Nora Hansen's Journal

Nora ate some oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, a large serving of whole wheat elbow noodles topped with a large serving of applesauce; she also ate two servings of green beans. I was gone for about an hour this morning and it was fun walking back into the daycare to hear all the squealing kids; like I'd been gone for a week!  So precious.  Do I have the most qualified "substitute" ever while I'm at appointments!?!  Haha!  Three degrees, two in Early Childhood, with the last being a Masters in Early Childhood.  She develops and teaches Early Childhood classes, 30 plus years experience at all three levels in Montana: Family Home, Group Home, and Center.  Ok, I guess you qualify and I can trust you with my kids!!  :)  (I'm just glad she doesn't charge me what she's worth!)  I so appreciate all the help and input she gladly gives me.  Thank you Lauralea. Lauralea put a ponytail in Nora's hair ...

Nora ate a bite of whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate several bites of hamburger & sausage pizza with whole wheat pizza crust, peppers, pineapple, olives, and tomato sauce.  She also ate a large serving of pineapple on the side. Nora was very excited to see Atley at Little Treasures this morning.  She was grinning and giggling. It was so cute.  Nora's primary source of entertainment has returned!!  When Lauralea came upstairs Nora said, "Atley's here Lauralea!  Atley's here!!"  :) Here are a couple pictures I took within 15 minutes of Nora's arrival.  If Nora will laugh Atley will keep performing over and over!!  She loves to make Nora laugh!  :)  The "Honeymoon stage" lasted for about 2 hours!  It was awesome!!  (Two hours without conflict is a LONG time for this age group!!)  It was about the two hour mark when they were on the mattress and Atley inadvertently ste...

Nora arrived a little after 10:00 so at lunch she ate pork roast, whole wheat tortilla, no sweet potatoes, three servings of fruit salad. This morning Avi said, "Hey Gary!  I'm gonna ski and you're gonna watch me!!"  Haha!  (Ok, let me know when this is happening!)  Nora said, "I'm gonna ski."  Avi said, "I'm gonna ski fast."  Nora said, "I'm gonna ski fast."  Avi said, "Ok, you can ski right beside me."  :) Nora was a bit reserved when she came in and went to the couch to lay and suck her thumb.  But all she needed was for Svea to visit her for a few moments and she forgot all about any negative thoughts!!  I took the first picture in the middle of this.  She was starting to smile at Svea.  No one here can help but smile at Svea.  :) I told Nora, "Boy your Dad did a great job on your ponytails."  Ha!  I wonder how many times I've said that to little girls in the last 20 + years!!  Never gets ol...

Nora ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate salmon, half of whole wheat dinner roll, a couple bites of cauliflower, and ate mangoes.  First thing - I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!  Little Treasures will be closed Monday and Tuesday and the Blog will resume on Wednesday the 26th.  The first thing Nora did this morning was go to the kitchen sink and wash hands for breakfast.  The kids stand on a stool while washing and can see the fence across the yard and squirrels frequently use that fence for a runway!  She spotted one this morning and I thought she was gonna fall off the stool.  :) Nora was reading books and singing, "Frosty the Snowman" with volume and enthusiasm!!  But she wasn't doing the words correctly and Avi had to intercede!!  Nora singing, "Frosty the snowman was a nee nee nee nee nee."  Avi, speaking with animation and using her hands for extra emphasis:  "Nora, How about this!?! ...

Nora ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and two servings of oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of everything: ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce. The kids were waving bye to Daddy Ryan at the window and as he drove off Avi then did the "I love you" sign.  Avi said, "He missed the I Love You sign!"  Haha!  She did it late, but of course it's your fault for driving off too soon!  Haha!  First picture: the kids playing in the box again.  Like I mentioned yesterday this box was NOT used until Nora came back and she's played in there continually and other's have joined her.  (She enjoys dramatic play, but actually she'd much rather do it by herself!)  :) This next picture is our neighbor's house and they have a Santa Claus that "repels" up and down this little rope.  The only way the kids can see it is from the top of the couch and I don't let them stand up there as it's not ...

Nora ate bites of french toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hearty paleo stew with meat, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and carrots!!  She also ate crackers and tropical fruit.  It's nice to have Nora back today and she was very excited to be back.  We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange last weekend so it was all new for her today. I took this first picture when Nora spotted Lauralea this morning.  She was very excited and said, "Hi Lauralea!  Hi Lauralea!!"  And then she started jumping and showing off on the mattress.  :)  (Her feet are off the mattress in the picture.)  Second picture; Nora is playing with Svea.  Today Avi left early and is having a "grandparents day," Atley flew on airplane yesterday for visiting relatives at Christmas, so this afternoon it's just Nora and the two babies.  Just the way Nora likes it!  When Linnea was going to bed Nora asked, "...

Nora ate oatmeal and baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hamburger stew with meat, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes.  Also, bites of whole wheat dinner roll and she ate a large serving of apricots.  At breakfast Avi pointed accusingly at Nora and said, "Nora's eating with her hands!!"  Like it was the worst thing she'd ever witnessed!!  Totally ignoring the fact that earlier she'd been doing the exact same thing!!  Later, Nora returned the favor; "Avi put toy in her mouth!!"  Same thing; Earlier I'd asked Nora to take the legos out of her mouth!  LOL!!  You kids crack me up!  You're all experts on what everyone else is doing wrong!!  :) Nora was whimpering and crying and came running to me: "Linnea grabbed my shirt Gary!"  Haha! Oh my, I certainly hope you're ok!!  This was repeated about 3 or 4 times this morning and I told Nora she could simply say, "No thank you!" and run away from her! ...

Nora ate french toast and bites of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pulled pork, two servings of whole wheat toast, ate three servings of peas, and two servings of strawberries.  At lunch Nora ate a plate full of food and said, "I ate everything Gary! I want more peas!"  I post that here because this is NOT a phrase I've heard very often at meal times; "I want more peas."  :)  And she asked for a third serving.  My servings are bigger than average too.  Nice job Nora!!  I'm impressed! Here are some pictures from Daycare this morning: Nora was sitting beside me and we were doing some selfies.  I was trying to get her to smile and then take a picture without her thumb or fingers in her mouth!!  Haha!  Yup, that was a challenge and she was getting a kick out of it too.  Second picture: Avi said, "Hey Gary, I'm sleeping with Svea."  So Nora headed right over there to and set up her camping spot too.  Ha! ...

Nora ate most of whole wheat toast and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with pasta sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate bites of cauliflower, and ate fruit salad. I've mentioned that several of the pictures on the digital frame are ones the three "older" girls have taken.  Some of them are "selfies" which may be or may not be intentional, but they're still quite entertaining.  Nora did a perfect shot of her nostrils up close and personal!!  I told her that and when the picture went by in the slideshow Nora said, "Nostrils!!"  I was surprised she even remembered!! Haha! First picture: I took this shortly after breakfast and these two girls were having a blast on the chair. (Well at least until Atley fell off the arm of the chair!!)  But prior to that they were both laughing like crazy and squealing with delight. I took this next picture while we were doing some sign language.  Atley has asked to do sign langua...

Nora ate a bite of whole wheat bagel and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two large servings of chicken, bite of whole wheat pita bread, ate avocado, cucumber, half of peppers, and ate pears.  I've mentioned several times how much the kids LOVE having the slideshow at meal times with the digital frame.  Nora's Momma Emily is in two of the pictures and Nora loves it so I want to have a picture of each parent on our slide show.  :)  Atley does a running play-by-play of who is in each picture while Nora and Avi add frequent colorful commentary.  :)  Nora said, "It Emily, Gary, it Emily!!" Speaking of Momma Emily yesterday we were doing some sign language and I asked Nora, "What's Emily; a girl or a boy?"  Nora said, "A boy."  Atley said, "NO!!   HE'S  a girl!!"  LOL!  We did some more sign language today and Nora is nailing almost all of them.  We probably do a total of 25 different signs, inc...

Nora ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, bites of brown rice, ate stir fry vegetables, and raspberries. We had a good morning at Little Treasures: especially for a Monday!  Ha!  Actually Monday's aren't bad, they can just be a bit hectic from lots of weekend activity, maybe a different sleep schedule, and the kids adjusting to being back at Daycare.  But it sure doesn't take long for them to be right back in the routine!  And Nora had a very good morning. First picture: Atley, Nora, and Linnea were running back and forth across the room getting all the stuffed animals and lining them up on the window sill.  Linnea was very cute chugging along trying to keep pace with the the other two!  :)  Second picture: Then after "window play" the same three girls moved on to the chair.  Linnea was in the chair and the other two were pushing her as fast as they could go.  Everyone was laughing and having a good t...

Nora ate cream of wheat cereal and bites of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of baked beef kabobs with meat, peppers, and zucchini.  She ate half of brown rice and ate pineapple. Nora still loves to get on the couch with me when I'm feeding Svea her bottle.  Nora hasn't missed very many of those bottle feedings in the last 8 months!!  :)  Then when I started feeding Svea baby food (at about 6 months) Nora asked, "What baby eating?"  Every day!  :)  So Today went like this; Nora; "What baby eating?"  I said, "The same thing as yesterday.  Do you remember what it was?"  Nora said, "pumpkin....uhhh...apple...with baby cereal." That's right!!  Good remembering Nora!! First picture: Avi eating breakfast!  Haha!  Avi was at the dentist office and was a bit late, but I basically took this picture to show you all we got the new digital picture frame up and running!  The kids love it of course and t...

Nora ate waffle and fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of shepherd's pie with meat, green beans, carrots, and potatoes.  She ate whole wheat tortillas and she ate cherries. Avi was asking if we could play in the tunnels so we got them down and hooked them together.  Svea is at the bottom of the picture and Linnea is crawling in front of Svea.  The "older" kids get bored with this pretty quickly, but the youngest ones love crawling through it!  You can see Nora in the upper left of the picture strutting around by the igloo.  :) Yesterday I talked about the static electricity in the couch this time of year.  Next picture:  Today it's Nora's turn to have a picture of wild hair!!  One time this morning Nora and Avi were on the couch together and they sat up at the same time.  Man that looked hilarious!  Atley's hair is much thicker, but it's affecting her as well! Last picture: Wow, Nora is stretching herse...

Nora ate two servings of french toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of "whole 30 chili" with meat, sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes.  She had a couple bites of whole wheat dinner roll and two servings of tropical fruit. Yesterday Lauralea was putting ponytails in the girl's hair and Nora was scooting around on the couch and created quite a bit of static electricity.  She touched Lauralea and it zapped them pretty good.  Nora said, "OWW!!  I poked you!"  Haha!  It seems like there is a lot more static electricity in the winter with low humidity and this couch is an awesome conductor!!  I have no idea what I'm talking about, but here's a picture of Avi from this morning.  Haha!  (It starts happening about this same time every year!) Nora arrived pretty early this morning and Linnea was happy about that.  They actually arrived at the same time. So first thing - playing in ...

Nora ate most of whole wheat english muffin and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pork chops, ate whole wheat toast, ate (riced) beets, no sweet potatoes, and ate applesauce. Here are a couple of Nora quotes from this morning: I asked Nora; "Are you waving at Daddy?"  Nora said, "He got Emily's car."  Haha!  She hears that from the other kids all the time, but no one else except Linnea was here when she said it this morning. I asked Nora, "Are you my sweetie pie?"  She said, "No, I have apple pie at my house."  :)  And that's a great example of why we call this age group "concrete thinkers." This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon.  I happened to have the camera ready and I heard Atley say, "My tummy hurts."  Nora immediately asked, "Could I see it?"  As you can see the answer was obviously a resounding "yes!"  :) This next picture was also taken yes...