The Fashion Police

This is Gabby's mom. I just wanted to pipe in with a quick note to mention that the picture on the last post of Gabby w/mis-matched barrettes, bearing belly under a too small sweater vest was taken while I was a time-zone away, unable to assist with fashion decisions for my little munchkin. Gabby's Daddy appears to get a kick out of the "Punky Brewster" look, and, alas, I was not here to object. Just wanted to put that on the record. I'll try to post a mommy-approved picture later today. ;)

Let me tell you a story...

As many of y'all know, we have been trying to teach G (and ourselves) sign language. I'd like to share my experience putting lil G to bed this evening...

We went thru the normal routine, where she gulps down a full 8 oz. of milk while caressing her face with her lovey, and pulling at her hair. Sometimes she includes a few good yanks of my lower lip, but tonight she backed off, bless her heart. She finished her milk, and I proceeded to laying her on the bed for her massage. She gets the royal treatment y'know. After the massage and reapplication of her diaper, we began her nighttime book, "Goodnight Moon." By now, she's read this particular book upwards of 300 times!!! CRAZY!

So, we begin the book, where I slowly read each page and point out things in the pictures, with the occasion sign language action for the few words I know. When all of the sudden she closes the book, points to the empty bottle and gives me the sign for milk. I caught on, and made a quick request to my right-hand lady, B, to bring us more milk!!!


In the meantime, it was clearly not time to go to sleep yet - we had milk on the way - so Gabby shoved "goodnight Moon" away and pointed to another book, "The Snowy Day." We read this book. Well I read the book, she flipped pages, very quickly. I don't know how many of you are familiar with this book, but it has lots and lots of words. I quickly grew weary of trying to read them and Gabby flipped the pages at breakneck speed. So I wacthed her flip the pages. After going through this book once of twice in silence, G looked up at me and gave me a look that said, "Hey, Pop! Why ain't you readin'?" So I began to ad-lib the book based on the pictures. Gabby was content, and the pages kept flying.

Then came the milk. B entered the rom with another 4 oz. of milk. Gabby immediately lost interest in the book and gave us an excited double fisted sign for milk! I think we've got consistency, people! She got the milk and drank it down. Now that the milk business was complete, Gabby reached for "Goodnight Moon" and we continued the routine.

I've gotta say, I didn't really dig the whole baby sign stuff, but now that she's doing the sign for milk and dog, I'm excited to get more!! Who knows what's next??

And this little clip is a nice example of how she walks and talks these days...

Share Video at DropShots.com

One more party pic...

The moms who brought these babies together...

Left to right: Kendra & William (10 mos), Donna & James (13 mos),

and Basia & Gabby (12 mos)

I'm ONE!

This morning, at 5:38 AM, I turned one! To commemorate the blizzard of the day I was born, mother nature decided to give me a birthday present of another snow storm today. So instead of playing with my friends to celebrate my birthday, Mommy and I are homebound, but to look on the bright side, it gives her a chance to update you all on our weekend!

On Saturday morning I visited with some family and friends to celebrate my first birthday. Mommy and Daddy made me wear this silly hat, but I kind of liked it.








My friend William was a good sport, and wore one to keep me company.
Then I traded hats, because this one stayed on my head better.
I loved opening all my presents.




Eventually, my friend James woke up from his nap and joined us, just in time for cake!
It was such a fun day!

A few pictures worth a bunch of words...

I thought y'all might enjoy a few new pictures.

Gabby walks without any encouragement now. It's really amazing. And she's so quick. She's across the whole house in about 10 seconds. That means that we're constantly keeping our ears peeled for...silence. Silence is mischief. She's into everything, and everywhere. I've also been amazed at her ability to stand on her toes...like a ballerina. No kidding.

She's getting ready to celebrate her first birthday - on Monday. And she's come so far. I encourage you to check out the archived entries (on the left) to remind yourself of how she's grown. And we've got so much more to grow. I'm so excited. I love that little girl. Now, check out the pictures!

Let's go for a walk!!



Keeping them clean.



Helping Daddy!!



Hanging with my toys.



So quick, the camera can't keep up!

These booties are made for walking...

After some serious cruising that lead to a galloping cruise...our little girl has begun to walk. It's an excited gallop of a walk. She takes a bunch of steps, then lurches forward. It's really adorable. But more importantly, since she's become a champion mover and groover...our baby proofing has been forced to new heights. Literally. She's begun to move to her tip-tip-tippity toes in order to reach things that she's not supposed to reach. Oh and did I mention that she loves to fiddle with the trash can. I won't even tell you about her attraction to the bathroom. Geez.

Anyway, she's doing great. A real trooper. She's recovering from two ear infections and bronchilitis...but the only time she's been upset is when we try to treat her. I've talked to other parents, and they tell me that all kids like the "pink medicine." Guess what? Gabby is as stubborn with this stuff as with all her eating...oh I'll tell all y'all about my new eating trick in a minute. First let's finish the medicine anecdote... We first tried to simply inject the stuff into her mouth...as most people would. That lead to piles of pink laundry. Next we took the advie of several websites. Place a finger in her mouth and shoot the medicine onto the inside of her cheek. The finger is supposed to prevent her from spitting out the medicine, and she'll eventually swallow it. Well she's learned to gargle. She gargles so hard that the medicine spews from her tiny mouth... Now, I follow small amounts of the pink stuff with water as a chaser..it seems to be working... But it's not easy.

Eating. As most of y'all know, she's not a great eater. Well I accidentally found a new method to distract her enough to get food in her mouth. Now, I must say that I'm not too proud of taking advantage of her genorosity, but a father's gotta do what a father's gotta do! She's become a huge fan of giving things to me. So as a little game, I gave her a cheerio, whle B was feeding her. Gabby immediatelly picked it up and instead of putting it in her own mouth, she reached for mine. I of course obliged with a large open mouth. Basia snuck in food while we performed our antics. Then B tried again, and Gabby refused the food. I gave her another Cheerio, and in my mouth it went, as G got a spoonful of her food. She appeared to be oblivious to the food. AMAZING!!! Now I'm doing it by myself... She feeds me, and I feed her. A match made in heaven!

Oh, I almost forgot...I gave her her special hanukah gift from me...see the video.

Yeah it's cheerios.

Christmas and Hanukah...Gabby Style

On Friday afternoon, Auntie Rae and Bobie came over to visit with their favorite niece and granddaughter. On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Babci and Papa's house where we had Christmas Eve dinner with Cioci Krys and Uncle Ray and their kids and grandkids.

Cioci Krys and Uncle Ray brought Gabby her first push-toy. It's the Fisher Price "Gobble and Go Hippo" and she LOVES it! She spent the weekend pushing it everywhere, and kept us all busy turning it around each time she hit up against a dead-end.

Gabby enjoyed her first Christmas this weekend with her Babci, Papa, Auntie Marta and Devin. Gabby loved opening all the gifts and had lots of fun with all the wrapping paper and tissue paper, although she really missed her Auntie and Uncles in Texas. On the evening of the 25th, Bobie and Auntie Rae came over to visit as well and Gabby enjoyed showing off her push-and-walk skills!

In other updates, Gabby has been babbling lots. She loves saying: dada, mama, diddit (which sounds a lot like "did it"), dith (sounds a bit like "this"), and dee. Sometimes it seems like she knows who dada and mama are, but more often, she's not quite that distinguishing, and anyone from Babci to the grocery check-out clerk could be called "dada."

Additionally, our little girl has begun to point. Now I wouldn't say that it's a well defined point...seeing that the vector esablished by her shoulder, elbow and wrist is in no way aligned with the vector of her finger...nevertheless, G points with an accompanying "Dith?" What else could you need?

Aside from babbling, Gabby finally seems to be learning the merits of sharing. When playing with her toys, she takes pleasure in handing them to us, as we say thank you. Also, while indulging in some Cheerios the other day, she stopped to feed some to her Daddy, in between her own bites. (So cute...especially when she took out a partially eaten Cheerio from her mouth, and put it right into Daddy's mouth)!

So...that's what we've all been up to this past month! We hope all our readers are enjoying their holidays and we wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!