22 months old!

"I'm 22 months old!!!"

Our little lady turned 22 months on January 6. That means the big T W O in 2 months!!! Time flies when you're havin' fun! :)

Well, FUN is definitely the perfect word to describe Norah Kate. She is so intelligent and creative. I love to see what she comes up with each day.

Here are some stats:

Height: ??? I always forget to check

Weight: 26lb 7oz (at Mondays doctor's visit)

Eats: EVERYTHING! Her favs are - bananas, chicken, and anything that can be dipped. She really just likes to eat the dip by itself. Ha ha!!!

Drinks: Water or "agua," juice and milk

Diapers: SOMETIMES! She has be using her potty for awhile now. We have recently been trying to let her go without a diaper while we are at home and she's done pretty well. I bought her some big girl panties today and well...she pooped in them within the first 5 min of wearing them. However, after that we had a talk (because she seemed very confused at what had happened) and she did much better tonight. Now, don't get me wrong...we are not pushing her by any means, but we figure we can go ahead and start some of this now and hopefully it will make it easier later. But...her diaper size for when we are out or during naps is a size 4.

Vocabulary: She will repeat anything that is said. Most words are still hard to understanding. She is starting to put word combinations together. For example: everyday when we leave the house she has her same routine = "Bye Ula" (Bye Chula...the dog), "Good Gul" (Be a good girl), "be back!" (We'll be back)

Skills: anything and everything. Running, jumping, climbing, doing the "splits," Dancing

Good Stories: 1) The other night I was getting her ready for bed and I said we needed to change her diaper. I had a new box of diapers sitting beside us. All of a sudden NK ran out of the room yelling "Biper! Biper! (meaning "diaper")...Mease ("please") Biper!" I had NO CLUE of what she was up to, but I just decided to sit and wait. About 30 seconds later she comes back into the room with the NAIL CLIPPERS. She opened the smooth end (that your thumb rests on) and attempted to cut the tape on the box to open the diapers. After a couple of tries I asked if she needed help and she said yes, so I then opened the box for her. Ha ha!!! How in the world did she think to do that. I don't know that we've ever opened something with the clippers!

2) The other morning I was trying to get NK ready and I was get close to be running late for work. NK has had a hard time obeying when we ask her to "come here." After (literally) about 10 minutes of arguing with her and basically trying to be nice because it was first thing in the morning, I finally just said "Okay Norah Kate, you are not obeying Mama, and so you have to get a spanking." I proceeded to get a wooden spoon out of the kitchen. When I returned I gave her 2 light swats on the bottom (now, keep in mind that she had a saturated diaper and fleece pajamas, so she probably (honestly) did not even feel the swats). Of course she cried, but was more obedient after that. Well, after she got dressed and we were about to leave the room she said "Mama - poon (spoon)." I said "Oh, I need to put that up." She said yes and ran out of the room. When I entered the kitchen with the spoon she was standing by the trash can holding the lid open!!! She said "poon!" and pointed into the trash can. Ha ha! She wanted to make sure it was gone for GOOD! (*Note: I did not throw away my good wooden spoon)

Extra Info: After 2.5 months of a continuous ear infection (both sides much of that time), we received a "Clear Ears" report on Monday. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's hoping we don't have to go through THAT again!

Here are a few pics (thanks to David) of Norah Kate's snow day. I was at work, but David was with NK because he did not have to go in today. Now that I am seeing these pictures I realize why she kept saying "eat" when I asked if she played in the snow!

Chula enjoyed the snow as well!

Adoption update: We FINALLY got our home study report in the mail TODAY!!! Our plan is to send off for our I-600A form tomorrow. Please continue to pray for us through this. We are getting down to the tedious work and it always seems that there are things missing when we are trying to receive something, mail something, etc. We are ready to have our paperwork completed and mailed!!!