13 months

I've been debating whether or not to continue with the Greta updates after the year milestone...it seems as though she's taken over quite a bit of the content of this blog we've created. To be honest, this is my life. She is my life, at the moment, so it only makes sense that I would be writing about her...to her...for her to read someday...maybe.

I wish I could say that I'm saving the world one day at a time or being this real kick-ass photographer lady or opening up a children's shop because I kind of really love hunting down new clothes for Greta, but I have zero business sense. Not to put a label on me or anything, but I am, first and foremost, a mother. It's probably the easiest and hardest job I've ever had...and I've had A LOT of jobs. Easy because she makes it easy...and hard because I make it hard. Because I am hard on myself. I am hard on my husband. Because deep down, I think I've always been sort of a perfectionist, but a laid back perfectionist. If that makes any sense?

Ultimately, I decided it made me happy to write these monthly updates. She makes me happy. And so does that fellow in the photos below. And seeing them together kind of melts my heart and causes me to feel this super kind of love. Everyday. And so it goes.

To my little goose...at thirteen months.

You are a C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R! All caps.

You like to run into our bedroom and close the door and wait for someone to look for you. Or you yell...ahem...very loudly to let us know you've gone in the bedroom and we should probably open the door. So, mama gives you kisses through the glass. And you press your nose to the window and giggle and bite the wood between the glass panels. I open the door and you run out screaming at the top of your lungs.

You also love to hide behind furniture and when I say, "Where's Greta?" you run out really fast with your panting breath and scream, too.

Daddy and I took you on your very first camping trip to the Warren Dunes in Michigan. It was beautiful and you did so well, like you typically do and slept so well. Mama, on the other hand, was never accustomed to the wiles of camping. Not a happy camper.

You like to stand in front of the fan and you close your eyes and look so peaceful.

"Eight Silly Monkeys" is your favorite book.

You love your rocking horse. You cry when mama takes you out of it. You do the same thing with the swings at the park.

You dance. And often. Pretty much any time you hear music.

You prefer to use a fork when you eat something you think requires a fork. You're actually pretty good at it.

You recently started climbing onto furniture. And you think standing up and walking off if it is a perfectly reasonable way to get down.

You help mama load and unload the dishwasher...but mostly unload and put the dishes in various places around the house.

You bring your baby, lamb, monkey, bunny, and elephant with you everywhere. You take your baby on the swings with you and insist they all eat with us...and then you feed them your meal.

When you give kisses, you make this smacking sound with your lips beforehand to let us know you're giving us kisses. Which I love.
 

one.

It amazes me how quickly this year has passed. Greta is one. My baby is becoming a toddler. She is walking, "talking", and generally being very mischievous...but she is really just curious about the world around her. We still call her "baby" and probably always will. She will always be my sweet little baby. How I love her dearly.

To my darling Greta...who is one.

You had your first taste of chocolate at your first birthday party at Montrose Harbor surrounded by friends and family. It was a good day. We also had a little birthday celebration at home with dada and grandma and a cake (that mama tried to dye ombre pink with beet juice...but failed to make it work).

You love fabric so much! You could take laundry in and out of baskets all day long. You like to drape it over your body and cover your head and play peek-a-boo, you little goose, you. (goose is dada's favorite nickname for you at the moment...mama still calls you her little babushka.)

You also love to push the laundry basket all over the house and put things in and take things out. You are very particular about what goes in your basket. If mama and dada are looking for something we seemed to have lost...we can typically find it in one of a few baskets we have around the house.

You are running! You are so less cautious nowadays. You like to run and you make this panting sound as you do it and it is so darn cute.

You love to feed mama and dada. We love it too...sometimes.

You also like to throw your food on the floor and dump your water out and splash in it on the table.

We have stopped going to swim lessons...you kind of screamed the whole time the last few times we went...perhaps we'll try again when you are two.

You kiss the characters in the books we read...especially those monkeys with the boo-boos who keep falling off the bed. You did this completely and utterly on your own, you sweet girl.

You "share"...because you will give something to another child or mama or dada and then maybe want it back immediately after.

You have been making the most unbecoming faces lately. I tell you to "stop it with the faces" and you make that face again.

I think back to that glorious, wondrous night you came into our world, and am stricken with such an awe for you. You were this tiny, little, precious thing...the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I couldn't get enough of you...watching you in constant wonder. We made you. Me and your daddy. You are forever ours. Our sweet baby girl. You've grown so much and I have loved every minute of it. Every second.

Many more years of growing and learning are ahead of us, my darling...and I couldn't be more excited for it.