I Pirate!

It's hard to say whether it was Shrek The Third or our recent purchase of Peter Pan on DVD, but somehow Gaby has become enamored of Pirates. Tonight after dinner she ran around the living room with her legs stiff at the knees hopping from one leg to the other with her hands in the air saying "I pirate!, I pirate!". I think this was maybe her imitation of Captain Hook's peg-legged running style?

Annabel relates much more with Tinkerbell...

one arm cranking around in a giant circle

 

Today was Gaby's birthday party. There were about 20 children and 30 to 40 grownups. We had it at Rochambeau Playground here in the city. Roughly half of the kids were Annabel's friends or classmates and the other half were Gaby's age.

Gaby spent the first 20 minutes playing by herself on the playground, apparently a warm up period of some sort. She is getting to be a good climber. She is way more aggressive and confident than Annabel was at her age. She's developing balance very quickly and she has come a long way even in the last few weeks. She practically walked up one of those infamous curved jungle gym ladders that I remember as being particularly tricky.



Then she started socializing. She moved between the younger kids and the older kids with ease and probably spent more time with the older kids who seemed to accept her as a peer despite her much less developed verbal skills.

She does find the most amazing ways of communicating non-verbally. She would walk, or sometimes skip from person to person out on the playground saying hello and encouraging them to come join her out on the playground. At one point she hopped past me with one arm cranking around in a giant circle and loudly saying "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

Kristin and I got her a Fisher Price Digital Camera for kids. It's a great product. Both kids were snapping pictures in no time. I downloaded the results just now. They shot 78 pictures. Mixed in with about 60 blurry shots of tables, chairs, car interiors, shoes, and other unidentifiable objects were about 18 pretty good pictures. Here's a link to the good ones:

GabyCam

Here are the ones that I took They aren't much better. :)

Happy Birthday Gaby!

 

Gaby turned two years old today. Her official party is on Sunday, but we had a big cake and small party for her tonight with the family.

She loved every minute of it.

An Experiment In Mainlining Sugar

 

Gaby has really turned a corner recently in her ability to communicate and interact with other kids. Now she plays with Annabel and Annabel's 3-4 year old friends whenever they are around. Although she is younger and smaller, she makes up in enthusiasm everything that she lacks in maturity.

She woke up on Sunday morning in s grumpy mood. When Kristin suggested an egg hunt, she had no interest in the idea. She needed to be carried unwillingly into the hunting grounds before she started to get the thrilling gist of it. Within seconds, she was racing around the living room giggling and trying to get to the eggs before her sister.

As much fun as the hunt turned out to be, it was nothing compared to the discovery a few minutes later that the eggs contained chocolate!

I would put Gaby's candy consumption over the next few hours somewhere between impressive and astonishing. In fact at times it seemed like the holiday was an experiment in the effects of mainlining sugar. Legend would have it that a terrible stomach ache should ensue. I actually hoped that there would be some consequences for that kind of candy intake that could be used as a teachable moment. But no. All that happened is that both girls fell in a sugar coma half-asleep in a daze on the couch at about 6:00pm.

The Abstract Brushwork of Gaby Goldman

Gaby Goldman	Cy Twombly
(Our Refrigerator)	(Musée National d´Art Moderne)

Gaby has started to enjoy painting and she sometimes demands it with a hearty "Paint!" command issued to Kristin or I.

The above is a good example of her recent work. I'm sure this will later be referred to as her scribble period, but even at this early stage, the art critic in me has to commend her on her bold color choice, confident brushwork and excellent use of white space.

Just to prove my point, how different is her work from this Cy Twombly painting which is hanging in the National Gallery in Paris? I think you see what I'm saying.

Here are a few other recent works.

 

Gaby saw the dentist today for the first time. Our dentist has a dog, Coconut, to keep the kids happy while they are getting their teeth cleaned. She also has Peter Pan playing on the tv screen right above the dental chair, as well as a large supply of stickers, dental-related coloring books, toys, etc. available for prizes for good behavior such as quitting the pacifier or bottle. She gives them blinking tooth brushes with timers to help them know how long to brush. She paints their teeth purple (which they love) to show where they need to brush more. She also gives them a choice of flavors for the toothpaste and flouride treatment; they chose chocolate and bubblegum, respectively.

All in all, both girls did great. Annabel was SUPER easy at the dentist (she's easy at the doctor too, for that matter). I think Annabel enjoys the attention. Gaby has a harder time with it all, but she managed to make it through, although she sobbed through most of her teeth cleaning and exam.

1932 Ford Roadster In Pink

 

My dad visited last week and brought with him the one of the more remarkable gifts that the girls have received to date. It's a pedal car version of a 1932 Ford Roadster compelete with authentic hood louvers, real rubber tires, a working steering wheel and all the bells and whistles. It's pretty true to the original too (see photo below).

We unpacked it and put it together while the girls were at the park with Kristin. That gave us the opportunity to stage things for maximum impact. When they came into the room, we had a Price Is Right moment, like when they lift the curtain on... "A NEW CAR!"

Both girls really enjoyed it, although it is further evidence (as if any was needed) that our current apartment is way too small for our family.

Gaby can say her name

Here is a recent interview with the kids. Gaby has been referring to herself lately. It sounds like "Babby", but we know what she means. You can hear it right at the start of this interview video. In addition to having Gabs say her name on video, we also cover such important topics as favorite colors, favorite movies and the importance of sharing beads with your sister.

The Sporting Challenge Of Maintaining Order

We spent a few minutes in a bookstore in Mendocino this weekend. They have a lot of kid stuff on display down at toddler eye-level which makes the normally sporting challenge of maintaining order almost impossible.

Case in point: As we left the store a few minutes later, we noticed that Gaby had re-worked her Jacket, considerably improving its kid-appeal through the liberal addition of colored heart stickers, which she apparently found on a sticker rack in the store. I believe that she applied the stickers in a clandestine manor behind the rack but there were no eye-witnesses so it's hard to say for sure.

We had to go back in and pay for them.

Recovering from a toy overdose

Gabs is a little sick from the holiday break. As I type this entry, I can hear her coughing away in the next room. She is stoic about it. When it comes to her health, Gaby is just not a complainer. She regularly shakes off the sorts of bumps, knocks and scratches that regularly undo her sister completely.

She is also recovering from a Christmas toy overdose. Although I don't think she fully understands the idea of Santa Claus yet, she certainly understands presents, and she loved opening and playing with hers.

She was particularly fond of her crib and baby dolls, which she took care of dutifully. She was regularly putting them night night and feeding them pretend juice from the accessory juice bottles. She also liked her Mei and Totoro dolls (from her favorite movie).

It was fun to see Gabs in action in front of her extended family over the break. I was glad that they got a chance to see several of Gaby's signature moves including her sprawled out on the couch, beer-belly style of watching movies to her assertive "No, Fwoof Fwoof!" when the dog would bark.

She missed her uncle Rick and asked about him regularly. Apparently before I arrived the girls along with their cousins, aunts and grandmothers all went for a ride to look at the Christmas lights and they ran across a motorcycle light display. My mom pointed out to Gaby that uncle rick rides a motorcycle from that moment on, every time we drove past Christmas lights, Gaby would point to them and say "Gick Bye-Bye, Gick Bye-Bye".

On the way back to San Francisco, we stopped off at the gift shop in the Des Moines airport for the obligatory corn head photo, which we have taken of both Kristin and Annabel in years past.

Gaby's new words

Gaby's vocabulary is building by the day. The enunciation could still use some work. It's really amazing though how many words you can build off of the same one or two syllables. For example:

The sound:" Jue" is the way she says he word "Shoe", the word "Juice" and the word "Tutu", which is "JueJue".

"Fwoof Fwoof" is "woof woof", her word for dog, and "Foo-Fiye" is "butterfly".

Although the verbal communication is still light, she combined it quite effectively with body language to communicate her needs and positions incredibly clearly. It's obvious after interacting with her for only a few minutes that she completely understands everything.

Tonight for example she came walking into the room where Annabel and I were watching TV. She was carrying a roll that she apparently swiped from the dinner table. She climbed up on the couch, then laid on her back, unzipped her pajama top and ate the roll while lying down. This of course got crumbs all over her neck and chest which she completely ignored as she chewed and watched TV. After about five minutes of lying there, she turns her head toward me and says "Doe-Doe", which is her word for bottle.

I got up to get her one, and she turned her head back to the TV.
"You are lazy" I said.
She responds by gleefully giggling back at me.

Diapers & Then Some

Diapers & Then Some
Originally uploaded by Rgold.

Gaby's M.O. when it comes to new things is to take her cues from Annabel, then kick it up a notch or two.

Take underpants, for example. Gaby is still in diapers, so underparts don't really make sense for her yet. The problem is that she sees Annabel putting them on, so she wants to wear them too.

We generally put a pair on over her diaper and everyone is happy. That is until recently, when one pair just won't do. For the last few weeks, she's been demanding another pair on over her pants or pajamas as it were.

Last week Kristin told me that Gaby had on FOUR pairs before she was satisfied.

Gaby's Scared Face

gaby's scared face
Originally uploaded by Rgold.

In the run-up to Halloween, there have been a lot of Scary Stories told in the house. Annabel wears her fear on her face in the most dramatic way. She will often put on an exaggerated "fear" face and say:

"I scared Daddy, I scared."

Last week, I noticed that Gaby was making the same face at all the scary parts. I asked her if that was her "Scared" face and she said "Ya."

She will make the Scared face on demand. For this shot, I said simply held up the camera and said "Okay Gaby, make your Scared face."

She immediately launched into the scared face, and started walking toward the camera in her characteristic way.

Too funny.

Vocab at 17 Months

At 17 months Gabby is talking but communicates much more effectively non-verbally. She will take you by the hand to the pantry when she is hungry or point at a toy that we wants. She is incredibly easy to read and she uses her limited vocabulary to great effect.

Here are the top 10:

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. no no no no no no no
4. Shoe
5. Hi
6. Bye
7. Uh-Oh Spaghettios!
8. Tickle Tickle
9. Thank you
10. Try this

Cupcake!

 
Shirtless and wearing a necklace is a very luxurious way to eat a cupcake. 

Tahoe 4th of July

Gabby At The Stream

We spent the long weekend in lake Tahoe. It was our first time there. It was a very relaxing family weekend. We spent time swimming at the pool and fishing in the lake. We ate at home most nights. There was a grill there and I was excited to use it. We also went on a nature walk that actually accomodates strollers, which was key. It had a even had a cool feature which was to take you down below a stream outfitted with a glass panel so that you can see all the fish and plantlife. Gabby loved it.


We also went treasure hunting. There are websites where you can get the GPS coordinates of treasure stashes hidden in your neighborhood. It's a sport custom-designed for families with young kids. You bring a small toy with you and then swap it for one in the treasure chest. The kids really love it, and it's nice for the adults to get out into nature every now and then too. Here are a few pictures of us unearthing a treasure chest...

Treasure Chest!

Electric Toothbrush

 
In the morning, Gabby likes to do whatever Kristin does including brushing her teeth. Kristin goes to the bathroom. Gabby follows. Kristin picks up her toothbrush. Gabby points to her toothbrush. Kristin puts on toothpaste and Gabby puts on toothpaste.

Kristin's toothbrush is electric and makes a high pitch sound while Kristin brushes, so Gabby humms loudly while brushing with her regular old analog toothbrush. 

Monteray Aquarium

Dad and Gaby at the Aquarium
Originally uploaded by Rgold.

We went to Moneteray for the weekend. We swam at the hotel pool and went to the aquarium. One night away from home is the perfect amount of time when you have two children under 3.

Everyone had a great time.

Can not sit down to save her life

Charging the Camera
Originally uploaded by Rgold.

Gabs can not sit down to save her life.

We saw a huge metal boat mooring out on fisherman's wharf in Monetray and thought it might make for a nice photo. We tried to set Gabs up on it for a shot. Everytime we tried to sit her down she would leap up and run at the camera, shrieking with delight as she toddled towards it.

We spent about 5 minutes trying before we gave up. This is the best shot we could get.

Click on the picture to see some other attempts.

Gabby's mischief face

Gabby's mischief face
Originally uploaded by Rgold.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Gabby has a bit of a naughty streak in her. I think this photo captures the essence of it.

She has recently begun to take special note of the objects on which her older sister is focussed and she manages to find a way to get them. Yesterday, she held out a book that Annabel wanted and then when Annabel reaches out to take it, she pulled it back!

She took great delight in doing it too. This is roughly how her face looked (although without the jello).