One Year with Norah (part 3)

Shortly after our 6 month home study update Norah stopped having night terrors all together and would just sleep through the night, other then a quick trip to the bathroom. It is around this time that we also had a function that Lori and I need to attend without Norah for a couple of hours so Norah’s grandma and grandpa came over to watch her. Unfortunatley the function was at night and it still seemed to me that when the sun went down Norah was still on edge. If we needed to put our shoes on to go to our car she still wanted to go. So when we had to leave Norah with her grandma she cried for about 10 minuets then calmed down. This was just as upsetting to her grandma as it was to Norah. We hurried back from the function and told grandma the next time maybe they can come to our house to watch Norah, on Norah’s home turf. Then Norah would feel a little surer that we will return home.
She has gotten used to the fact that Lori and I will meet her needs of food and no longer holds food in her mouth. The girl that didn’t want anything to do with her first bath with us has become a water dog. She loves to swim and play in the water. Her signing reception is coming along and Lori and I are learning as fast as we can but we still find it hard to sign all the time to each other. She has more vowels in her babbling and can now pick out the difference between the ling sounds. She still has no patience for listing more then a couple of minuets at a time. She still has a long long way to go before speaking. At about this time she has also started testing Lori and I like any kid would, to see if she can missbehave and get away with it, and what Lori and I would do if she was bad. While we are lax parents we do want our kids to respect us, so Norah gets put in time out if she misbehaves with us right by her side. We had to get our bluff in that throwing a fit at the store because you want something is not going to get you that item. This seems to be working and boundaries don’t seem to be an issue with Norah. The more she relaxes the brighter her spirit shines. One thing that we have noticed at this time is Norah is starting to develop an imagination with her play. We have modeled imagination play with her and she is catching on to this type of new fun thing in her life. She also loves to get dressed up in pretty clothes and shoes and has her own sense of style. We can tell that me having to stay home was the best thing for Norah…..