Hawaii

From Hawaii

making cookies

Speed Talking

For the last few weeks Gaby has been revved up when I get home from work, and I mean FULLY revved up. She will run down the hall and jump up into my arms, then will swing herself around to my back and scramble up to my shoulders where she will grab and tug on my ears. I've had to tell her to relax on the ears a few times now and I think if it happens again we are going to have to have a new rule.

Then when I go to read her a story before bed, she can't sit quietly and listen. She has to interrupt the story to ask questions or tell stories. A recent example went something like this:

me: "One fish, two fish, red fish blue fish"
her: "Daddy I have to tell you something."
me: "Old fish new fish, red fish blue fish."
her: "Daddy I have to tell you something."
me: "We are reading our story now. This one has a little star and this one has a little car."
her: "Daddy I REALLY need to tell you something".
me: "Okay what is it?"

Here, her talking will start to accelerate with increasing excitement as she literally races through the thing she has in mind:

"With Amanda, we went to the park and it was really cold and we were cold when we got home so we had hot chocolate and I got to mix it and we push marshmallows in it and we had three straws that we could stir it with and I took a sip out of all three at the same time!"

me: "Wow, that sounds great, Gabs. Sounds like you had a great time"
her: "uh-huh. I did!".

It's very cute. She is helping me to again appreciate the simple pleasures. I just wish she could go easy on the ears.

Here she is wearing a recent costume:


:)

Cherry Picking & Last Day of School

It's Cherry season out here and several of the orchards out in Brentwood let you pick your own. I used to go apple picking when I was a kid, but never cherry picking. We decided to give it a try.

We went out there last weekend with another family and picked 23 pounds (no thats not a typo) of cherries. It really did feel like quite a bounty, seeing almost every tree in the shady orchard just dripping with fresh cherries. I discovered that cherry picking is way better than apple picking because you can try a cherry from every single tree. How many apples can you eat, really?

Gaby also finished up her pre-school for the year on Tuesday. Starting Wednesday morning, I dropped her off at "Camp" instead of pre-school. "Camp" is the most of the same kids and the same teachers at pre-school, but it happens about 5 blocks away from the school in Golden Gate Park.

Gaby absolutely LOVES camp. So much so, that when Kristin came to pick her up a little early on Friday, Gaby literally sent her away and told her to come back later.

"We are about to have a treasure hunt, Mommy". She said.

Mount Tam

We went for a little hike this weekend to the top of Mount Tam. Gaby insisted on touching the flag which was stuck into the rock at the top of the mountain.

 

Gaby Turns 4!

Gaby turned 4 years old last Saturday. We had her party at Pump It Up. If you don't have young children then you probably don't know about pump it. Let me tell you, it is something else! I think the best words to describe it are "kids birthday factory". It is a national franchise, with over 175 locations according to the website.

If the San Francisco location is any indication, they are all in the low-rent districts generally reserved for light industrial work. The place is surrounded by loading docks and light rail lines. The building itself looks like a former warehouse and it's a good thing too, because without all that room, where would they put all of the inflatable jumpy houses, inflatable slides, inflatable obstacle courses and inflatable basketball courts (yes you read that right).

Despite the wrong side of the tracks location, the place is amazing, and Gaby absolutely loved every minute of it. She greeted guests at the door (about 30 kids), fidgeted through through the mandatory safety video, jumped around on every single inflatable thing that she could find, and then retired to the party room. There, she took the seat of honor on top of a 6 foot tall inflatable throne, ate pizza and fruit and then got to blow out the candles and eat cake. She even let her older sister sit with her on the throne.

She behaved herself so incredibly well. She never melted down or whined or complained about anything that I can recall. She was happy to see all her friends and I think most of them found her enthusiasm infectious. I was very proud to be her daddy.

I had a great time jumping around with the kids and I noticed several other adults in the play structures with me. Not a bad thing :) I think the pictures probably tell a better story than I could.

The Bookaphone

Annabel found a broken earbud headphone that had been left behind on
our flight this morning.

Within a few minutes, she had invented the bookaphone, a device that
reads books to you. You just say the name of the book and then put it
into your ear.

"Can I have a turn Annabel?" asks Gaby who has been sitting beside her
watching.

"sure, here ya go". Says Annabel handing over the bookaphone.

I wasn't sure if Gaby would pick up on the fact that it was all just
pretend.

"Barbie and the Diamond Castle!" says Gaby gleefully naming her favorite movie instead of a book.

Then she smiles as she puts the bookaphone into hear ear, saying "now I'm watching it!"

"You are?" I asked, suprised "How can you see it?"

Gaby thinks about that for a second.

"Because I have a secret eye inside my ear!" she said, giggling

Clearly she gets the pretend part!

Julie and Kit

Recently the girls have been very much into their American Girl dolls. Annabel has Kit Kitteredge, and Gaby has Julie Allbright.

Over the last week they have made a habit of dressing the dolls in the morning, then changing them into their Jammies at night and putting them to bed beside them. The also bring them along with them pretty much everywhere they can. They are even prone to melting down when they are forced to leave them behind.

I've had to make some rules. They are allowed in the car for the ride to school, but not in school. Gaby has taken to seat-belting Julie into her car seat when she gets out of the car to go to pre-school in the mornings.

On Thursday I had to go to LA for the day. I left the house at 4:45am and didn't get back until about 8:30p. When I arrived at the car in the airport parking lot, I noticed Kit and Julie were belted in to the car seats in the back. When I got home, I brought them in and put them in bed with the girls so they could have them in the morning.

When I saw them in the morning, they were already playing with the dolls.

"Hey guys, did you see that I put your dolls down to sleep with you last night?"

"Yeah, daddy" Gabby said. "But you forgot to change them into their jammies!"

Why don't I think of these things?

Gaby's First Ballet Recital

A few weeks back Gaby had her first ballet recital. She has been going to Saturday morning ballet classes for about a month now, and this was her first opportunity to perform on stage. She thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. I think she had about 30 minutes of hair makeup and wardrobe with Kristin, about 10 minutes on stage and then about 30 minutes of flowers, pictures and partying afterwords.

Here is a selection of pictures from her ballet classes and from the actual event.



And here is some video, so you can see her in motion.

Sofa Fort

The girls sometimes like to build sofa-forts in our living room. Our sofas are on the old side, so we don't mind letting them do it. This one is from last weekend. Both girls fit inside and get flashlights, books, toys and snacks. Keeps em busy for hours!

"Santa Claus Is Nocturnal!"

We were on our way to the Marin Discovery Museum last weekend and we passed by some nature preserves in the Marin Headlands. There were signs posted about Coyotes, which I read aloud for the kids. Of course they immediately started scanning the countryside for Coyotes.

"Where are the Coyotes?" Gaby asks.
"Well they probably aren't out." Annabel Says.
"Where are they?" Gaby asks
"They are nocturnal." Annabel says. I am a bit shocked by her precise vocabulary. She learned it in school, she later told me.
"What is that?" Gaby asks.

"That means they are active at night." I say.

Gaby thinks about it, then she lights up with this realization:

"Santa Claus Is Nocturnal!" She shouts.

The picture is from the Museum visit.

New Works

Gaby's drawing skills are improving quickly. Check out the progression she's made over the last few months.

This one was done at the late summer. Basically stick figures often missing limbs. I think its supposed to be me, but I think it looks a little like the scream. :)

untitled (2008) Crayola marker on copy paper	From Kids Art

Then here in early October she is writing her name on her drawings by herself and without prompting.

untitled (2008) Crayola marker on copy paper	From Kids Art

And then here by Halloween, she has arms and legs pretty consistently and has started adding fingers and toes (and very long ones at that!). She counts them out while moving the pen across the page. 1 2 3 4 5.

untitled (2008) blue glitter pen on copy paper with pumpkin sticker	From Kids Art

Holidays 2008

It's been a very fun and festive holiday season here!

We had family visiting from Iowa and a full schedule of events finally winding up last night with a big New Years Eve part here in town.

Gaby really started to get into the swing of Christmas this year, fully understanding that Santa brings presents to good little girls and boys.

Her requests for Santa were mostly for her own versions of toys that Annabel already has. She wanted an American Girl Doll and also a Vanity. She got both and was delighted.

I tried to get the girls into the spirit of giving and asked Gaby what she wanted to get Kristin for Christmas. She said (of course) Chocolate! Kristin did the same with them for me and Gaby got me a Spidergirl comic book and a basketball (?).

At some point during the holiday, Gaby realized that the normal candy rules had been suspended and she has upped her intake. I was seriously concerned that she would get sick, but no such luck. She devoured everything from Candy Rings to Candy Canes and back again.

The old rules go back into effect tomorrow.

There are also many more photos from Christmas, New Years, and Hanukkah.