walking

Nora and I went up to Portland to visit Grandma for an afternoon last week. She had a great time at the splash park.



Nora sampled the local fare in Grandma's garden.

Tomato on your big toe...interesting

We registered her as an official "walker" on Sept. 1st. She's still a much more proficient crawler and prefers to get around on all 4s, but with enough coaxing she can do the drunk man's swagger walk well!!

Lake billychinook

Saturday we went down to Lake Billychinook to see a friend. Nora tested out her new lifejacket. She was trying to help clean up at the cabin, wondering where in the world this empty water bottle should go.

She's not only cute......

She's a real smarty pants. Tomato, tree, dog.......the list grows daily. So, I know it may not be obvious from the video but she really does know what these things are. They truely are little sponges, hungry to suck up new things. She totally surprises me with what she knows and retains. I love this stage!!

It's been a busy few weeks, Rena was here from Chicago, Grandma and Grandpa Kaplan were here from Portland. Nora met a new uncle, Rickie, and her great grandma Kaplan from Flordia too. I think she was wondering where everyone went this morning when it was just her and I.

We hiked up Tumalo on Saturday morning.Grandpa Kaplan and Nora after Tennis

Aunt Rena and Nora after breakfast
Falling water.....a big hit.

and I thought she was mobile last month....

This picture was not posedNora is not only mobile, she's three dimensionally mobile. She climbs on top of, under, over and up most obstacles. She's conquered stairs, a flight of 16 to be specific, the dish wahser, the fridge, and the dog. Unfortunately these daring feets are not without their falls. She's taken a few tumbles. Her personality is un-folding more and more; she's certainly tough, she's cautious in unfamiliar environments, and although she can be outgoing and talkative, she's shy more often than not.

Beach time

The newest member to the baby girls club, Lylia, made the trip west from NY to meet her Oregon fan club. Jess and I decide eachother's babies could pass for eachothers babies. Nora's skin tone matches Jess's more than mine, and lylia and I are sporting a similar tan.

swimming

Nora got dunked by Dad
then decided she didn't have enough of the dunking and dunked herself in Bean's water bowl