my future Olympian gymnast - & Mrs Josh Peychers!

Gaby & Josh reading a book

Gaby has been doing gymnastics since late July, and so far Gaby hasn't really done what the teachers have asked, she's spent most of her (45 minute) sessions just exploring the gym, and doing a couple of the activities that they're 'meant' to do! She HAS walked across the beam twice, but since then, she's not really done anything. BUT on Wednesday, Gaby swung from the bar AND the rings!!!!!!!!!!! WAY TO GO GABY! I was so proud of her, you'd think she'd have just scored a perfect 10 (or whatever a perfect score is now!) in the final of the Gymnastics all around final in the Olympics! Hopefully now she's going to slowly start doing more of the activities they're meant to be doing - although the teachers don't really mind if the kids want to explore, which I think is good - can't expect such young children to follow instruction 100% of the time!

Gaby attacking Josh with a cuddle

Last Thursday & Friday nights, Josh & Serena stayed with us, because Serena was going to watch Gaby on Saturday while I was moving. Gaby & Josh had a TONNE of fun together, it was so cute - lots of pushing each other around & stealing toys off each other - they even had a bath together, which was VERY cute. A few times Gaby tried to kiss or hug Josh, and he'd be all like "ew, girl germs, get away from me" (well, I'm sure he was thinking that!) - but Gaby got him a couple of times! It's cool that Gaby is at the age now where she can have 'friends'... She adored having him around - they even slept in the same room, rather successfully! Admittedly by the Friday night me & Serena were a little frazzled & decided to have ourselves a bottle of wine! Thanks to the good folks at Ricadonna

Gaby and Josh playing rough, behind the curtain (so we couldn't tell they were doing it!)

The big girl bed continues to be rather successful - she had her first nap in her big girl bed yesterday afternoon, but admittedly she actually slept... on the FLOOR! She kept getting out of bed, I kept putting her back in... she was screaming, banging on the door, then all of a sudden went quiet, so I presumed she'd hopped into bed (or was playing with her toys). About 20 minutes later I opened her door to check on her - and Gab was lying on the floor in front of her door - I actually hit her with the door when I opened it - oopsy! But luckily she went back to sleep. Last night she came out at 3.30am *yawn*, I thought "uh oh here goes" - I put her back in her bed, and very much to my surprise, she went back to sleep - and came into my room at the late hour of 7.30am!!!!!!!!!!! Today is our Palms day with Mum, so I'd better go & get ready. Gaby LOVES Palms day - it's really cute!Gaby reading her book in her big girl bed

Big girl bed

Gaby is now sleeping in a 'proper' big girl bed (ie a single bed)! So far we've had 3 nights of her going to sleep straight away & not getting up until at least 6.30am. We moved house on Saturday & I decided it was time to bite the bullet & put her into a single bed. I was getting sick of her cot, because the side that is meant to go down wouldn't go down! (could have something to do with me not putting it together properly...).

Gaby is loving the new house, particularly the toilet - as the flusher is at a perfect height for her... She seems to like her room & well, every room! She's adjusted really well, which is a relief to me, as I was a little worried that it'd be a big change for her. I guess having familiar things around (furniture, toys etc) makes it a little easier for her!

In two months Gaby will be TWO! Where is the time going? She is quite literally changing everyday now - her language skills are improving daily, it is strange going from not really understanding anything she says, to understanding most of what she says! Her favourite phrase now is "I've got poos"... I hear it every morning! We read a book this morning & I got her to name objects (clothing) - and she got pretty much all of them right, then we read another book - and I got her to say the names of the colours & she was able to pronounce all the names well! My next 'task' is to get her familiar with colours - not all of them of course, but it'd be cool if she could start identifying some colours!!!!

chatter chatter chatter

Gaby is talking soooooooooooooooo much now!!! She's stringing 2-4 words together - she is just so clever!!! All of a sudden she's turning into a real little person, telling me what she wants, telling me what she sees, telling me what is annoying her.... I am trying to teach her numbers & basic colours, but I don't want to push her, because I know it isn't something that she's EXPECTED to know at this age!

Speaking of her age - she's almost 21 1/2 months old! How the hell did she get that old? This time next year she's going to be almost THREE! It's scary - very very scary. Still feels like just a few weeks ago that she was a little babe, totally dependent on me for EVERYTHING, but now she's doing a lot for herself. I really should start thinking vaguely about her birthday party. I would love Terri to be able to come to it, so I'll plan the dates around her if she can come - and I think I might invite Grandma up to it, now that she's retired & has time on her hands!

We had a few days in Dunedin last week, was good to catch up with everyone - and of course Gaby got showered with attention which she loved! She enjoyed teasing Jasmine by not giving her cuddles or kisses - yet you could tell she wanted to. Was pretty funny!