Thursday, September 24, 2009

conversation

this video is for brent and janet. while on our vacation in michigan, they discovered (much to their delight) that greta has a bit of a southern accent. (i guess we do live in kentucky). words such as "cake" and "baby" sound pretty awesome when greta says them. in this video, she showcases more of her drawl with the word "bandaid". i think it's currently my favorite word that she says, so i tried to get her to say it as many times as possible. anyway, enjoy!


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

greta coloring

who needs paper when you have your hand? here's a video of greta coloring....

shoes

check out this video of greta "playing" with otto.

asleep with my eyes open



maybe it's just me, but bedtime can be a tricky time at our house. especially when there's only one parent home. who do you put to bed first? what does the other child do in the meantime. often for otto, this means he lays and cries for a few minutes while we go through the bedtime routine with greta. tonight, however, otto got tired of waiting. while i was upstairs with greta, otto rolled over onto his belly (his sleep position of choice), found his thumb to suck on, and promptly fell asleep. i know his eyes look open, but trust me, he was sleeping.
our children do not fall asleep just anywhere. i remember almost passing out the ONE TIME greta fell asleep in a bouncy seat at a playdate.

way to go otto. thanks for making bedtime a little easier tonight. except for the fact that you still needed to nurse one more time.

baby greta

Monday, September 14, 2009

to our girl who's almost 2 years old!!


so in this past month you learned to jump....both feet off the floor, jump. this was a big feat and a long time coming! you have also learned the names of all the letters of the alphabet, as well as the sounds of about 7 or 8 letters. this is truly amazing to me....i never put much stock in those refridgerator alphabet toys, but i really think that is where you learned a good amount of the letter names. well, that and the fact that you also like to read alphabet books and would ask "what's that letter?" almost anytime you saw anything in print. you really truly are a sponge, soaking up all this knowledge. now you've started to ask "what's that say?" ANYTIME there are words on something. ANYTIME. you want to know what the words on the title page of a book say. ("that says copyright 2001, greta"). you want to know what the word printed on your fork at dinner says. ("that says gerber. can you say gerber, greta?"). it's so neat to see your understanding of the fact that words have meaning and that words are everywhere.
you continue to love to look at books, as well as play with your dolls and kitchen toys. you named one of your babies "baby catherine" after your cousin cassie. you like to get your toys "all lined up", and you love to play outside. you like going to the playground or even just walking around the block. you continue to enjoy emptying the clothes out of your dresser drawers or otto's dresser drawers and trying them on. the other night at dinner you had on two pairs of bloomers and one pair of velvet pants in addition to your regular clothes. and trying on shoes....again, a favorite past time. no matter whose shoes. at a party labor day weekend, a little boy you had just met took his crocs off and you swiped them and wore them around the party.

you also have started notices likenesses in things, and you will say "that looks like....". like when you said, "what's that?" about something in the fridge. when i said it was turkey bacon, you said, "it looks like ham." or when you said "number 2 looks like 5". or that blueberries "look like little balls". it is pretty neat to have real conversations with you now. you can give opinions and share about your day, and you can remember things and events from one day to the next. and you can pretend things....like when you were holding up noodles from your soup and said they were birthday candles and then you proceeded to blow them out. or when we were outside and you took a stick and started scratching it back and forth on the ground and said, "i'm sweeping the floor".
you still love to sing songs and will say "what should we sing now?" when you want to sing. lately you like to sing "she'll be coming round the mountain" and "happy birthday", and it's fun to have duets with you when you sing along. you like to wrestle and "ride the pony" with papa, bouncing up and down on his outstretched legs.
you really are such a fun, calm, happy girl. you enjoy people, even your brother otto, and even though you say "mine" you are most often happy to bring him a toy or a bib or give him a kiss. and you still oblige your mama and papa with kisses and hugs, which we take as often as we can get.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Who Dey - Bengals 2009

Today is the home opener for the Cincinnati Bengals... and with a new season hope springs eternal! Greta won't be attending the game with us, but that doesn't mean she's not just as excited...

Here is Greta singing the Bengals fight song (Age 23 months), and for those that need subtitles, these are the words to the song.

"Here he comes a growlin', mean and angry
Here he comes a prowlin', lean and hungry
An offensive brute, run pass or boot
and defensively he's rough, tough.
Cincinnati Bengals, that's the team we're going to cheer to victory
Touchdown Bengals, put some points up on the board and win a game for Cincinnati.

Who Dey think gonna beat them Bengals..... .NOBODY!"


Thursday, September 10, 2009

happy boy



where did our baby go? doesn't he look like a little boy?! so cute....

twinkle toes

playing outside



living in an urban neighborhood as we do, we don't have acres and acres of grass or wide open spaces for our kids to play. but we do have a tiny patch of dirt on our sidewalk, the neighbors' cat, and a sidewalk. what else could a girl want?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

makin' bacon


yep....that's a piggy in a frying pan. placed on the couch by greta. she does love bacon.

to otto, our 4 month old roller baby


so now you can roll from your back to your belly as well. you accomplished this feat for the first time a few days ago, while mommy was on a shopping spree at target. i'm sorry i missed it, but you have been happy to do repeat performances. we knew it was coming, though. you found your feet about a week earlier, and we knew it was only a matter of time before you rolled all the way over. speaking of feet, you seem to want to suck on your feet and your thumb at the same time, which makes for quite a drool fest. as if your bibs weren't busy enough with all the spit up.
you push and drag yourself when you are on your belly, moving towards toys or towards greta. your legs are so strong...you managed to kick the toy bar off the bouncy seat at grandma and grandpas twice! you are mouthing toys like crazy, so i don't know if that means you are teething or what. you like that whoozit toy and that teething toy that looks like a bracelet. you are practicing sitting up on your own, but you often will straighten your legs, showing us you'd rather be standing.
you are so easygoing...and for the most part we seemed to have solved your car issues. it seems that the carseat bar and shade were blocking your view. now that you can see more than just what's in front of you, you like to watch greta in the car and also you love to look out the window! you tilt your head to the side and just stare and stare. you will smile and coo at just about anyone, and you are constantly trying to see what is going on around you. we call that "nosy", just like greta was at this age.
sleep is going better.....you are only waking up once a night to nurse, plus the occasional waking to have your hiney patted to get you back to sleep. you love when mama and greta sing songs....you smile and you look back and forth with your mouth open like you want to be singing too.
thanks for being such a chill little guy....i can't wait to take you to see dr. bird next week to show you off and see how much weight those chubby little legs and cheeks add up to...

Monday, September 7, 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Otto Rolling

Well, it may not be as exciting as our usual labor day party, but instead of that.... today we have Otto rolling... for the first time from his back to his belly...

I guess he's officially mobile now....


Saturday, September 5, 2009

strike a pose.....




.....while wearing mama's headbands. or papa's work socks with a hole in the toe. but doesn't she look like she's posing? i think she's just ahead of her time when it comes to accessorizing.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

you talkin' to me?


any old clothes will do



lately, greta is sort of obsessed with putting clothes on and off. i like to think it's her way of working on the skills of getting dressed independently. the thing of it is, she will put on anyone's clothes. here she is after raiding otto's drawers. we're still working on getting shirts all the way over her head, but notice she has one leg in each pants leg. NICE!