Cora

I have been meaning to write down some of the wonderful things Cora is doing these days and finally I have a minute to attempt it. This blog is heavy on the visuals, light on the text and well, maybe you'd like to know a bit more about what happens "behind the scenes".

Some highlights- This is a bit long but hey, I haven't done it so there's lots to tell :)

Every night when I get home Cora runs at full blast from wherever she is in the house and runs straight into my arms with total abandon and the biggest smile I have ever seen.

Except for the rare pee in the pants when we're out and can't get her to a potty, she is fully potty trained.

She asks, "Daddy or Mommy, do you wanna play dollhouse?" about 200 times a day. She has perfected the inquisitive, and her voice rises at the end of the question in such an adorable way that you almost forget that she has asked you 199 times already.

Cora likes to ask questions and then end them with ..."Sound good?" "Daddy, you wanna play soccer ball? Sound good?" "You wanna read stories? Sound good?"

After waking, we often ask her if she had any dreams. Usually she says yes and tells us about them. She often dreams about her friends and family.

Tonight she put the soccer ball in the corner of the room and said that the soccer ball was sleeping. I asked what the soccer ball dreams about and she answered, "Sunrises."

Cora was with us at the ultrasound when we found out we are having a little boy. She was sitting on my lap watching the monitor. She totally understood what was going on and when a tiny perfect hand reached out of the darkness on the screen she reached up and waved at her little brother. I will never forget that.

She likes to say hi to the baby and rub Mommy's tummy.

She just got a little baby doll this weekend and is totally attached to it. She has a little stroller and she pushes the baby around and when the baby cries, she feeds it a little bottle and rocks it and sings "Lullaby and good night..."

She continues to love food and Melinda has been cooking some truly awesome things. Cora loves pancakes, homemade bread, muffins, toast, broccoli, tomatoes, apples, pears, beans, rice, tacos, soup, hummus, chicken, turkey, pasta, salsa, green beans, mushrooms, yogurt, homemade cookies, and all other sorts of yummy goodness. I hope this continues.

Cora likes to joke around. She loves the, "Where's Cora?" trick and often has some book or blanket or sweater over her head as she asks it. She likes to say funny things and seems to truly understand when something is goofy.

She loves to laugh and her smile breaks my heart. She basically breaks my heart every day and somehow I find the strength to mend it just in time for her to say "Daddy, how was your day?" or, "You feel better Daddy?" "Daddy, can you play with me?" or "Daddy, I'm kinda shy." And crack, into a thousand pieces it goes.

She is very appreciative and often expresses her thanks in this way. "Mommy, thank you for dinner!" then she turns to me and says "Mommy's so nice. Mommy's a real nice woman." Cora and I see eye to eye on this topic :)

Each night at bed Cora asks me to say "Goodnight" which means we go through all the people and animals we know and say good night to them all together.

She has also taken to requesting that I sing the "Peasant Pig song" which as some of you may know is a Richard Scarry book about a brave little pig who is a bad knight but a good archer, his friend Lowly Worm, and a confrontation with a large dragon (Or what turns out to be a bunch of funny-named robbers disguised as a dragon) There is much drama and much drinking of grape juice, a big sneezing scene, and well, Peasant Pig gets the girl in the end. It's a must read for all you Scarry fans.

Cora is playing the harmonica and the pipe flute these days. And she'll dance to just about anything, even bagpipes.

I can't think of anything else right now but I will soon and maybe I'll write some more.

Love,
Brian

xmas 2009