Nora Lee has crossed over into a new stage this last month. She seems more mature. She has more control over her emotions and is able to speak about them clearly. In the past, when upset, she would just break down into tears and lately she handles it differently. I can see when her little lip quivers that she is wanting to burst out crying but instead, she shares her feelings with words. We have talked about this in the past; meaning I have shared with her that she just has to tell me what she is feeling and I can help, rather than her just breaking down. She seems to understand that now and actually be capable of managing her emotions. Its so lovely to witness.
She is also wanting to interact with the world more and act as others do. For example, we were at a home of some friends and their neighbors came over to visit whom we had never met before. She greeted them in the living room, introduced herself and then said, let me go get my mom and introduce her to you. She came into the kitchen and asked me to come meet them, then introduced us all. Even using my name!
Homeschooling is going very well and fits in beautifully with our family life. We have been watching Nora Lee's interests and offering support whenever she wants to learn something. Both Matt and I feel that reading and writing in particular is often rushed and taught to kids earlier than necessary. That being said, Nora Lee is showing strong interests in both reading and writing. We read to her a lot and the library is our home away from home. She goes each week and has volunteer grandparents read to her as well. She also sees Matt and I reading all the time. She has an amazing memory and quickly memorizes books and then "reads" them to us :) We have tried to get this on video but she has been shy about it for some reason.
We have refrigerator magnet letters that she often gets out and we will help her spell words she suggests. Recently Matt was with her at the table and asked her to write some letters without an example in from of her and she did it! We were very surprised since we knew she recognized all the letters but didnt know she could reproduce them. Since then we've done a little more practice as she feels inspired.
Here is a picture of her first time writing her name. She had help with the last "ee" part but did the rest on her own.
She continues to be VERY interested in storytelling and performing and puts on shows and puppet shows for us on a daily basis. She will be turning four at the end of December and its feels like such a fun time!
