Gabe's Milestones - Year 2

Before we start smothering this blog with photos and videos of our newest addition to the family, I thought I'd post some of Gabriel's milestones from this past year. Also, trying out youtube here for the first time, so we'll see how this goes...

Our little guy is learning SO FAST and is one brilliant little dude (of course, mommy and daddy think so :) - by now, he's a big talker and absolutely loves to learn anything new. Just for fun, here are some of his firsts from 2009:

First Steps (11.5 months)

Learning Chinese
Yes, teaching Chinese to Gabe is a work in progress...

Identifying Colors (18 months)

Here he is learning his colors... and some other stuff.

First Haircut!! (18 months)

Gabe got another haircut a few months later (20 months)... here's the before/after.  check out that winning smile.

ABC's (20 months)

First Snow (23 months)

Ok, well, technically, he did see snow last year... but this year he could gear up, run around, throw snowballs, and experience it firsthand. Uncle Chris helped him make a snow angel, and Daddy even took him sledding this year. Gabe loved it!

Reading Words (20-24 mos)

Somewhere in between learning his capital letters, Gabe picked up the lower case alphabet and all the sounds that go along with them.  He's pretty much got the phonics down.  Thanks to leapfrog, magnetic letters, his easel, flashcards, and big giant foam letters, his new love is spelling words - by now, he can pretty much spell/read any 3-letter phonetic word, a few 4-letter words like stop, book, and milk, and some other longer words like daddy, mommy, and gabriel.  (Thanks to Auntie Sherah, he also knows how to spell way, eat, and poo.)  he races downstairs to spell words every morning, I kid you not!  He's gonna be a big nerd.

Gabriel's Other Obsession



Counting in Chinese (24 mos)
He could definitely use some work on his pronunciation... but nevertheless, he loves to show off his counting. Here he is practicing with Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh on Skype.

Turns 2 Years Old

It's amazing how much Gabriel has changed this year.  His pronunciation is much clearer, he's understanding more Chinese (responding in English, of course) and can speak more Chinese (like counting, colors).  It's fun to watch him interact and respond verbally with shows like Dora the Explorer or Ni Hao Kai Lan (his favorites - yes, both girly shows).  He's become a fantastic napper (2+ hours) and sleeper (10+ hours)... he eats much better (usually), and he's much more social and talkative... loves the church nursery, gymboree, and of course going to his best friend Ellie's house.

Happy Birthday to our very special boy.