Moving Around

Gabi shows Mama her teether ring.

"I'm so happy, I could fly!"

Even though Gabi isn't yet crawling, she is becoming quite mobile. When she plays, she can turn around sitting on her bum, she can go from sitting to lying down, she can twirl around on her tummy, and she can also scoot backwards.

	Watch Gabriella spin around. Gabi facing east...
	facing south...
	facing southwest...
	facing west...
	and facing northwest! I originally had this as an animated gif, but apparently Blogger/Hello only supports jpg.

Gabriella has recently started getting up on all fours as if she is going to crawl. She rocks back and forth a lot, but she hasn't figured out the forward motion yet.

Gabi rocking on all fours.

Gabi straightens her legs and they slide out from under her.

And then she discovers that she has moved backwards!

Gabi absolutely loves to play with tags and strings. She can find a tag, some fringe, ties, or a ribbon on just about anything. She will untie bows and tug on cords -- whatever she can get her hands on. She has a Taggies book, which comes with little ribbon tags all over it just for her to play with, but her favorite tag is the label, instead!

Gabriella is fascinated by alphabug's pull string.

Symphony Celebration

The Atlanta Symphony held a musical open house for all ages on Saturday, October 8. Gabi and Mama took MARTA to get downtown for the event. It was cold outside, so Gabi wore her footed outfit with a warm hat. Papa got off work just in time to join us for the Symphony Celebration. First, we listened to some books about music, played with a balloon, and watched the bigger kids make their own instruments.

At the MARTA station waiting for a train.

We made Gabi an instrument, but she thought it was for eating.

Kindermusik
We attended a Kindermusik demonstration class -- it was neat to show Papa what we do on Thursday mornings. Even though this particular class was geared for children 18 months to 3 years, Gabi had fun. For one song, the children acted out various animals which matched the sounds and musical styles they heard. Gabriella loved it! She laughed and smiled while swinging like a monkey, jumping like a kangaroo, creeping like a cat, and so forth. Another song used egg shakers to tell a story while also conditioning the children's ears with some music theory; for instance, when the story required the children to move the egg shaker up in little increments like steps, the music went up the notes of a scale in staccato. Gabi wasn't quite big enough to do that, but she did figure out that the egg shaker would make noise if she shook it. And, of course, she loved to bang on the drum!

Rhythm sticks sure are interesting.

Gabriella loved swinging like a monkey!

Hey, this egg shaker makes noise!

Gabi exploring the sounds of the big drum.

Woodwind Way
We also had a chance to "try out" the woodwind instruments and percussion instruments. After that, Gabi was too tired to investigate the brass or to listen to a concert, so we went home for a nap.

Gabi "playing" the recorder.

We had to get a picture with the oboe!

7 Months

Little Gabi is now 7 months old (almost 7 1/2 now). She surprises us every day with a new skill. Some cute pictures to demonstrate:

Gabi's Shape Sorter


Here's Gabi playing with her shape sorter. It's a plastic box with different shaped holes in the top (triangle, square, circle, star) and a bunch of little shapes that fit in the holes. Gabi isn't yet big enough to put things in a box with any regularity, much less sort shapes into the appropriate holes. On the other hand, she still enjoys this toy in her own way. She loves to drum on things now, and the shape sorter makes an excellent drum while closed. Of course, she's figured out how to open the box and dump out all the shapes, which is also a fun game!

Learning to Stand


Here's Gabi standing on the couch and holding herself up. She can do this for almost 30 seconds at a time without help. After a little while she'll get tired and lean on the couch with her belly or simply fall over. But she very much enjoys having the chance to stand up all by herself (see also Gabi standing while holding on to the mirror).

Yummy Books!


Not a new skill (as evidenced here), but it's still cute, isn't it?

Self-Expression


Finally, some cute pictures of Gabi showing off a few of her cuter facial expressions. First, her regularly cute baby smile, which you've all seen before. Next, Gabi smiles while talking, and she likes to talk a lot. She's been practicing since she was a tiny baby, but you can see that she's getting better at it as she gets bigger. Finally, Gabi shows off her coy smile that I think makes her look like a little lady--and a very cute one at that.

Playing with Papa

Papa and Gabi have fun with mirrors.

	Gabi touching her reflection. 10/2/05
	Gabi and Papa look in a mirror.

Gabi smiles at herself in the mirror.

Papa lets Gabi stand on her own.

Papa and Gabi also enjoy reading together.

Gabi tells Papa a bedtime story. 10/5/05

Oooh--those bunny ears look like they would be yummy to chew on!

Gabi and Ellie

Ellie comes over to play every Monday. Ellie is three months old, and Gabi is seven months old.

Reading

Falling

Swinging

Reaching	Holding Hands
Friends	Holding Hands and Talking

Ellie brings her double stroller so we can go on walks together.

We like going outside.

Walks make us sleepy.

Baby and Bunnies!

Gabi has recently gotten interested in our pet bunny rabbits. Those of you who are up on your Gabi-trivia will recall that we have two bunnies:

A little boy bunny named Cody... Cody is a Netherland Dwarf.

and a little girl bunny named Merlin... Merlin is a Mini Rex.

You may remember them from this post, when Gabi was much smaller. The rabbits haven't grown much since March, but Gabi certainly has.

	March 2005	September 2005
Merlin	5	5
Cody	2	2
Gabi	8	17

Table 1. Comparison of bunny and baby weights (in pounds).

We try to give our baby and our bunnies some time to get acquainted every day. It usually starts out with both parties being equally interested in each other, as demostrated by Cody's "bunny kisses" in this picture. Cody, being much more curious (and having an underdeveloped sense of self-preservation), needs no coaxing to come say hello. Really, the curiosity on the part of our bunnies probably stems from their desire to get a treat. But Cody's interest and the impending treats are usually sufficient to get Merlin, our wiser if more reticent rabbit, to come out of hiding.

Unfortunately, Gabi is too interested in putting things into her mouth to be allowed to handle apple treats. This prevents us from sharing pictures of the bunnies eating out of Gabi's hand. But we do hate to disappoint our bunny friends...


"Cody, stand up!... Good bunny!"
The "stand up" trick is usually well-received by Gabi, who rewards us with delighted cooing. Having brought the rabbits up to the front of their cages, we then give Gabi the chance to Pat the Bunny. This normally goes well as long as Gabi is gentle and the rabbits are still chewing their treats.


Invariably, however, our little 6-month-old (going on 7-month-old) gets a little over excited and will frighten the little bunny away. Rabbits are prey critters, you know, and they may not realize that the loud, bigger-than-a-bunny creature is not a predator. Then again, I'm sure that, given the chance, Gabi would put a bunny ear in her mouth.


Where did that bunny go?

Bedtime

When Gabi is ready to sleep, she is much more cuddly than when she wants to play, which makes sense. Little Gabriella also rubs her eyes when she is fatigued; it is always amazing to me when Gabi does something on her own which, for adults, is considered the quintessential action for whatever emotion she is experiencing. More atypically, for some reason Gabriella finds tugging at my hair to be comforting when she is tired.

At night, Gabi snuggles up to my chest, sticks two fingers from her right hand in her mouth, and holds onto my hair with her left hand. When she's feeling a bit fidgety, she will pull my hair until her fingers run through to the end (often retaining a few detached strands in her fist) and then she'll reach up to try again. Other times, Gabi decides to suck on the same fingers she is using to grasp my hair, or perhaps she just likes the way my hair tastes.

Not only does this hair-tugging routine signal to me that it is bedtime for Gabi, but somehow it is immensely calming for Gabi and helps her fall asleep.

Mama, I'm tired! 9/14/05

Gabi trying to suck on Mama's hair.

Gabi's favorite sleepy-time pose.