to our 21 month old word wizard

another month passes, and a million more words and phrases learned. you are speaking in sentences now sometimes, like when we got back from the park and you said, "otto asleep on stroller ride". and indeed, he had fallen asleep. and then we got inside and you saw the picture of otto from the hospital and you said, "otto asleep in picture too". and yes, he is sleeping in the photo. the word "too" is in your vocabulary a lot lately, and so is "again". for some reason this just cracks me up. it seems so big kid to be able to relate something enough to use "too", such as when we were going upstairs for naptime and i said that you were going to take a nap, and since we had just come back from tom's house you said, "tom napping too!"
you have also been relating words....for instance, your papa has taught you nicknames for everyone in the family (monkey girl for greta, little guy for otto, papa the great, and mama ding dong). for anyone reading along, i don't really approve of this but it's pretty hilarious to hear greta say "mama ding dong". anyway, we were coming into the house and you pointed to the doorbell and said, "mama ding dong"....i thought your papa and i were going to cry we were laughing so hard. or when you saw water on tv and starting singing the words "in the water" that are from a song on your cd papa made you.
you talk nonstop...we know you are getting into something or pooping (or sleeping) if you aren't talking. and you continue to impress with your repetoire of songs....which now includes silent night. this is because for the past month or so, you have wanted to read christmas carol books before bedtime. mama finally went and bought a few new books, and now those have replaced away in a manger and the others....one of the books is goldilocks and the three bears. we read it twice and you remembered the name goldilocks. it amazes me that you will sit and listen to the entire story. that book is a favorite, as is gingerbread baby (again with the winter books), and pat the puppy.
you love to play outside, and have enjoyed having your water table. inside, you basically like to move your toys around from place to place, and push them in your shopping cart or stroller. you have been doing some more climbing, and you like to climb up onto the window seat in the kitchen or try to climb into your highchair.
you are still a fantastic eater, but i think you are catching on to the fact that you like some foods more than others and are starting to eat only those. to accompany that, the word "no" has become a popular answer to many questions. you like to say, "a couple minutes??" when told it's bedtime or diaper changing time.
you are pushing the limits a bit more, and we're not sure if it's delayed reaction to otto's arrival or just the fact that soon you will be two years old. but you really do listen and so far, your temper tantrums are few and far between. you will get frustrated and kick, and then when you are finally able to do what ever was frustrating you, you tell yourself, "there you go greta" or "all by myself".
and although i am glad you can do so many things by yourself, i love it when you say "mama carry" which means you just want me to hold you for a minute. i wish i had all the minutes time could offer, i would hold you the whole time.....