Smithdahl Adventures » Daily Life

Gabe is undaunted by the cold.

ian — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:07:42 +0000

This week the weather decided to remind us that we’re in Chicago now. No more six months of autumn weather, like we were used to in DC. It got cold. Quite cold. But that didn’t stop Gabey from going outside to play (almost) every day. We had one bad outing when his pants were too short and his ankles got wicked cold; but otherwise he had the playground all to himself despite cold and snow and wind. His rosy cheeks are adorable, every time.

No more “I rub you” (with apologies to Annie Lenox)

ian — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:30:06 +0000

Gabriel now very clearly says, “I love it!” and “I love you.” I have this weird bittersweet nostalgia about it. On the one hand, I’m happy his pronunciation is getting better. But on the other hand, there was something excellent about “I rub it!” I’ve felt this a lot in my life as an ESL teacher … Oh, well. I he still says that when I clean his feet it “kickles,” and his most recent thing is that you can’t give King Julian a bath because the toy is “lelectronic.” So, I’ll enjoy his toddler speaking ways while I can. But “I rub it” was really one of the best.

Gabe discovers the secret to the pancake

ian — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:18:04 +0000

Well, Stephanie and I made a good go of it, that’s for sure. For more than a year now, Gabe has absolutely adored pancakes. We have a family tradition of Sunday brunch, and the little guy’s eaten pancakes, eggs and sausage for as long as I can remember. But, and here’s the trick, Stephanie and I have been keeping the syrup away from him. He’s been eating those pancakes plain — which is good for both his nutrition and his hygiene.Sadly, it seems that those days are over.This week, his awareness of people around him got just that much bigger. Even though I’ve been eating pancakes with syrup this whole time, only this week, Gabe suddenly realized that Daddy’s pancakes looked different than his pancakes. He got a taste of mine, and didn’t go back. Now he’s eating breakfast with his cousin Cami, and pointing at her syrup and asking, “I have this, please?”

Gabe doesn’t totally understand the point of hiding.

ian — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:05:36 +0000

“Gabey? Where are you?”			“…”
“…”			“I’m Hiding!”

“Car eat? Glug glug glug”

ian — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:49:10 +0000

Yet again showing his burgeoning imagination, Gabriel has taken to “feeding” his toy cars at his toy car station. The cars have little faces (elmo, cookie, oscar), so perhaps it’s not such a leap. But as a proud Dad, I find it amazing that he’s able to create for himself the metaphor of a car being fueled for a person eating. He asks the Elmo car, “Car eat?” then plugs in the fuel pump and makes drinking noises “glug glug”

Cutie.

Gabriel scolds his toys

ian — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:37:36 +0000

Ever since he was about eight months old, Gabe has had a real interest in turning the tables on Mommy and Daddy. He used to take his spoon and try to feed us. He often tells us very sternly, “sit down!” But now that he’s getting older and developing a more robust imagination, he’s got other options. We’ve both noticed that when he’s playing with his dolls he often takes on the role of the parent. He tells Elmo to go night-night. He stages fights between Cookie Monster and Captain America, and then tells them to stop and makes them kiss and make up. He feeds the doll he calls “girl” and gives her time outs. It’s all very cute, but also a bit disturbing because it makes me wonder if I’m not overly harsh with him. It certainly seems harsh when he’s doing it!

Gabriel cleans up

ian — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:52:01 +0000

Ian and Steph are so blessed: Gabriel just *loves* to clean up his toys. Yesterday, he got frustrated because not all of his toys would fit in the baskets where they go (thanks to all his loving family and their wonderful gifts!) — so he very dutifully looked for an empty cabinet and started putting his toys in there!

This is just a good pix of Gabe (and Ian)

ian — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:39:10 +0000

Believe it or not, Steph took this pix over her shoulder, while watching Law & Order. She’s got multi-tasking skillz.

Gabey with his computer

ian — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:13:15 +0000

Gabriel’s Gogo was kind enough to buy an affordable laptop for a child in a developing country, and got a free laptop for Gabriel as part of the bargain! Ian tinkers with it too (it’s a UNIX laptop!), but Gabriel has a lot of fun using the graphics program, and just tinkering about with it. As an added perk, it’s sturdy enough to stand up to a toddler!

Thanks, Gogo!

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!

ian — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:05:36 +0000

I don’t know if they’re feeding Gabriel delicious Italian pies at daycare, but for whatever reason, he is recently just possessed with the word “pizza”. Yesterday he sat for about 5 minutes just saying it over and over again. “Pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza … pizza?” It was the funniest thing because he was perfectly mimicking the cadence of tempo of a normal English conversation, but the only word he was using was “Pizza.” Also, recently, the word “Pizza” is being used for all food. We just enjoyed a delicious snack of cucumbers dipped in hummus … also known as “Pizza”. This morning he had crackers and bananas for breakfast… a treat known in some quarters as “Pizza.” It’s a little out of control.