Hip toddler

Greta..riding in the zoom zoom, originally uploaded by DerekandRebecca.

Rockin out to 4 non blondes. She says that zoomin is fun, weeeeee!

Pops is Tops

Derek wanted to take us to Chef Burger for Father's Day this year and it was my kind of place. I had a tuna burger with ginger slaw and a banana shake. Greta was too excited to eat, but thought the burger was the cutest burger in forever. Jack got a treat from Derek - waffle fries! Derek had a Texas Burger with guacamole and pepper jack and a much deserved Corona. So, we chowed and then people watched and dipped our feet in the fountain. It was nice to get out to see this new area of town that popped up while we were busy having babies and stuff.
For Derek's gift, the duo and I got him a cover to protect his grill. Very nice. You know, Chef Burger was delicious, but Daddy's grillin' is tops!

...won't be dropping toys down cat door any longer....

...won't be dropping toys down cat door any longer...., originally uploaded by DerekandRebecca.

Taking first steps!

Taking first steps!, originally uploaded by DerekandRebecca.

I know I am a big dork in this video. I am even worse every time I watch it and I am so glad you can't see me. I have such mixed emotions. This little man is determined to grow up as fast as possible and I love him so much and am so excited for every little milestone; but it is evident to me that while I am crying over new teeth coming in that I would rather him just stay small forever. But, he walks now. He is on his way.

And, Greta is a superhero as you can see in the video. She has yet to disclose which superhero, but she has a cape and knows Super Grover. After every bath she keeps the house on Dearborn safe from all foe. Maybe Jack is aspiring to be her crime fighting partner...He has many onsies as a prerequisite.

Jack is 8 months old today!

So, the little guy is still up at night every hour and a half, but I love him. I think it is habit for me to go into his nursery now, and I bet he would even put himself back to sleep without me part of those wakings if I would just wait...But I tend to sleep walk in at this point...And I am sure I will kind of miss it when he snoozes all through the night. Kind of.

Jack is doing great eating solids and we have tried so many new things. He is not picky - even likes steamed peas and rice! His favorite is still avocado. So good. I ate an avocado or 2 every day I was pregnant with him.

He is crawling with vigor and is cruising. I laugh so hard when I see him "grapevining" along the couch and around our big square ottoman. We always put Greta's cup of juice or milk in the center of the ottoman and he circles and circles trying to get his fingers on it. I also always laugh as Jack likes to carry things with him on his journey across the room, so he puts them in his mouth like a dog! Oh, and speaking of Greta's cup....He did get it and the kiddo is drinking through a straw with no problem at all. Looks like we are going to skip the bottle, and sippy like we did with Greta. That baby can chug. He will do quite well in college, which will be here in no time, as the last 8 months were a blur.

Papa's Birthday

So....Last Saturday was Papa's birthday. I told Greta the day before that we would go to see him and have cake. There are no 2 things greater...Apparently. We put her down to sleep as usual with a bath and reading books and rocking and singing songs. I shut the light out and said goodnight. Greta continued to sing happy birthday to Papa over and over and over again until 11 o'clock when I finally fell asleep. She may have gone longer. I also heard her singing, "If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake"...This is one of our favorites to sing in the kitchen and it has quirky choreography you may also see someday.

I thought that she would sleep in since she was awake so late, but the little bug was up at daylight and ready to go. We got ready and drove to Clinton where upon our arrival Greta announced that she was tired and needed to go home! But we made it through lunch and ate at a cute little cafe on the Clinton square. We went home for ice cream cake and instead of singing for Papa like she had practiced, Greta just put her fingers in her mouth and jumped at odd beats through the song. Papa beamed with pride. He is 66! We love him so much.

Jack showed off and stood up unassisted for the first time. He stood there and gave a grin and then slowly crouched down with ease. He is amusing us with his usual antics. Jack turns 8 months tomorrow and I really just don't believe it. It is going too fast. Papa said the same thing...His 66 years have flown by....Guess we are having fun!

Temper Tantrums?

I have to write this down because it is almost unbelievable. Okay...Greta is just good. She just is. She is the kind of toddler that you dream of (I don't know how I got this lucky.) She begs for haircuts and sits perfectly still and says thank you very much. She doesn't fight, she shares, she asks nicely. She hugs and kisses and minds. I could go on, but I won't.

But, we had a temper tantrum at bedtime last week. We pushed her too hard and she was over tired. I don't even really know what triggered it, but she was a hyperventilating mess. I took her into our room and sat her on the bed where she bawled so hard she could hardly breathe. I took her back into her room and laid her blanket on the ground and dimmed the lights and I sat by her blanket and bowed my head and took deep breaths to get her to follow and calm down.

After what seemed like forever, she sputtered the words out, "I wanna go downstairs and eat broccoli"?! I said, "Tomorrow we can, but now it is bed time." She sputtered, "broccoli!" "Broccoli" BROCCOLI!" We waited and calmed down again. Then Greta said to me, "May Me go downstairs and eat some broccoli and watch a bit of Oswald, just a bit, does that sound nice?" It did sound nice.

Because she asked so nice, we did go back downstairs for a few minutes and ate broccoli... and everyone was happy. And I will never tell anyone again that I have a child that begs to eat green leafies because no one will ever believe me.