Talking to herself in bed

Nora is two-and-a-half now, and she talks a lot.  I've been reading East of Eden, and in it, a character named Sam says something like "My son, Will says that I'll talk to the trees if I can't find a human vegetable."  Well, that's Nora.  She talks to the trees, the flowers, and her toys. She talks to animals and babies as if they understand her.  I'd like to think that in a way they do.  Sometimes she talks to herself for a good hour or more before she'll go to sleep for the night, or for her nap.  Last fall, I heard her talking to her baby doll when she was in bed and then answer for the baby doll in a very high-pitched voice.

A couple nights ago, I was half-listening to her chatter when suddenly she said very dramatically, "I love you, Mommy!  I always have!"  30 seconds later she said, "I love you Daddy, I always have!"  I laughed and was then a little sad to recognize it as a half-quote from one of her favorite movies, Madagascar 2, in which she substituted the word mommy/daddy for the word Gloria.  I was a little sad because I tend to think things are funnier if they're a little wacky and you have no idea where they're coming from.  I guess that's why I laugh so hard at Tracy Morgan's character on 30 Rock.  His humor is so often coming from who-knows-where.  

Tonight, she's up there re-writing one of her preschool prayer songs.  It's to the tune of Frere Jacques, and the one she sings at school goes "God our Father, God our Father, we thank You, we thank You, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen."  Instead, I just heard her singing, "God we thank you, God we thank you, for our Mommy, for our Mommy, and we're very grateful, and we're very grateful, Amen, Amen."  Then she sang it with the word daddy substituted for mommy.  She sang some version also about her sister Lyda being very beautiful, but sadly, she sang it only once and I've already forgotten the words.  Or as Nora says "I can't know the words!"

Why have a blog?

Last year, my friends Lee and Amanda were talking to me about blogs they read and encouraging me to start a blog.  I said something to the effect of no way, it'd just be something else I'd start and then not do well.  Soon thereafter, they started blogs and I really enjoy reading them when I remember to do so.

I changed my mind about writing on my own blog, and for two reasons.  One is that I can't keep up with all the funny things Nora says and Lyda does, and I want to record some of them.  Video camera never does it justice, and if I wrote it in a journal (like my Mom keeps asking me to do) I'd probably never be able to find it when I wanted to write in it.  

The other reason is that I've enjoyed writing since childhood, and lately I haven't been writing in any capacity.  I miss it.  

So here are my disclaimers.  I may be very sporadic about updating my blog.  I may not have a lot of interesting things to say (unless you find my children interesting).  But I'm doing this now, for better or worse.

How to be a princess

A couple weeks ago, Nora asked for my help in putting on her tutu.  I picked it up, and she said, "I am going to be beautiful!"  Excited to pass along some "wisdom," I set the tutu in my lap, looked in her eyes and said, "Nora, you are beautiful inside and out, and not because of anything you wear."  I could see her eyes glazing over with disinterest and then she said to herself in her try-to-be-patient voice, "In a few more minutes I will be a princess."  I'm gonna miss it when she talks only to other people and not to herself.