Nora 11 Months

Nora turned 11 months yesterday. We were hoping that she
would walk before Michael left, but no such luck. Hannah took her first steps the day after she turned nine months and was walking everywhere within a week. Michael missed that by 2 months during his first tour in Iraq. Nora is still just not interested in walking. I stand her up and let go and she just squats down and crawls off. She can hold my hand and toddle along, but she doesn't want to. She'd rather crawl. Even on the laminate floors. We've been joking that she'd start walking as soon as Michael left, so we'll see how long it takes.

Nora may not walk, but she does talk! She says: Hannah, Momma, Papa, cat, outside, night night, bye bye, banana, Grandpa, Nana, Oma, all done, eye, thank you, and amen. Along with a slew of other things that I can't understand and a handful that I'm forgetting.

Speaking of Nora's "Amen". . . She prays, too. At Bible time every night, she folds her hands with a big smile on her face while we're praying. And of course says, "Amen," at the end.

Nora's New Skills

Last week Nora started cruising and waving. She has also been crawling (as opposed to scooting) a lot more since she started cruising. And she is trying to climb up onto various things. She can nearly do a pull up on the back of our dining room chairs. If she succeeds, she'll pull the chair on top of herself.

She practises waving every chance she gets. Any time someone leaves a room, there's Nora, waving away. She also experiments with different waves: sometimes she'll wave with her whole arm, sometimes she does a little wrist flick.

Just today Nora started clapping. She's been trying to for a few days, but today she's finally put her hands together. She is so very right handed. When she claps she holds her left hand still and brings her right hand to it.

Yesterday we were visiting friends and Nora was fascinated with their cat. She petted it (with some help) and kept trying to grab its ear. She was also trying to say "cat." She's been trying to say "Hannah," too.

Nora stands!

Nora pulls up to standing!

I went to grab the laundry & came back to see Nora on her feet. Her first unassisted pull up. . . look how proud she is!

I'm afraid I'm going to have another 9 month walker. Except this time she's got big sister's things to get into! On the bright side, it looks like she'll start walking before Michael leaves.