The Gren Rises

It all happens so fast. Life just keeps on propelling me and my family through the days, weeks, and months that have elapsed since last I posted out here. Norah just keeps growing and changing on a daily basis. She barely resembles the baby pictures I last shared. However, the good news about being away for so long is that I get to saunter in with exciting news.

First of all, the backlogged tidbit that many of you already know. Norah is preparing herself for her new role as big sister. Her baby brother is expected to join in the family hubbub sometime in late November. Moonshot and I are rushing around in an attempt to get the house ready for the neglect it will suffer in the months following the arrival of the child we are temporarily calling Nugget. We’re unpacking and organizing boxes that we’ve been ignoring since we moved last year. We’re painting walls and generally making the house our own after all this time since we know it will never get any easier than right now.

For her part, Norah is excited but a little confused about the logistics of it all. Last night as Moonshot read her a story, she asked to look in her Mommy’s mouth. Moonshot obliged with a doctor’s office type “aaaaah.”

But Norah was unsatisfied, “It’s too dark, Mommy,” she complained.

“Too dark for what, sweetie?”

Norah’s face turned sad as she explained, “I can’t see the baby.”

These are the sorts of things I love about toddler logic. There is a baby in Mommy’s belly. Food I eat goes to my belly. Therefore… say aah, Mommy.

In other child related news, today was Norah’s first day of preschool. She has been excited about this for a few weeks. Her teacher Ms. Michelle mailed her a welcome letter last week and Norah has carried it around with her, periodically asking us to reread it to her. So, it was with much anticipation that she hefted her Elmo backpack and marched bravely into the new and fascinating world of public education. She did not reenact the screaming tantrum that I recall from my own childhood, but rather sat down at the tables and began the important task of making friends. She hugged us goodbye and never looked back. Three hours later, we picked her up and her first words to us were “I want go back there, Daddy.” Ok, I’m glossing there. Her very first words to me when I picked her up were “I want ride the bus.” Apparently, being seen with her parents is already uncool when all the big kids get to tool around town in a bright yellow party-on-wheels. I had kinda hoped to postpone that development until she hit her tween years, but I suppose I should just be proud that she’s clearly so wise beyond her years that she understands how unhip her father truly is.

But I digress, the second thing she said was, “I want go back there, Daddy”

So, I think she liked it. Here is the photographic evidence:




And finally, since I know this is what most of you come here for. Here are a few extra pictures of Norah that I’ve been hoarding to myself the last few months.







*As always, images can be clicked for closer scrutiny