Maracas, Boo, and Balloons!

Look at that pointing!
Greta is really into her maracas...and any other item she can easily carry around the house while she walks around! She also likes to carry around the 4 spoons in her tea set--all in one hand. Today she had all 4 in one hand, and she dropped one--so she bent down to pick it up. As she picked up the lost spoon, she dropped another! This went on for a few more pick-ups and she did not get frustrated or give up; she kept at it calmly, patiently, and persistently! Once she had all 4 in hand securely, she went on her merry way.
Here she is with Papa on our trip to Bellingham. She LOVES peek-a-boo!!!
Lots of balloons from Grandpa Paul! And I think she has on the right pajamas for this photo shoot...
Our sweet baby girl.

Recent Visits

We spent the last weekend with Grandpa Paul in Bellingham. Since Greta's birthday is coming up, Grandpa Paul bought her a few new toys: here she is with one of her new balls. We did a lot of driving and eating out on our visit, but Greta was a champion and weathered it all well. On our last day we visited Fairhaven, near Bellingham. A nice grassy spot was just what we needed to let Greta stretch out her walking legs and use her new ball! Greta walks all the time now, and favors it over crawling. She is often on the move. No big crashes yet--she falls back on her bum from time to time, but gets right back up without a fuss.
A toy store is a perfect companion to the park. We spent a LOT of time in this toy store (possibly to the annoyance of the people working there...as we didn't even buy anything!...) Grandpa Paul showed Greta all the best toys, and she especially enjoyed watching him spin the tops.
Trying out some instruments.
Reading books with Grandpa. Greta LOVES Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Having fun with Grandpa! Lots of reading and playing together--it was a great visit!
Grandpa Paul blew up a whole bunch of balloons for Greta, and she had tons of fun playing with them. (He got some good shots of her with the balloons--later I will post them!)
The hotel we stayed at had a swimming pool, so we went for a swim. Here she is in her new swimming suit.
Lately Greta has been scared of having showers or baths, but she wasn't afraid of the swimming pool!
A few days ago my friend Jean and her son Oliver came over for a visit. Jean and I were in the same prenatal group, and Oliver was born a few days before Greta (much to my frustration at the time--he was due AFTER Greta!) Oliver has big blue eyes and the longest eyelashes I've ever seen!!! Greta shared her toys as best she could, and the two of them seemed to enjoy playing with the soccer ball together.
Do you see how badly she wants to snatch those glasses?
Papa time!!!
This was my sister's baby doll from when she was little. Recently, when my mom was over for a visit a week or so ago, she showed Greta how she hugs this baby doll. Greta was very interested in impressing Nanny Kathy (it's official, she doesn't want to be called GRANNY Kathy! that would've been fun for me...) and Greta went on to hug and rock the baby over and over again, looking at Nanny Kathy for a reaction! Now Greta gives baby doll lots of love every day :-) Here she is hugging and patting baby.
Coincidentally, I get the same kind of hug-pat a couple times a day, which I LOVE. Sometimes I even get kisses!
Having fun with Nanny Kathy.
This coming weekend we will see Nana Judy when we celebrate Matthew and Greta's birthdays, and then the next weekend we'll see more family for Greta's 1st birthday party! What a busy spring!

New developments for Greta: she loves cause and effect now. She is constantly dropping things--on purpose--and saying "Uh oh"--she especially does this at mealtimes. It's funny, though, because she seems to know what foods NOT to drop! If we give her a piece of cookie, or something especially yummy, she will not drop it...even if she's never even tried it before--she somehow senses it is going to be good before even tasting it!

For those of you who are wondering...I DID get the teaching job at the college. What a relief! I will start the day after Greta's birthday. I am very glad, I will be home every day by 2pm to play with my little toddler waddler baby girl!

Messy Greta Bessie!

Greta is becoming more toddler-like every day. She is really into taking things out and making a mess with them! For example, whenever I open her dresser to get some clothes out for her, she crawls or walks over ON A MISSION to get to the clothes before I close the drawer! She wants to take the clothes out one by one and throw them on the floor. Sometimes I let her.....
I just had to get a photo of her in this cute little outfit! On Saturday night we went to an event at Matthew's school: Taste of the World. Students at the school--from all over--brought in food representative of their countries. Greta had a blast there! There were so many children and balloons for her to play with.
This is a dress from Nana Judy. I remember Judy gave this to us before Greta was born. Since the dress is for a 12 month old, I washed it and put it away for "a long time from now"...or so I thought. I can hardly believe Greta is now big enough to wear it!
Greta LOVES books! If she had her way she'd meticulously remove each and every one of these books from the shelf, rip the pages, and eat the paper!! Naughty naughty naughty :-)
This morning she spent a lot of time with Papa, as I had to go to work. It looks like she's having fun with him!

Here's an update on my job situation: I got a job teaching Kindergarten at a Catholic elementary school here on the westside of Vancouver! It doesn't start until September, though. So, in the meantime I'm hoping to be an instructor of early childhood education courses at Vancouver Career College. This week I did a "trial week" of teaching for them, and I've been told it is likely they will need me more regularly starting at the end of the month. I've really enjoyed working there this week, and am really excited about it! I'm home by 2, so then I have the whole afternoon with Greta. She's done really well with this change so far. A couple days this week a very kind and gentle woman from our old church looked after her, and then Matthew looked after her the rest of the time I was gone.

I will leave you with this video of Greta and her balloon. She LOVES balloons!

11 Months Today!

On the eve of her 11 month birthday...her face is all smashed up against her crib!
Greta and her balloon. Yesterday while we were out and about Greta was given a bright yellow balloon to take home. The first time she was introduced to a balloon a few months ago, Greta was pretty wary of it--she eyed it suspiciously and kept a good distance from it. This time, however, Greta has made friends with her balloon! She loves grabbing it by the string and pumping it up and down into her face, and she loves laying down on top of it and rolling around.
Greta is really into balls lately. So yesterday--at the same place we got the balloon (a stationery store of all places!) I bought her this great little "confetti" ball. Her love affair with balls was encouraged when Aunt Jenny and Uncle Dalton let her take home the raquetball their cats played with a couple weeks ago--she loves to make that ball bounce, and she loves to put it in her mouth (don't worry, I've washed it since the cats had it!), and she loves to let it roll and then chase after it. This confetti ball offers her the same excitement, but is even more fun to look at.
Such a happy girl! Greta always ends up making eyes at someone when we're on the bus, and she almost always waves "hello" and "goodbye" to the bus drivers. Strangers often comment on how Greta is such a "happy baby". After some serious bouts of separation anxiety recently, and a week or so of feeling very under the weather, Greta is back to her usual self: pretty easy going and full of smiles, chuckles, energy and a curiosity to explore all that's around her. She does get frustrated and grouchy at times, though. When she gets frustrated it's sometimes hard not to laugh at her--she balls her hands up into little fists and her face gets all red like she will explode!!! (Matthew recently pointed out to me that I do the same thing.)
Today I worked a little bit--I picked Jett up from school and helped her with her homework. It was such a beautiful day, though, so before we went to her house we played on the school playground. Greta really enjoyed watching all the big kids running around. She spotted a basketball that had gone astray and really latched onto it!
I had to get this photo of her with a football for Matthew. Greta had never seen a football until today, and she was very interested in its strange shape. Someday maybe they'll "toss the football around" together?

Happy 11 Month Birthday Greta Bess!

Spoilbaby's Hair-Do

Greta will be one year in just about a month, but she still has only 2 teeth and not much hair! Recently, though, I've tried "doing her hair": the first time Matthew saw her with a hair clip he said "She looks like such a spoil-baby!" It's true, she does, but she sure is a cute spoil-baby!

After the hair-clip photo shoot this morning we went out to the park--hair-clip free. A girl can't be worrying about her hair when she's got so much outside play to do!
We just go to the park down the street. Today there were a few other kids there right around Greta's age. She had fun watching them, crawling around, and practicing her walking skills.
Greta spends a lot of time examining the rocks at the park. She usually doesn't try to put them in her mouth, but loves to watch how they stick to her hands--and she loves to listen to them as she swishes them around.
Here she is with Papa yesterday before dinner. I had to get a picture of her in her polka-dot hair-clip!
Stripped down and ready to eat! Do you see those teeth?