Off to College

Gabi took her first class at Emory University this spring semester! Here are some pictures from their last class (April 26, 2006).


Gabi took Musicgarten at Emory
with Ella, Sienna, Ben, and some other friends.


Gabi loves her rhythm sticks!


Gabi is big into putting things away these days.


Gabi rattling her shaker at music class.


Where's Gabi?
Gabi playing peek-a-boo with her scarf.

Easter in Atlanta

Hey there, Gabi fans. Remember last Easter? Well, Gabi and her parents just celebrated our first Easter in Atlanta (where "just celebrated" means "this happened a few weeks ago, and now we're getting around to posting pictures).


Grampa brought out Gabi's Texas family for the weekend, and she really enjoyed having 3 times the usual attention. And that's just from Grampa. In the first picture, we see that Gabi has convinced Grampa to read her favorite book for the 894th time. Fortunately, Grampa wouldn't get tired of this book until the 902nd time through.

Next, we see Gabi entertaining us all by singing and playing the piano -- or yelling and banging on the keyboard, to the untrained ear. Experienced percussionist Uncle Brian knows how to enjoy this little concert -- with earplugs!



This next montage shows a family outing to the Fernbank Science Center. Gabi got to practice her pointing! Not that she really need the practice, mind you. Gabi pointed at chickens... dinosaur bones... and bees. Gabi girl loves to point.


The next day, something arrived that made Gabi smile SO BIG!


...Uncle Stephen! Uncle Stephen was playing peekaboo with little Gabi around some folding chairs. This picture was taken during Dr. Tim's "Breakathon." His taekwondo school was holding an event where they broke boards to raise money for a charity. We don't have any pictures of Gabi watching this and giggling... because she didn't like the board breaking and yelling at all. We have some pictures of her crying and hiding, but they're just not very much fun to look at. Poor baby.


She did like to practice walking, though. Here, Uncle Stephen shows us how good he is at driving the baby. Did you know that New Mexico is cleaner than Old Mexico? Uncle Stephen's t-shirt did.


And now for something completely different... Pictures actually taken on Easter.


Uncle Brian woke up early to play with Gabi on Easter. Having seen how much fun Gabi had playing with all of her toys, he decided to see if she would have fun playing with all of her toys... at the same time. Actually, she had a lot of fun, especially since she found an Easter egg with a Nilla wafer amid her toys.

On the night before Easter, we played some games and then everyone went to bed. Everyone, except for Mama, who stayed up late. Since we were all sleeping, we didn't wonder what Mama was doing up so late. But if we had been awake to wonder, we might have thought that she could be...


Hiding Easter Eggs! Gabi's first set of Easter Eggs were filled with some of Gabi's favorite snacks, like Cheerios, vanilla wafers, and Goldfish!

Gabi enjoyed opening her Easter Eggs. She also enjoyed putting them in her Easter basket. She's big into putting things in containers these days.

Little Gabi looked so pretty in her Easter dress! Of course, we all took turns having our pictures taken with her at church. Grampa posed with her with the nice flowers outside, and her uncles posed with her in front of the altar. We got so many comments on our pretty girl -- like, more than usual.


One of the nicest things about Easter (as far as Gabi girl is concerned) is that there are more flowers about to point at. Gabi really enjoyed pointing at the flowers inside the church.


Finally, it was time to take the baby home. Here's our little walker walking down the church aisle with Grampa and Papa. She was so excited! Happy (belated) Easter, everyone!

Walking!

Gabi is walking now! She no longer just takes steps to get to a particular something, but she will walk without a specific destination. Last Friday, I set her down at Lowe's, and she took off down the aisle to check out what was around the corner. She walked for Papa all weekend, and even showed off her new skill via web-cam to her family.

Now that Gabi can walk, playgrounds will be lots of fun. We will have to check out all the parks around here. These are a few pictures from parks we visited this weekend.

Candler Park
On Friday, we went to Candler Park for a playgroup picnic and then some playground fun.

Gabi walking on the playground equipment at Candler Park.
4/28/2006


Gabi riding the dinosaur at Candler Park.


Mama and Gabi sliding down the slide.
The slide is Gabi's favorite playground activity!


Gabi taking a break to eat a cracker and watch the other kids.

After talking to some other moms, I have discovered that Gabi has been doing some advanced post-walking skills for a few months. She can stand up on her own, without pulling up on anything. She can also squat down and stand back up. She's been doing that for months, and some of her pro-walking friends still have trouble with that. Those are skills that are supposed to come after walking, but Gabi had them down well before she braved taking a few steps.

Scott Park
On Saturday, we had a babysitting co-op meeting at Scott Park, which is next to the Decatur Library (and hence very close to our house!).

Gabi and Jackson walking on the path at Scott Park.
4/29/2006


Gabi and Jackson playing at the Scott Park playground.
Both of these toddlers are Filipino-American.


Gabi walking through the garden at Scott Park.


Oops!
All new walkers fall down sometimes.


Gabi loves flowers!
She walked over to check out this flowerpot of bright yellow flowers.


Gabi found more flowers in her wandering.

Zoo Atlanta
Last week we took a playgroup trip to the zoo. This picture is also on the playgroup blog, but it's so cute, I thought it was worth repeating here. I can't put all the cutest Gabi pictures on both blogs, though.

Gabi explores the bamboo forest at the zoo.

14 Months

Our most exciting news is that Gabi is now taking steps! She will usually only take about 5 steps -- if what she wants is any further than that, she prefers to crawl. She is very steady on her feet, just very cautious as well. Here are a few more pictures (while we continue to wait for Easter pictures).

SOAR Playgroup is a playgroup with the children of people at Papa's work. Many of these kids are older than Gabi (lots of three-year-olds, especially, it seems), but it's fun for Gabi to play with older kids, too, and of course it's a nice social opportunity for Mama.

SOAR Playgroup: Kate, Gabi, Ella, McKenna, and Taylor


Alex, Gabi, and Ella on the trampoline at SOAR Playgroup.


Gabi squats to investigate the plants.


Kate helps Gabi walk.

Gabi found Papa's guitar case and decided to investigate. She sure does like music!

Gabi wants to open Papa's guitar case.


Gabi decides to climb on Papa's guitar case.


Gabi helps Papa play the guitar.

Yet another trip to the aquarium... The otters were up close this time! However, between the crowd and the poor lighting, we didn't get a good picture of the otters swimming right by us.

Gabi and a starfish at the aquarium.


Gabi is taller than the penguins at the aquarium.

Some pictures at home... We let some friends borrow one of Gabi's car seats, so it's been sitting in our living room for a few days after they returned it. This has proven to be very entertaining for Gabi girl.

Gabi likes to climb into the car seat in our living room.


Mama came home from Moms' Night Out
to find Papa and Gabi alseep on the bed!

And, of course, we have our weekly playgroup with 17 babies/toddlers Gabi's age. You can see all Gabi's playgroup friends on the Playgroup Blog.

Gabi peeking around Martin's backyard at playgroup.


Gabi loved to play this piano at playgroup.

Spring Time

I'm waiting for Uncle Brian to send me his pictures before I make an Easter post, but here are a bunch of other Spring pictures for you in the mean time.

Gabi's favorite activity these days is walking holding our hands. She likes to hold both hands, and she'll take off quickly, laughing the whole way.


Ava and Gabi playing together.
3/10/06


Gabi loves bananas!
3/12/06


Gabi playing her piano. She likes to dance to the music.
3/17/06
As always, Gabi is quite music lover. She has so many different dances. Sometimes she twists her torso... sometimes she stands and shakes her booty... sometimes she holds her arms up and bobs side to side... sometimes she holds her hands out and twists her wrists back and forth... sometimes she bounces to the beat. Whatever her dance, whether she jiggles her whole body or just sways with the rhythm, we always enjoy watching her.

When Karen visited us during a long layover, Gabi started a new trick. Gabi would press a button to make her toy start a song, and then she'd stand up all by herself, hold her arms up high as if she were on a roller coaster, and wiggle her bum until the song was over. Then she'd do it all over again -- she loved showing off (probably because of the wonderful reaction she got out of Karen).


Gabi peeking through her door at Great-Aunt Karen.
3/20/06


Gabi crawling through the door to Great-Aunt Karen.
3/20/06


Gabi snacking at the zoo while Ella takes a few steps.
3/31/06


Gabi and a panda bear at the zoo.
4/3/06


Gabi peeking around the corner to see what Mama and Papa are doing. -- Ooh! yardwork!
4/3/06


Gabi showing off how she can stand up all by herself!
4/3/06


Gabi and Papa climbing the tree.
4/11/06


Gabi does her rabbit sign to tell us what she sees.
4/11/06


Gabi wants to hold Cody.
4/11/06


Gabi was given a rose after church on Holy Thursday.
4/13/06


Papa helping Gabi smell her rose.
4/13/06


Gabi stirring all her rose petals in her Thumper mug.
4/13/06
Gabi has four teeth now. Number three came last week, and number four this week.

Even more exciting, Gabi took her first step on Tuesday night! She was standing (unsupported) by the coffee table playing, and she decided she wanted one of the toys on the table so she took a step to get just a bit closer to pick up the toy. I think the presence of the table that she could have grabbed gave her the security to take her first step. Afterwards I did notice her shifting weight back and forth from one foot to another, just testing it out... but no more steps on her own yet.


Gabi claps along with "If You're Happy and You Know It."
4/19/06


Gabi gives her puppy a hug!
4/19/06
The neighbors are impressed with how good Gabi is when I go outside to work in the yard. Gabi just sits near me and doesn't try to escape. I guess I should enjoy it now, because once she starts walking, that will likely change. Gabi is a very good baby, though; she doesn't get into much trouble. When we had playgroup at our house this week, I discovered that a Gabi-baby-proofed house is most definitely not a fully-baby-proofed house!


"I don't know why Mama keeps pulling all the ugly weeds.
I prefer to pick a Gerber daisy myself!"
4/20/06


Gabi chases Frank the cat while Mama does yardwork.
4/20/06