I'm Gaby!

Kristin has had the flu for the last few days, so I took the girls for the entire weekend. Its been a while since I've had so much concentrated time with them and it was really fun to see up close how they are developing and changing.

It should be no surprise to regular readers of this page that Gaby has a very strong sense of her own identity, but I can say it's stronger now than I've ever seen it. Earlier today we had this exchange while Gaby waited for her turn at the monkey bars at the playground.

"Okay Gabs, it's your turn." I said.
"I'm Gaby." She said somewhat matter-of-factly.
"I know." I said. "And its your turn. You want me to help you get up there?"
"You said Gabs." She said. "I'm Gaby."
"You don't want me to call you Gabs?" I asked.
"I'm Gaby."

Then again a few minutes later, I accidentally slipped into calling her "Gabbers". I forget precisely what the context was, but this time she was downright annoyed. She adopted the "I've had just about enough of this" tone of voice that she has learned from Kristin and me.

"I! Am! Gaby!" She said with an exaggerated frown, almost like she was giving me a warning.

"Okay, sorry Gaby" I had to say.

She managed to swing all the way across the monkey bars by herself today, which is amazing for someone not yet 3 years old. It's the first time I've seen it, but she didn't seem to think it was a big deal at all.

Sometimes when I am standing nearby, she will run over and actually climb up my body if I let her, grabbing my belt and climbing up on my back or shoulders.

The first picture is Gaby hanging upside down from the monkey bars. The ones below are from a nice walk we took today with Uncle Rick at the Lands End Park here.





Amazing how similar this shot looks to a great one of the Girls' cousins Mary and Abby at almost the same ages. I didn't even realize the similarity until uploading the picture. I accept the blame for the uncombed hair. There are some things that daddies just can't quite get the hang of...