18 Months

How in the world is my little girl 18 months?

Greta,

You fill our lives with SUCH joy!

I truly cannot imagine life without you,

and can hardly remember a time before you.

You are the queen of mimicry right now.

You know to look at your wrist when we ask for the time,

you pick our noses after we pick yours,

and you text (the locked) iPhone with some serious vigor.

You are quite the helper as well.

You help mommy brush her teeth and hair,

you love to wipe the floor and cabinets after dinner,

and starting the dishwasher gets you very excited.

You are becoming quite the communicator.

You sign "more" after every cookie,

and have started signing "please," "thank you," "mama," and "dada"

on a pretty regular basis.

You are really starting to repeat words too.

You love to say bye-buh and make animal noises.

And you love to point to your various body parts,

booty being your (and our) favorite.

You just started showing an interest in the potty

so we bought you a little seat which you enjoy sitting on

but have yet to use it for its intended purpose.

You still absolutely loathe the bathtub and it is as if we are torturing you

every time we run the water.

You love to sleep and often after we have read a few books,

you walk yourself to your crib and ask to go "night night."

GG, we are in absolute awe of you.

We love you.

Happy 18 months!

Monthly Checkup: 12 months

12 MONTHS

How in the world has it been T W E L V E months since you were born??

This has been the sweetest year of my life.

By far, the most physically demanding, emotionally draining,

overwhelming, and exhausting year of my life,

but the sweetest nonetheless.

My dear Greta Grace,

There is no way to put into words how sweet this year has been.

You have made my life full. You have overwhelmed my heart.

You have given me the most precious joy I have ever known.

Your presence has surpassed any trying circumstance or physical suffering endured.

This year has not been easy. 

Please, do not interpret "sweet" as without anxiety, fears, and hard work.

But, girlfriend, you are MORE THAN WORTH 

every drop of blood, sweat, and tears.

You have truly blossomed this past month.

You are crawling on all fours,

and are mighty proud of yourself for doing so.

You are walking (with assistance still)

with a firm sense of direction and personal motivation

to get where you want to go.

You know how to point, 

and are definitely not afraid to direct us where to go.

You LOVE food.

Bread, avocados, beef, pineapple, and strawberries

are your favorites.

But I've never seen a puff you disliked either!

We have officially weaned you from breastmilk to almond milk.

It was a tricky transition at first,

but now you wake up and guzzle that almond milk down.

We lowered your crib mattress after catching you

pulled up and peering over the side of your crib

 to spy on us in the hallway.

We also added a mesh bumper to your crib 

after you got your scrawny little chicken legs caught in the slats.

We have started our first attempts at discipline with you.

You really like to drop things for us to pick up

for you to then drop them again.

We have started to tell you, "No, Greta, do not drop that ____."

and, surprisingly, you obey.

I really have to watch myself though because you look so 

startled and shocked when we tell you no

that it is really cute and funny to me.

We've also been working on you riding your giraffe toy with two hands.

Sometimes you get a little confident and like to ride one-handed.

It scares us so.

You are still a mega fan of peek-a-boo

and being tickled.

We actually witnessed you trying to tickle yourself the other day.

We literally almost melted into a puddle on the kitchen floor it was so adorable.

We love you sweet pea.

This year has been amazing all because of you.

Love,

Mom and Dad

^^^ Photo by Lang Thomas Photography ^^^

Monthly Checkup

MONTH 11

Oh, heavens, sweet GG!! 

Month 11 has been so good!!

You are developing rapidly these days.

It seems like you are learning new things over night.

You have mastered "Daddy" and "Mama" 

and are now working on "puff" and "bye-bye," 

the latter of which is always accompanied by emphatic waving

and your sweet, but goofy, grin.

Pointing has become your main means of communication. 

You point to let us know exactly what you want 

and are quite disappointed if we misread your directions even in the slightest. 

You are starting to eat table foods like pears and peaches,

and we have introduced coconut milk to your diet.

You still favor beef or fish over anything else

and have decided that you might not like quite as many foods as we first thought.

We are still waiting for you to crawl,

but in the meantime, you have begun to walk with assistance.

You are a little wobbly on your feet but you beam with pride

as you strut across the room.

Separation anxiety has a tight hold on you these days.

It BREAKS Mama's heart to hear you scream when I hand you to another

but I know this is just a phase that we must get through together.

I am always reassured that after a few minutes you calm down and enjoy playing with your friends,

but it is very hard to let you go when I hear you hurt.

You are still a little Daddy's girl,

reserving your batting lashes and  biggest smiles for you main man.

We love you oodles and oodles, Greta Grace.

Happy 11 months!

Monthly Checkup

10 MONTHS

Holy Cow! How has it been 10 months since you were born, baby girl?

Time is flying, and we sure are having fun!!

This month has seriously been a ball!!

You now consistently say, "Dadadada" and/or "Daddy" whenever you see Alex 

(usually accompanied by a full-body expression of your excitement -- 

I mean the legs get pumping, the arms get flapping, girl!)

We are working on the "M" word, and to your credit, 

you have been saying "Mom-mom" quite a bit lately,

but for a long time everyone was just "dada".

You are standing with great strength but not much balance.

Still no crawling this month.

But you have gotten up on your hands and knees and rocked,

so I think we are getting close to having a mobile child.

You are getting attached to your new stroller buddy, Lala,

and you still keep close tabs on Sophie and your paci, of course.

Unfortunately, this past month did bring about your first round of antibiotics.

You had a double ear-infection and pink eye in both eyes earlier this month.

It nearly broke my heart seeing you in so much pain and agony.

For that week you lost your appetite almost completely,

but since, it has come roaring back.

You are eating up a storm. 

You are still loving your fruits and veggies,

and your favorite is still pureed fish or beef.

But now you are also eating puffs and cooked pasta!

We love life with you, sweet girl.

Happy 10 months!

Monthly Checkup

Month 9

Greta Grace,

You are sweeter than chocolate,

and sweeter than honey.

You are sweeter than ice cream

and sweeter than pie.

You are sweeter than candy,

and sweeter than cookies.

You are the most delicious

sweet pea in all the land.

This month you have been talking and singing.

When you get going, you really get going! 

You have started to dance to music.

It's more of a back and forth sway/bounce,

but we count it as dancing in the Norton home.

When we are singing worship at church

you have started to silently move your mouth up and down

as if you were singing along.

We have found you in your crib

sleeping on your belly a number of times this month.

Once you even had your rump rump high up in the air.

It was soooo cute.

Your teeth seem to be coming in all at once.

Two bottom teeth are already popping through your gums

and the top are not far behind.

It has definitely taken its toll on you,

and us as well.

GG, we just love watching you grow. 

You are our darling dear.

I am so thankful to be your mama!

Monthly Checkup

Month 8

My dear Greta girl,

Happy 8 months, girlfriend!

This past month has been full of celebrations.

You have experienced your first

Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, 

and (just yesterday) Christmas!

We have been fortunate enough to 

introduce you to many 

family members this holiday season.

They all adore you,

just like we do!

You have continued to explore and enjoy new foods,

most recently chicken and fish.

Applesauce is your favorite,

and sweet potatoes are a close second.

We have always loved story time with you,

but now it is even more fun than ever.

You are such a big help when you point out the characters

in the story and when you turn the pages.

We feel super blessed to call you ours, sweetheart.

Thank you for making this year's holiday season

super duper super special.

We love you!

Monthly Checkup

 My, my girlfriend,

where the heck has time gone?

I cannot believe you are already 7 months old!

While it feels like you have been a part of our family forever,

it also feels like just yesterday you were born.

Our newest adventure is with solid food.

You are pretty damn excited about solid food!

You squeal and kick and smile and laugh hysterically

while we warm up your bowl of pureed fruits or veggies.

Before we give you your first bite of the evening,

we remind you to calm down so you don't choke.

We have made that mistake before.

Turns out, pureed carrots look exactly the same going down

as they do coming right back up. It's gross and scary when you choke.

So, we try to keep things calm during meal time.

You know, play some Nora Jones,

talk with our inside voices kind of a thing.

If we are not quick enough in transporting the spoon from the bowl to your mouth,

you are not shy about grabbing the spoon straight out of our hands

and doing the deed yourself.

Though you are a quick learner and are quite comfortable eating,

you will only eat from either mommy or daddy.

We have noticed a little stranger anxiety popping up lately,

and it definitely comes out the most during meal time.

{The whole don't-take-candy-from-a-stranger convo is looking like 

it's going to be a breeze later in life.}

Mama has made all your food so far.

She has roasted big batches of veggies and steamed lots of fruit,

and then pureed them in the food processor.

We freeze the purees in silicone ice cube trays 

so we can pop out single servings as you need.

You are still getting hives every now and then after eating,

which makes us frustrated and a little sad,

because we can't quite figure out to what you are still allergic.

Due to the hives,

we have been slow to introduce too many new foods.

So far you have had

rice cereal,

avocado,

sweet potatoes,

squash,

carrots,

peaches,

pears, and

apples.

Along with the territory of solid food,

you are now having solid poos!

We have nicknamed you our little "turd pooper".

It's funny how when you become a parent 

you become genuinely so excited about bodily functions,

but it's true, sweet girl, we are very excited about this big girl transition.

Not because we enjoy your poo so much, 

although we thought it would be a lot worse than it is

{I think the worst is yet to come},

but because it means you are healthy and thriving.

We are so thankful for that.

Moving right along with other big girl things,

you now wave!

You have absolutely no idea what you are communicating

and have no sense of appropriate context for the gesture,

but if we wave to you,

more often than not,

you will wave back.

It is super adorable.

Also, we stopped swaddling you while you sleep.

We keep you in the sack just to keep you warm,

but we no longer pin your arms down like an insane person in a straight jacket.

The best part:

you totally grab your paci and pop it back in your mouth

if/when it falls out at night.

We love you, big girl!

Happy 7 months!