Talking and Visiting

Gabriel was playing with his car on the windowsill the other day. He looked so cute, I wanted to capture it. It's so hard to sneak a camera and capture him candidly though. I can't understand much of this cute language but here I'm sure it's something like "go away, mom, I'm playing." He kinda chokes on his tongue at the end, but it gives you a good idea of how he talks now.

Gabriel got to play with his cousin quite a bit this weekend. They both had so much fun together.

Hike

We found a new park where we can hike. It's huge and close by (up a narrow winding road, but still...). We went this morning and explored our first trail. Gabriel enjoyed walking and picking wildflowers and rocks. He also rode in his hiking stroller. The trail lead us to this lake, where we stopped for a quick snack before heading home for lunch:

The Shredded Paper Continues

I'm still learning how to be a parent and finding new and challenging things for Gabriel to do. We don't have a sandbox yet, so I poured the shredded paper (see last post) into our wading pool. Gabriel had fun using his new bucket and shovel in the pool with the paper. It was almost warm enough to fill the pool with water instead, but the heat of summer is coming soon enough--we can wait.

It's Snowing Paper

I needed to shred some leftover papers from our house hunting. Gabriel had a blast playing in it.

20 Months Old!

Gabriel is 20 months today!

Gabriel would rather be behind the camera than in front of it, as you can see from this picture. He finds the viewscreen and buttons exciting which makes taking pictures hard sometimes.

He loves to run and climb and chase the cat. He understands our words and can follow simple directions. His words are more recognizable. Currently Gabriel loves pointing out the red stoplights ("off") and green lights ("een") to us as we drive. Yesterday he pointed across the room and said "square." He's been learning his shapes so saying the word wasn't unusual. However it took me a moment to realize he was pointing at the square tiles by our front door. He recognized the shape and then said the word! He continues to amaze us every day and Paul and I can't help but adore him.

Happiness Is...

...Eating applesauce without any help.

...Running in the sunshine.

Gabriel Sings

There are so many cute videos of Gabriel. Here's one of Gabriel singing. I don't recognize this tune, but he's pretty distracted because he can see himself in the mirror as he sings.



Gabriel has been singing the "Sunbeam" song from church lately (he loves all songs with hand motions). I tried to get him to sing it for the camera, but he was distracted by the thing in his hand, which he drops. I thought it was a super cute video close-up of him though.

Unpacking

We're slowly unpacking and adjusting to the new house. Gabriel has been sensitive lately (tripping and falling and crying over small bonks), but I think that's part of the adjustment to a smaller and new house. This place is certainly entertaining though. He is finding new things to climb and explore! And the backyard is perfect.

We're getting used to the oddities too. We have to stretch to open the bathroom window but bend our knees to get under the showerhead. We have to unplug the garbage disposal to turn on the dishwasher. And when we run the dryer, all our boxes in the garage get moist and fuzzy because we haven't connected a long hose to the outside wall yet. But we love knowing that we own this house. We can take our time unpacking.

Just don't ask me where anything is yet!