Gabe 21 months

pre haircut. demonstrating his helpfulness in the kitchen. If I'm cooking/washing dishes/etc. so is he!

I feel like I haven't been updating much about Gabe, and since I have no other record of his childhood I should be making a better effort. So here are all the humorous and not-so-much idiosyncracies of the 21-month old Gabriel.

He is in love with me. Obsessively so. He feels the need to be at least partially attached to my body all day long. He also loves his dad, and he has no greater conflict in life then when we are going seperate directions and he can't be in two places at one time. Whichever one he is with, he is crying for the other. Vacation was great for him because all three of us were always together!

eating his Valentine's cookie.

He is in constant motion. Seriously, this kid does not EVER sit still. Church and car trips are expecially trying and I'm always wondering if we can't take our favorite car trick - the portable DVD - to church with us. If I play a church video very quietly would that be acceptable in Sacrament meeting??

He has been folding his arms now for a while when we pray - or at least putting one hand on the elbow of the opposite arm in what may be considered a vulgar gesture in some countries, but we accept for reverence. He now blesses mama, papa, yaya (abuela), deo, nana, nona, tias and bipu. Bipu is what he calls his cousin Victoria. We have no idea who nona is, but it seems to be the male equivalent of nana, which I feel is acceptable for grandpa.

in the plaza in Colon, with the same robot Mario played on as a child.

He can also identify Jesus, which he just calls "G". They're home boys apparently and whole names are not required.

The bilingual experiment continues. His vocabulary is growing daily, and he continues to learn most individual words in english - moon, star, all the body parts, door, bath, meat, wower/flower, etc. but his phrases tend to be Spanish. "ya esta" = all done and "no hay mas" = all gone. He calls all little children "nenes" = boys, and he is very social with other kids - as long as I am within eyesight. He continues saying "gracias" all the time and I love it, and while he has been saying the bilingual "no" for quite some time, he recently started saying "si" as well. So yes and thank you lose out for now. While he says "fshy fshy and tua = tortuga = turtle, most other animals he identifies by their sound only, but you can ask him about any animal in either language and he responds to both.

He likes me to allow him to walk while we prowl around the neighborhood, but I must be feeling VERY patient and have absolutely no time constraints in order for this to take place because EVERY SINGLE door we pass, he has to stand on the door step, then sit down on it, tell me that the cement/granite/tiles are "cold", then lay down on the step, then get up and proceed to the next step. People passing who happen to catch this routine stop to tell me my child is tired. My child is not tired, he is strange.

He still loves his "gooks" = books.

He continues to be a good sleeper - average of 12 hours a night and a 2-3 hour nap, no problems going down to sleep. And although he has successfully climbed out of his bed and regularly climbs into it, other than that one time he has never tried to get out of bed on his own again.

He likes his "meme"=milk in a bottle. Please do not try to fool him with all those fancy sippy cups and insulated straw cups and other trappings, he just wants it in a bottle, preferably this old crappy one that I think is left over from his cousin and spills milk EVERYWHERE and that he holds with one hand on the bottom.

He likes to climb into the space between the window and the bars and play there. What, your windows don't have bars??? Clearly you are depriving your child!