busy busy busy!

We've had a very busy month! Beth was sick for the better part of November, ending with 8 days of high fever, which fortunately broke right around Thanksgiving. Shortly after that, we caught a stomach virus. Nora got it first, then I got it about 3 days later and Beth got sick almost a week after Nora. Luckily, it was only one bad night for each of us, but Beth really didn't need to be sick again.

We've been spending the past few weeks keeping busy. On Thanksgiving weekend, we did the Nashua Holiday stroll and had a blast. We also had Nora's Advent Spiral of Light, which was beautiful. I spent the majority of the time in the hallway outside the room playing with Beth, but fortunately Nora was the first child to make the trek through the spiral!

Beth is now (just over) 16 months old. She's doing wonderful. Loves to stack and unstack cups, blocks and coasters. She enjoys her sorting cube and loves racing up and down the hallway playing chase - especially with her sister. She has had a word explosion recently. Some of her words are "there-she-is," "I-want-that," banana, strawberry, cup, plate, coat, hat, shoes, nose, please, thank-you, more, daddy, No-wah, help, more, up, potty, poop, chicken, book and purple. I didn't write most of them the way she pronounces them, but strawberry sounds more like barburry and chicken sounds a lot like shichen.

Nora continued to be a wonder. She loves Bluebell, but has made it very clear that she doesn't like school. It took us a while to figure out, but she calls her original preschool "school" and clearly isn't interested in going back. We are touring 2nd Nature Academy after the new year and will need to decide soon whether she'll continue at Bluebell or if we'll switch her to the closer preschool program! Nora has really explode in her imaginative play, which I believe is partially due to her time at Bluebell and partially because she's now 3. She loves to dress up, dress (and especially undress) her babies and goes on all sorts of adventures in the house. She'll get on her horse and ride out to fairy land or the grocery store and then she'll come home.

3 Year Well Child Visit

We had Nora's Three Year Well Child Visit. She is still doing very well and is growing into qute the little girl. Similar to a year ago, she is right around average for height and weght.

your child is 33 pounds, and that is
at the 69th percentile for weight.

your child is 37.5 inches, and that is
at the 54th percentile for height.

While we were at the Dr's office, we also had Beth checked out. She had a high fever and was just miserable all day Friday. She surprised the nurse with how high her temp was and managed to pee all over me while the nurse took her vitals. Unfortunately, I think this was a bit traumatic on both kids. Beth nursed for the remainder of the visit and Nora would not leave her daddy's side! Beth did have an ear infection, so we began to treat that. Hopefully, both kids will be healthy for Thanksgiving this year!

The 'totty'

I don't know why, but I find it totally funny how Beth gets on the potty.

Preschool update!

We decided to switch Nora to the Bluebell nursery program at Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, NH. It's 3 days a week- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) from 8-noon and the kids spend a lot of time outside! I think the 4 hour blocks are still a bit rough for her and she's exhausted by Wednesday afternoon, but she really enjoys going! The first few weeks were tough - I was doing the drive both ways and poor Beth got stuck in the car a lot. Luckily, Nora has a friend who lives nearby and her mother is driving Nora to Bluebell in the morning, so we just have to pick her up. She is a totally different child since starting. I don't know if it's because she's 3 or because she's happy in school, but I'll take it! We still have our challenging days though. I've modified my afternoon plans to accomodate for a tired Nora. She won't nap after Bluebell, but we do a quiet activity together and then play outside or do some cooking for a bit.

I'm really enjoying my mornings with Beth and afternoons (while Beth naps) with Nora. It's been great to have some special time with each child. I do often wish I could have an afternoon respite, but the kids will only be this age once, and I'm going to do my best to enjoy it!

Some photos

While Beth was napping, Nora and I went outside and played in the leaves. We also bagged up a bunch of them!








While Nora was in school, Beth enjoyed some freeze dried strawberries. She enjoyed them!

Walking!

Beth started walking on Nora's 3rd birthday, but over this past weekend really decided that she wanted to be walking. The fun begins...Beth can chase Nora AND have her hands free!

Nora is 3!

Wow! Where did the time go. I can't believe that Nora is 3 years old! She's really turning into quite the little girl. Clever, sweet and very independent, every day is an adventure in this household! Nora has been potty trained for a few months now. She still occasionally has accidents when she's overtired or being stubborn, but overall she's done great! She still wears a pullup at night because sometimes she'll wake up wet, but she's dry many mornings!

She loves preschool, but will tell you that it's not preschool, it's just Bluebell if you ask her about it! Nora loves to do crafts - painting, play dough, cut and paste, you name it! She loves helping in the kitchen. In fact, she often insists on helping in the kitchen and will ask to bake every day! She's pretty good with her kid safe cutter and will help chop carrots, squash, potatoes!

Nora still loves reading. She would let us read to her all day if we let her! Some of her current favorites include Pumpkin Soup, Strega Nona, We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Miss Rumphius. She has most of her favorites memorized and will "read" them to Beth, which is really sweet.

Nora spends as much time as possible outside. She's still a bit nervous on her bike (she's still a bit short for it too), but she loves her trike and loves going for walks and hikes. She's really a workhorse and will help plant bulbs, rake leaves and pick up acorns. She's already asking about winter and building snow people!

Nora's third birthday weekend!

We had a wonderful, but busy weekend to celebrate Nora's 3 year old birthday. We went to Brookdale on Friday, then the Milford Pumpkin Festival and a friends 4 year old birthday party on Saturday and we had Nora's party on Sunday!

We started the weekend off with a fall. Nora took a digger at her friends house, just as we were leaving from a playdate. The photo doesn't do the actual injury justice, but she was no worse for the wear.


On Friday, Nora was having a hard day. She hadn't slept well and was just out of sorts. Andy ended up coming home from work a few hours early and we went to Brookdale Fruit Farm as a family. We had a blast!

Beth had a great time "directing traffic" while sitting in a tractor!

Both kids enjoyed sitting on the antique tractor at Brookdale.







Family photo on Hayman!

Nora was pointing out that Hayman has a green nose.


On Saturday morning, we went to the Milford Pumpkin festival. We didn't stay too long, but Nora painted a pumpkin and we went on the Storybook walk, which is a great friendly trail for preschool ages kids. There was magic in the woods!

Nora waiting for the gnome to come and take us through the woods.



Nora receiving a necklace from Mother Martha.


Nora and Beth outside at a friends birthday celebration. Such a great afternoon to be outside!



I made Nora's birthday cupcakes. It was my first year making her birthday cake, and I think I may have set a mighty high bar for the future! I was quite pleased with how the cupcakes came out.

Andy's mom once again helped us make the window look pretty!

Cupcakes all set up for everyone too see!

Happy Birthday to Nora!

Mmmmm

Camping!

We went camping for my dad's birthday this year. It was the first camping trip of the "summer" and the first time we went with two kids! We had a great time. Nighttime is still a bit of a challenge. Nora was afraid to be in the tent alone, so she stayed up with us. The first night, we went to bed pretty early and she did ok. The second night, she was really tired and just kept moving around. When she finally sat down, on Danielle's chair, she literally fell asleep within minutes sitting up. I'm hoping my dad got a good photo of it that I can post later. I think Andy and I may need to think about investing in a different tent. We like ours, and it may work for another year or two, but as Nora and Beth grow, we may need a bit bigger footprint!

It was a great weekend for camping. Warm and sunny, but cool at night. We could not have asked for a better camping weekend! We brought both kids into the Canoe. Beth was a bit nervous in it unless I was holding her up so she could easily see over the boat. Nora had a good time and ended up going for a short ride with just daddy. As usual, we made breakfast burritos (a camping favorite - although I'm not sure why we don't make them any other time!), ate S'mores and enjoyed being outside!

One of Beth's favorite things while we were camping was climbing from one chair to another. She even caught herself a few times when losing her balance!



Andy went out on the canoe alone and paddled while standing in the middle!


Enjoying time on the beach!




Nora decided that our "toy bin" was a good seat at the campsite!






Some fun while getting ready for the camping trip. We set up our tent to try and figure out how we'd get all four of us in. We also brought the kids tend and tunnel outside. They had a blast crawling through it! Nora also loved the big tent and was very excited to get to have a chance to look around inside!

Preschool!

Nora started preschool on Monday. The first day was a bit tough for everyone. The dropoff didn't go well, and Nora was pretty unhappy. I spoke with the teacher, and after speaking with the school director, we were able to arrange a way to work towards a more peaceful dropoff for Nora on Wednesday. I was amazed at how much better it went. Nora seemed to be much better. I think Nora needed to see me enter the classroom in order for her to know that it was a safe space. Walked in once, said goodbye, and now (a week later) I open the door and she runs in! Back to my independent little girl who waves at mommy while she runs off with her friends.

Of course, on Thursday, I found out that there is a space open at the Pine Hill Waldorf nursery program. This program was my first choice, but due to the lengthy drive and the $$ we had decided not to commit. Especially since Nora wasn't potty trained and seemed so young last March when we needed to make the decision. Now, she seems so much bigger and she is potty trained. It's still a bit more $ than we'd like to spend, but I think in the long run Nora will blossom at Pine Hill. It's such a wonderful program - they play outside nearly every day, even on the colder days, which is perfect for my little naturalist! We have tried asking Nora and get a blend of answers. First, it was Bluebell, then no school, then bluebell. Now, it's Chapel school or no school and I'm sure tomorrow will be bluebell or chapel school as her answers. The next few weeks should be interesting!