Keady Visit: Day 1

Gabriela and Keady were so excited to see each other.  It was adorable to watch Gabriela wait in anticipation of seeing Keady, and watching Keady squeal in delight at the sight of Gabriela.  It's strange to think that they met each other before they could even sit up on their own, and when we left for CA, they couldn't really communicate verbally yet they've managed to stay friends.  Thank you, Google Chat! 

We began our visit with an requisite of any West Coast trip - In N Out Burger. And then, it was off to Tilden Park, as requested by Miss Keady.

Eric couldn't help doing a repeat of his fancy feeding the cow technique.

 We were lucky to see the litter of little piglets (and their not-so-little mama)

 Okay, Goofballs! The celery is for the animals!

 After feeding the animals at Little Farm, we drove to another area of Tilden Park where the girls got to ride the carousel THREE times!  What lucky ladies.

 Eric let Gabriela taste the Twinkie he bought.  She didn't know what hit her, but she was a fan.

 After the carousel fun, we hopped over to the other side of the park catch a ride on the steam trains!  If only we'd realized how chilly it would have been - we'd have brought hot cocoa and extra blankets for the ride!

 Checking out the train before it we jumped aboard.

 The train ride itself was fun, but next time we won't sit so close to the main car.  It's a real steam train,  and Gabriela did not care for getting sprinkled upon by the steam's condensation. They still managed to enjoy themselves.

 I think this is my favorite pic

 Look at that steam!

 After Tilden Park, we went back to Eric and Rhonda's hotel in the city. The girls got their jammies on and played games. The plan was for them to watch a movie, but they were too excited about seeing each other to pay any attention. 

Sweet sleepy monkeys.

Gabriela Says...

Out of nowhere.... "Mommy, Jollie is my first gift of Christmas - just like in the Polar Express."

Jollie is Gabriela's imaginary friend.

She said this today.

It's March and she's still thinking about Christmas.

Definitely my daughter.

Reunited

That's right! Gabriela's BFF Keady came out to visit for the second time!  She is so lucky to have such a sweet friend.  The girls spent the whole week together doing fun things. It is incredible how much they've grown since they first met (at ages 4 and 6 months) and how much of a bond they have formed with each other. 

We had to get creative and do mostly indoor activities because the weather didn't cooperate for their visit. In fact, it rained nearly every day they were here.  BUT, we did get to meet Keady's baby sister, Ellie.  She is the sweetest, most content, and easy going baby. 

More about our visit soon.

More January Pics

 Gabriela and Daddy sat and watched a cement truck on our street. She was fascinated by the spinning, cement dumping and the sounds of the truck.

 We had some pretty fabulous sunshine so we enjoyed a day outside at Joaquin Miller Park.  Here is Gabriela wearing some fancy shades with Messed Up Hair Baby.  We left Pirate Baby and Baby John at home.


 We spotted lots of lizards at the park that day.


Enjoying some swinging in the backyard (Pirate Baby is on the left and Messed Up Hair Baby is on the right)

Cousin Fun in Gilroy

Yep, these pics are from January. 

Gabriela is best buds with all her cousins.  Every time I see them play together, I am reminded that we made the right decision to move back home.  It's so precious to see their friendships develop. 

 Gabriela and Mina hopped into one of the Christmas bins together while Nana was trying to put the decorations away. 

Whoops, this pic is a little blurry. 
Gabriela asked very sweetly if she could hold Caetlin, who is one and not very interested in being held by her only slightly bigger cousin.  But Gabriela couldn't have been more pleased with herself!

 What's more fun than dress up time?!  Andrew has tons of fun costumes and the kiddos decided to try them out one afternoon.  They had a blast.

 One day Mina wasn't feeling too happy when she arrived at Nana's house. Gabriela gave her a big hug to help cheer her up.  What a sweetheart.

Cousin Andrew with Cousin Harry Potter. 

My Missing Shoe

I don't know how I managed to this, but I lost one of my shoes. One of my favorite, most comfortable shoes. I looked everywhere, tore apart toy boxes and under the bed, in places that I knew my shoe wasn't.  And then I gave up. Seriously. How does a relatively organized adult (living in small basement) lose a shoe?!? Was I going crazy? I even asked Gabriela where Mommy's purple shoe was. I got nothing.

Then I decided I had found the perfect place to keep my little note cards. Cute, right?

Yeah, didn't check here.
I'm pretty sure I know who to thank for hiding my shoe in a mini-suitcase.

Thanks, Gabriela.

p.s. That was a fun game, but please don't hide anything else that belongs to Mommy.  Thanks. xoxo

Journal Catch up

Last week I saw a picture of Gabriela from a year ago and realized how much bigger she is now.  I went back and read some posts from my blog last February - you know, when I was actually documenting things that happened in my life.  There were so many little details that I had already forgotten, like the signs and words Gabriela was just learning.

And then I felt awful for not recording more here lately.  I want to go back later and remember things like how Gabriela is already writing letters all by herself.  She loves to write As.  She asks to do HER home school, like her cousins. Today she made As, Es, Vs, Is, and even an M.  While she made Chaney's Valentine, she said, "watch this! ... a four!" and she had drawn a four. I never taught her how to make numbers.

Gabriela has an amazing memory.  We went to an ice cream parlor yesterday that we hadn't visited since summer when she got her free ice cream from the summer reading program.  As soon as we walked in, Gabriela said, "Mommy, damember when we came here last time?!?!"  Today she asked about a little girl she hasn't seen since June. I wasn't sure who she was talking about until she told me she closed the door on her hand. Maybe we'll get to play with Mallory soon. 

Gabriela insists on doing everything by herself.  This often means undoing things so she can start all over and do them by herself.  She has sworn off naps for the most part.  And bedtime is WORLDs easier as a result. I don't spend hours trying to get her to sleep or lay down without me in the room.  A few stories, maybe a song and she's out!

She still talks about her "baby sister" all the time, although now her Baby Sister lives in her tummy.  Gabriela tells us we won't get to see Baby Sister until after Christmas, and that's when we'll learn her name. Other times, she spills the beans and reveals that Baby Sister's real name is Jamali.

Jollie is still around.  She comes to visit at least once a day, she appears when we are in the car, when we're out and about and she's always playing with Gabriela.

Some of Gabriela's favorite books these days are Corduroy, Chrysanthemum, Ladybug Girl, and Bedtime for Little Bears.

Gabriela really loves Claire and Natalie to pieces. Every day she asks if we can go visit. We finally scheduled a date, which has eased up the questions about when we will go. Instead, Gabriela now asks if it is March yet. In the meantime, she requests that I tell her stories about going to Santa Barbara every day - when she's going to bed, when she's on the potty, and when she wakes up when it's still dark outside, or that I draw complete family portraits of them - complete with their dog and cat.

She is always cracking me up saying things like: "Daddy? Are you *sure* I'm a big girl?" "Daddy, wake up so we can go to Santa Barbara!" "We don't say noy-yez. (how she used to say noise). We say noise, toys, boys (instead of noy-yez, toy-yez, boy-yez). "Mommy? Is this a video chat?"

We are staying busy most of the week with Music Together class on Tuesdays, Story time at the library on Wednesdays, playdates with Lila on Thursdays, and most recently added, Parent-Child class at East Bay Waldorf School on Friday mornings.

I've been torn about the whole preschool thing. So many parents of kids Gabriela's age are frantically touring preschools. They are fretting about where they will send their kids in fall. I'm not signing Gabriela up.  She is doing just fine with our little schedule. She's getting lots of time with other kids between her classes and playdates and cousin time. Plus, she's clearly learning a lot at home.  But then I freaked out a little bit when I realized there are only two years until my baby is going to be in kindergarten. For real, I almost cried. 

The parent-child class is perfect for us. Just two hours once a week. We meet a few other kids - the max class size is 7. We sing songs together, have a warm meal together - the kids set the table and do the dishes, listen to stories and rhymes together. The kids play while
the adults talk and do "handiwork". Right now, we're making wool sheep for the kids to play with, and then we have outside time to play in the sand and the sunshine. 

I have so many more photos to catch up on.  Wish me luck.