2012 Wrap Up!

There are - without a doubt - some huge gaps in the blog this year, but I hope these photos from Christmas in DC with my family at least give 2012 in the Land of Noa a landing place. I can't believe I haven't posted since Sandy but the truth is we've spent most of the past few months just trying to get up to speed again (you wouldn't think you could get that far behind after just one week without electricity!)

Noa had a tremendous year and one of the things I think you can really see in these photos is how social she is now. Thanks to her work with Yvette, who is fluent in ASL, Noa's communication skills have really soared. The more she signs, the more she also speaks - which is kind of an interesting development. It seems like the words gain meaning once she has a sign for them. She'll try to repeat almost anything, and though Ben and I myself may be the only ones who understand most of what she says; she has a number of spoken words now:
'otty (potty)
and-up (stand up)
gove (glove)
unch (lunch)
keke (sleepy)
oggie (doggie)
ch-ch (chicken)
soool (school)
share (chair)
ouch (couch)
onkey (monkey)
There are others, but I think that gives you an idea. And sign? I've given up on keeping a book for them, they're just too many now! She can count to ten forwards and backwards, the alphabet continues to be a favorite and food words: chicken, peas, potato, spinach, corn, orange, apple, broccoli, etc.

And - in case that wasn't enough - she's starting to work on her Braille. We have flashcards and she likes them - though we're still very early in that process. 

Christmas was great for Noa this year. She loves spending time with family and friends - especially Grammy and Grampy. The day that we left for DC Ben asked Noa if she wanted to wake up: No. Did she want to have a bath? No. Did she want to have lunch? No. Sit with Mommy? No. Play with blocks? No. Go to Grammy and Grampy's? And-up! And-up! And-up! (see above for translation)

For the first time, Noa was able to really sit at the table with everyone and eat like a big girl (a big girl eating mush, but a big girl nonetheless.) No toys or books or demands for doggie at the table, just eating or - as in the photo below - the tickle from Daddy. She was also really big on hugging everyone with was a so great! It's hard to describe how great it is to get a big hug from a kid who for 7 years - though she loves you enormously - never reached out to hug before. It's one of those small things that you don't even know you were missing until you get it, and then you realize it's huge.

Another big highlight: going on walks - instead of being walked around! Here we are on a walk with Noa's cousin Abby. Still a bit of pulling on Mommy going on in this - but still, it's a walk!

The holidays including a bunch of great toys. She loves puzzles and shapes and we got more of those. We also got some toys to promote dramatic play - like the American Girl Doll below (she got that from someone who donated it to her school - wow!) and a dollhouse. Transitioning to more of this kind of play is one of our goals for the New Year, it's a slow transition. We actually got the doll about a week before Christmas and we just started off with putting her to bed at time (giving her a stuffed animal and tucking her in), and waking her up in the morning (putting on her shoes and brushing her hair for 10 seconds) - at first she didn't like it so much but eventually she'd put up with it (and than promptly grab Dolly by the hair or foot and throw her... you know, like you do with friends). But by the time we got down to DC she was doing much better and as you can see now allows Dolly to sit and read Ferdinand with her at night and will even hug her before putting her to bed.

So it's been a banner year for Noa. And I think she's quite ready for 2013. She's been saying "Soool" over and over for the past day or so and this morning insisted on putting on her school pants... vacation is okay but I think she's ready to keep moving forward!

Happy New Year and Much Love to You All!!