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.

Workout for a 3-year-old

From ThanksGiving In Detroit

No this post isn't about sledding. We did indeed recently go sledding and that too is a workout for a 3-year old, so I can see why you thought that, but no. This is about Skipping. I just don't have a good skipping picture.

We had to park a few blocks away from Gaby's pre-school this morning when I dropped her off. I let her out of the car and she skipped up the sidewalk to the first street sign. I told her to stop so that I could hold her hand as we crossed the street. She then surprised me by skipping across the street. And then up the next block. Amused, I asked her if she planned to skip all the way to school.

"Yep" she said.

About then a woman, the only other person on the block, who had been walking towards us since we crossed the street got up close enough to say something to me.

"Where do they get the energy?" She asked?

I shrugged and shook my head a little.

"...and on a Monday Morning!" She said incredulous.

A good 3 minutes later, finally in the building and down a long hallway to Gaby's class Gaby said goodby and walked into class. She was a little out of breath at the end, but she made it the whole way. No problem.

Superheroesque

Still possessed by the Halloween spirit, Gaby decided to wear her super hero cape and mask last Sunday.

The family stopped of at the top of twin peaks to eat a little picnic lunch before heading out to a 5th birthday party for one of Annabel's former classmates.

It might have been the moody surroundings, or perhaps the costume, or maybe it was something else entirely. I don't know but whatever it was, Gaby started to swoop and patrol and defend the area like a comic book hero. It's not quite the same wild boy-energy that I've seen in many of the boys her age. This was more deliberative and wise, like a real super hero.

The pictures don't really capture the vibe exactly, but you get a sense.

Belle-Belle

Gabs continues to develop along roughly the same lines that she has before. A recent case in point: We had the day together a few weeks ago, just to the two of us. I told her that we would go anywhere that she wanted. Of course, she chose the Candy Store. She got chocolate balls, a lollipop and a giant chocolate coin (She even asked for one for her sister!).

Then we came back home and played with toys. She is a little more into playing than Annabel was at her age. She likes to make up pretend stories for her dolls. She will even speak for them in a high-pitched voice. Last week she and Kristin played a game called Belle-Belle, where Gaby dresses up as Princess Belle, then takes her two princess Belle dolls, and has them talk to each other. They say things like:

"Hi, Do you want to come to my house for a party?"
"Okay! Is it a tea party?"
"Yes!"
"Okay!"
"Okay!"

She also asks me to color with her often. While Annabel prefers a blank sheet of paper and then creating imaginary scenes, Gaby prefers the relative reliability of her coloring books. Her current favorite is this Mariposa Barbie coloring book, which is packed with pictures of Barbie in butterfly fairy costumes. Hours of coloring fun!

On the playground she is as tenacious and determined and reckless as ever. She was hanging upside down again this last weekend on precisely the same monkey bars that she fell off of back in March.

The Last Of The Babytalk

Over the last week or two, Gaby is developing the "RRRR" sound. Up until now, she has had the "W" sounding "R"s that seems to be a standard babytalk quirk.

"Uncle Wick" was "Uncle Rick" and
"Pahwty" was "Party"
"Cah" was Car.

Recently, we've corrected her a few times, and since we did that about two weeks ago, she has started to actually catch herself using the "W" sound and then she will actually change it to the harder R sound mid-sentence without any prompting.

She still defaults to the W sound for many words, but for some words (most notably "Car" and Party") she has moved over to the hard R most of the time.

You can here them both in this little clip. "Butterfly" and "Party" have the new R but when I ask her how old she is, she says "Fweeeeeeeee!"

:)

Gabby's Elusive True Name

I've written before about how particular Gaby is about what she is called. It's almost as though she has picked up from Rumplestiltskin the power of knowing something by it's True Name.

Far several months, she has been correcting people when they refer to her as Gabbers, Gabs or any other familiar or diminutive form of her name.

"You called me Gabbers, I'm not Gabbers. I'm Gaby!", She will say.

With her 3 year old diction, it sounds more like "You called me Gabbahs. I not Gabbahs. I'm Gaby!"

In the last few weeks though, she has changed her name from "Gaby" to "Fairy Collection".

Yep, you read that right. Gaby's self-applied name is "Fairy Collection".

"Gaby, it's time to go, we need to get in the car". I said last weekend.
"I'm not Gaby." She said, indignant.
"You aren't? Who are you?" I asked, surprised.
"I'm Fairy Collection". She said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Fairy Collection?" I asked, incredulous.
"Yes"
"Well okay Fairy Collection, time to get in the car." I said, going with it.

She smiled and trotted off to the car, satisfied.

I want to ask her what sort of collection she is talking about, but I don't want to ruin it, so I've been watching out for where she might have picked it up. I've been on the hunt for more than a week, but so far no luck. I think she probably got from a commercial? I'm guessing it is probably something like "Tinkerbell is part of the Disney fairy collection." If anyone knows, please comment here. It's a mystery to us.

Wherever it came from, it's funny!

Cast Away

It was a big week for Gaby last week. She got her cast off on Wednesday and turned 3 years old on Friday, two events on opposites of the emotional spectrum. As you astute readers have probably already noticed, the orange cast Gaby is wearing in the picture above is not the same one that she had put on 5 weeks ago.

The first cast was not put on properly (x-ray below) and it needed to be removed and a new one had to be put on. That happened about 3 weeks ago and it was traumatic for both Kristin and Gaby. Kristin told me a horror story involving loud buzz-saws, flying dust, and general chaos and commotion. She made me promise to accompany her for the next cast removal.

True to her word, there was indeed a buzz-saw but it was smaller and quieter than I had imagined from Kristin's description. It's also equipped with a safety cover that prevents the blade from cutting if it's not being pressed into the cast. The nurse tried to show Gaby by asking Kristin to put out her finger so that she could demonstrate that the saw was a "no owies" saw. Kristin flinched and the nurse gave her an "oh no you don't" look.

Gaby cried a bit, but generally handled it like a trooper. Afterward, the nurse gave her a few princess stickers and she brightened right up. You can see the before and after shots below.

It's only been a week and she is already back to using her right arm for almost everything.

Happy Birthday Gabby!

Here is my very long overdue summary of Gaby's birthday along with some pictures.

Gaby got her cast off just in time for her third birthday which was held at a place called My Gym here in the city. The girls spent the mornign with Annabel's best friend Tess. There was some princess dress up and some games and then

She ran and jumped around like the cast had never been on. At one point she was dressed in a crown and feather boa by the staff and then pulled on a sled to the zipline, which she zipped down into a crowd of waiting friends.

After racing around, jumping on the trampoline and rolling in the ball bin, the kids had pizza and birthday cake. They each got a very large (18" in diameter) plastic bouncy ball that Kristin found as party favors. They were so big that there was no room for people once they were loaded in the car. They actually required their own separate trip!

The cast glows in the dark

Gaby broke her arm last week. She was about 10 feet up on the monkey bars and fell, landing on her wrist. I wasn't there at the time, so I can't describe the scene in too much detail. Suffice it to say that it was a scary moment for everyone. Kristin, Sheila and both cousins were nearby and whisked Gaby off to the emergency room to be x-rayed immediately after the fall.



The doctors say that she has two greenstick fractures in her right wrist, one in her radius and one in her ulna. She had a cast put on Tuesday morning and she will have to wear it for about four weeks. To everyone's surprise and delight, the cast glows in the dark (!).

The strangest thing about the whole experience for me is that Gaby acts as if there is nothing wrong with her. She doesn't whine or complain about pain. She is not holding back at all physically. She is still running around, jumping on things and being generally reckless and wild. She doesn't even acknowledge the cast at all unless she absolutely has to, like when she is taking a bath and it must be kept dry. She is a very tough cookie.

Apparently another girl in her class at school happened to break her leg the same day, so there are two little girls running around her nursery school wearing casts. I guess it's nice that she can share the experience with someone...

I've also noticed that she has been using her left hand more and more readily now that her right one is incapacitated. We were doing some watercolor painting this weekend and she was painting lefty. It's amazing how adaptable you are at 3...

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...

Catherine!

Gaby's best friend in school was a girl named Catherine. Sadly, she and her family moved to Chicago just before New Years.

Based on the number of times I'd heard her name mentioned, it was clear that Gaby really liked Catherine, and was disappointed to see her go. Recently when her name comes up, Gaby will frown and say "Catherine in Chicago".

Well today, she got a letter from Catherine including a photo. (!) Wow, what a reaction! Gaby was astonished and elated.

"Catherine!" she called out when she saw the picture. "She's my favorite!"

Then she actually hugged the picture. It was adorable to see, and sad of course at the same time.

It's so interesting that it's possible to make such a personal and emotional connection even at age two and a half.

The picture is her in the Batgirl costume that she got for Christmas.

Update: Gaby told me this morning that she had a dream last night that she went to Chicago and played in the snow with Catherine.

Brush It Longer Maum!

Last week, in the middle of a princess dress up, Gaby noticed that her hair is not as long as Annabel's.

"Maum! I need a brush!" she says. She still doesn't quite pronounce "mom" correctly.

"Okay, says Kristin, I'll get you a brush." and she heads to the bathroom to grab one.

Gaby looks at herself in the mirror while Kristin is gone.

"Here you go" says Kristin, returning from the bathroom, brush outstretched.

Gaby brushes her hair a few times while looking in the mirror. Then she comes over to Kristin holding out the brush.

"Brush It longer, Maum." Gaby says.

A beat. Kristin and I look at each other.

"Oh, it doesn't work that way honey. I can't brush it longer. You have to wait for it to grow by itself. It just takes time." Kristin says as gently as she can.

"Brush it longer, Maum!" this time a little more emphatically as if insisting will make it happen.

"I can't brush it longer, sweety. I'm sorry."

And now it starts to set in. She starts crying.

"I want you to brush it longer!" She buries her head in her hands and run out of the room crying.

I grabbed by camera and ran after her and managed to snap this shot.

Holidays 2007

We spent the holidays here in San Francisco this year. There was just too much going on between the remodel on the new house and the move to manage our traditional trip to Iowa for Christmas. Although the girls certainly missed spending time with their family (and particularly their cousins), they still really enjoyed the holiday.

We bought and decorated a Christmas tree (a first for me), put presents under it, hung up stockings and waited for Santa to come. The kids saw Santa at the mall and told him what they wanted for Christmas. Annabel asked for a Camera and Gaby asked for Chocolate. We all find the chocolate thing with Gaby completely hysterical. In a recent interview Gaby actually said that when she grows up, she wants to be chocolate!

Gabs gets the idea that Santa brings toys, but Annabel is really starting to think through some of the finer points. She crawled into bed with us on the morning of the 22nd or 23rd and asked how much milk we had in the house. She was concerned that we wouldn't have enough for her and Gaby to drink and still have some left over for Santa. I assured her that we would have plenty.

Its also nice to see Annabel starting to appreciate the giving part of the holiday, which Gaby is still a little too young to get. Annabel picked out the Spiderman 3 DVD for me this year because she knew that I like Spiderman. Kristin said that Annabel suggested it out of the blue on her own. She even asked Kristin to tell her the letters so she could write out "To: Daddy" on the card.

She also got a present for her friend Tess and just before leaving to see her, she asked me to help her put a bow on the package and then glue a plastic jewel from her pirate treasure set on the bow. We met Tess and her mom for breakfast, and Tess had left her present to Annabel back at her house. We braced for the worst, but Annabel wasn't upset at all. She just wanted to give her gift to Tess and watch her open it.

They got all kinds of presents. There was a dollhouse, a barbie vanity, digital cameras, a bat-girl costume, a good number of books, a few cars, some plastic animals and yes some chocolate for Gaby.

They both want Christmas to come more often. Annabel suggested 2 times a year. I told her no-can-do. Gaby then suggested 3. :)

Here are some pictures:

First Face

This is a photo of Gaby holding her first drawing of a face. I've been meaning to post this for a while now. The actual date on the photo is 10/28/2007.

I just looked back and noticed that Annabel's first face happened at around the same age.

I think the drawing speaks for itself. She says that the circles on top of the head are ears and the lines on either side of the nose are arms :)

Bugglebee!

Gaby has a special sort of rhythm. It's very catchy and very funny. She will find words or phrases that she likes to say, and then through relentless repetition and giggling, she will get everyone around her saying them as well.

It's amazing to see, and I can confirm that through sheer force of personality, she can create a situation where everyone is following her lead even at age two and half. Here is a recent example:

She is sitting in her carseat in the backseat and happily babbling gibberish.

"Biggle, Baggle, Shiggle, Shaggle, Bugglebee. Bugglebee." She stumbles onto a word that she likes.
"Bugglebee, thats a good one" she says (I'm not kidding, she actually said "thats a good one")
"Hey Annabel, Bugglebee!"
"Bugglebee." Annabel says with a bit of a question mark.
Gaby Giggles
"Bugglebee, Annabel. Bugglebee! hahahaha"
"Bugglebee!" says Annabel, now getting the joke.
"Hey Daddy, Bugglebee!"
"Yeah, Bugglebee!" I say
"hahaha" She says. "Mommy, Bugglebee!"
"Bugglebee Gabs" says Kristin.
"hahaha" says Gabs.

Now Kristin and I are looking at each other and everyone is laughing.

Unfortunately, it then continues for about 10 minutes, driving us grownups crazy.

Of course the kids never stop loving it.

Family Fun Day 2007

Last weekend was "family fun day" at the girls pre-school. It is a frenzied affair wherein 100 or so pre-schoolers along with parents, older siblings and assorted relatives run amok in a carnival-like environment featuring activities, shows, food and games.

Kristin co-chaired the event and worked almost around the clock in the final few days to pull it off. Its a huge undertaking by any standard and despite the obvious challenges of putting so many toddlers together in one place, I must say that it came off like clockwork. Crazy, screaming, chaotic clockwork.

The theme this year was "The Great Outdoors". There was a fishing pond set up in the fountain, tents pitched in the courtyard, campfire sing-a-longs In the theater and a "starry night" room where volunteers read stories by flashlight.

The girls both really loved it. Annabel decorated a hat, listened to some stories and then competed in some hippity-hop races and then ran around with her friends.

Gabs spent a good amount of time jumping in the inflatable jumpy castle and then fished in the fishing pond and ate a s'more.

There were also animals there for the kids to see including a large turtle and a corn snake which both girls were excited to hold. The handler said that Gaby was the youngest girl to hold the snake that day. As you can see, she did not seem at all frightened.

Pumpkin Day

Sunday was pumpkin day for the Goldman Girls. The plan was to drive out to the "countryside" (Half Moon bay) to go to a legitimate pumpkin patch, but traffic leaving the city was so bad that we stopped at the first place we saw, which was on the south side of San Francisco.

The girls picked their pumpkins and then of course wanted to go home and carve them right away, which we did.

Gaby mostly scribbled on hers so I embellished on her design a bit when at carving time. Annabel drew a pretty good Jack-o-lantern face though, which I carved out as faithfully as I could. Both girls were a little skittish about the de-gooping process, but once their hands were wet they seemed to loosen up a bit.

The pumpkins have made Halloween very real for the girls. So much so that neither one can understand how it is still so many days away. For each of the last three days I've had them ask "Daddy, is today Halloween?"

I roasted the seeds and we now have a good sized bowl-full. I suspect there are more than enough to last all the way to Halloween.

Recent Developments

I know its been many months since I've last written. Thanks to you loyal readers who are still checking this space. I will try to keep it more up to date in the future.

We've been quite busy lately and the biggest news for the family is that we now finally have a house! I've included one picture of it below.



We close next Thursday and should move in by mid-November. It was a very long time coming.

It's also been a very big few months for Gaby. For one thing, she has started school. She and her sister now both attend the same pre-school. Gaby is with the 2-3 year olds in the Pink Room and Annabel is with the four-five year olds in the Yellow Room. The first day was a bit tearful for Gabs, but she came around quickly. Unlike Annabel, Gaby already knew many of the children in the school from tagging along on the birthday and playdate circuit with her sister.

Apparently she plays hard and is exhausted after recess (which is now call "free choice time"). She spends a good deal of time and energy trying to peddle a tricycle that they have on the playground. When we pick her up from school and ask how her day went, she will invariably tell us whether she could "put the tricycle away" or not.

She likes all the children in the class, but no favorites seem to have emerged yet. When she does talk about the other kids, it's usually the boys names that she mentions.

She seems to be maintaining her impishness. Here is something she said yesterday about her teacher Katie to Kristin and I:

"Katie say no painting on balls, just paper."

This is a picture of her on her first day of class.



She is also now just about 85% potty trained. She still wears a diaper to bed, but we've now gone almost a week with no accidents.

She is also growing more and more verbal and is making suprising connections between things she has seen. Yesterday, for example she saw me shaving and came over and pointed to my face saying "Daddy, you have creamcheese on your face!"

Last weekend the girls were flowegirls at their aunt Heather's wedding. They had a fantastic time and haven't stopped talking about it since it happened. Here's a picture of Gaby at the reception in her flower-girl finery.