Another weekend goes by...

Hello my people. As another weekend comes to an end, I thought I'd remind everyone how precious time is. I promise not to shed a tear or anything, but a little note is due...

Gabby is now officially 1.5 years old... She's closer to 2 than 1. Ain't that something. In the last post, I was amazed at her reciting her name in response to the question. These days, that seems like an old hat. I witnessed her climb up a slide at the playground, today. then she proceeded to slide back down. Today, she removed all the crayons from the IHOP crayon box and placed them back in the box. Today, she made me laugh more times than I can recall. Whether it's her rendition of vegetables ("vegibutta-boooo") or watermelon ("wablablablablah"), she cracks me up.

Trash - She continues her quest to clean the streets of Boston. I see politics in her future. At the site of trash, she exclaims, "uh-oh!," and points to the misplaced article.

ABC's - About a month ago G started saying "ABC" in reference to her Dr. Seuss ABC book...but lately she's been noticing the presence of text all over the place...on signs, license plates, in books, and in advertisements on the subway. To all of these letters she says, "ABC!"

Oh no! - Gabby also likes to inform the word of great calamities with a profound "OH NOO!" Last week, Basia was preparing G's lunch in the kitchen while G was a bit too quiet in her room. Shortly, G runs into the kitchen and proclaims, "Oh no!" Well B followed G back to her room only to find exactly what G found. Apparently some mysterious monster camped out on Gabby's floor and tore up a few pages of G's book. Crazy monster.

Tickle tickle - B and I love to make our little one laugh. One sure fire way to get the giggles is through a little tickle tickle under G's arms. G loves to return the favor as well. She does this by grabbing my belly and squeezing. It hurts, but I laugh for her. So if she squeezes any of you guys...remember to laugh!

Today, we went to the Mall before they opened the stores. It's a great time to go, since G can run faster than all the older people, and there's really no one else to get in the way. She really loves the Macy's "red star" and this guy... Anyway, B and I were sitting on one bench, and G was running the width of the mall to another bench. She's say "I sit" and proceed to climb onto the bench. She'd eventually get to her feet and pace from one end of the bench to the other... She'd sit down at each end and continue pacing. After some time, she climbed down and joined us on our bench. It was a treat to watch... a little nerve-racking too.

When we want Gabby to join us in a room, both B and I hang out in that room and wait. Tonight, G preferred to not go to bed just yet. So B and I camped out in her room. G would run into the doorway and smile at us. She'd say some cutely incomprehensible thing, then stroll away. Silence followed. Then G would run back say something else, and stroll away again. It was so so precious. I try to capture these moments on video...but it's not the same...

The point of all this is that I look at my little girl and try so hard to remember all these wonderful things and the joyful moments we share... and I can't. Enjoy life as it happens, I will.

Pictures are coming soon, so don't y'all fret.

My Name is...

At the store today, a nice lady asked our little hero, "What's your name?" To which G replied, "Gabby."

First time. Sweet.

Gotta have faith...

Today, I made a civilized wager with my dear wife. We were driving home from BJ's with a very very crabby Gabby. B wanted to give G a brand new roll of scott toilet paper from the 30-pack we had just purchased.

I told her, "You've got to be kidding! She'll tear it apart, and I'm not cleaning it up."

Alas, B was undeterred. B said, "There's no way she can open it. It'll be fine."

"Ha!," I said. "I bet you she tears that thing open, no sweat! You've gotta have faith in our little girl."

Guess what... Gabby had the car covered in toilet paper within 2 minutes. The wrapper was gone, the first sheets were unattached, and the mess was absolute. You've gotta have faith.

Gabby's First Trip to the Beach

We took Gabby to Houghton's Pond today, just outside Boston, and it was her first ever trip to the "beach." There's a little kiddie area where the water's less than a foot deep, and she loved wading and splashing around with her Dada. Some sightings of frogs and geese rounded out out trip.

For more pictures from her trip to the beach, click here.

Visiting with William

Yesterday we visited with William and his parents. Gabby loved playing with their dog (she currently calls all dogs "dah-doh") and their two cats (which she now calls "Mee," her interpretation of meow). William was enthralled by Gabby and kept wanting to get super-close to her, but evidently she felt he was invading her personal space, and she would tell him to back-off with a firm hand out (and a gentle push if necessary). For some reason, he never got the hint...he was a very persistent suitor! In this picture, they hung out together happily, while Joe read them both a book. 

Two little stories

Joe says we don't include enough fun Gabby stories, so I'm going to give you two little anecdotes from our day together today.

This morning, after lunch, I was cleaning up and Gabby was playing quietly in her room. She came out of her room and in a very dramatic tone of voice shouted, "Oh No!" When I looked at her, she yelled it again, "Oh No!" and pointed to her room. I followed her into the room where I found that she had shredded a few pages of one of the new non-board books we've just introduced this week (and accidentally left it out where Gabby could "read" it unsupervised). Oh no, indeed!!!

This afternoon, I took Gabby to the supermarket. One of her favorite supermarket activities is reaching behind from the babyseat and grabbing things out of the cart. The first time I turned my back to her for a moment I turned back to find her chomping on a lime, with a disgusted look on her face. The next time I turned around (literally for no more than a few seconds), I turned back to a happy Gabby with a full mouth and a gleam in her eye. She had reached behind her, grabbed the pint of blueberries and stuffed her mouth full. When I took them away, she pleaded "Moh, moh" for more. The irony here is that I've been trying to get her to eat blueberries repeatedly for weeks, and everytime I've given them to her before, she's bitten into them and spit them about. I guess it was the thrill of the chase that did it for her today. Nice one, Gabby.

Gabby's Fourth of July Weekend

Boston finally had a little nice weather this weekend and we tried to take full advantage of it. We spent Saturday and Monday with James and his parents hanging out by the pool, spent part of Sunday in the parks of Boston, trying to stay cool with Julia, and on the 4th, we took Gabby for a little visit to the Boston Common.

James has two kiddie water play stations...

...and Gabby loved playing with James in them.

Sporting her new swimsuit.

Staying cool splashing in the water.

Playing on the swings.

We made a quick stop at Macy's(to use the elevator to get up from the T).
Posing with one of the Cows on Parade on the Common.