Greta Turns 2

Greta loved the extra attention she got on her birthday, but I am not sure she completely understood what was happening. She loved seeing her pig cake and opening presents. When each present was given to her, she would look at Brian and me with an expression like, "Is this for me too?" The swimsuit she is wearing was a gift from my friend and neighbor, Michelle. Unbeknown to her, Greta is totally infatuated with swimsuits or "doo-doot" as she calls it. (It took a while to figure out this translation. After a major tantrum, we finally got it down.) Once she opened the present, it was all she could focus on until she was wearing it. It is a cute swimsuit.
This pig cake kept getting modified to a simpler design. It was going to be a pink monkey (a tradition from my own mother), but that was too time-consuming for the busy-ness of the day. Then I switched to a cat since Greta loves kitty cats, but then the mouth and nose area got misshaped. I scrapped that piece and decided it would have to be a pig. She still loved it and oinked and oinked. I guess that means success from a 2 year-old.
Greta couldn't muster the air needed to blow out the candle, so she got lots of help from her older sisters.



My baby is 2! I honestly can't believe it. I know everyone feels this way, but she seemed to grow-up overnight. Greta is amazing. She has this great capacity for affection and sympathy. She loves to blow kisses and whenever she gives you a hug, she says "hug." She also says "huggy" whenever she wants you to pick her up. Each day she is saying more and more words. Our favorite is whenever we ask her where something is, she holds out her empty hands and responds "I dunno know." or "Where'd it go?" She says "thank you" whenever you give her something - every time. Sometimes she'll be madly crying and I'll give her something and she'll stop crying to say "thank you." She has also started to say "peas" for please whenever she asks for something. She continues to love her baba-b (pacifier and blanket). This was Elsa's expression, exactly. Kind of weird how similar these two personalities are. She is more intelligible daily. She loves "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and wakes up saying "Mickey." She also loves reading books now. She lacked the attention span before. Now she'll snuggle in your lap while you read book after book. She loves them. Her favorite is "Ten Little Ladybugs." She loves to trace the ladybug shapes with her fingers and count. She also loves "From Head to Toe" and makes the animal sounds while imitating the movements. She has started climbing out of her crib with ease. The first time she did it, she came out of her room and said "Mom, I jump." She was so proud of herself. I haven't seen her jump out, but it is literally seconds after I shut the door that she is out of her crib and opening the door. There is no thud or sound, so she must be agile. It has made naps and bedtime extremely difficult. Most of the time I don't mind her staying up with us because she is an entertaining companion. However, the lack of sleep has caused more frequent tantrums and meltdowns.

Greta had her well check-up last week. She weighed 24.5 lbs. (20th percentile) and is 33.5" (50th percentile). She is a peanut compared to Elsa and Ava at this stage. She didn't like her shots (who does). Afterwards, she said "Mean lady." I completely agreed so she wouldn't think I inflicted the pain (even though I did hold her down). I am trying even harder now to fatten her up. I went and bought chocolate milk hoping to get her to like it. Then I will make the switch to Carnation Instant Breakfast. This was Ava's meal plan for about two years. Greta doesn't like the Instant Breakfast, so I am going to try the bait-and-switch. She is my only child that will eat peanut butter, so that is helpful. She likes yogurt, cheese, cereal, crackers, and of course, chocolate. Loves it. Other than that, she is very picky. She won't eat any fruits or vegetables. She used to eat bananas all the time, but now turns her head and says "yucky." I am quite sure she got this from watching Ava's disgust towards fruit and vegetables. She won't eat turkey, chicken nuggets, or any meat for that matter. Well, except she'll always eat part of Elsa's or Ava's hamburger, but she has to know that it is theirs and she is getting it from them. Law of supply and demand. She demands it, and they supply it.



Greta's birthday was a totally crazy day. I started out making waffles with whipped cream for Greta's breakfast. She loves breakfast food. I put a couple of candles in and we sang "Happy Birthday" before the girls left for school. Greta's birthday fell on the same day as the Open House at the Elementary school. Since I was an art docent for Elsa's class, I had to set up artificial walls and mount and label each child's selected art project for display. This took some time since there were art docents from all the other classes also setting up their displays. It was a little chaotic. I dropped Greta off at her friend Tessa's house, so she could play. It was better than the alternative of coming to the school gym. I had bigger dreams of taking her to the park, but setting up took much longer than planned. We made it home in time for Greta to eat lunch and get a nap. It was during her nap that I quickly baked and decorated her cake. Then after school, I had Activity Days (my church calling) at my house. There were 11 girls running all over, in addition to my three girls. They cleared out at 4:30, leaving enough time to clean-up, make dinner, decorate, and set-out presents for Greta. Brian hurried home to eat dinner and open presents before we needed to go to the school for the Open House.

For birthday presents, Greta got a couple of coloring books and art supplies from Grandma and Grandpa H., money from Grandma and Grandpa P, which bought her a bitty baby tea set, and from us she got magic coloring pens and ink set and water and sand table for her birthday. She couldn't wait to play with the water table. This in addition to the swimsuit Miss Michelle gave her, was what you might call the perfect storm. Brian and I quickly assembled the water table and filled it with water. Greta was giggling and jumping around with excitement and didn't want to leave. It was complete madness trying to get her out of her swimsuit and into the car. We arrived at the school an hour later than anticipated. There was no parking, so Brian dropped me and the girls off. I carried a screaming Greta out of the car in nothing but a diaper. She refused to put on clothes or shoes. Eventually, I was able to get her calmed down with the distraction of the bunny that is in Ava's classroom. Phew! What a birthday. Happy Birthday Baby!