Wow

Nora and Erin are giving us a run for our money.

Nora is coming into her own and asserting her independence constantly. Even as her vocabulary is expanding daily, she's frustrated by the things that she can't communicate and the things that we don't understand. She also continues to have a very short fuse and this all of this conflict is leading to a lot of tantrums. She's still working on ways to handle her frustration without hitting, biting, kicking or pulling hair. Realistically, she's got a ways to go. She's also of the awkward age when she needs two naps, but only will take one. And as I know that this is all totally appropriate for her age, but it's exhausting and I'm ready to move on.

She spends her day spitting out food, throwing food on the floor, throwing herself on the floor screaming, stealing toys, biting, and hitting. It's not that she doesn't have good times. She does better when Erin is at school. When she's happy, she's affectionate and funny. She loves to imitate us and wants to do all of the things that Erin is doing. She sings and chatters and plays with her farm animals. She loves to watch cars and trucks out the window. She packs up bags and waves "adios!" She can be absolutely delightful, but we're seeing so much of the other side that it's been really tough.

Erin is thriving at Zoom. She loves her teachers and seems to be getting along well with most of her classmates. She chatters constantly in Spanish and is starting to move from just saying nouns, to putting together full sentences. I knew it wouldn't take long, but she officially knows more Spanish that me. She's finally getting excited again about her numbers and letters. She showed me last week how to write a 5, "una linea aqui, una linea abajo y una panza." A line here, a line down and a belly!

On the flip side, she has been sick and whiny this last week. She's tired, but not sleeping well. On Saturday night she woke up every few hours and called out to me. Sometimes she needed something: a drink of water or a trip to the bathroom. But when she woke me at 4:30am, she called urgently, "MOM!" I rushed out to her bed and she asked me "do you think that it's going to rain today?" ARGH!!!

She's seems restless and unsettled. She wants an adult to play with her all day. When she can't have our attention by playing, she picks at Nora and instigates some of Nora's worst behavior. 

Like I said, Matt and I are needing an extra dose of patience these days. Unfortunately we've been struck by the sudden onset of the gloomy, rainy days here and are feeling blah ourselves. 

We are all in need of a dose of contentment these days. I'm hoping that getting out and about more this week will help.