Eleanor Douglas - ONE and A HALF YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!

Say "CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Another half birthday is here, My Girl!  The last time I did a big blog post about you (and STRICTLY YOU!) was at the end of April, so I figure we're due for another one!  Here it is:  Nory at age 18 MONTHS!!!!   

What is she like?

*  FRIENDLY.  She says hello to everyone we pass while we're out and about!  She is quite well known around the small town of Lakefield - making even the grumpiest of people smile with her sweet and innocent "HI!!!!!!!!"  She also has this ability to make everyone around her feel loved - even those she doesn't see too often :)  I'm thankful that she warms up quickly to others! 

Visiting with Great Grandma, who came all the way from Thunder Bay to visit us!!!

 *  BUSY.  It's not too often we get to sit and relax, although she has reached a point (PRAISE THE LORD!) where she's able to entertain herself with her toys for a few moments which gives us time to have a hot drink.
*  TOUGH.  She must have got this trait from Phil.  I've seen her fall many times by now and she is very good at getting right back up and continuing to play.  
*  AWARE.  She knows where we go to visit "cats" at the pet store and where the watering can is at the movie store so she can "water" all of the movies.  She knows when we pull up to our house or if we drive into Nana and Grandpa's.
*  A PEOPLE PERSON.  Nory is beginning to entertain herself here and there, but she will only do so if she knows you're in the room with her.  If you leave her alone in ANY room by herself, she usually stops what she's doing to find out what you're up to.  She was like this from day one - getting upset if we so much as walked a few steps to the kitchen when she was in the exersaucer or swing!  The girl likes her people NEARBY!  (And so does her Mommy).

Words she says: 

*  It seems her vocabulary has just exploded out of nowhere!  First it was a couple words here and there, but now it seems like there are new words coming every single day.  It's so exciting!  Her current vocabulary includes:  ball, bike, rock, toes, shoes, hot, cold, cat, woof, hop, go, Nana, babies, bubbles, clothes, juice, milk, night-night, hi, bye, Coco, turtle, come, car, home, no, yes, bite, bug, bag, hat, cake, block, uh oh....(I am probably forgetting some!)
*  She also says "wawa" for water, "toto" for toad, "guys" for sky, "book-a-boo" for peekaboo and "bope" for boat.
*  This just in:  PLEASE!  She says PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
  
Some of her favourite things:  

*  Bubbles - I just posted about how BUBBLES OBSESSED she is!

Bubbles in the rain.....

*  Dogs (or "woof-woof's" as she prefers to call them!) - We are lucky to live in a town with so many dogs and even luckier to meet dog owners who let us pet their dog and even hold the leash!
*  Babies  - she LOVES kids.  I blogged about how she calls all kids "babies" and it doesn't really seem to matter how big they are.  She finds joy with just about any age of "baby"!
*  Rearranging/organizing/hiding things under other things - something her Dad is thrilled about!
 *  Dancing - if the girl hears music, the girl starts dancing!  She has a few key moves including a bounce, hip shake (or "attitude" in her hips as we call it!), spinning in circles, and most recently, BREAK-DANCING!
*  Her favourite song right now is probably "Best Day Of My Life".  She likes to sing along with it and has been known to stop in public to dance and sing if she hears it (e.g. inside Old Navy at the mall!).
*  Swimming or anything else to do with "wawa".
*  Being outside and exploring the garden - picking up leaves, rocks, sticks and petals, smelling flowers, looking for toads....
*  COCO (Nana and Grandpa's dog).  This is often the first word she says when she wakes up in the morning!  It's also the person she blames when she does something she shouldn't!

Nory and Coco - BEST BUDDIES!!!!!!

Things she is NOT so fond of:  

*  Getting her nose wiped (but who is?!)
*  Putting on sunscreen (although she's getting better!)
*  Car rides (will this ever change?)
*  Dirt in her fingernails (we just recently bought her a nail brush for the tub!)

"Mom, can we just get back to the fun stuff PLEASE?!!!!!"

  
What Else? 

*  She's gotten much better when dealing with messy hands.  Nana and Grandpa taught her to "wipe it off" and she does this after falling.
*  She can point out all different body parts either on herself, someone else, on a toy or in a book:  eyes, nose, toes, tummy, belly button, ears, tail, mouth and hands. 
*  She can tell us which things are hot (the oven, mugs, candles, the steamer, the BBQ).
*  She's started to say YES more often than before.  (YESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!)
*  For some reason, she's started to call both her Daddy and I "Mom".  Whatever! 
*  My ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE THING she does is when she grabs our hand and says "come".  She won't be doing this forever so I feel it's smart to enjoy it now :)
*  She has 12 teeth and her eye tooth and molar on the top right side are just about to come through too!
*  Speaking of teeth, it seems she hasn't really got the hang of using them quite yet.  She still prefers to mush up her food using her gums and is quite known for being a "chipmunk" (storing her mushy food in her cheeks)!  She's also like me in the sense that she is more of a grazer - nibbling here and there, never really having any sort of large meal.  

I can't believe she was ever this tiny.  Here she is 1.5 years ago today!!!!  Our little blessing. XOXO

I think that is just about everything I can think of at the moment!  Nory is growing and changing so much every day and I'm happy to have this space to keep a running record of it all.  Our plan is to enjoy every last moment of her days as "the only child", but we are looking forward to watching her become a big sister in January!

We love you, Eleanor!  You are the brightest part of our life together.  XOXO