mama is handy AND hilarious

another otto video. both kids are at such a fun stage that sometimes still photos don't do them justice. here is a video of otto laughing at me using a toy drill and a toy nut (as in nuts and bolts). don't ask me what i was doing, and don't ask me why he thought it was so funny. i just love his laugh....

otto in action

wanted to get a video of otto on the blog for posterity's sake. check him out crawling, pulling to stand, and doing a little bit of dancing.

where's otto?

PEEKABOO! (and yes, that is drool and boogers and other yuckiness on the poor little guy's face....)

otto in the pool

even though my mom has a pool at her place and joe's parents put in a pool 2 summers ago, we kept otto out of the water this past summer. being born in may, i just felt too worried about the water and sunscreen and sunburns and on and on and on. but we knew he would love the water. he loves the bath, LOVES it and has since that very first bath. never a cry at all from this guy about being in the water. and he loves it. we started swim lessons a few weeks ago and he is hilarious. he likes to dunk his face in the water and then comes up sputtering and blinking, all smiley and proud. he knows to "jump" in at the count of 3, but usually gets so excited that just laughs and bobbles around and forgets to lean forward to fall into the pool. below are two short videos of otto in the water....nothing too exciting, but cute nonetheless.

bookworm

our girl is still a bookworm. lately she has been into books by virginia lee burton, like the book katy and the big snow that she is reading in the photo. she got several books by laura numeroff for christmas from the ford cousins (if you give a moose a muffin, etc) and has been OBSESSED with reading these. it seems, however, that the only places that greta does not feel like reading books is in a bookstore. or in church. funny how that works.....

2 can play

greta is about as sweet and mild mannered as anyone can be. she's pretty easygoing and flexible. but she is also 2 years old. and she also has a little brother who is all of the sudden VERY mobile and VERY interested in anything greta is playing with. needless to say, this is causing some stress for little greta.
but sometimes they play together well, as in the last picture where greta is showing otto her babydoll. they play well when it is on "her terms", like when greta can decide that otto can join. not so much when otto decides to come barreling through a newly built lego building, trashing it and shoving all the pieces into his drooly little mouth.
and sometimes they play separately. otto still loves greta's dollhouse, and greta's latest toy obsession is a 2 dollar alphabet puzzle i bought at big lots.
but no matter how they play or what they play with, they really do make each other smile and laugh like brothers and sisters should. i love watching them together when they don't know we're watching....

children's museum

i took otto and greta on an outing to the children's museum this week. wasn't sure how that was going to go with 2 mobile kids. would i be chasing greta all over? would otto need to be in the carrier but want to be able to move around?

all my worries were for nothing....it was fantastic and both kids had so much fun! we spent a lot of time in the ball area and also in the tiny sprouts area which has more things geared for kids otto's age. greta loves the sand table and otto just loves being able to cruise around and get all the other moms to wave and coo at him. it was a fun day!

papa's little helper

i went out to dinner with some friends last night while joe stayed home with the kids. from this video footage, it looks like joe put greta to work feeding otto. i wonder if she changes diapers too?

letters

here's a short video of greta playing with the fridge magnet letters. i am constantly amazed by her memory for letter names and sounds. she's getting pretty good at isolating the beginning sound in a word ("what sound does CAT start with?"). the best part of all this, though, is her enjoyment of it and her pure satisfaction. i think that's why i like this video so much. she didn't know i was taping her....i caught the very end of what probably went on for a minute or two. and i love the way she looks at the letters at the end and then comes away from it with contentment. is that too deep? it's that whole montessori thing.....

painting

greta has asked to paint for the last few days in a row. i think she likes getting her hands messy just as much as the actual painting process.....

monkey see monkey do

greta had a banana (and part of a pear) for snack the other day, and otto decided he'd like a bite. actually, he decided he'd like half a banana. then, while they were eating, the "ba-na-nas" song from greta and otto's best of 2009 cd starting playing. greta thought the whole event was hilarious, and keeps trying to recreate it at snacktime. ("mama, let's have bananas and pears and otto can eat too and we can listen to bananas song").

to otto, our 8 month old swimmer!

so even though i wrote your last letter late (only two weeks ago or so), you have done so much in that short time! you can crawl now, though you prefer to do the army crawl most of the time. you can now pull yourself up! and you have perfected your technique at getting from a laying down position to sitting. all of these new moves plus your tenacity means you can basically get anywhere and everywhere!
your dance moves now include some arm waving, and you have been doing a lot of "roughhousing". you will knock your head into my head if i say "bonk!" and you sometimes like to dive at us, burying your head into our chests or shoulders while trying to bite at us! even though you can sometimes be a "mama's boy" you seem to like to play rough...you like to wrestle and be tossed around (in a playful way, of course!). you play peekaboo with burp cloths, hiding behind them and laughing and then forgetting to peek out so that we can see you.
you had your first swimming lesson this week and you loved it. when we sat waiting for our lesson, you were very quiet and still, staring at all the other moms and babies and looking all around. but as soon as you got in the water you were so excited. you were shrieking, laughing, and going crazy! you were kicking both of your legs at the same time, and kept trying to put your face in the water.
what a happy happy boy you are!

snow day....

we got several more inches of snow today, and the whole family got to play in it! otto enjoyed some rides on the sled, and despite his look of disgust in the photo, he actually seemed to enjoy being outside and kept trying to crawl in the snow. joe and greta stayed out a bit longer than otto and i....they did some sledding, built a tiny snowman and had a fun time! the snow is beautiful and it was fun to see our neighbors having fun in it as well. pictured below are our neighbors patrick and emily and their son tom....

staying warm

here's greta, keeping herself and her "friends" warm on the heating vent. the friends include baby jesus, mary, joseph, 2 yo gabba gabba figures, and a sippy cup lid.
this is not a new trick, as she did the same thing last year. guess this drafty old house is a little too chilly for our girl.....

otto tries to climb learning tower

otto is now pulling himself up to stand....today he pulled himself up with the learning tower. check out these pictures and video of otto, holding on for dear life and loving every minute of it. my favorite is his 'alfalfa' hair in the video!

go green

snow!

this was the first snowfall of the season that we were able to go out and enjoy. after otto went down for a nap this morning, greta and i got all bundled up and headed out. she was very intrigued by the snowpants she was wearing. (we love hand-me-downs from those ford girls!) she also was SURE that she wanted to take her mittens off, until she did and tried to play in the snow with her bare hands. we didn't last long, but it was fun!

lego maniac

"santa" thought legos would be a perfect gift for greta for christmas. "santa's helper" wasn't so sure. last night, i had to apologize to "santa" and agree with him that legos were probably the best gift we could have given. there is nonstop lego building going on in our house, and has been since christmas morning. as i write this, greta is building a train car, narrating the whole adventure as she goes.

happy new year!

left to right: hannah, otto, cassie, ellie, greta, jacob

while joe and i were in new orleans for the sugar bowl, greta and otto spent a few days at grandma and grandpa hansbauers. they were there for four nights, and on new year's eve were joined for the night by the ford cousins. yes, you read that right. joe's parents had a spend the night with ALL SIX OF THEIR GRANDKIDS on new year's eve. the celebrations included a bubble baths, chocolate cake, and lots of noisemakers. sounds fun!! we are so very thankful to joe's parents for taking such good care of our kids while we were gone....