Hats

Gabriel found the drawer with all our hats today. I made him sit for the camera after he played with each one. He thought it was funny at first and then was entertained when I turned the camera's screen to face him so he could see his own picture.

Aquarium

On Saturday we went to the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco. It was a beautiful day. We started by seeing some of the fish from the movie "Finding Nemo," the orange clown fish and the blue "boo" fish.
We also saw jellyfish.
Then we walked through two huge tunnel tanks. One had all kinds of large fish, large bass and schools of fish swimming around. And the second tunnel tank had sharks and leopard sharks.
They had a shallow pool where we could pet the sting rays (with stingers removed) and leopard sharks. It was awesome!

H-O-T

After playing in the pool last night, we watched part of Pixar's Cars movie. We got out Gabriel's toy cars and lounged in front of the tv waiting for it to be cooler outside so we could open all the windows. So far, "Cars" and "Finding Nemo" are the only movies he'll put up with. If we watch anything else, he wiggles his hand like a fish and says Fish. If we don't get it, he'll say "mime mime mime" for the seagulls saying "mine mine mine" in the movie.

Sunday Afternoon

Man, it was hot yesterday! It was at least 95 degrees out. We hunkered down after church and Paul and Gabriel built this castle out of megablocks while I made raspberry and blueberry smoothies for us. When the house got too hot for us, we went outside and played on the shaded patio. Gabriel had fun filling the wading pool with buckets cold water and splashing his parents (who actually appreciated it).

More Good Stuff

We had a great Easter weekend visiting both sides of the family nearby. Here is Paul showing Gabriel the fruit snacks hidden inside the eggs.
I try to take a picture of Gabriel every month on his birth day. This month's was a couple days late. He's so active now, there's no way I can get him to sit still.

I caught Gabriel talking on the phone this evening. I have a play phone for him to use, but obviously the plugged in one is better.

21 Months Fly By

For a while Gabriel has been pointing out the E-X-I-T signs everywhere we go. Those signs and any lights that are On or Uff are his conversation openers with strangers. This weekend we began to notice more two-syllable words. He can imitate what we say better and better. He learned "Umpa" for grandpa and "Ambi" which is my brother's dog. After Gabriel's nap today, he woke up in a great mood and anxious to learn. He brought an ABC book to me and we went patiently through every letter. He repeated some back as I said them. Then he went to his frig magnet letters and started picking out the ones he knew and saying them to me. Then he heard a car door slam and asked (in his wavering tones) if his cousin was here. I said no sadly. Then he said "Daw" his word for John. No, not coming either. Then he went off to play.

Flower

Gabriel is talking so much more. He is now repeating words right after we say them, mostly just one syllable. "A fow" for a flower. It's so great that he can identify so many things. He even strings his few words together to form simple sentences. "Fie" and blows means the fire (gas stove) is hot.



Paul got home really late last night, so Gabriel was wound up longer. This video was taken about 8:50pm (his bedtime is usually no later than 8pm) after several laps up and down the hallway. Gabriel knows how to take his shirt off and he loves running. All that running makes him thirsty in the end.

Great Weekend

We watched the wonderful church talks (conference) on our new tv through our computer this weekend. In between sessions, we went outside and played. Gabriel loved attacking Paul with the boffers (padded swords).

Then on Sunday between sessions, we had an early Easter egg hunt in our backyard. It took a minute for Gabriel to catch on to what he was suppose to be doing. I think it helped that we cracked open the first egg to show him the candy inside. Once he figured it out, he had so much fun looking for the eggs and putting them in his basket! As you can see from the video at the bottom, he dropped as many as he picked up as he raced from one side of the lawn to the other.

Goodnight, Moon

Tonight, as I was walking Gabriel to his room for bed, I was saying goodnight to the things in the living room (like in the classic book Goodnight Moon).
"Goodnight, phone." *Gabriel waves to the phone*
"Goodnight, toys." *Gabriel waves to his toys*
"Goodnight table." *Gabriel waves to the table*

"Goodnight, dad." *Gabriel waves to Paul*

Paul says back, "Goodnight, Gabriel."
*Gabriel waves to himself*

Sleeping Angel

This is what Gabriel looked like this morning, with his blanket, the bunny he sleeps with (as of about a month ago), head snuggled under Paul's pillow, and half under our covers. Normally and lately, he has been a perfect sleeping angel. I put him to sleep in his room, he falls asleep while on his bed and I'm in the rocking chair, and he sleeps through the night. It takes about an hour from when we begin reading stories to when he's mostly asleep and we can sneak out. Last night, he woke up at 1am and couldn't go back to sleep. I even tried sleeping next to him in his bed and we tossed and turned together until about 5:30am... until I put him in our bed. Then he slept peacefully, sleeping through Paul's loud alarm clock and shower. The poor thing is teething, getting his molars.

The other night Gabriel was on a video game kick. In his almost-two-year-old way, he insisted we play some of our more active video games (like Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Fit). We did and then Paul introduced Gabriel to some classic Zelda. Gabriel wanted to press all the buttons himself. He's getting so big.