3-8-07 manipulatives
All of the sudden, greta seems to have developed amazing fine motor skills. We were playing the other day in her room with her rainbow ring stacker. Normally, playing with this toy involves her putting the wooden rings in her mouth, banging them together, carrying them around and putting them on the dogs. Well, this time, greta sat down in front of them and, one by one, put them on the pole, perfectly. She did it again and again, several times in a row without any trouble at all. She then grabbed her block set (several colored blocks of different shapes, sizes and patterns) and began stacking them into a tower. No sweat. Just one on top of another. And, the best part, after each one, she would throw up one hand in the "where is it?" gesture, as if to say "how about that?!!". We both clapped excitedly in celebration. Currently, she is working on throwing a ball, fitting shapes into her shape sorter, and stacking and nesting her cardboard box sets.
3-10-07 tools
In addition to the discoveries greta has made with her toys, she has also learned to use various "daily tools", such as spoons, toothbrushes, hairbrushes and telephones. Spoon: Greta insists now on feeding herself every meal. Sometimes she wants me to put food on her spoon with my own spoon, and sometimes, she just digs right in and scoops up her food on her own. Generally, the food makes it into her mouth, and on occasion it will end up on her face, her hair or her clothes. Practice makes perfect. Toothbrush: We have started brushing greta's teeth, using an infant toothbrush which is basically a smaller toothbrush with rubber bristles (no toothpaste yet). She loves having her teeth brushed and she has had a go at it herself, but mostly chews on it and looks at it in amazement, like, finally I have one of my own (she likes watching us brush our teeth). Hairbrush: Well, this one will take a little more work...greta has been using her hairbrush as a backup toothbrush... Telephone: On occasion when we are talking on the phone, we will put it up to greta's ear so she can "say hello". She has always been a good listener, but just recently spoke back for the first time to Uncle Richie--I think she said "gog" (dog) or some such thing. She is seeming more intrigued by it and interested in who is on the other line.
3-12-07 "yah"
Greta and Daddy have a new favorite pastime: watching a slideshow of dog photographs on the computer screen. This activity was created out of convenience: keeping greta happy while getting things done on the computer. However, it is now one of greta's top three favorite things to do, and nobody does it better than Daddy. Their routine goes something like this: Greta gets up on Daddy's lap, they turn on I-photo, and click on the folder entitled: "goggogs" (where we have collected every last photo of dogs we know), and proceed through the slideshow. After each photo is displayed, Daddy asks, "Do you want to see the next one?" to which greta repies "yah". These yahs can range anywhere from a loud "yah", to a quick "yah" to a whispered "yah". It is so darn cute. And especially when she is tired and is nestled into Daddy's arms, quietly whispering "yah". It has gotten to the point where Daddy gets home from work and greta walks over to him, puts her arms around his legs, looks up and says "yah-yah-yah-yah-yah".
3-17-07 swimming
So today we finally took greta swimming. The weather here has been pretty nice the last few days and so it seemed like a great time to do it. One of the community centers has Family Swim on Saturdays, so we got all gussied up and headed out this morning. We just knew greta would love getting into the pool, as she adores bathtime. The only problem was, greta was way overdue for a nap. Sometimes, greta will get her second (third? fourth?) wind and push through naptime without getting fussy. Not today. The poor thing looked exhausted before we even did any swimming and whimpered a bit when we got into the water. The pool is heated, but is definitely cooler than her bath water. Entertainment, compliments of Daddy was a pretty good distraction and after a few minutes, she started to take interest in all the kids splashing, the HUGE water fountain feature and the water surrounding her. We didn't stay terribly long, but we are certain she will have no qualms about being in water. I guess we just need to be sure she is well rested. But boy, she looked darn cute in her hula girl swimsuit...(we'll get a photo next time...)
3-19-07 bike
Greta received a cute little wooden Radio Flyer bike for her birthday and until lately, it has mostly been appealing because of the bell and the streamers hanging off the handlebars. We have practiced riding around on it, but greta was always a little shaky, getting her feet tangled up and unsure how to make it go (there are no pedals, just foot power!). Well the other day we put her on it, and, classic greta, off she went. Not sure when exactly she learned how...maybe that very instant, but she is now riding her toddler bike. And she can even get on and off of it by herself. Unfortunately for her, our house is smallish and so she starts at one end of the house, rides to the other side, we pick her and her bike up, turn her around, and she rides back. This doesn't bother her a bit, and she is getting speedier with each ride.
3-29-07 wooden shoe tulip festival
Well, today was the first nice day (weather wise) of Spring Break, and it is almost over. No matter, we decided to partake in a very spring, very family oriented activity--the Woodburn Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival!!! Neither of us had been before, and greta does enjoy looking at flowers, so off we went. It was actually quite lovely...huge fields of tulips in so many pretty colors with a great view of Mt. Hood in the background. Quite picturesque. So thought dozens of other families, as we watched loads of children, gussied up in fancy dresses and rain boots (a bit muddy in places) being plopped amongst the tulips, with their parents pleading for them to smile at the camera. I can't say we weren't part of that crowd, as we did get a few sweet photographs of greta looking at the flowers--however, no fancy dresses for us. Greta certainly enjoyed looking at the flowers, especially up close, and to top it off, there were plenty of dogs to look at in between the rows of tulips, much to greta's amusement and delight. Will this be a Spring Break tradition you wonder? Maybe...although, I think Mike and I wouldn't mind making backpacking in Utah our tradition. Luckily, the Tulip Festival does go on for an entire month, so I am sure we could fit it in...