Getting to know you...

Our little girl is 14 months old today and learning (new sounds, new words, laws of nature, etc) at an amazing rate. She now knows the sounds for a dog, bear, whale, cow, sheep, monkey and sometimes a cat. She knows her head, hair, ears, nose, eyes, mouth, teeth, tongue, neck, tummy, hands, fingers, and toes. Her favorite song is Baa Baa Black Sheep followed closely by I'm a Little Teapot which she insists I sing both verses to. She loves music. She loves to dance. She is walking more and more (on her own initiative rather than because of her goading parents.)

It might not quite be spring but yesterday it was warm enough to venture out in her new shoes (even if they are just a tad big still)!! I found a dynamite sale - they were literally like 95% off!

She is busy busy busy investigating everything she can. The wonder is palpable.

Hers at the world around her and ours at her incredible developments.

She loves being outside, picking up sticks and leaves, and playing on the playground. Her new favorite indoor activity is somersaults! She'll tuck her head and patiently wait for Ben or I to flip her over, then giggle with delight!

And she has turned into a little chatterbox! She narrates the day's activities in her own special language and loves to have 'conversations' with her favorite people, Daddy and Momma - or anyone she happens to meet in the street or on the bus, especially other kids.

What a joy she is!! We love her so!

The Reluctant Walker

2 goading parents + the lure of the video camera = 6 precarious steps for Nora



(I know you are all wondering about the awesome soundtrack. It's "Walkin' Up Hip Street" by Tower of Power.)

Look who got a new hat!

One of our Christmas packages was a little held up due to all the snow we had which meant that last week we got another little box of goodies from the U.S.! (No complaints here!)

Nora loves her new hat. I think she can tell that it was made especially for her by her Aunt Trinette who loves her oh so much!

Winter in Oxford

As many of you may know, we have had a good amount of snow recently here in Oxford. Aside from being cold and the odd refusal of anyone to shovel any sidewalk or even most parking lots, it is beautiful. It has also been fun for us to introduce Nora to the snow for the "first time." (I only use the quotation marks because she happened to be born in the midst of a series of crazy snow-storms in Vancouver last year.) As you can see, she takes to it quite naturally.





And here are some pictures of Oxford in the snow.

Our First British Christmas and Nora's First Birthday!

This was our first Christmas away from our families and we certainly did miss them. Hopefully we'll be with family once again next year. But Oxford offers a lot to a couple of Americans far from home and we enjoyed our first British Christmas!
On Christmas Eve we went to a Nine Lessons and Carols service at Christ Church Cathedral. It was such a treat! We were very fortunate to get tickets that someone had returned at the last minute. We got all dressed up for the occasion and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of the old cathedral and the performance of the Cathedral Choir. You'll see a bit of video and pictures that don't even come close to doing it justice (nor does our poor audio recording) but you'll get a bit of a taste! If you're ever in Oxford, you'll want to visit this place.
Another place to visit is the Oxford Covered Market. ...cobblestone floors, old lampposts and loads of shops and vendors of all sorts. Around Christmas it looks as though it is something out of a Dickens novel!
Christmas morning we spent at home as a family. Ben made delicious homemade cinnamon rolls and bacon and eggs and we watched Nora open some gifts. Then in the afternoon we went out to a small village called Cuddington to spend the rest of the day with some people from our church. We went on a walk (called a 'ramble' here) from Cuddington to the next village and explored the church there as well. It was amazingly picturesque and a beautifully sunny (but cold) afternoon.
That night we enjoyed a traditional English Christmas dinner including the Christmas pudding lit on fire! To us it tasted about as good as it looks (you'll see it in the video) but the Brits all seemed to LOVE it. Go figure. We learned a new British word that night too. More-ish. It's an adjective. Something is more-ish if you would want more of it sometime soon. I would say that for me, Christmas pudding is not more-ish.

Christmas in Oxford:


This was Nora's first Christmas (at 364 days old!) and her first birthday was the next day! We've clipped together a few videos and pictures of her from Christmas and the little birthday party we threw together. It would have been nice to be in Oregon celebrating with Nora's grandparents and most of her aunts and uncles. We don't really know anyone all that well in Oxford having only been here for a few months but it was nice that some people we've recently met came to help us mark the occasion and now we know them a bit better! We couldn't really have fit any more people into the flat (there were 14 of us in one small room!)
Nora had a banana cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and really seemed to like it! You'll see.
It's hard to believe that we survived a whole year of parenthood! It feels like such an accomplishment for all 3 of us! We are immensely in love with our sweet girl and can't wait to see what the next year holds! We love you Nora.

The latest installment.

Here is another little video. She just keeps getting more amazing every day. The walker was an early Christmas/Birthday present from us to Nora.



(Full post to come after Christmas.)

New discovery...

As parents we have found that often we go along with life as usual while anticipating the next big milestone. Currently we are waiting to see when Nora will decide to walk on her own or use really decipherable words on a consistent basis. The thing is, while we are waiting for these big moments to occur, Nora surprises us with developments we never really expected. Apparently she is ready to wield a spoon on her own... who knows how long she has been waiting for us to just hand the thing over! She seems pretty good at it already!