Go Norah, Continued

Go Norah!

I’ve been really careful not to get into the competitive mom thing when comparing notes with other parents, especially since Norah really hasn’t given us a thing to worry about developmentally (Halooo… plus she is brilliant, see yesterday’s post!) It’s great to commiserate and share notes, but of course you want to brag about your own kid! The fact of the matter is that at this age, there is a really really wide range of what’s normal, kids have strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes etc., so despite what the parenting mags all lead us to believe, most kids are just fine.

So, this morning I was dropping Norah off and was I chatting with one of the other moms. There are a number of kids in Norah’s class who are pretty much the same age, so when one learns something, the others quickly follow in many cases. Other Mom’s munchkin recently started with what I call the “dive step” where they get brave as they attempt their first steps. She’s understandably proud of her little munchkin, and I must say she was incredibly cute this morning as she showed off her new skill!

The kids were hanging out together near a kid-sized table and we were chatting about how so many of the kids were getting close to walking and how it was going to be a handful for the teachers once one started, because the others would surely not be far behind. Other Mom commented that her munchkin and another in the class were likely to be the first to start, since they had older siblings at home to learn from and mimic. I’m thinking to myself, she’s probably right, but Norah’s been doing that dive thing for a month already!

Just then, Norah, as if she understood what we were saying, let go of the table and took 4 or 5 steps over to grab on to my legs.

Go Norah!

My kid is a GENIUS - no really

Norah took home her first piece of artwork the other day... I think it's brilliant! What do you think?

OK, so maybe we ought to be focusing more on her musical side :)

I swear I've never done this

... possibly only because we don't have video conference calls at my company. For those of you who know my work situation, I am not located in the same location as most everyone I work with, so I spend a lot of my day in "meetings" which are really conference calls.

So, no, I haven't gone quite this far, but I did join a staff meeting once, huddled in the corner of a hotel room while Norah snoozed in the corner, and I have 'attended' on a best-effort basis when she was at home sick... praying she wasn't going to wake up at an inopportune time, for instance...

Nice to know I am not the only one :)

In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, I found this on a website, http://www.mommytrackd.com/. I've just discovered this series of funnies by Betsey Streeter. They are hilarious, and frankly pretty accurately depict my life these days. You can check them out for yourself at: http://www.mommytrackd.com/funny-papers

Snowy Pictures

Here in New England we've had our share of snow this year. Norah is really not too sure what she thinks of it. Matt and I love being outside, so naturally Norah has been out in the snow a few times. Despite what these pictures show, she barely cracks a smile unless I jump up and down or do some other silly thing. Maybe she'll warm up to it in time... maybe not until she is big enough that she can move in her snow suit!

Shout out to the Posse from the Block

My Mom's gang of pals sent Norah all kinds of things when she was born. One of the really special things they sent was a Nova Scotian tartan jumper for her. Well, it fits her perfectly right now, and she wore it to church today - here she is saying hello to all of you!
And here she is, saying thanks for the cool jumper!

How to find time: Don't shower!

It's been a while since I posted about my ongoing quest for balance. This week, I had a breakthrough! If I skip showering, I get back anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes per day! Whoo hoo!

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "uhm, Shauna, you kinda need to shower, ideally pretty much every day" And while I appreciate your concern for my cleanliness, I have that figured out too! I just do it later in the day.

So, by now you are probably wondering what the heck I am talking about... well, I've started running again, on the treadmill in the gym at my office. So far so good, I've made it three times, and the run felt good. (albeit a bit short and a lot slow) So instead of showering before work, only to go to work and shower again a few hours later after I run, if I just skip it in the morning, I get that time back -- it's like something from nothing!

So, what do I do with this extra time? Well, on the day I first figured this out, I slept the extra 20 minutes :) Next step - using my 'free time' more productively!