Yes, it's true - I missed sharing Gaby's birthday with you. The last few months have been quite a blur and somewhere along the way, I thought we'd already posted photos of Gaby's momentous day but alas, I figured out we've been off the blog grid for way too long. Mea culpa!
So, warning - this will be a long posting as we've got to bring you up to speed with Gaby's doings since the beginning of December! But hopefully you'll enjoy seeing the pictures and learning about how much Gaby has developed since we last blogged.
So, for starters, Gaby did, in fact, turn one year old! The photo above was taken on her first birthday when Gaby, Alex, and I celebrated with a party hat and a frosted cookie. The girl takes after me when it comes to sweets - she had no interest in the cookie but LOVED the frosting. We lit a candle and sang happy birthday to Gaby and then she dove into that frosting like it was nobody's business - the photo below is proof positive.
Gaby's one-year well-baby check up went...well! She weighed in at 23 pouds and 4.5 ounces and was 30 inches long. On both accounts, she was in the 75th percentile. As you may recall from previous entries, Gaby was consistently in the 95th percentile for weight and still in the 75th percentile for height but in the last few months, she started to thin out, especially as she started to crawl and be more active. She handled her shots like a champ and we even had to go to one of the county flu clinics that month for her to get her H1N1 shot as well - not even a whimper!
Gaby's mouth filled quickly with teeth. Around 11 months old, she only had two teeth and by 13 months, she had ten teeth, including two molars! There was a rough couple of weeks, especially when her eye teeth were coming in but then there were also teeth that cut through that we weren't aware of until after they had fully grown in - they didn't seem to phase her! Just in the last couple weeks Gaby cut two more molars so she's up to 12 teeth.
True to Gaby's name, she has been talking up a storm. I believe her first word was "quack" - I asked her what the duckies say and I heard a distinct "gack, gack, gack" - this was before we could even get her to say "hi". She mastered "hi!" and "bye!" fairly quickly and "no" came shortly after that (with a finger wag that could only have been learned from Zuzu in day care). Occasionally I hear her say "yeah" when I ask her a question but I can't be certain that she is really saying that because it's not at all consistently used. "Uh-oh" was a popular phrase for a while and is still used when she's dumping her toys and stuff out of her crib when she's bored. After learning these basics, she quickly jumped to saying "thank you" but she says it when she hands you something, rather than when you give her something. It's absolutely adorable!
Her vocabulary continues to grow every day. She calls Alex "dada" but I've yet to hear "mama" but once, on December 27th around 9:30am. I remember it so clearly because I was holding her and she looked me straight in the eyes and said "mama" clear as day. That was it - she hasn't said it since! She counts with us up to five but she doesn't like to say "one". She knows that the duckies say "quack quack" and the cow says "moo" and the lion says "roar". She still laughs hysterically when was say that the birdies go "tweet tweet" (if you don't recall, check out the video at this link and you'll know what I'm talking about: http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1116617202206). She can sing her "ABC" song as well as "Itsy bitsy spider" - she even does some of the hand motions for that one! Just this morning, she serenaded Alex on their way to day care with "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"! And she LOVES Elmo from Sesame Street - she gets excited when she sees him on TV and she can sing the theme song from "Elmo's World". We also introduced her to the fact that she can watch Elmo videos on the Sesame Street website - now, whenever we sit down at the computer, she'll crawl right over, pull herself up on our leg, and say "Elmo!" And if we try to turn her away, she'll get cranky.
In addition to her growing vocabulary, we've tried teaching Gaby a little bit of sign language, hoping that may help improve communication when she doesn't have the words for it. She knows the sign for "more" very well and usually says the word "more" at the same time. We're still working on the sign for "all done". If I do the sign for "eat" and she's hungry she'll start to whine, which is my signal she wants to eat (sometimes, she'll just pull herself up to standing at the high chair and start trolling for scraps - that's my other clue that she's hungry!). It's not perfect, but it's a start!
Gaby has not yet started walking but truthfully, we're in no rush. She is developing normally and I know that as soon as she starts walking, we'll be run ragged trying to keep up with her. So I'm content not to encourage mobility at this point! But she is still pretty active - she crawls fast and cruises like a fiend around the furniture. She has learned how to climb the stairs at Grammy and Grandpa's house and moves fast. I've been told that on a few occaisions, she has remained standing without support for a few seconds but since I've not seen it yet, I pretend it hasn't happened (the curse of the working mother is missing the "firsts" so, if I haven't seen it, I assume it hasn't happened!).
Gaby has a lot of these fun towels - here she is as our little Elmo...
As you may recall, Gaby arrived just before Chanukah 2008. Above is a picture taken on the first night of Chanukah 2009 with our girl. We celebrated Shabbat and Chanukah all in one. Recognize the teddy bear? That was Gaby's first Chanukah present in 2008 - the bear's head was bigger than hers and she didn't take too kindly to it (see the December 22, 2008 blog entry). 
Gaby is no longer afraid of the Chanukah bear! Notice comparative head sizes now?
We had a great birthday party for Gaby a few days after her actual birthday. On December 12, 2009, we had over 60 of our dearest friends and family join us in celebrating Gaby's first year. We hosted the party at the Centerpointe Club across the street from our house. We had a ladybug theme and I decorated cupcakes in ladybugs (see above). Everyone enjoyed a middle eastern feast provided in part by Gaby's Express, the local Mediterranean diner (really, that's it's name - what a coincidence!). The other part of the meal was provided by Grammy Michele who made some amazing salad and side dishes! We enjoyed a visit from Kadi of Music Together, the music program that Gaby participates in every Saturday. She has so much fun at the class that we brough the class to her party!
At lunch time, Gaby took a nap in her high chair. She didn't get a chance to get a nap before the party so of course, she zonked out right in the middle of it all! Fear not - Gaby rallied and was in great spirits for the remainder of the party.
Here's our happy girl in the middle of the parachute during the music class. To see more photos from the party, check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024719&id=1430254789&l=5c079ed32b.
Yet another of our wacky towels we use after Gaby's bath - our little bumble bee!
Surprise! Gaby enjoyed another music class during her friend Jackson's (featured in the picture with Gaby) first birthday. Jackson is just a couple weeks younger than Gaby.
We almost got Gaby to crawl through the tunnel at Jackson's birthday party but she backed out...
Getting ready for some cake at Jackson's party - how cute she is in that hat!!!
Our princess in her princess towel!!!
At the end of December, we packed up the family and joined the Shugarman and Kaye clans on a 7-day Mexican cruise. We celebrated New Year's Eve on the ship - here is Gaby and Alex dressed in their finest to celebrate a new year!
Here is Gaby with her "crazy" cousins - Lucas smiles often...unless there is a camera trained on him!
Here's Gaby and her mommy - I love this photo!!!
Gaby didn't quite make it through the night - she passed out shortly after dinner and stayed asleep through all the noise at midnight.
When we went to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, Grammy or Grandpa watched Gaby on the ship while Alex and I had an opportunity to get away for a bit but when we got to Cabo San Lucas, we took Gaby with us so we could say she had been to a foreign country. Here she is hanging out as we shopped.
Here's Gaby and Alex at the dock waiting to go back to the ship. You can see our cruise ship way in the distance.
Back on the ship we visited with Freddie, the Carnival Cruise Line mascot - I was amazed at how little this phased Gaby. She sat quietly while this total stranger - a smoke stack no less - held her for a photo!
Gaby enjoyed some time in the ship's pool - she was totally in her element - it was like a huge bathtub to her!
Here we are on the last day of the cruise waiting for our call to disembark. The crazy cousins came into our cabin to keep Gaby entertained.
On the day we returned home from the cruise, we helped Alex's Aunt Galya celebrate her birthday - here is Gaby with her Babushka and Aunt Galya.
After a long day at day care and playing with her toys, Gaby fell asleep at dinner - she's so cute, I couldn't help but take the photo before whisking her off to bed!
Gaby's picture on her 13-month birthday!
Earlier this month, we journeyed down to San Diego for the weekend to celebrate Aunt DeeDee's 21st birthday. Here's Gaby and her Aunt DeeDee in the lobby of our hotel.
And here's Gaby on her 14-month birthday!
Oh what a happy girl! Here she is wearing her Elmo t-shirt right after she finished singing "Elmo's World" with her mommy and daddy.
Here we are with Gaby at the Long Beach Aquarium this last Saturday - we joined our friends Dana, David, and Jackson for a fun day checking out the fish, sharks, sea lions, and other sea creatures. We've been a few times now and actually bought an annual pass - it's fun to see Gaby's face light up when she sees the fish.
I think Gaby just liked getting her hands wet and splashing around - she never touched any of the rays in the pool.
I just loved this shot of Gaby in her overalls!We hope you enjoyed catching up with Gaby after a three month hiatus! We'll try to post updates a little more frequently so they don't need to be so long.
