Gretchen's Favorite Things

It's been awhile since I have posted about Gretchen's newest milestones, and with us on the eve of her 20-month birthday, I thought this would be a good time to do so.  We are now talking about a little girl who has all of her main baby teeth, one set of molars, and is only waiting for that second set of molars to come in.

She has been talking up a storm - some words in English, some in Spanish (which is the most asked question I get about her; "Does she speak Spanish yet??" - the answer is yes, sort of, as much as any other ~1.5 year old speaks any language...).

Favorite English words: mama, dada, all done, socks, teeth, baby, pee pee, bye bye, bath, clock, Elmo, snacks, nice, puppy, apple, Talia (her best friend's name), night night.

Favorite Spanish words: mas (more), agua, sapo (frog), es mio (it's mine), nariz (nose), si (yes), aguardar (to put things away), salta (jump), gracias (thank you).

Obsessions: Gretchen is entering the phase where kids are fixated on a small set of things, little obsessions, as we refer to them.  She has some definite obsessions.

• Socks.  She is in love with her socks and doesn't want to be without them for even one minute.  Sleeping, awake, sandals, shoes, she always wants to be wearing socks.  We've tried to break her of this habit at night, but we end up hearing her on the monitor yell, "Mama!  Socks!" and then we break down and put socks on so that she'll sleep.  Reminder, we live in South America and it's almost summer, wearing socks to bed is like wearing a hat to the beach.  It's a work in progress.
• Babies. I think this is a common one for kids, they love to point out babies.  To Gretchen, this is anyone in a stroller, or anyone under the age of 14.  The other little kids are offended by this - do you remember the age when you are trying to convince everyone that you're a big girl/boy?  Imagine a toddler comes up to you, points and calls you a baby.  It's not popular with those kids. I, however, think it's adorable.  My baby calling all these other kids babies, it just makes me smile.
• Sapo Pepe.  This is a South American thing (I think), he's a little frog and has a song and a show and is on every little kid item you can think of.  For a taste of Sapo Pepe, you can watch his music video.  We count for approximately half of his million views on YouTube.  Gretchen LOVES Sapo Pepe, and lucky for me, we have lots of frogs in the house (due to her mama's love of frogs) and every frog is Sapo Pepe to Gretchen.  

Other interests at the moment:

Gretchen loves bubbles.  She also loves eating the bubble mix, which she thinks is hilarious when I tell her it's yucky.  

A few crackers, a little bubble mix...

 What a beautiful day at the park!  Gretchen is wearing our Spanish teacher Grace's daughter Vic's dress from when she was a little girl.  Vic came to visit us later that day - what a treat!  Precious little dress too, what a thoughtful and nice gift.

Gretchen also loves stickers.  All of our fruit has been stripped of the label stickers, and given to Gretchen as decoration.  Gran sent us Sesame Street stickers in the mail the other day, and Gretchen had a hayday with them!  One on each cheek and hand - she was in her glory!

I have started the tradition of letting Gretchen lick the beaters when I make a dessert.  She was happy to oblige, even if she looks incredibly serious in this picture.

Uncle Chris bought her a motion detector runway bib that lights up and an airplane spoon to eat with when she was a little baby.  She is now old enough to appreciate the lights, and it is the only bib we can use.  She wants to make the lights go, and have the airplane sound when the food is "coming in for a landing".

She also loves toast.  Especially when it involves "dip dip" into, really, anything.  Yogurt, hummus, applesauce, jelly, anything condiment gets a dip dip with the toast.

This picture is from a few months ago, but it combines two loves.  The box of nursery rhyme board books that she got from our friends the Millers for her birthday and the red tutu that the Frenzel's got her as a baby gift.  Whenever someone new comes to the house, she wants to wear the tutu, putting it on over whatever she happens to be wearing at the time.  This picture is evidence that she will wear it with ANYTHING.  Completely adorable!

That just about wraps it up!  Now, we're going to add another country to this little munchkin's passport and enjoy a week of vacation!  Happy 20 months baby girl!!