This week Nora started giving her stuffed animals and toys water to drink and a "happie cereal" to eat.

Tonight, just before dinner, she came to us in the kitchen and said: "Nora zegt nee, koe! Nora zegt nee, koe!" (Nora says no, cow!).

She is using her authority over the cow and telling the animal: "no!". She was kind of impressed by this and kept telling us: "Nora zegt nee!"

The relationship with the cow is still fine. Nora wanted it next to her on the table with dinner.

It was very warm today with a high of 55° Fahrenheit (13 °C). When Nora took her nap Sasha and I had our coffee outside on the deck.

It's Marten Luther King day so we were home. It was nice to spend time at home; we played with Duplo and Playmobil and had a good day.

Today we visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It is said to be one of the best aquariums in the country and we really enjoyed it.

We left home at 9.15 am. Baltimore is about an hour away from here.

The first exhibition we saw was the "Blacktip Reef", a huge reef with animals from the Pacific ocean. There were rays, turtles, and many types of fish. There were big sharks, tiny seahorses, beautiful jellyfishes, and much more. At the end of our stay we watched a training session with 6 dolphins. A very impressive aquarium.

Nora had a blast. She got scared from the sharks -- they swim fast and made her jump when they appeared from around the corner all of a sudden. She particularly liked the dolphins.

After breakfast Nora said: "beer, voorlezen!" (bear, read a book).

She asked me to give her the Jip & Janneke book and she read it. A quiet day at home after a tough week.

We visited the National Gallery this morning. We considered going to the Phillips Collection, where there is a special exhibition on Van Gogh, but decided on our perennial favorites: 17th century Dutch art and French impressionists.

We prepared Nora by reading her "Nijntje in het museum" and in the car she was talking about "papa Pluis en mama Pluis". It was fun showing her the paintings and statues.

We had lunch in the restaurant in the museum and went home at 2.00 pm, for Nora's nap. In the evening she said "Van Gogh".

Nora really likes playing with her cousins. Sometimes from a safe distance -- there can be a lot of noise! -- and sometimes close by. To communicate with Julian she has to speak English and slowly but surely she is making some progress.

She knows some short sentences, like "happy-birthday-to-you" and "merry Christmas", and on command she can say "thank you", "hi" and "bye bye", but she doesn't talk independently yet. Listen to her talk here. Unlike in Bulgarian and Dutch, where she will use pretty long sentences and even sing songs.

Over Christmas I noticed her using two specific words: "no" and "thanks". "No" is pretty clear: when her big cousin gets too overbearing or when he takes something that she has, she will try "no!".

She says "thanks" also -- but she means "give it to me". So when Julian has something that she wants, she will say: "thanks!" in the hope that she gets it.

Yesterday I took a day off. In the morning Nora and I had a lot of fun. After breakfast and talking to Opa and Oma we went to the pediatrician to pick up a letter, and then to the bakery. Heidelberg bakery is always a nice destination, and with Christmas is it very festive. There was live accordion music. Then to the supermarket.

In the afternoon Sasha came home early and we prepared our budni vecher meal. The Zane family arrived a few hours later and we spent a great evening together.

Budni vecher is always a special meal and evening, and we had a nice selection of vegan dishes. Surmichki, two types of beans and salads. We made three pitka's: one big bread and two small pitka to break. In our family Sasha got the coin -- Julian was the lucky one at the Zanes.

Last weekend was the start of the Christmas season: we bought a tree and spend a lovely afternoon singing Christmas songs at friends.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Bill & Ingrid who organize a sing-in ever year. Accompanied by a great piano player we sang various Christmas songs, traditional, religious and others. It was an enthusiastic group and we had a lot of fun. We brought pepernoten.

In the evening we decorated the tree. It was a little on the large side -- I had to cut it down -- but we managed to get it in the house. Nora put a snowman decoration in the tree.

Yesterday morning, just after Nora woke up, she had a lot to say. She was talking about the game we played the evening before.

Nora: "Nora vallen! Tapijt."

Me: "Was Nora gevallen?"

Nora:
"Bank!
Pappa!
Nora zeg kiekeboe!
Pappa zeg leeuw!
Nora. Vallen. "

When I came home Nora wanted me to go in the living room right away:

"Instoppen!"

I was confused. Did she want to sleep? So I said: "Instoppen?"

"Instoppen! Bank!"

Then I understood.

"Oh, verstoppen! Jij wil verstoppertje spelen!"
"Oh!" (She uses "oh" to confirm things)

So we played hide-and-seek. Every time I screamed, she would scream and then say: "Leeuw!" -- because I was making lion-sounds.