Goings On...

Noelle is more and more like a little girl every day.  She is constantly surprising us and making us laugh (also she makes a mean mess).  

She recently has had fun with her ABC puzzles, and she is actually pretty good at them.  She probably gets more than half in the right spot and then doesn't need much help for the rest (we have to remind her to turn some letters so they fit, or show her where the "t" goes when she's trying to put it in the "f" spot).

For a few weeks we'd watch a few minutes of Lawrence Welk when it was on (Friday nights maybe?) because Noelle would try to dance like them and it was pretty cute.  I'm sorry we didn't get her tap dancing on camera.  It was cute.  She wasn't too interested in it this week so maybe she's had enough.


Noelle knows where the moss is on one side of our house and likes to check on it.  I honestly don't know that she knows what grass is.


Noelle is getting more coordinated all the time.  Last night we stopped at let her play at the mall play area for a while and she was so excited to "jump" off this little step.  Really she was just stepping off it (it was maybe six inches high), but she was so excited that she did it without falling or holding mom and dad's hand that she would clap every time she did it.  It was pretty cute.  I have to remember she only started walking a few months ago...it seems so much longer than that!


Noelle's hair is getting pretty long.  She sported her first braid in public today at church.  It was pretty cute, but a bit disheveled by the time we got there (from sitting in the car seat).

Noelle has a good memory (she must take after Corey there).  For instance one week she got fruit snacks ("snacks" in Noelle speak) and now any time we video chat she requests them.  She's not a happy camper when we say "no".  We're working on it.


Noelle likes organizing things (which is funny because she is also very messy).  She loves to pull movies off the shelf and stack them.  As well one of her favorite things to when mom is getting ready is take everything off the tub (shampoo, conditioner, etc) and rearrange it somewhere else in the bathroom--the toilet seat, the step/seat on the tub, etc.


Noelle loves her skunk puppet (we named "Daisy" because Grandma Darlene thought we were being to boring naming everything too literal--like her puppy is "Puppy").  She likes when Daisy snatches something from her hands or (we found out) smells something and makes a face because it's stinky.  The other night Daisy decided the rock (that Noelle dragged inside) was stinky and Noelle was laughing a lot.  Here's a clip we caught:

Chatter

Noelle's vocabulary is steadily growing.  Some words are pretty obvious (snacks, monkey, daddy, juice), some take some translating (bubboa=bubbles, parka=park, ninga-ninga=swing, juice=water in some instances).

One word I am proud that she is getting the hang of...is her name!  She doesn't say it all the time, but I caught a little clip of her pointing out herself on the computer.  If you weren't listening for "Noelle" you might think she's saying something else, but it's cute anyway:  

On another note Noelle had one of her firsts last night, on her hand.  I had the same first when I was 5 or so--to the face.  What am I talking about?  A cactus run-in.  Living in Arizona I expected this day would come eventually, but tried to avoid it (obviously).  The spines were tiny (it was one from our yard), but it still wasn't fun pulling them out with tweezers.  She did not like it.  After dinner and a fruit snack she was back to herself, thankfully.

Feeling Blue

Have you ever had one of those days?

Where you just feel blue and don't know why?

Today was one of those days...

Which is funny because I felt fine otherwise...it's was mostly my mouth and finger that felt funny.

Side note:  Mom was supervising the painting and doing the dishes.  Good thing Mom wasn't trying to pick up the house too, otherwise I'd look like my Aunt Christine who once colored herself blue from head to toe.

Belated Birthday Time

Yesterday I had a lovely birthday thanks to Corey, Noelle, and everyone else.  Corey hung around for most of the day (he usually studies on Fridays), so that was fun.  I got some fun gifts and am looking forward to finding some sweet things with some birthday money I received.  Corey's nervous to see what I bring home. 

We took Noelle to the park (or "parka" if you are using Noelle speak).  She loves loves loves the swing.  If they are taken she melts down and we have to go home, so luckily they were wide open yesterday.

Recently Noelle's hair has been long enough that I've been trying new things.  It's always in her face so I've been putting it in pony tails here and there.  I have to put it high enough that it doesn't bug her while sitting or laying down, so it's pretty peppy (but cute because it's Noelle).

We may have mentioned Noelle's favorite movies (or "mi-moui" in Noelle speak) is "Princess and the Frog".  It's getting a bit ridiculous.  She wants to watch it all the time (I try to limit it to once a day).  If we put the case away she walks around the house saying "mi-moui, mi-moui" while shrugging her shoulders as if to say "hey, where did you put it?".  She always double checks under the couch just in case it's there.  Other Disney movies just don't cut it.  She knows right away it isn't right (she likes to see the fireworks coming from the Disney castle).  She also loves that there is this tiny clip of Mickey mouse dancing before her movie starts and often goes looking for her mouse to hold before the show starts.

Dance Party

Noelle appears to enjoy Corey's music best.  

The other night (okay, a night weeks ago) we were getting Noelle ready for bed and Corey was browsing songs to a band that had been recommended to him (Elbow--this song may sound familiar, it's in PBS commercials).  Without prompting Noelle started dancing.  I grabbed the camera and caught the tail end, we thought it was funny:

Clean Sweep

Noelle has become fond of the broom and dust pan.  It's her little toy she loves to pull out and leave strewn about the floor.  At a recent eating out there was a worker sweeping the floor and when Noelle noticed she said "no no", which translates to "hey, he's playing with MY toy".

We were playing around with her one night and she was giggling pretty hard.  Here's a little clip:

Hiatus

It was recently pointed out to me that I have fallen off the wagon and haven't blogged in a while (thanks mom).

We had a lovely 2 weeks in Utah.  Christmas happened.  

Later we visited the lights at Temple Square.

Then we drove home in one fail swoop (talk about a long day!).

Obviously I skipped a lot and will need to back-fill later.  I have a few really cute videos I need to convert and upload, I will try to get those up this week.