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!!

Hurricane Sandy....

So, yes, we were in the dark zone for 4 days following Hurricane Sandy. For those of you who don't know, we live on the 19th Floor of a high rise, right across the street from NYU Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital (both of which were evacuated after the storm). Just below the Halloween Post is a post that explains our logic for staying home when so many left (less than 50% of our building was here by the time the power came back on Friday evening).

In addition to being prepared, we also had Noa's good spirits in our favor. She really was a trouper and I think she liked all the Mommy and Daddy time (though she was very happy when Jess L showed up to spell us a few hours today - thanks Jes!)

Noa did a great job climbing up and down the stairs - as you can see in this clip. This was our final ascent, and this is the 18th floor - you can see she is still going strong. As you can imagine, this game it a bit tedious for Mommy and Daddy. It's 19 floors, but each floor is two flights of 7 steps each PLUS the first floor is really a double level (4 flights), which adds up to 40 flights of 7 steps each.

Going down was much easier - going up often involved a lot of coaching (we were on a pretty fast track in this clip) and often one of us would go ahead to drop off bags and then come back.

Going down and up the stairs took up a lot of the day - we just brought her stroller down once and left it in the lobby - and then we'd go up to Ben's office which had electricity where we'd charge our phones and the ipad and ipod, and I'd drink tons of coffee. Noa was great at sitting at the table there playing with books or fans. She seemed to get that it was a special time and that she had to be a big girl and not bring toys to the potty, or just get by with the book that was there, or whatever was necessary.

And of course she loved the shower at the YMCA and the hairdryers there. In the end, I think we all had a pretty good experience and a huge part of that was due to Noa staying patient and open to what was happening, and of course her general good disposition which made things like getting up and down the stairs bearable. In fact, the stairs even became a counting game that I think Noa really enjoyed.

Below are a couple of photos from our Hurrication Period - most have been on Facebook but I wanted to add them to the blog as well. Thanks to everyone who offered us a place to stay, or to come bring us food, etc., we are very grateful - and we're very lucky of course to have only been inconvenienced.

Noa basking under the hand dryer at the YMCA

Still cheerful in spite of the fact that the yellow bead is totally stuck on her finger

Noa hangs out at Daddy's Office

Enjoying a morning with her toys

Climbing the Stairs

Noa enjoys the wind preceding the storm

Before Sandy: The Halloween That Wasn't & Wind!

Yes, I've already posted a bit about Hurricane Sandy and our experience in the blackout, but didn't have a chance to post this great clip from just before Sandy hit. Noa loves windy weather so we wanted to make sure to get her out before it was too dangerous to do so. This is from Monday late morning, but as you can see in this clip - the gust were already coming in at a good clip. I actually move toward her in this because I was afraid she might just get blown over!

The other thing that happened right before Halloween - thankfully - was Halloween Story Time in the Community Room of our building. A new tradition, and one I think all the parents were grateful for since I think we all knew we might be spending the next few days at home with the kids - and though I don't think any of us really thought Halloween would be cancelled, we knew it was a possibility. Noa loves Halloween and the parade that happens on Halloween in our building - and we were extra grateful. And of course, as it turns out, this was Halloween!

And I have to say, it would have been a shame to miss out on showing off this terrific tiger outfits (with hip green boots!). It came with two of Noa's favorite fashion items: a hoodie (with zipper) and fingerless tiger gloves!!!

As you can see, Noa is looking up in the photo - she actually seems to get the idea now that if she hears the clicking noise she is supposed to look up. Of course she often does this serious face too - so we'll work on looking up and smiling.

Noa isn't smiling in the photo below - but that's not because of the clicking sound. This is story time. When we were at school a few weeks ago they were very proud to tell us that Noa had finally learned to sit still during all-school events and they were very proud and happy (and so were we). Listening to story time, or sitting in any kind of situation with a bunch of kids and someone talking, is very difficult for Noa. The biggest problem is that I don't think she can figure out what she's supposed to be listening to and/or why. Even in this case where the reader was very engaging - there's just so much ambient noise. It's just a lot of confusion aurally. SO, I sat her in the chair and this immediately hit this pose - hands her legs and all, and just sat there. So she can do it... but clearly not really enjoying it too much.

She sat like this through two stories, and then wanted to get up. We just walked back and forth on the side for the rest of the time, which she seemed to enjoy tremendously. Then we walked home. It was great fun for Noa and I'm really glad we got to have at least some Halloween fun!

In the Dark

So, here we are, 9 short but significant blocks from electricity. This will just be a short post as we're all chillin' in Ben's office while the phones, etc.. charge up and there are emails to return, etc...

This is the second time we've descending and ascending the 19 flights to the apartment with Noa. She only had to be carried the last 7 flights on the way up which is pretty good. Once I'm back home I'll better be able to load a video of that - it's VERY slow going with her doing the steps herself, so carry her is at least a little faster.

So far we've selected to stay home, though if it looks like this will last beyond tomorrow night we may make an escape just because I think we'll have emptied the bathtubs of flushing water and after that conditions rapidly deteriorate. 

As much as it's a pain to get Noa up and down the stairs, the thought of packing out is pretty daunting. Noa doesn't travel light and keeping her occupied in a strange place can be challenging and require a ton more work on our parts. Besides the climb down and up is enough exercise that she's pretty exhausted by the end of the day, which is good for all of us. She seems to like the stairs (mostly). And she certainly enjoys all the family time.

Last night Ben went out to Yoga (the Yoga places being just on the other side of the electricity border). We'd had a somewhat spirited conversation about whether or not he should go, so I don't know if it was hearing us have that converstaion or just her realizing that something was amiss in general (we don't really know how much she is aware of the electric being off - aside from the stairs) but when it was time to go to bed she wanted Daddy and when I said he'd be home later she got very upset. She started to cry and signed that she was sad. It was pretty dramatic - we don't usually see that kind of reaction from Noa. After all, we both are sometimes out in the evening so she is used to having just one of us at bedtime. I reminded that that Daddy said "bye-bye, see you later" and "love you" when he left, and that he'd be back soon but she was pretty upset.

Perhaps even more remarkable - though remarkable mostly in its normalacy, is that I really just had to lay there in bed with her and hold her - and she held me back - until she calmed down. Usually I hold her, and maybe we listen to some music and rock back and forth, this was really the first time she held me and very much in the way one would expect any 7 year-old who was feeling like something was different and not good. Finally she cheered up and we counted beads together for a while until she consented to lay down in her own bed. She was still awake when Ben got home and was very happy to get a big hug from Daddy.

It's always difficult when you child is upset and scared, but I have to say that it was also somehow re-assuring that in whatever way it happened, she understood that something was going on and it was creating some tension or difference or discomfort - and she was communicated that to me. That's big.

Anyway - more when I can. Cheers and safety to all!

Home!!!

This is one of my favorite videos ever!

About a week ago I told Ben that Noa seemed to identify certain pages in her favorite book "Ferdinand the Bull." One of her favorite pages is the penultimate page of the book in which they decide to "take Ferdinand home" because she likes to sign the word "home." But this is the first time Ben's seen her sign "home" without a verbal cue that we're on that page. (It looks like she recognizes the page by feel - possibly the Braille.)

I was actually was taking this video just because the creative way she'd set herself up to read the book (with her foot holding down the pages). In addition to the "home" moment, you can really see that Noa become much more comfortable and adventurous moving around.

Anyway - watch carefully. You can see that Ben is totally shocked when he realizes what's just happened. She also signs "Happy" which is from the last line of the book "He is very happy."And then she enjoys a big hug from Daddy which is always cute.

Reading to Daddy

I've been wanting to get video of this for a while now, so I was really glad to snag this quick video of Noa "reading" to Ben - even though it's just a short clip.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that "Ferdinand the Bull" is Noa's favorite book. We read it every night... twice. The version we have has Braille (on clear plastic) glued onto each page and Noa sometimes likes to follow along - she knows that Braille is where the story is and is starting to be able to identify a few letters, so... as you'll see here she is starting to do what any kid does when she knows enough to be able to pick out a few letters, but not enough to read: she just makes it up!

For Noa every page reads: 1-2-3-4-5. Sometimes a page will just go to 3, sometimes up to 10, but she definitely seems to be doing this as if she is pretending to read. It's sooo cute and wonderfully developmentally appropriate.

Winner!

Check out this gorgeous photo, taken by the ever-talented Talya Arbisser (known to Noa as the "The Clicky Lady"). This is from Talya's trip to Idaho this summer and features Noa at one of her favorite spots in the world, Gold Fork Hot Springs.

But not only is this photo gorgeous... it's also prize winning, having been honored with first place at the 30th Visual Arts Alliance of Houston exhibition.



Here is what Catherine D. Anspon, Papercity Magazine Visual Arts Editor/Social Editor and Juror of the 30th juried member exhibition for the Visual Arts Alliance of Houston said upon announcing her selection:

"For the first-place, I selected a photograph that is both exquisite and enigmatic: an image of a young girl floating in a pool, a modern Ophelia who instead of drowning we hope awakes to consciousness and empowerment. It is also an enchanting image of innocence and the reverie of dreaming, and it's important to point out that the star here is a heroine."

Ladies and gentlemen introducing 'Floating' from my long term project 'Seeing With Hands: Noa' - Thank you all so very much for your kindness and support!  

Congratulations Talya! And thanks!!!