Ms. Independent is 13 Months Old....

One day late.  I took advantage of Nick being home yesterday and did all of my Christmas shopping by myself.  Woohoo!

Gabrielle is all of a sudden getting so grown up and independent!  In the past couple of weeks she has taken some giant steps from being a baby to a toddler.  She is rambling to herself ALL of the time and is getting much closer to words a lot of the time.  Every time she sees a dog she says a very distinct "dah" or "dah-gee" while pointing at the dog.  She will say a big long gibberish word or sentence and then look at me and wait for a reply.....sometimes I know what she might be talking about, but sometimes I don't.  If not, I just reply with some general positive reinforcement to her sentence and she seems fine with that :)

She is obsessed with clothes and trying to dress herself (basically gather clothes and either putting them on her head or around her neck. 

She is actually starting to pretend.  Gabi has some round blocks and will pretend to drink out of them - she takes each block out of the bucket, "drink" out of it, put down, and take the next one out and do the same thing until she gets through all of the round blocks.

Understands such things as "climb the stairs" and "go to your room" and does so when asked.  She will also "bring item to daddy" and "bring item to mommy" when asked.  Really, she understands so much (and more and more everyday) that it's too much to write.  Those are just a couple of highlights.

Loves to laugh and will imitate laughter.....and pretty much everything else.  I rub lotion on my face, and I see G next to me furiously rubbing her face.  I shake a cup of milk after warming it, G shakes her hand. 

Knows where her teeth and tongue are, as well as various other body parts.....but she likes to torment me I think because a lot of the time when I ask her where something she it immediately points to her head and starts laughing.

Continues to amaze us with what she will eat (which is pretty much everything).  One of the newest and oddest things I've tried to giver her are beets....and she gobbled them all up.  Ewww....just warming them up makes me want to gag, but G loved them.  Her favorite meat by far is sausage - hot italian sausage, turkey breakfast sausage, venison sausage - she loves it all.  She definitely like large pieces of food she can bite off of when at all possible.  She entertained scrambled eggs for a little while, but now refuses to eat them :/

Clothing sizes, etc are still the same....9 month onesies, dresses, & pants, 12 month shirts, leggings, & PJs, size 3 diapers and shoes.  Though, she is starting to grow into some more 12 month pants and the 9 month onesies are pretty snug.

Has become quite obedient and developed a lot of self control...at least compared to a month or so ago.....knock on wood.  Of course she's not perfect, but you can definitely tell her no and she will listen (she may cry, but she will listen).  If you talk loudly/angrily to her she will bawl instantly though.  She doesn't like to get yelled at.  We don't have to gate the upward stairs anymore because she will stay in the living room unless told otherwise.  Yes, this can change, but I'm enjoying it while I can!

She likes her toys, but she still has lots of fun carrying clothes around, playing with a big tub of blocks, walking and exploring, getting into things she shouldn't get into (the dishwasher, drawers, cupboards, etc.....etc.....

Sleeps about 11 hours per night and still takes two naps (usually 1- 1/2 each) per day.  If she doesn't still get two naps it is not pretty!

Has quite the personality.  She's a wild child that loves to be tossed in the air, hung upside down, spun around, and flipped over.  She now dances by bouncing with her legs as well as swinging her arms around.  I stopped at the play place in the mall a couple of times and G had sooo much fun.  She went down a slide for the first time and couldn't get enough.  She knew just what to do too....I sat her up at the top of the slide, she held onto two of my fingers, and scooted herself until she slid down (with me running along the slide holding her hands) and she had the BIGGEST smile on her face.  I also took her to the little kids library class last week and we were all sitting in a circle singing a song,....Gabi got up, walked to the middle of the circle, and started dancing while everyone sang.  Talk about a ham!!

She has four teeth on the top and three teeth on the bottom - one of which has just come through.  All of her teeth only seem to be about half way in but they're making progress!


There was a huge blizzard yesterday so we have a healthy covering of snow today.  I bundled Gabi up in her boots and other gear to head outside and play.  It is bitterly cold, windy, and very bright with the sun reflecting off of the snow.  We didn't last more than a few minutes outside before it was time to come in....  Gabi did like sucking on her wet mitten, though.

She was also busy "helping" me wrap presents.  What a help she was.