Gretchen

Both of our neighbors have dogs. On one side, we have Sally. She is a sweet, cute, fluffy, playful little golden retriever puppy. One the other side, there is Gretchen. She is a mean, territorial, yappy little beagle. Ana Luisa loves Gretchen. When she wakes up in the morning, one of her first stops is always our sliding door, from which we have a good view of the neighbor's yard so that she can see if Gretchen is there. Every time we walk out of the house, she points to the neighbors yard and says "Gre! Gre!" wanting us to lift her up so she can see over the fence to check for Gretchen.

And now, every animal has become Gretchen. This past weekend, we took Ana Luisa to the zoo for the first time. There were very tall Gretchens with long necks, big Gretchens with trunks, and Gretchens swinging from the trees. They even had some Gretchen statues that were very fun to play on.

At each stop, Ana Luisa would spot the animal we were visiting, get really excited, point and wave frantically and yell, "Gre! Gre! Woof woof!"


She will figure it soon enough. Juan Pablo is a seasoned animal-lover and zoo-goer, so I'm sure he'll straighten things out for her in no time.
And for now, we're enjoying the "Gretchen" phase. True, the rest of us prefer Sally. And I do sort of wish she would say "mama" as often or with as much enthusiasm as she says "Gre!". But she's discovering new things, sharing them with us and developing her language skills. And nothing beats watching her when she sees an animal- whether it's a hippo at the zoo, a squirrel in our backyard, or that mean little Gretchen. The joy and delight are impossible to contain, her whole little face lights up as she points, dances, even trembles with excitement...so cute.