God Made Everything & Adam and Eve

The last couple weeks have been busy but Norah and I have enjoyed getting back into our "school." Norah is such an absolute pleasure. Every day I think, I need to write down what she said/did today - I don't want to forget all the cute things she does!

we didn't do much trick or treating, but we did get her dressed up!

We learned more about how God made everything, and took some extra time to talk about how He made animals, plants, and then people. Today we also talked about numbers a little (my thought was using the 7 days of Creation as a theme). I have stayed away from intentionally doing numbers or letters with her, because I think she's too young. I sing the ABC's with her and we are always counting (which she has now mastered counting 1-10, big progress for her!) She recognizes symbols being letters, but I just don't think at 2 she's ready to start studying letters yet. However, today I tried the numbers 1, 2, and 3. I just wanted to see how she'd react. I took out big number flash cards, had her count the pictures, and matched plastic numbers to the cards. I also had her count out beans for each number. She counted very well, but matching the actual number to the amount is definitely above her head now. So I didn't worry about it, and we just colored instead. :)

the neighborhood cat's visits are always a highlight when we go outside to play

One thing I started being more intentional about this week, thanks to my mom's advice, was starting her with more little chores. She is now helping me sort the clean silverware from the dishwasher, putting them where they belong in the silverware tray. She loves doing this. She also holds the dustpan for me when I sweep. She loves taking dry clothes out of the dryer too - she always pretends to fold them. She has to basically crawl inside to take them out!

Another thing, a principle from Babywise that I love, that I started back up on with more intensity this week, was her individual playtime in her room. I worked on this with her as a baby (in a playpen when she was younger), but as we moved and lived with people I stopped. She can play alone happily when she wants to, but most of the time she wants me to be with her, playing with her - with my full attention. I am realizing that I need to teach her this is not always possible, and, especially with a new baby coming, I need her to be content to play in her room by herself for a while. Thankfully she is very obedient, so she did well this week. The first day she made it half an hour. She came out a few times looking for me, and whimpered when I took her back to her room. One time I walked by and she was just laying on her floor. Finally she got up and played with her toys! Today I worked her up to 35 minutes. My goal is 45 minutes. I tell her I will come and get her with a treat/or to do something special (like go outside together) when it is time for her to be done.

this is what you'll find Norah doing 90% of her day. She loves to read!

For the Adam and Eve story, I took out her lego and Little People toy animals and people, and set them out to tell her the story. She seemed to enjoy that and really paid attention. Today, she opened the Bible story book and told the stories back to me. She really understood so much! She told me how God made everything - flowers, mountains, animals, Adam and Eve. Then she said God told them to No, No eat the fruit! but they did. I was really impressed with her comprehension and memory. We are talking a lot too about how even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God wants to forgive them.

don't you love her "cheese" face?