time}
Nora is incredible with Birdy. She's so patient and seems to be able to roll with the challenges of having a toddler sister who wants to do everything she does. She shares to a degree that amazes me and when it comes time to clean up, she never differentiates whose mess we are cleaning. Another neat thing is that sometimes she can tell me what Birdy is upset about and she's absolutely right. Like in the car the other day, I said something like, Oh, Birdy, I'm sorry you're upset. Maybe you're getting tired. And Nora said, "No. She just wants to not be in the car anymore." And when we got home, that little Bird was SO happy to be out of her car seat and not a bit tired.
Nora told me the other day that she plans on being the girl Barack Obama.
She loves going to grandma's house with or without her aunties being home. She would pick a day with Grandma over almost anything with her poor old mama.
The other morning, I woke up looking for Nora because I had heard her about. She was out shoveling the fresh snow with Joe. It was 5:30 am. She is the hardest little worker. She mops, vacuums, shovels, rakes... and does it well.
She is such a lovebug lately. Snuggles and kisses and hugs are frequent and big.
At preschool, she has asked me not to follow her. She's insistent. This leaves me as the only mom who doesn't walk her child into the classroom. It doesn't matter how much she needs to carry in -- she manages on her own. I DO make her kiss me goodbye before we hit the hallway where she becomes completely independent. Along the same lines, the children have assigned seating in class. Nora has been at the 'red table' all year. The other day, she evidently requested a seat change to the blue table. The teacher allowed it. When I asked her why she had switched, she replied that the red table was boring her.
Nora is just learning to write her name. Many children in her class have written their names for some time now. I don't know if it's a left hand thing or what, but this stuff seems difficult for her and barely holds her interest. On the other hand, she has started doing addition on her fingers. One plus one, one plus two, etc. If she didn't look so much like me, I might doubt her maternal link. Update to this somewhat dated note: we talked about her writing her name with her teachers and they, too, have observed that Nora CAN write her name but just isn't interested in it. It was nice to hear that we don't have to force her and exciting to work with them to learn how to help motivate Nora or at least nudge her towards coerced self-motivation.
Nora is very generous and able to let go of things quite easily. At school, they collected money for an angel tree family, and Nora gave everything she has. She is also quick to suggest that we give away toys to someone who might like them more because they are 'old' to her or she has grown up. I often have to talk her out of giving away toys that I think she'll play with again.
I'll close this post with random FB statuses relating to Nora:
