Nora, Girl About Town

Here are some of my favorite photos from the past few months, which also do a pretty good job of capturing what we've been up to this Spring and Summer.

Nora on Opening Day of baseball, supporting Team Vowels:

Reading with Anne-Marie and Julian:

Easter fun with Cash and Lily:

Cuddling with Daddy:

First trip to the movie theatre-- she thought Rio 2 was all right but she REALLY liked movie theatre popcorn and Junior Mints.

Mother's Day 2014

Hanging out with Uncle Brian:

Throwing rocks at Quiet Waters Park:

Riding the carousel with Aunt Vickie at the Bowie Baysox game (wearing her hat in the style of All the Way May):

I assume this is what everyone means when they say they had a "dinner party":

Butterfly face painting from Hamden's HonFest:

Her best school friend Layla's birthday party:

Lunch and duck feeding at Friendly Farms with Gram and Pop:

Boat tour through the Annapolis Harbor:

Fourth of July at Aunt Nancy's with Aunt Vickie:

Reading with Aunt Vickie: 

More reading for Julian and Nora (sorry kids, your moms met in a literature MA program):

When Nora had her eyes checked by our pediatrician's pediatric vision scanner at her 30 month well visit, we discovered that her left eye failed the test.  A visit to the ophthalmologist revealed that she is extremely farsighted-- the prescription in her left eye is an 8.0.  She quickly acclimated to wearing a contact lens in that eye, and when we returned three months later, her ability to see with the contact in improved dramatically.  Now our ophthalmologist wants her to wear a patch on the good eye about two hours a day to continue the improvement.  We weren't sure how she would feel about wearing the patch, but since she is quite proud that her muscles are growing strong, we told her the patch would help her eye grow strong like her muscles.  She insisted on wearing it immediately, and her only objection is when we tell her it's time to take it off.  We feel so fortunate to have caught her eye condition early, to have found a good ophthalmologist who Nora likes, and to have a daughter who is so eager to take on life's new experiences.

A few months ago, my Aunt Carrie sent Nora some seeds to grow.  We started out putting them in a little planter, where a lot of the seeds started to sprout:

We then transferred them into the yard, but I guess I don't have a photo of that?  When the first zucchini was ready, Nora was anxious to harvest it:

We have put them in pasta and we've put them on the grill, and now she is even started requesting "a slice a zucchini, please" as a snack.  Look how proud she is of eating food she grew!

So, yes.  I'm 40,000 words into writing a dissertation chapter that still feels like it has no argument, is getting nowhere, and only yet mentions 3 of the 6 novels I mean to cover ... but life is good.