It All Started with a Little Skittle...

 Today Gabby officially learned how to ride a tricycle independently. Her two friends, Aiden and Addison were riding their bikes and she wanted to be like them so she hopped on their extra tricycle and began peddling with a little help from Daddy at first. We've been trying to get Gabby to ride her tricycle for months, (knowing that she's fully capable of doing it) but she was never interested until her friends were doing it and she wanted to join in the fun. Who said peer pressure has to be a bad thing?   Even when she fell she got right back up without a tear Gabby ate better than usual because she was with her friends and accomplished another milestones because she wanted to be like her friends. Sometimes allowing children to naturally interact is the best way for them to learn new skills. That is why I love play dates (not to mention all of the smiles, giggles, and extra squeals that fill the air).

Sunday the light bulb in Gabby's head was shining brighter than usual I suppose.  She started drawing circles for the first time, she can identify 4 letters (when she is paying attention and interested), she finally can count to 5 independently, and she learned how to put  three piece puzzles together.  I am one proud momma in awe of what she learned in a day!

Everyone has an opinion about potty training: when to do it, how old they should be, discipline for accidents, etc.  I have decided on pretty much all aspects of parenting to enjoy the baby stage.  It is so precious and for such a short amount of time; why rush any of the milestones (but I don't plan on her being a late developer either)? Almost everyone I know with a child Gabby's age (she is 2 years, 5 months) have begun the process of potty training or have successfully completed potty training.  Gabby was interested when she turned 2 and actually went potty 2 or 3 times in her potty chair.  We praised her and were extremely proud, but she quickly lost interest to the point where she didn't want anything to do with her potty chair any longer so I decided to wait until she was interested because we are in no hurry at this point.  Then I saw this article, thanks to my cousin Michelle, and I realized that there are benefits to waiting to potty train.  I d...

Gabby's favorite alphabet song by Tilly and the Wall from Sesame Street. For a few months Gabby and I have been working on her letter recognition. She already knows "o" thanks to a shirt I wear to bed. I haven't decided whether she should learn them in alphabetical order, or the letters in her name first. Until the last week she has shown no interest in looking at her name written or singing songs about her name (songs include spelling her name to the tune of "Bingo," a song one of her toys sings spelling her name, cheering, the typical alphabet song, the one from Sesame Street, and random tunes I've made up), but I am proud to say we are finally starting to enjoy singing songs about the alphabet!! When at Grandma's she was playing with a baby Leapster toy that plays only a small portion of the letters at a time Gabby will sing along and get the letters correct, which makes me very proud of her!  It's so cute to see how excited she ge...

Since Gabby was very small we've had difficulty getting her to go to sleep without a lot of tears from her and heartache for us.  We've tried Super Nanny tactics, my doctor's recommendations, a thousand ways we've read about on the internet and still it's the same fight every night even though Gabby has had the exact same routine for a year and a half (which is 75% of her lifetime) and the result is always the same, a crying baby.  (There is one way to get her to soundly go to sleep and that is allowing her to go to bed with milk, but I would rather her cry a little each night than to have teeth with cavities.) A few nights ago something finally clicked in my head. I try not to be too much of a speech pathologist to Gabby because I am her mommy and she is developing normally so I try to think in mommy mode rather than SLP mode.  Desperate I thought what would I recommend to another Mom at work and it clicked.  Any time a parent is having a serious difficulty wi...

So here are some of Gabby's common words/phrases and their meaning: Show- She wants to watch a television program or movie Elmo on - This could mean she actually wants to watch Elmo or she would like to watch Nemo.  We make her clarify and she will expand by saying "fish" if she means Nemo. Show me - Usually she will grab your hand and want to take you to see something or play with her some where Mere - Come here Beast - Beauty and the Beast Money money- She found money it could be a coin or paper money they are equally exciting to her Pig noise: Could mean she wants to put money in her piggy bank, play with her piggy bank by taking the money out and putting it back in or that she would like to watch Peppa Pig.  (She'll usually clarify by saying money or Peppa if you don't have a context to figure it out) Bye-Bye: Just the cutest phrase she has because of the way she says it and usually follows it by "wuv you" Scuse me - Means excuse me. She...

A few days ago Gabby was outside playing in the sand box having a blast pouring sand all over herself and naturally exfoliating her already baby soft skin.  When she was finished with her spa treatment and ready to go "outside" (meaning in the house) so I asked her, "Are you ready to take a bath?" Gabby proceeded to start rubbing both of her hands on her chest.  I thought it was interesting that she looked like she was bathing when making this motion so I looked the sign and sure enough she was signing bath! I didn't even know the sign for bath and Gabby knows how to sign it! I called my mom and asked if she taught Gabby the sign.  Mom AKA Grandma said that Gabby had seen a baby sign it twice on You Tube.  Gabby learned a sign after seeing it twice out of context! She is amazingly smart.  Calling her a sponge is an insult, she is brilliant!That is my bragging for the day at least.  She truly is the greatest gift a person could ask for.  If you a...

The nickname "Stinkerbell" has been one of Gabby's top 5 and slowly continues to rise on her chart of nicknames the older she gets.  Stinkerbell is the perfect depiction of Gabby lately.  She recently turned 16 months, but I think she believes she is 2 years old...because the terrible two's have begun! Look out Mommy and Daddy, defiance and behavior issues galore are now our new usual.  Gabby is constantly testing her boundaries. Here is a snapshot of her recent behavior: she flips her bowl of food on the ground 2 to 3 times a day, throws herself on the ground crying when she doesn't get her way or pinches, scratches, and slaps you, when you tell her to stop doing something she will definitely continue to do it (and likely more often). When you try to discipline her saying no sternly, popping her hand, or putting her in the corner for timeout she simply laughs hysterically. This may sound terrible, but it's actually quite hilarious and difficult to stay s...

Gabby never seized to surprise me.  While her Grandma and Grandpa were here I was getting her to show off her tricks: the motions to "Wheels On the Bus" (her favorites, "shh, shh, shh" and "round and round"), the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Pat-a-Cake" and showing off her body parts.  I asked her where her eyes were and she touched them and said eyes, then I asked her where her nose was and she grabbed it.  Then Bonnie joined in and asked where her ears were.  I informed Bonnie that she didn't know that one yet, but to my surprise and great pleasure she touched her ear and wiggled it! So that night Michael and I probed her apparently she knows her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, feet and tummy!  She also learned how to make the motion for the baby on the bus go wah, wah, wah, in like 5 minutes, and she wanted to practice so she would take my hands and make the motions to make me sing that part of the song again. It's the little things tha...

Gabby had her 15 month doctor visit this week.  About the day before we went to the appointment I realized that Gabby had to get shots, AGAIN!  The power flickered on and off and then finally stayed off while we waited the hour in one of the doctor's rooms, while Gabby read a book, pointed to all of the pictures of the animals on the wall, had her diaper changed, played with the paper on the examination table, pointed to every doctor item in the room, imitated the monkey sound while pointed to the stuffed animal hanging from a pretend by from the ceiling, ate some snacks, got bored eating snacks, started throwing snacks, sang songs with hand motions, and began to whine from boredom !  All I could think about during the typical hour wait was, poor baby being tortured waiting to be tortured !  Surprisingly when the doctor walked in Gabby smiled at him (typically she screams from the moment her eyes meet his) but then he touched her and she proved there is nothing wron...

Monday was Gabby's first ever swim lesson, and third time ever in a pool.  She is in a group with two other babies that are a little older than her. When we first walked into the water it was cool, but not cold.  She seemed fine entering the water, but quickly lost her enthusiasm once we started singing songs and touching her cheeks into the water.  She did not seem to like the water touching her face, but we followed the other children. During our first session we worked on kicking in the water, pulling herself along the wall (the choo choo train), floating on her back and getting her ears used to the water, pulling herself out of the pool, and when getting back in the water turning around and grabbing the wall (Humpty Dumpty).  The entire 30 minutes Gabby did not really care for the water and kept telling me "up" meaning she wanted out, but she never cried even when she went under water once.  The instructor informed me that babies don't like getting wate...

 Gabby Sharing her castle with Aiden Aiden guiding Gabby everywhere he thinks she needs to go Puppy Love My little girl has her first crush! She fell quickly and instantly decided he could be the king of her castle!  Aiden guided Gabby everywhere he wanted her to go and she happily ablidged.  We have been trying to teach her to hold our hand when she walks and she has always refused.  Thanks to Aiden she will now hold our hand when walking.   Gabby usually isn't very social around other children.  Usually she cries and wants to be held, but not with Aiden and Addision.  She followed them, shared her toys quite well, and tried to be just like them.  It is so amusing to see Gabby try to be a big girl like her friends.  Michael says next time Aiden comes over "they are going to have a talk."  

So, I try to follow the doctor's orders because I know that there is a lot of research for the recommendations they give me.  However, I felt like taking the bottle from Gabby at 12 months just wasn't right for her. I still don't think she was ready to get rid of her bottle, but I promised she would be off of it by 15 months. So we have gradually taken a bottle away one every other day.  Aunt Lacey fed Gabby her last ever bottle Friday night.  The next two days she refused to drink from the sippy cups we got her (which look exactly like a bottle but with a sippy cup nipple), but I am proud to say that today she has given up her hunger strike and has drunk two cups of milk! She has been such a trooper and never even fussed about the loss of her bottle. I guess in her case out of sight, out of mind was true. During one of her naps I boxed up all of her bottles so that there would not be a tantrum for the forbidden bottle....I am dreading being around a baby with a bott...

Today Gabby officially learned how to put pieces in a puzzle!! We play with puzzles a lot and Gabby thinks it's fun to take all of the pieces out.  For months she has tried to put a piece in but she never discriminated between the pictures, she would try to put the pieces in any hole, but not today!! Today she put an octagon in the correct place, so then it was on! She would choose a piece (and I would make sure the piece was correctly positioned) and then I would point to where it belongs and Gabby put it in.  Her Dad and Grandma really like doing puzzles and it looks like she will follow in their footsteps.

So as requested by Gabby's Nanny, Aunt Lacey, here are some of the milestones she has mastered: Fine motor skills: She uses a pen to scribble artwork She uses large crayons to make lines She uses chalk to mark on concrete She picks up poker chips and moves them from one slot to another Gross motor skills: She climbs onto furniture She "drives" her little scotter car She throws a ball She kicks balloons into the air She runs everywhere She can crawl up stairs with ease She is learning to go down stairs She usually listens when told no Speech & Language: She has over 20 words (up, mom, dad are favorites) she just started saying PopPop for papa When you ask her how old she is she holds up 1 fingers, says, "dis" and then claps for herself Gabby uses her singing voice when she likes a song She claps for herself and requires everyone in the room to reciprocate When she wants to be held or wants out of her high chair she says "up" a...

Once there was a tiny girl who really loved saying out. She loved the word so much that she yelled out and raised her hand every time she saw a door or her dog. Whether she wanted the dog near her or to keep his distance she would click her tongue and then excitedly yell, "out!" Quickly "out" changed from a new word to a distinct name. Every time Gabby wanted to feed her puppy bites of her snack or wanted to pet his soft fur she would gleefully cry, "Out!" It was more than just a word it was Gabby's term of endearment for her puppy. It came to the point where one day the dog unconsciously began answering to the name out. He excitedly ran up to tiny Gabby wagging his tail waiting for treats.  So in Gabby's small ever expanding dictionary "out" means "dog." Mommy and Daddy are to blame because we constantly yell, "Out!" whenever Ranger walks through the baby jail threshold (a story for another day)!

Gabby had a wonderful first birthday party.  There were tons of friends and family there to celebrate her first year of life. It truly amazes me how many people adore my little girl. I don't think she has any clue how blessed she is to have such a huge group of such wonderful people who love her!  Seriously, people traveled HOURS to come to a one year old's birthday party! Gabby should feel very special and loved.  I think everyone's love contributes to the sweet loving little toddler she has become. Nanny and Mommy stayed up until midnight preparing and decorating for the party.  Then we continued working from 9:00 in the morning until moments before the party started at 2:00 (I will plan better next time)! Grandma made pretty signs for the party.  Gabby received a plethora of gifts which included toys, precious clothes, and even money which we put directly in her savings account.  Thank you everyone for such lovely gifts. The party was great because...

I can't believe that my little girl turns one today.  It feels like just yesterday that I met her for the first time.  The joy that comes with having this little angel, and by angel I mean gift from heaven, grows more and more everyday.  I tell Michael all of the time that I cannot believe how much more I love her every day and he feels the same way. Our love grows for her as fast as she grows!  We love you baby Gabby! You are the most amazing person in the entire world.  Happy First Birthday! Love, Mommy and Daddy Milestones Gabby has met by her first birthday: Walking Running Playing "pat-a-cake" and "itsy bitsy spider" and "singing" along by clicking her tongue Says: "dada, mama, uh-oh, cat, hi, cat, pretty, yeah, oh wow" and I am sure more that I am forgetting. Calling the cat and dog by clicking her tongue and putting her hand out (cutest thing ever!) Turning the pages and pointing to pictu...

Gabrielle is now 11 months believe it or not!  As an 11 month old Gabby has changed from a baby to a kid in what seems like a blink of an eye. She believes she is a big girl because she has one tooth.  She no longer crawls as her main source of transportation; instead, she walks (although sometimes uncoordinated). Her vocabulary increases daily.  She has about a eight word vocabulary which includes: mama, dada, cat, hi, uh-oh, eye (while poking you in the eye of course), and in the last two days she added "wow" and "bye."  She spontaneously looks at books, turns the pages, and points to pictures in her books.  She can now put objects back in boxes or buckets as well as taking them out. She also has an obvious preference for objects and sometimes will cry if you do not give her what she wants.  She also will cry if you tell her "no" or sometimes when she knows better and wants to try to do something she knows she is not allowed to do....