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.

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!