Nora's new talent

Bedtime is not always easy. We go through phases. The current phase involves Nora winding herself up at bedtime, despite all efforts to encourage the opposite. Last night, this included, for the first time, a full-out scream (of delight, mind you) from the bedroom upstairs. Of course, by this time, Fiona had moved to our bed to wait it out (since she is, astoundingly, now actually ready for bed at bedtime).

But this isn't really about bedtime. This did happen during bedtime ... possibly when I went up to put her back in bed when she came out of her room to demand breakfast, or it might have been when she came out of her room to "rock a little bit".

Nora was sitting on my lap in the rocking chair, and she reached one index finger up into the air, crooked it twice, accompanied by a verbal sound like "chk-chk". Here is how the rest of it went:

Chk-chk ... Dad ... ee.
Chk-chk ... Mom ... ah.
Chk-chk ... Nor ... ah.
Chk-chk ... Fion ... ah.
(pause)
Chk-chk ... Zeld ... ah.
Chk-chk ... Iv ... ee.

I was quite amazed at the work she was doing with separating syllables, and so I missed the significance of the "chk-chk" ... until tonight. She did it again, and I finally thought to ask:

"What is this finger motion with 'chk-chk'?"

Huge smile: "It's a pencil!"

Of course! She was writing with her finger pencil in the air, and possibly imitating Fiona (or someone else?) sounding out the words she is writing. Jen says that writing on paper with a pencil is one of her favorite activities, and that it seems to make her feel big - like a grown-up, or at least like Fiona. Actually, I think there's very little difference to Nora between Fiona and grown-ups at this point.