Norah rides a bike!

On Thursday, March 19, 2020, Norah rode her bike by herself for the first time.  We had practiced a bit in the fall, but the activity had fallen out of favor over the winter.  On Thursday, we practiced with me offering back-up via an old karate belt wrapped under her arms.  A neighbor's suggestion, this is much easier on my back than holding her, and it makes her more responsible for balance too.  

After a couple laps up & down our street this way, she told me she wanted to try it herself.  We pointed her bike down a gentle slope and she was off!

Biking is currently her favorite activity!

Corona Diaries, Week 1

We're slowly settling into life under the Covid-19 restrictions. The weekend started out normal enough.  We weeded the dead space behind the garage.  The kids were great helpers and earned a $1 each for their troubles.

Before the school shutdown, Jackson was really into trading Pokemon cards with the kids in his after-school program and our neighbors.  He eventually asked me if I had Pokemon cards when I was a kid.  I responded "No, but I had something similar called baseball cards.".  I still have 1,000's of them in a box.  Who knew those cards would buy several hours of entertainment for Jackson and Norah!  At one point I could hear Jackson reading interesting facts off the cards to Norah...

The weather has cooperated with decent temperatures, but also a lot of rain.  Muddy spots in the backyard were good for another hour of fun!

On Monday, we started the serious business of education, with our digital guides, of course.

Jackson's chess club was on the ball and managed to arrange an online chess class and tournament on Tuesday.  Jackson fought valiantly, but it was tough going in the K-6 group for him.  The platform ranks you as you play, so hopefully future tournaments will be more balanced for him.  The club intend to hold them once a week.  They reported about 450 kids participated from around the country.

Norah got creative using rolled-up paper and scotch tape as construction materials.  Her "airplane" is now about 4 sq. feet and the envy of her brother.

With all the rain, exercise time moved indoors some days.  I don't know which video this was, but we enjoyed Yoga with Cosmic Kids and the story of "Squish the fish" another day.

The "Pants on Fire" podcast is now our go-to podcast companion during afternoon snack time.

Thursday we broke out the bikes and Norah rode on her own for the first time.  Friday morning she woke up asking to go biking, but the rain had other ideas.  She finally got her wish after dinner, and was tearing down the hill at the end of our street.  There have been lots of kids on bikes around the neighborhood this week.

Our saving grace, the daily schedule on a whiteboard.  We started on Monday, and it worked so well that we decided to keep it going on the weekends.  One day after lunch, Jackson walked over to the board, read the words "Clean-up" and started cleaning up without a word of parental input.  That's what I call magic!  😃

Norah goes 24 hours without a pull-up

Success!

A couple weeks ago, Norah expressed her desire to wear underwear (not a pull-up) at night.  I told her that if she kept her pull-up dry every night Tianhong was on her trip to China, she could wear underwear at nighttime when her mommy came back.

Well, Norah did it and so last night, she got to wear her underwear and she kept it dry all night long.  Go Norah!

Norah has also been fond of her "Super Girl" outfit lately.

All Suited Up

Super Girl in Action

Another Norah potty training milestone

When Norah was potty trained back in January, we wanted her to immediately start having her bowel movements in the potty too.  This had been a tough hurdle with Jackson.  Well, we failed, spectacularly.  Here and there we'd get her to go, but she pretty much saved them for her nighttime pull-up.  We offered rewards (bribes?) of candy or chocolate without any impact.

Tired of dealing with poopy pull-ups, I told her a week before her third birthday that as a three year old, she would have to poop in the potty.  I stuck to my guns, and on her third birthday (which was on a Tuesday, we did the celebrating the weekend before), she spent half an hour on the potty without a movement. 

Over the next few days as she persisted in holding it, we told her that lights out were at 8pm and we would skip story time.  She chose to skip story time.  After three or four days, it became too much and she would have a movement on the potty.  We'd celebrate like mad.  And then she'd hold it another 3 or four days, missing all her story times.

After a few weeks and being really fed-up, especially since she wasn't even trying, I remembered she'd brought home some cookies from school that she was really excited about eating.  I looked at her and said I would throw them in the trash if she didn't poo by bedtime (~20 minutes away).  Screaming, crying, yelling "mean Daddy",...,trying...success! 

Now that was about a week ago, and each time it has gotten easier.  Friday, she went all on her own without even telling us until it happened, and tonight, she repeated the feat.  Fingers crossed that we're past this hurdle...

Norah's potty training milestone, part 2

After some initial success with potty training in January, we (parents and school) slacked off.  Last weekend, we got serious again.  Norah is now diaper-free during the days and averages about 1 potty accident per day (with some days accident-free).  Go Norah! 

Ready for potty training?

Yesterday, Norah told me she needed to go to the potty (happens fairly often), so we went to her little plastic potty and sat her down.  For the first time ever, she actually used it!

Norah starts counting

Last week, Norah got a cold and then an ear infection.  Grandma brought over some muffins.  We put two on her plate, and she said, "One, two, all gone!"

We brought out a riding toy to distract her.  She took to it like a fish to water.  Jackson has been oddly disinterested in riding toys...until now.  They're a hot commodity!

Moving up to the adult swing

Norah can stand!

On her own, well, sort of.  A few times she has stood unsupported for about 10 seconds.  Does that count?  Unfortunately, none of those times have happened when the camera was ready ;-).  Here's the closest we got.

Standing!

And a bit of walking too!

Norah's 6-month Check-up

Norah had her 6-month check-up this week.  She was a model patient...

Key stats
Weight: 15lbs, 6oz (30th percentile)
Height: 2ft, 3in (84th percentile)

She has generally been very healthy, but recently has been hit with skin problems.  She has dry skin/eczema over most of her body and a bad diaper rash.