On the happy, wonderful days when both girls have successful naps at the same time, Nora is usually the first one to wake up.

But oh, the fun we have when Quinn gets to “knock” on Nora’s door and Nora hurries to answer her pint sized summoner.

I was thrilled that I got this post nap reunion on record as it was particularly joyful. It’s a little shaky since I was trying to film with one hand and support Quinny in a standing position with the other. But I think you will still be able to feel the love.

Those teeny bottom teeth allow for the perfect way to pop the tops off those puffs.

We’re posting a few videos tonight to round out the year. Happy New Year!

One of the great things about being part of a large family is that sometimes the blog posts just write themselves. Here’s a video that Lauren’s sister Annie (Aunt Annie to Nora & Quinn) put together after a recent trip to the apple orchards.

Thanks, Annie!

It’s fall! It’s fall! I forgot how much fun fall is. Last year at this time, I was so preoccupied with packing and getting us ready to move back across the country that I feel like fall passed us by. And it’s such a great season. The leaves are so pretty and the weather is cooler and I start seriously craving cinnamon. Our little munchkins are growing into slightly bigger munchkins.

Nora Praise:

~ She still pronounces her name “Nah Nah” and since she is the person with whom I spend the most hours conversing, guess what? I sometimes call her Nah Nah now too. I’m not sure I can stop. So if you hear that one slip out, whoops. (She pronounces her full name as Nah Nah Pays Teague.)

~ She leaves out the preposition ‘for.’ “Here go, Mommy, this you.” “Wait me, Daddy!”

~ Oh, Little Bear. I could probably write a whole post on ways Little Bear has influenced Nora’s vernacular. Whenever we go for a walk, she will pause every few steps to ask “Are we still going the right way?” It’s something Little Bear asked Cat when they were on a walk and she loved it. How ironic that she’s inadvertently asking a very valid question, given my Superhero Power?

~Another LB: One character on LB uses a walking stick. So now, in any natural setting, Nora selects a walking stick which she proudly holds in her hand and generally prizes as a beloved, precious object for the entire walk. However, there are two problems with her walking sticks: one- she generally chooses very small sticks which are incredibly fragile. The other- she brings the walking sticks home, forgets about them, casts them aside for other playthings, only to remember her highly regarded twig after finding it in decimated pieces on the floor. Then she sobs and wails, “Oh, REMY! That was my WALKING STICK!” This has happened twice now and almost a third time before I remembered to hide her latest stick from our oh-so-eager-to-chew dog.

~ Anytime we are driving and point something or a place out to her, her immediate question is, “Can I go see it?” Every. Single. Time. On our drive to Savannah, she must have requested to see 50 different objects/places.

~ Anytime we are see an interesting place on tv or in a book, she asks, “Can I go there?” It can be Cinderella’s castle, San Francisco, the moon. Doesn’t matter if it’s near, far, real or imaginary. She wants to go there.

~ She’s started writing scribbles. When asked, “What does that say?” she almost always answers “I love you, Quinny.”

~ Read carefully, people, this one is important. All of us are now divided into two groups. There are “Very Nice” People and “Not Very Nice” people. You do not, I repeat, do NOT want to find yourself on the wrong side of that line. It is hard going to find your way back. “Mommy, is she very nice?” “Daddy, those guys not very nice.”

~ The bonus is, if you are deemed “Very Nice,” then you are decidedly not a Scary Monster. “Mommy, is that girl nice?” “Yes, she’s very nice.” “She’s very nice? She’s not a Scary Monster.”

~Nora is not one to think long and hard about a name. All of her small stuff animals/dolls are Baby ____. Baby Panda Bear, Baby Polar Bear, Baby, Other Baby (She has two baby dolls.) We recently got her two tiny frogs that she absolutely insisted on calling Baby Frogs. Collectively. Trying to explain to her that there are two frogs and we can name one frog Baby and the other one a n y t h i n g else did not work. “Their name Baby Frogs.”

~ She has this filler word that I can’t quite pronounce. It’s like, zeh zeh zeh or stha stha stha or something. It’s the equivalent of “um.” If you go back and listen to her singing Old MacDonald on the Sing Along with Nora video (you know, in all your free time) you can hear it.

~ She is going through a serious nature phase here. She LOVES collecting anything from outside. She brings in twigs, leaves- both green and shriveled brown, flower petals, pinestraw- if it’s in our yard, it’s been in the house. It’s also her way of showing she likes you. So if she brings you a dead, crumpled leaf, you’ve been accepted.

Quinn Abigail

~ Quinn is most likely the most pleasant person I have ever woken up. She will be in a deep sleep that we will have to interrupt to take her somewhere and all she does is squint, cover her eyes, and break out into a grin.

~ If she’s already awake and ready in her crib, she starts kicking with excitement as soon as she discovers you are headed her way. “THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME, EVER!”

~ She is super interested in anything that is playing on the television. She pays equal attention to Barney, Toy Story, and CNN. Should your head be in the way, she leans way over to the side to get a better view.

~ Quinny’s really into touching faces.If you are within arm’s length of her, she holds up her little padded hand and starts stroking your cheek. It makes you feel cherished.

~ Along with a better grasp using those tiny hands has come the Klepto phase. This morning I opened a sock drawer and she somehow swiped a pair of socks out before I could. She’s getting very fast, that one. It’s a little stressful when she gets a good hold of anything containing liquid. I have to figure out how to get it out of her little Kung Fu grip without spilling everywhere.

~ She just figured out how to go from a sprawling position to a sitting position. But late at night, she can’t remember how to lay back down. Last night I went to check on her after hearing her whimpering for a few minutes. I found her sitting in bed, sniffling, half asleep and slightly swaying in exhaustion.

~ Quinn’s a Remy fan, just like her sister was. She giggles uncontrollably whenever she gets to pet him.

~ She’s also a huge Nora fan. I don’t know if anyone can make her laugh like Nora can.

~ She’s been working on this latest skill for awhile…

A few months ago, right around the start of the Southern summer storms, Nora was getting really nervous about thunderstorms. Seattle rarely experiences thunder, so she wasn’t used to loud storms. One night she was practically trembling with fear as a storm rolled through. The story of Jesus calming the storm came to our minds. We told her about the time Jesus told his friends not to be afraid of a storm because he was with them.

Then we found the illustrated story in her Jesus Storybook Bible. (It’s for kids, technically, but I would seriously recommend it to anyone. I absolutely love the approach this version takes and it has completely changed the way I think about Christmas and Easter. But I digress.)

A few weeks later, as we were driving to Birmingham to visit family, we drove right into a loud, fairly intense thunderstorm. Nora was crying (“I don’t like the rain so much”) so we reminded her of the story and how Jesus was in charge the whole time and he told his friends not to be afraid. Moments after we got to the part where Jesus told the rain to go away, we passed through the last of the rain of our storm. Nora looked out the window with wonder. “Jesus made rain go away?” It was such a grace that she was able to connect the story with a real experience.

And an obsession was born. Nora wanted to read and reread this story in her book. The actual writing is a bit above her head, so we paraphrased. Many a time she retold her version of the story to us. She was overjoyed when she realized a mini illustration from the story was included on the cover. “Mommy! Ook! Thunder booming!”

I was finally able to get one of those retellings on camera and I’m so glad we have it. One of my favorite details is that one of the pages is torn as a result of countless turns.

Without further ado, Nora will now retell her version of Jesus Calming the Storm. (I did my best on the subtitles, but I’m not sure I got them all right. You’ll get the idea.)

Here a song, there a song, everywhere sing a song! Nora has been all about singing songs lately. Sing along to some of her current favorites.

As we’ve mentioned, Nora has reached the age where she’s really starting to talk more. She’s also mimicking and paying very close attention to what we say. Sometimes we understand, sometimes we’re not sure what she’s trying to say. And sometimes she misunderstands what we say. It all makes for some stories:

A few weeks ago, we went to Birmingham to visit newlyweds Ashley and Kemble and also Uncle John, Aunt Katie, and their kids. Aunt Katie had suggested taking all the kids to the zoo. To get Nora excited about this, I explained that a zoo is kinda like Noah’s ark. There are all kinds of animals everywhere to look at. That was my main point. But I didn’t realize what Nora had pictured until it was almost time to leave and she kept asking, “Go see Noah’s ark, Mommy?”
“Well, the zoo is like Noah’s ark. There are a lot of animals.”
“Go see Noah’s ark?”
“Um, there isn’t actually an ark. There’s no big boat. Just all the animals.”
“Noah’s ark, Mommy?”
“Um…Hey, look at that bird over there!” (Sometimes it’s best to simply distract. I have a 50% success rate.)

Nora has a very hard time remembering the name of the color orange. She almost always guesses that something orange is yellow. So now if she sees something orange and I ask her what color it is, she says, “It’s not yellow.”

When I’m driving and have to make a sudden stop, Nora says, “Oh, gosh!” Oops. My bad….

The other day we were in the car and she said, “Go to pack, Mommy?”
“You want to pack?”
“No, go to pack.”
“You want something back?”
“No, pack.”
“You want to do what now?”
I think she actually sighed and said, “Playground, Mommy!”
“Oh, you want to go to the park.”
Head nod. With an expression of “What have I been saying for the past minute?”

Driving in the car on a hot day.
“Mommy, rocks hot.”
Rack the brain, rack the brain….
“The rocks are hot?”
An unconvincing “Yes…”
“Yes, the rocks are hot. You have to be careful when it’s so hot outside. That’s why we wear shoes.”
“Mommy, at pool. Rocks hot.”
“OH. At the pool, Uncle Rex was hot?”
“Yes!”
It’s true. Uncle Rex and Aunt Tiffany said they had to leave soon. Uncle Rex had stated that he was, indeed, hot.

“Mommy, can I have bowny?”
“You want to watch Barney?”
“No, a bowny.”
(Think, think…Toy Story 3?) “Bonnie?”
Run and point to a filled tupperware container on the counter. “A bowny!”
“Oh!” (Pause to word carefully so that it doesn’t sound like an offer…) “You are asking for a brownie, but it’s breakfast time.”
Communication successful.

We were in the driveway when Josh pulled in from work the other night. Nora ran up to him.
“Daddy, at! At!”
“Hat?”
“No, Daddy, at!” Then she put her hands up around her face, hunched her shoulders and said, “Meow!”
“Oh, you saw the cat!” (Our neighbors have a black cat. Nora’s a huge fan.)

At some point, I must have told Nora she had to wear shoes so the bugs wouldn’t bite her feet. She brings this up every. single. time I tell her we are putting her shoes on. “So the bugs won’t get my feet.” Even when we are going somewhere indoors. It doesn’t even make sense that I said that – she’s been wearing sandals all summer. Oh, well.

Remember how Nora used to say “nana” when she wanted something? (We think she was saying ‘want a.’ and got it from when we would ask her, “Do you want a _____?”) Lately I’ve noticed “nana” creeping back in very subtly. She puts a n’ in front of whatever she wants. If she wants Josh, she’ll cry “Naddy!” Yogurt is “nogurt!” and Caillou is “Naillou!”

Similarly, but in an opposite kind of way – Nora has started saying “Ina” when she actually means “I don’t want to.” You have to listen very carefully or everyone gets frustrated.
“What would you like for a snack? Some yogurt?”
“Ina yogurt, Mommy.”
“Ok, here’s the yogurt.”
“Ina yogurt, Mommy.”
“I know. Here it is.”
“Ina yogurt, Mommy!”
And so on until I finally remember she has actually been saying, “I don’t want a yogurt,” the whole time.

As I continue to become versed in Toddler Talk, it’s nice to know there’s at least one person around here who gets it and is right there with Nora.

(Also, since I think I would be a little concerned if I saw this video, know that originally, Quinn was in her bumbo on the floor. When she started laughing at Nora, I moved it up to the table to make it easier to catch the moment on camera. I don’t usually let her hang out on top of furniture. So if that helps you enjoy the video a little more- there you go.) =)

I told Josh that I think I will always look back on this summer as being such a special season for us. We have loved reconnecting with family and friends and doing all the summer things, like going to the “big pool,” grilling out, putting some finishing touches on the playroom, and breaking out the baby toys all over again. Nora is at such a fun age where she’s really starting to talk and reveal what’s going on in her head. Quinn is a happy little camper who has charmed all of us.

Some of the things I want to remember:

• Quinn has become “Quinny.” I think Ally, her two year old cousin, is the one who really picked up this one and started running with it. Nora followed and it’s reached the point where today I said, “Good morning, Quinn!” and Nora helpfully added, “Ny.”
• Nora wants to include Quinn(y) in everything. She brings her books, necklaces and dress up clothes. The other day Nora tried on a new dress up outfit. After hearing our accolades of her beauty and princesslike appearance, she said, “Go show Quinny!” and flitted out of the room. She ran all the way to Quinn’s swing and proudly showed her outfit with a “See, Quinny?” to her baby sister who was completely asleep and motionless the whole time.
• Speaking of beautiful princesses, Nora and I watched some of the Royal Wedding highlights. So now all brides are Princess Brides. I’ve decided not to correct this misnomer. All brides should feel like princesses. Also, since Nora was a flower girl (along with cousin Faith!) in Uncle Kemble and Aunt Ashley’s wedding, all princesses are flower girls, the epitome of being girly and fancy. So brides=princess brides and actual princesses= flower girls. Hope that’s clear. =)
• Quinn likes to kick her legs up as she falls asleep. In unison, like a mermaid, a few times and then she’s good to go drift off.
• Nora hands us things and says, “Here go, phone, Mommy.” If she doesn’t know the word for what she’s giving us, she says, “Here go, Daddy, this.”
• Nora has started telling us she loves us! It melts our hearts every time. The especially fun thing is that since she’s said it as a returned statement so often, she adds “too.” So without me saying it first, she’ll come up and give me a hug and say, “I love ya, too, Mommy.” The fact that we love her is assumed- rightly so. =)
• Nora has watched Little Bear almost exclusively for months. When we were in the hospital after Quinn was born, my mom said she wasn’t quite herself unti she’d gotten her Little Bear fix in the morning. Josh and I have enjoyed pointing out the Canadian accents on the show when they say words like “soary” instead of “sorry” and “abowt.” I was a little concerned that these would also become Nora’s pronunciations.
• One day last week, Nora was watching Caillou. I tivo’d a few shows. (In the past, she might watch a different show a few times but always goes back to Little Bear. Well, she’s been on a Caillou kick the last few days. Hooray! A break from Little Bear, of which I have seen every. single. episode! Then I heard it. “Mommy, can I go to Cementine’s howse?” What? What?! A quick Google search (you know it!) and yes, it seems that Caillou is also produced in Canada. So there you go- Nora wishes she was Canadian.
• Quinn has started gumming her hands. It makes her look like she’s concentrating really hard.
• Nora doesn’t like it when Quinn is sleeping. If Quinn is sleeping in the room, Nora drifts over and starts saying hello to her or swings her swing with a little too much pizazz to guarantee she’ll wake up. “Nora, don’t wake up Quinn.” I’m usually too late by the time I notice this is happening. “Quinny wake now!” she will inform me happily. Well, yes, now she is.
• Which is part of the reason for why we moved Quinn into her own room for naps and at bedtime. Although I must say, Josh and I were both a little sad for this milestone. (“She doesn’t need us anymore!” We may have exaggerated.) So now Nora looks for reasons to go into Quinn’s room. Today’s excuse was to put a toy where it belongs. Not just any toy- the xylophone. I heard Quinn’s door open, started to tell Nora no, then heard a thump followed by several off key notes. Nora realized the mission failed as Quinn continued to snooze and shut the door with dignified resignation.
• As soon as we leave someone’s house, we are not in the car before Nora asks when we will see them again. “More Tiffany, Rex?” Same if someone comes to visit us. Including the plumber who installed our sink. She couldn’t remember his name, so she sadly watched as he left asking, “More guy?”
• Nora loves it when Quinn is on the floor and in reachable space. “Tummy time!” she’ll say happily. (Although I’m really bad about following through with Tummy Time and she’s usually on her back. But if she’s on the floor= Tummy Time to Nora.) She’ll flop right down next to her and hold her hand and curl up alongside her.

• Nora has just started singing along to songs. She only knows key words, usually the ones that are the most drawn out. But I love it. My favorite lyric of hers is to the Quinn song Annie included on the video she made for us. Nora sings “Maaaaake it!” during the chorus.
• Quinn has just started to chuckle. It may only be an extreme form of cooing, but for now we’re going with calling it her laugh.

And finally, should you end up babysitting Nora and she asks to watch something, allow me to provide a list of her frequent requests and their translations:

• “Woody Andy Andy” – Toy Story 2. In one of the first scenes, Woody has a nightmare that Andy is throwing him away. “No, Andy, no! Andy! Andy!”
• “Woody Choo Choo” – Toy Story 3. The opening action sequence takes place on a train.
• “Woody Stuck” – The outtakes on Toy Story 2, including one where Woody sits on a roll of tape and gets stuck.
• “Brr” – Little Bear
• “Tistmas New” – the most recent Christmas home movie, a la Aunt Annie
• “See See See” (accompanied with a gesture of holding her two hands up and pushing them out) – Grandpa’s Magical Toys, where they sing A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea while playing patty cake

And most recently, today, my new favorite request- Nora wanted to watch Barney. To help me understand her request, she held both her arms in at the elbow and flapped her arms around, to help recreate Barney’s little T Rex arms. I tried to recapture this impression with this video:

(Wanted to make sure this one didn’t get lost in all the Picture of the Days, so I’m featuring it on the front-page now.)

Our daughters are blessed to have a lot of special people in their life. And last night we received a really precious video made by Aunt Annie (Lauren’s sister) that celebrates Quinn’s birth and homecoming. Thank you, Annie. So far you are 3 for 3 in making our eyes well up at the enjoyment of this video.