Hitting the Road and Learning to Pee

Norah and I headed back (without Jamie) for the week before Christmas since Melanie and her family were coming back as well.  I knew we would have a lot of fun, but I was a little worried about how things would go without Jamie's help.

Norah is a trooper and the driving portion, both there and back, was great.  Normally we don't let her watch DVD's the whole trip, but since I was flying solo I bent the rules.  Jamie gave Norah a pair of new pink headphones to wear while watching her movies, and man, what a blessing.  It spared me from 9 hours of The Wiggles, Dora, and Barbie movies!!!

The other big experiment while we were gone was potty training.  Norah's friend Hannah (who is potty trained) came over two days before we left and got Norah excited to start using the restroom.  FINALLY!  The problem, we threw a loooong car ride in a couple days later, so all progress made in those 2 days went out the window.  But when we got to Indiana we tried again.  By the last day we were at my dad's she was going by herself, without even telling me.  I think auntie Melanie had a lot to do with that because she kept promising Norah all kinds of rewards and treats if she kept her underwear dry.  We did have a few accidents here and there, but I think we are finally to the point where we won't have to buy any more diapers!  So I left with an untrained child and returned with a potty trained child... I'd say my wife owes me huge!

Norah in her Christmas dress

Lydia is really enjoying the Barbie movie, so much so she can't even smile

Ripping into the presents

Hamming it up before bed

Norah and Daddy Bonding Time

Now that Jamie has her own blog, this should really be re-titled "Ruminations from a Greatful Dad" or something.  Well, I've been motivated again to start blogging more often about what's going on in our daily lives so that we don't forget! 

I suppose I should start this post out by mentioning I've spent 4 of the last 5 days with Norah while Jamie either worked or had other commitments.  So we've had some really good father-daughter bonding time.  Its actually be amazing.  Norah has a "witching hour" around 4:30-6:00pm every night where she is a monster.  Unfortunately for me, that means nearly every day I miss the best hours of her day and I come home from work to chaos.  But these past 4 days have been different.  I get to be with her during her best hours, and its just night and day different from what I'm used to experiencing.

Over this five day stretch she has battled some sort of a bug, starting out vomiting and ended with diarrhea, but she's been a champ through it all.  For the first two days (vomiting stage) we spent all day set up in the kitchen watching movies on the laptop.  Lots of Curious George and lots of Dora, but I survived.  Once she got to stage 2 of the sickness and we weren't constrained to the kitchen anymore, we just played and played and played.  It was great.  Her imagination is amazing.  And I've also enjoyed showing her how to do different things.  Yesterday she helped me make mac 'n cheese.  Today she helped put toast in the toaster (when he popped up she nearly had a heart attack) and make ramen noodles. 

She is without a doubt a tough, stubborn, and strong-willed child.  But over these past few days I've really been able to see a lot of good inside her heart as well.  When you walk into a room and hear her singing "I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river in my soul!", or as she says, "peace like a whiva" you start to think maybe you are getting through after all.

Here's a video from our lunch today after we made ramen, it was her first attempt eating it... and she loved it.