17-Dec-2006: Abby came in to Daddy this morning and asked him to repair the formerly buoyant balloon from Red Robin that would no longer fly. Daddy thinks he explained the futility of repairing it at least partially. In the morning we did a double puzzle header...both the 'Jesus' (nativity) puzzle and our 'Fairy Castle' puzzle. Whenever you do a puzzle with Abby, if you put a piece together for her she takes it off and puts it on again herself. Midway through the puzzle she stopped and said her tummy hurt. We talked about the likelihood of it being due to "too many cookies" from the night before. But luckily it passed quickly especially after some remedial toast.
For lunch we met Sarah and Adam Corkins at the Creperie for lunch and had a great time. Abby was so well behaved given how long she sat there while the adults talked. We dropped by the library, but Abby & Mom had to remain in the car because Abby had gotten her jeans wet with water from the restaurant and we didn't think etiquette allowed brining a diaper-clad 3 year old into the library. Back at home, Abby commented on the holes in Daddy's jeans. Daddy explained that they came that way. Abby then pointed out Daddy's black belt, and said it came from the men's clothing store. I said, no, it was not in fact the belt we had been shopping for at said store. She then said that I still needed to go buy one from the men's clothing store. And added "and pants". She then went down for one of the latest-starting naps ever. Dad and Abby played quite a bit of the 'Goodnight Moon Game' on the bed. Then Abby played in the laundry basket for a while. Dad then tried a variation on the GMG that didn't seem to stick. Mom climbed on the bed, and Abby unsuccessfully instructed her to move from her spot for Abby's occupation. We detected a bit of pseudo hitting with pillow then balloon in protest to which we required and received an apology and hug. Shortly afterward, mom and Dad were discussing a catalog that had just arrived containing all kinds of things including 'Bratz'-themed items. We went on to talk about how pleased we are that Abby likes to play with constructive toys (like blocks/Lincoln Logs/etc) rather than being a glamour-driven girl using her charms to get ahead. Abby then walked into the room and said "can I have my makeup?" (referring to her play makeup bag with a brush and empty compact). Abby watched a bit of her Sesame Street "Learning About Letters" video before doing her pre-bed routine, which includes some singing. Tonight Mom sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness", stopping at certain points to see if Abby can complete the verse. She is able to finish "There is no" with "shadow of turning with thee". Many months later, Abby still starts her prayer with "Thank you God we got to go to the fair". Abby now insists in case we forget to get a goodnight hug and kiss before we close her door at night.
16-Dec-2006: Abby has began reguarly pointing to things and saying "What's this called?". It's the first of these kind of questions she has asked. She has not yet started the "why" questions yet. Little does she know that asking 'why' 5 times to probe into something is a principle used by Toyota to find the root truth of a problem. While Mom and Dad were talking, Abby held a little US flag. She then said the Pledge of Alliegance just up until the word 'Republic'. They sing this at BSF. We had dinner with the Payne's at Red Robin. Abby at first wanted to call it "Red Robbins" ala Baskin Robbins, but we were able to teach the distinction to her. A car cut in half serving as the hostess station made a particularly lasting impression on her. She and Maggie did a good deal of jumping with baloons. They also conversed extensively; something I hadn't see Abby do with other kids much before (vs. adults). We then went to the Ferri's for a desert party. Abby loved playing with Joshua's golf set and shape sorter. The cookies were terrific, and Abby sat at the table so that each plate was within reach. Had Daddy not governed her intake no cookie would have been unmolested. Sean Ferri put on the Disney/Scrooge McDuck version of "A Christmas Carol". Abby was absolutely focused on the presentation. We marvelled at how Josh can quote "You don't understand the power of the dark side" (sometimes substituting "ducks" for "dark side"). On the way home we asked Abby if she had fun with each kid at the party. (e.g. "Did you have fun with __?", one at a time). At the end of the list of kids she added "I had fun with myself". We also drove by the Christmas lights on Eucalyptus and Carmelita streets.
3-Dec-2006: We heard about the Cal Train Christmas Train and went to see it at the San Mateo station tonight. We got there just at the right time, donated our toy and waited. The train, with lights all over it, slowly pulled into the station. There were lots of folks there but Abby could see fine perched up on Daddy's shoulders. Then Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, some guy that I think was the mayor of the North Pole & wife and a 'Christmas Bear' emerged with a number of Marines to shake our hands and present us with candy canes. As we have prevented Abby from eating candy, we intercepted some before Abby got them and others we took possession of to 'hold them for later'. We walked down to the far end of the train and found a flat car with a troup of singers singing Christmas songs and carols. We were so pleased to hear some actual Christian ones. And the train even had a caboose. Abby was entranced. She was unafraid of Santa and reached out and shook his hand. As we were driving home Abby identified a Burger King sign. She really has her logos down. She also insisted she saw 3 letter 'A's somewhere. We then went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Abby sat in a booster seat on the booth (which is a special privilege vs. the high chair) and behaved very nicely, though there was a brief altercation over some additional fries of Mommies she wanted (and did not get despite whining). She showed how she can climb up and dismount from the counter stools as well. Mom even splurged for a kid's size shake, as did Dad. We got gas for our car, drove down our local Christmas display on Eucalyptus street and arrived at home. Daddy quickly cauled the doorway he's been recently re-doing in the living room as Abby went to bed.
2-Dec-2006: One of Mom & Dad's challenges lately is handling Abby's whining. It's becoming a bit of a bad habit.
29-Nov-2006: Abby had a total hysterical 20 minute meltdown after she came home from church and discovered her sweater had been left behind. Absolutely inconsolable, and she refused to even come into the house. She wanted to immediately go back and get it. Mommy did not cave, though. Even after he nap, the first thing she said was "we need to go back [to church] and get my sweater" (though calmly). Daddy and Abby went out on their weekly outing. On one hand Abby wanted to go to Fresh Choice primarily because they have pudding. But on the other hand her heart was set on the Pizza Bakery. We went to the latter - Mountain Mike's on El Camino in Redwood City. Before going in Daddy asked Abby what she wanted on the pizza. She said "Olive, sausage, and.....onion!". Which is what we ordered. Daddy also took Abby to the salad bar with her on his shoulders so that she could indicate what she wanted. She most certainly wanted and received raw onions, plus tomatoes, beans, lettuce, mini-corn (left uneaten) and the like. We had our pizza while watching the exciting end of the Purdue/Univ Virginia basketball game (Abby identified 'basketball' properly, and Purdue won). Daddy then tried to get Abby to play some of the ticket redemption games. One game has you pound a basketball to make ping pong balls fly...but Abby had trouble pushing hard enough. Daddy played it for her. We did do well on the Las Vegas-style coin pusher machine. In all we got 82 tickets with which Abby got a frog she very much desired and a small metal ring. The man behind the counter was adamant that we could not buy the items...that they must be redeemed with tickets. Right. We departed, intending to go to a 'men's clothing store' as Daddy thought there was one near Johnny Rockets. We didn't find one, but Abby strongly insisted we go to one anyway. Daddy said "I don't know where the store is", and Abby said "That's ok, I can help you, I know where it is!". This was not an accurate statement. We drove past some of the houses with Christmas displays and returned home. She did her borderless 'hard' jigsaw puzzle (48 pieces) in record time with less help from Daddy than ever before. Her comments to herself as she puts it together are priceless.
27-Nov-2006: Abby as she has been seen doing a lot lately was found quietly 'reading' her book to herself; one page at a time, cover to cover. Daddy got it on video. It was her beloved 'Lowly Worm' book by Richard Scary. At night Dad went to go to a women's BSF makeup class but accidentally arrived 2 hours early. That was a real shame, because it meant he could have had time to work with Abby on her "Big [jigsaw] Puzzle". While he was gone Mommy and Abby went for a walk around the block, during which Abby wore her mittens. He came home to find out that there had been a sound from the Christmas tree and it was leaning more than before (it was never straight to begin with - we went to Steve's in San Carlos on the first day before the guys had gotten their practice). Luckily Daddy had tied the top of the tree to a hook in the ceiling, else, as he discovered as he loosened the wire, the tree would have fallen! Daddy and Abby went to Home Depot (with a stop at the bank first) to get a new stand. Abby was thrilled to go and wore her pink rain boots. In the parking lot of HD one of said boots fell off but Abby recovered well. But she melted down a bit when she realized Daddy had not secured a cart for their visit. She accepted a shoulder ride as a substitute. She also did some puddle jumping out in the nursery while Daddy consulted the HD folk about a proper stand. He picked a 'low rider' kind anticipating limited headroom in the living room for the swap over. Abby wanted to ride on a small rocking horse but there was no time, and they checked out and went home with only a minor meltdown in the parking lot. Abby with astonishing speed ate a banana while in her car seat. Back at home, Daddy and Mommy pfutzed with the tree. We would shoo Abby away from the tree for her own saftey, and our urgent tone of voice made Abby feel like she was in trouble to the point where she eventually did her tell-tale face-covering-with-hands. Finally, Daddy realized he simply had to lay it down to get it done right. He laid it down on the couch, put on the new stand and stood it up again. With some tweaks it was as close to straight as anyone cared. Before Abby went to bed she said for the first time "Daddy...(pause)...will you kiss me?".
26-Nov-2006: Daddy did all kinds of projects today...new doorhandle in the entryway, and a new door casing in the living room. When Daddy fires up his DeWalt electric finishing nail gun Abby walks into her room and closes the door.
25-Nov-2006: While Aunt Jenn and Daddy went on a bike ride, at the library Abby had a fit in the entryway and laid down right in the center, refusing to budge until a kind librarian offered to do a craft with her. Daddy unpacked some Christmas decorations that resembled holly. Abby picked some of the holly berries, to which Mom said "Abby, don't pick the berries; and we don't eat those". Abby said "They're not edible". We were amazed to hear her use the word 'edible'. Later, Abby & Daddy drove Aunt Jenn and Uncle Don back to the airport where we were sad to see them go. Even before we left the airport Abby asked to ride in the basket at Home Depot, where we then went to buy some extra Christmas lights and so forth.
24-Nov-2006: Mommy went to visit Aunt Andrea in Freemont without Abby. The DiMaggio clan wanted to see Abby and know what she has been doing. Mommy had a great time with Andrea. Aunt Jenn, Abby, Mom and Dad went and got the Christmas tree just before dinner. Abby had fun running around.
22-Nov-2006: Daddy set up his paper shredder, and Abby played basketball with her Notre Dame stuffed soccer ball she got from Carol Gowens. She was 4 for 6. Then she wanted to be in the box, which was fun until it tipped over. Today was the first day Abby say "I love daddy". While Mom went to the Chiropractor Abby and Dad worked on the BIG 48 piece fairy castle puzzle. Abby is really getting good at these. She can do her 'bordered' 25 piece puzzles all day long by herself. She understands the idea of looking for 'a piece of sky' to match with the rest of the pieces that have sky. Pokey and Granny taught her this while in Houston. Abby tried some of Mom's stuffing and liked it very much. She had a nice time with both Rachel and Lauren while Mom and Dad prepared for Thanksgiving. While Dad was doing dishes and Mom was taking Lauren home she got into her stamp kit, getting nearly indelible red ink on her hands. We set up 2 air mattresses for Matt's sister Jenn and friend Don who are coming for Thanksgiving. Abby went absolutely nuts jumping up and down on the thinner of the mattresses in Daddy's office. Even as Dad writes this Abby has snuck back in and done some more jumping, saying "I think this is Jennifer's covers".
21-Nov-2006: Abby and Mom were at the grocery store when Abby pointed to her nose and explained she had a coffee bean up insde of it. It was too far up to reach, but Abby seemed to push it further in. Mom urgently told Abby to blow her nose. She then blew threw her mouth. Mom illustrated blowing through her nose...Abby copied except also breathed in through her nose, nullifying the attempt. After calling daddy and abandoning the groceries for an emergency trip home and maybe to the hospital she ran into someone she had noticed wearing scrubs. Confirming she was a nurse and relaying the situation, somehow the nurse helped Abby to properly blow, and out popped the bean onto the floor covered in snot! Nearby shoppers asked if indeed Abby had just blew a coffee bean out her nose. They were able to finish the Thanksgiving shopping and come home, and Daddy was able to go and have a terrific night at BSF.
20-Nov-2006: To celebrate Daddy's return from his Florida trip Daddy and Abby went out to Baskin Robbins. Abby had Pumpkin Pie and Dad had the old standby Pralines and Cream. Abby talks every day about Jenn and Don coming. Abby has been having plum tomatoes from our 'garden' (one plant by the creek) one every few days as they slowly ripen.
19-Nov-2006: In the kitchen in Salinas, Mom called Abby sweetie. Abby replied "My name is Abby, and your name is mommy". Each night after Abby is read her Bible story, Mom will tell her what the next story is. Then the next day, Abby can remember this and tell us what story we're to start at. Also likes the 'ies' suffix. Like "pajamies".
14-Nov-2006: Abby and Mom are in Salinas. For some reason, Abby has refrained from napping the past few days. Instead she calls out to all that may hear "I jimp, I sing, I hang". Abby also is trying to use the word 'because' but doesn't get it quite right. She might say "I like to jump on my trampoline because I have a ball". Mom especially wants Aunt Nancy to know that today she preferred today to play catch than watch Kipper. She's been doing a walk around her block in Salinas each day too.
5-Nov-2006: Sometimes when Mom drives around trying to find a parking space when going to a store or church, Abby will announce that "We're just borrowing the parking space."
(somewhere in here Abby uttered one of our favorite things she's said...she referred to the ice cream store as 'Robbins Basket')
6-Oct-2006: Today Daddy and Abby went to Lemo's Farm's pumpkin patch. Abby rode ponies, rode the train, had a little bit of pumpkin pie, jumped around in those inflatable things, rode some wooden rocking horses, rode a teeter-totter, fed some goats and pet some goats. Prior to the goat-petting Daddy asked Abby at least 10 times if she wanted to pick out a pumpkin. She responded 'no'. But after walking 1/2 mile back to the parking lot she suddenly said "I want to take a pumpkin home". This was a dead ringer for the Lou/Andy sketch in Little Britain and caused Daddy to laugh. We got out pumpkins and came home.
5-Oct-2006: Today was our first good rain in many months. Abby heard her babysitter Rachel was going swimming, and so on this cold, dreary, wet day she decided she needed to wear a bikini and did so.
1-Oct-2006: After church, Mommy, Daddy and Abby stopped by the Foster City Oktoberfest. We were spotted by the Schillings as they went to church. Abby was drawn trance-like by 'Cat in the Hat' inflated thing. Abby rode on a ride with Daddy that went in circles and up and down. But it had a whipping action too. Abby was freaked out at first but became resigned through the remainder of the ride. We thought she'd be too spooked for the 'berry go round' similar but gentler ride, and she did hesitate, but without prompting decided she wanted to go on it. We were so proud. She is so much tougher than we were as kids! Abby also did the inflatable bouncy jumping thing and rode a train. We had a clown named Millie make Abby a butterfly out of baloons, which later partially broke at home. Abby asked Dad to fix it and he had to explain the impossibility of doing so.
10-Sept-2006: We came back from Salinas this morning in time for mom to go to her volunteer training at church. Abby and mom went for a walk around the block before dinner today. Then dad and Abby went to the creek. Abby played with our previously-prepared bamboo pole with leaves on the end. She caught about 4 (imaginary) fish, which she insisted were all red. For dessert, we fed her watermelon chunks. Before eating one of them she said trapezoid!, and then parallelogram! (correct in both cases!). We also made a deal with her...we had previously said we go to the ice cream store on holidays. We told Abby if she pooped in her potty we would take her to the ice cream store. To check for understanding, dad said "So what do we do when you poop in your potty?", to which Abby replied "it becomes a holiday". Then Abby said that apples have 'bottoms'. Mom corrected that they in fact do not. But Abby gave mom a sidelong glance saying "they have little bottoms". Mom sat back down and Abby said that "plants pee". Mom said that they don't - only animals do - but that they do drink water. Abby replied that "they need cups".
8-Sept-2006: Today was the first day Abby went to 'Little Sprouts', a pre-school like organization. She had a great time! Josh, Maggie and Elise were all there too! Later after dinner, while walking with our cat friend, Abby picked something up and pointed out that she could carry items because she has hands, while the cat could not because it has paws.
6-Sept-2006: Dad and Abby looked in the sky and saw what was probably Venus. Abby called it a star, and daddy said it was probably a planet. Now Abby talks all about planets at night.
21-Aug-2006: Today, during her bath Abby exclaimed that there would be no sharing today. But she meant that she would not share the bed with Grandma when she and Grandpa watch kipper. When Abby sees a round water tower, she says 'Barbecue'.
5-Aug-2006: Abby is sick with a fever and sore throat. On her way into the Doctor's, she said "I'm not going to cry; I'm going to be happy". Even with her bloodshot eyes and eardrum she solidly sat and accepted her treatment. Then later, she said "I'm not going to worry".
31-Jul-2006: We had a really uncanny experience at the breakfast table today eating our cherry oatmeal. Jenn was discussing the use of T.R.E.A.T.'s (spelled for covertness) to reward Abby's potty practice. Abby then said
30-Jul-2006: Abby and Daddy went on a pretend car ride sitting in his car in the garage. Abby learned about all the controls, mirror and such. When Daddy explained that Abby can't reach the pedals until she's older, she made a very long sentence to the effect "Abby can't touch the pedals now. She can touch the carpet now, but can touch the pedals when she gets older." She preferred to have the convertible top up. We went to Kinkos, the coffee store (twice), the grocery store, the zoo, and a car lot where we bought a blue car. Daddy was amazed by her imagination. Abby has a sense of things that are real and things that are pretend. She explained that some horses are real and some are pretend. Then, with a wide glistening smile (as when she's joking) she said "We eat horses!". Aghast mom denied this. Abby laughed, nodded her head and made an even more astounding assertion which I won't report here. Playing 'turtle' on the couch before bed, she said "Hello, said the turtle!".
28-Jul-2006: Abby loves her 'Toad and Frog' book so much that on this day she colored a picture and said "I'm making this for toad".
26-Jul-2006: Abby made a short trip to her doctor. While in the waiting room Abby was playing in the playhouse. She likes to slam the shutters open, leaning out the window and make an exclamation (e.g. "hello"). But one time she got carried away and flew out the window head first. A staff member said "We've got a jumper". Abby only needed 15 seconds of comforting before returning to the playhouse. She then stood in the doorway of the playhouse and, smiling, said "Hello from the little door".
25-Jul-2006: Today is the first day Abby has used her potty!. She did so one time while Daddy was away, and then again tonight at 9:31PST. She is beaming with pride as we stand around and clap and cheer. Abby went to the zoo earlier with mommy, Pokey and Jenny. She pet chicks and loved riding her tractor again.
24-Jul-2006: Abby likes to lay on one pillow while holding one to her tummy and say "I am a turtle!". Abby does 'hand washing' which really consists of Abby standing on her stool in front of our kitchen sink which Mommy fills with water and bubbles. She then splashes water liberally around the room. But today she said "Oh, I forgot to sit down on the stool." then, changing her voice to a lower register with puckered lips she added "No, I need to stand on the stool". The whole time, she watches herself in the mirror often smiling at herself.
5-Jul-2006: Abby continues to love to rhyme. On our way to do our walk, she rhymed 'mocking' when Mommy talked about 'Walking'. Previous rhymes include Anna/Banana and Cheerios/Pistachios.
4-Jul-2006: We had a great 4th of July at Burton Park with Maryanne, Maggie and Mark playing and eating KFC. Then Matt's friend Gary came to join us. It was windy and brisk but died down when the sun went down. Abby was taught and then declared yesterday was America's Birthday. At night we went to see our fireworks. They started late, and it was a bit cold but Abby stuck it out anyway. She kept requesting that they light off "pink ones".
3-Jul-2006: For the past week or so we've instituted going for a walk around our block. Things of interest to Abby include flowers, ants, the creek, bridges over the creek, a cat that follows us home every night, sticks, and a 'rock mountain'.
2-Jul-2006: Songs Abby can sing at least half correctly: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, A-B-C-D-E-F-G, I've Been Workin' on the Railroad, the 'Good Morning Song' from our library *in French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, German, Greek & English), Old McDonald (with her own variations - her own animals), 'C' is for Cookie, La-La-La-La Laughter, God is so Good, God Made Me, B-I-B-L-E (aka "miss Margie song"), Jesus Loves me, Everybody Ought to Know (who Jesus is) and many other tunes. If you sing a song and then hum it, she can identify it. With well known ones she only needs a few notes. Abby can count from 1-10 all the time, and sometimes 11-20.
10-June-2006: Abby loves to run around Pokey's yard in her bathing suit, wave a hose around and/or dance around while being hosed. Abby has said several cute things. She walked up the stairs to Granny, while Granny was reprimanding her about proper stair protocol. Abby said "This isn't Salinas. This is Pokey's house" (as in: "you don't have the authority here".) Also, when she was going up the stairs to begin the going to bed ritual, I reminded Abby that after her milk, she was to brush her teeth. She said no. I said yes. She walked up to Granny and said "No brushing teeth" as she breezed into the room to be read to. Needless to say, Granny brushed her teeth for her. Another: When Abby was contentedly reading to herself in the living room, she didn't know Pokey was watching her from the kitchen. Abby finished reading, shut the book, broadly smiled and said "I's at Pokey's house!". The neighbors next door were doing some tree trimming and using loppers. Abby walked over and starting picking up very large branches and declared "I's strong!" When asked who in the Bible is strong, she replied "Jesus" (as if about to sing "Jesus loves me, this I know") Upon further query, she said "Samson". Also, when we were drinking mom's famous health drink, she practically yelled "It's good!". Tomorrow, John, Abby and Jenn might go to TCBY and get Abby her first dessert yogurt after church.
7-June-2006: Abby, Jenn and Granny have gone to Pokey's house
20-May-2006: Today we went to "Hometown Days", a San Carlos fesitivity. We watched the parade near the toddler section of the park. This is the end of the parade route, and so it was amusing to watch the exhausted kids stumble along. Abby sat in rapt attention the entire time on Daddy's lap. We then wandered over to the petting zoo which was populated with ducks, chickens, rabbits and (friendliest of all) goats. Abby managed to pat - if briefly - most of the animals. Dad was surprised at the patience of the chickens. One of the black ducks squawked continuously. Abby then went on a pony ride after a very patient, prolonged wait standing on hay bales. Lastly she took a turn in the inflated toddler jumping arena during which she handed her socks to us through a side aperature. Leaving, we viewed a similar, larger and more advanced 'jumper' for older kids. Abby declared a desire to 'go in the panda' referencing the inflated head adorning the attraction. Mom and Dad picked out a new bed, and we had steaks for dinner. Dad made his own salad dressing but could not succeed in getting Jenn to try it. We watched the beginning of the Merchant Ivory production "White Countess".
19-May-2006: For Daddy's birthday we went to Red Lobster (partially in honor to his friend John) and Daddy ordered its namesake. But before the food arrived, we had to wait a bit longer than usual for the customary biscuits. Abby was very hungry...in fact for the first time she actually repeatedly requested food. In anticipation of the forthcoming but still waylaid bread, we put one of the provided fiestaware dishes before her to which Abby declared matter-of-factly "put some food on it". Later Matt had some of his homemade cherry pie and watched the rest of the copy of 'V for Vendetta' that Matt brought back from Korea with Jenn.
17-May-2006: Dad was so happy to return from his South Korea and Australia trips!
25-Mar-2006: Today Daddy came home from a work trip to Russia. On the way home, Abby sang 'God is so Good' (GISD). While Daddy was sleeping off his jet lag, Abby and Mommy went to the grocery store. The checkout girl said "how old are you?". Abby said "2" and then asked how old the checkout girl was.
24-Mar-2006: While Abby was at a restaurant, she said "Poppleton sneaky". Upon further questioning she said "pill". This is from her Poppleton book where Poppleton surreptitiously hides a pill in a piece of cake to help his friend take his medicine.
21-Mar-2006: Abby sat alone on her unicorn rocking horse today and sand "God is so good" (ala the song) at least 10x in a row. When asked to sing, she'll demure and ask Mom to sing. Then she will sing once Mom has stopped and is distracted (e.g., talking to Granny).
19-Mar-2006: Abby uses the word 'actually' and does so properly. Today she expressed a thought, then paused, then said actually and expressed a modified version of the thought showing she clearly changed her mind and wanted to connect the two statements together.
18-Mar-2006: In reading the 'Sox on Fox' Dr. Seuss book, Abby substited "Now wait a minute" with "Now look a second".
26-Feb-2006: Before Church, Abby read to herself in the living room for at least 15 minutes, quietly looking at a book she hadn't read prior to Christmas. She read quietly for 10 minutes, and after that she would make audible reactions to what was happening in the story. During Mommy's walk with Abby, they saw a double rainbow. Mommy pointed at it, and Abby offered up 'Rainbow', and then said 'God'. Before dinner Daddy and Abby went back to our creek to dispose of a lemon and watch the water rushing with the rain that had happened today. Daddy threw the lemon in the water. When later asked about this, Abby said "lemon go bye-bye" and "lemon get in there". Abby also is getting pretty good at praying during dinner. She said 'our God help us'. For dinner, we had some leftover chili, and Abby insisted on trying a chili bean. The one she tried was from Dad's bowl that also had Tabasco. She wanted more and more, showing the effects only with an occasional slight, restrained grimmace and some light coughing. Eventually we put a pile of beans in front of her, and against our caution she ate them all rapidly, and that seemed to be a bit much. But she recovered in a very short period of time. Mom provided avocado and then banana yogurt chasers. She is working on her letter 'I' which she has observed looks like a '1'.
25-Feb-2006: Abby went to the park twice today...once with each parent. When mommy's friend Cindy asked if Abby wanted a sister or brother, the answer to both was a firm 'no', and 'nope'. Later at the park with Daddy (via 'trikeride'), Abby seemed to enjoy climbing up the slide as much or more than going down. One of the slides was off-limits, and Abby was able to ascertain this and declare that it was 'broke'. This was all in the 'big kids' park section. Abby wanted to get on some of the swings that don't have the leg holes, and I said no...and she repeated back to me that those are 'older kid swings'. Ditto with the basketball courts as Abby tried to run out onto them during full use. Abby loves to talk about basketball though. She played extensively in the sandbox with the many toys handily left behind. Back at home, she looked at her Peter Rabbit 'lift the flap' book and enjoyed it so much that Mommy got out the real Peter Rabbit books which she was able to read 3/4 through. In Abby's Bible book, there is a picture where Jacob's servant gives Esau a gift, and twice Abby points at the box and says 'money!'.
24-Feb-2006: Abby, Joshua, Dana and Mom had a great time at our house. They played in our new sandbox/water table. We're constantly impressed by how Abby anticipates what we're about to read her in her Bible. And with Abby's Poppleton book, Daddy can read various sentences without completing them, and Abby will give the missing words; sometimes without looking at the pictures. She referred to 'Cherry Sue' matter-of-factly as 'Cherry Sue Bunny Rabbit' (C.S. is a llama).
23-Feb-2006: Abby's appreciate of pillows continues to grow, and now expects a parentally-prepared pillow placed prior to sleep. She is making her own rhymes up now too.
18-Feb-2006: In anticipation of Grandpa Ken's birthday, Mommy was deliberating out loud on what to get G.K. and Abby suggested 'Wood'.
11-Feb-2006: Today Abby, Dad and Mom went to Burton Park to meet Mark, Maryanne and Maggie for a picnic. Dad brought KFC. We had a great time! For dinner, we took Caltrain to Palo Alto to eat at Patxi's. Abby patiently say on my lap the whole ride both ways. It was Abby's first train ride. Abby rode in her backback while we walked around PA. When we stopped at a gas station, she said something like "Car Eat" because Mommy had previously explained that cars eat gas. Back home, Abby invited me to share the swing with her ("Daddy swing too?") which he readily agreed to do. She looked at Jenn's sun catcher and pointed out the shapes and which ones she thought were "pretty". Back inside, Abby stomped in with Mom's boots, and Dad said "nice boots", and Abby said "Galoshes!". She really seems to be good with synonyms. Abby has been practicing on her potty and tonight was no exception. She was just wearing her diaper, and as she started to take it off she said "almost nude". Then she sat on it and said "let the pee out". She keeps checking to see if something has happened but so far we haven't had a transaction. For a couple months now, when Abby sits on her potty, she says "magazine?" and hands Mommy a magazine and then selects one for herself.
Some of the sentences Abby does are "Wash mud off of the pig" (referring from memory of the Prodigal Son being in the mud with the pigs). "Daddy come right back home". "Abby mommy in the kitchen". "Wait mommy get in car". "Abby, Mommy, Daddy riding on train".
Over the past few days Abbys seems almost to look forward to her naps. None of the pre-sleep crying happens. And she now fashions a pillow out of one of her blankets, and appreciates it when you make a pillow for her. She will even walk into Daddy's office and turn his chair and say "Abby in crib".
10-Feb-2005: Abby and Mommy had a fabuolous day at the park. First they walked to the park and played with Richard and Lynne while mommy talked with Bertha. Then they saw a recently 2-years-old Joshua and Dana later at the same park. Joshua aptly found, pointed out and enunciated the moon. Mommy loves to see her friends at the park and looks forward to many more meetings. When Abby sees Joshua's picture she kind of shies away. Abby is really talking non-stop. 6 word sentences are pretty routine. One of the sweetest things she says is "I got you", which she repeats when Dad says it. She also now says "I love you...I love mommy...I love daddy". After dinner, Dad gave Abby some tea to drink, but she spilled some of it. On her own, she opened the right drawer, got out a washcloth and wiped it up. That sure sounds like a particular aunt I have. At night, Abby woke up and Dad got to hold her and rock her back to sleep.
9-Feb-2005: Abby is becoming a Bible scholar already. Mommy thinks they've read the over 500 page illustrated Bible from the Kilners at least 6 times. Abby easily identifies and exclaims Jesus, Joshua, David, Goliath, Annanais, Anna, Mary, Zechariah, John, Saul, Peter and Noah. She also tells the characters to turn around if they are facing their backs to her in the picture. She remembers that Saul is jealous. When asked if she thought Esau would be happy or angry to see Jacob, she stopped and thought about it and said "happy". After mommy does the reading, she will sing "Jesus Loves Me" during which Abby at first would point at the Bible (during "The Bible Tells me So"). More recently she flips through it herself and asks Mommy questions.
8-Feb-2005: Abby knows that Mommy's car is green, Daddy's is red, Grandma's is white and Papa's is blue/purple. She really has a good memory. She remembers things like when a 'man' came and talked to Daddy about windows. It is lots of fun to ask her to recap her day. She still says that she goes to Johnny Rockets with Gampa Greg and Aunt Nanny.
7-Feb-2005: Abby refers to herself as 'Abby *Walsh*'. She says the word "DVD", and knows the go with the TV. Unfortunately somehow she jammed Grandpa Ken's DVD player. When we changed her pajamas she says "differnt one".
6-Feb-2005: Abby still thinks rhymes are fun. Now she says "Pink...Ink" from Dr. Seuss. She also really likes the work "Jiboo" from the "The Thinks you can Think" book. After BSF, mommy noticed that Abby initated prayer. Where as before Abby would say "pray" and want mommy to pray, now Abby will also say "O God" or something like "Dear God".
31-Jan-2005: Abby is just about recovered from her cold and is back home. Dad is amazed with the things Abby can do now. She can recount what she does during the day...I asked her where she went earlier, and she said 'Joshua' as she had just been to her friend Joshua, Dana & Sean's house. She seems to know most of her letters - you can ask her to point to one on her puzzle and she'll pick the right one out most of the time. She can tell when there are 2 things - she'll say "two balls". She can say comparative things like 'too hot' or 'pretty light'. After an interrupted nap Dad brought Abby to the changing area. As he was about to set her down she indicated no, and just wanted to be held. This happened 3 times.
30-Jan-2005: Dad went down to pick up Jenn and Abby. He brought In & Out burgers. He was so thrilled to see Abby again after his trip and the delay while Abby & mom recuperated. Abby now uses -ed and -ing suffixes with some verbs.
Circa 15-Jan-2005: Pa-pa Ken was working on Abby's "Little People" airplane and said he needed a tool to insatll the batteries. Abby ran over and brought him her toy screwdriver.
Abby help both of Mommy's big toes and said "To Market, To Market"; then "pig", later "big toe". She was trying to do "This little piggy went to market".
Abby is working on her counting. When Granny says "1,2...7", Abby says "8, 9, 10". A week later, she added "11". She really loves "11". When Abby sees a can of coffee, she says "Pa-Pa". When Granny got on Abby's rocking unicorn, Abby waved her hand for Granny to get off and said "too big", and later said "Abby little". Abby can sing a little bit of "Jesus Loves Me". After Mom and Abby do their pre-nap/sleep Bible reading and drink they sing "Jesus Loves Me". When we finish our reading she says "Gee-Ju" (her version of Jesus), repeats it several times and sings 2-3 notes. When Mom asked "Who does Jesus love" she says "lub Abby".
Abby grabbed a brown grocery bag and looped the handles around her arm. She put several lemons from a plate into her bag and exclaimed "grocery shopping" and gave a huge smile when we understood it.
Abby now has many little conversations with herself (in her crib, playing with her shape sorter, etc.) and can be overheard saying "Abby", "Momma", "Daddy" or other things/events from her day.
Abby now calls Mama "Mommy" sometimes, and Dada is sometimes "Daddy".
When asked what her favorite part of BSF was, Abby smiled and declared "wacker". Mommy asked "worker?", and Abby more emphatically said "wacker...mmmmmm". Mom laughed heartily.
Abby clearly and strongly said "creamy" using 3 syllables when eating an avocado. Mommy used to say this many months ago when pumping Abby up about eating avocado. Abby now uses "creamy" to describe many foods she likes, even bread.
Abby says the word "time" as a suffix to various things. When Mommy is making up a sippy cup of milk, Abby says "Bed time". When it's dark she says "night time".
27-Jan-2005: Abby can rhyme...When identifying Anna from the book of Luke back in December Abby said "Anna" paused and said "banana" and smiled. She repeats rhymes, though if asked to make a spontaneous rhyme, she can some of the time, but this is still kind of random.
5-Jan-2005: Abby is still nuts about her Kipper DVDs. She's got the whole set now, some in Salinas and some here.
31-Dec-2005: Today is Abby's 2nd Birthday!. This morning she opened a Magna-Doodle that Mom and Dad got her and had fun drawing or 'color'-ing on it as she said. Then Grandpa & Grandma Roush & Pokey came up despite the heavy rain and reports of flooding in nearby Redwood City. We proceeded to Johnny Rockets only to find that it, along with a good chunk of Redwood City had no power. We retreated to San Carlos and ate at Sneakers. Abby aggressively picked out pieces of chicken from Grandma's and Pokey's salad. She got antsy, that is until we put her between Grandpa and Pokey. After some prompting, the Sneakers staff brought Abby a baloon and some ice cream, which she ate until she got brain-freeze and promptly stopped. We went home, and Abby opened a couple of other presents but then went to bed. In fact by the end of the day she still has some things to open...she is still just getting used to the toys from today. Dad worked on the garage and built a couple of computers. Later on Abby was heard to say 'Gampa Greg, Ann Nanny, '. She also enunciated 'Jennifer' when her Aunt Jenn called. After we set up the air mattress for Jenny and Pokey, Abby got on the bed and then got very upset when others would try and share her half of the bed (something that happens on mom & dad's bed too).
After Abby went down, Matt, Jenn, Pokey and Jenny played a couple of rounds of Pitch...and Jenny and Pokey soundly won!
30-Dec-2005: Abby loves watching the 'Kipper' videos that John, Doris, Dasha and Daphne sent! And she can answer questions about the story...she knows that the escaped bird is blue, and they Kipper dropped nest pieces on Tiger, and that the other bird ate a worm.
29-Dec-2005: Abby is starting to know more and more letters. She can pretty much always identify A, B, C, O and H. She knows that she can invert a J and make it into a 'Canny Cane', even though she has never eaten one. She watches her Sesame Street 'Learning About Letters' DVD often. Her absolute favorite part is when Oscar emerges from his can, followed up by when Telly jumps. So, we notice that Abby's most entertaining characters are the fish from 'The Cat in the Hat', Bert (of Bert and Ernie) and Oscar.
22-Dev-2005: Abby thinks rhymes are fun. She came up with something. She will point out "Anna" in her Bible, and then say "Banana", and laugh.
20-Dec-2005: Recently, Abby has learned a new verbal technique for extending her play time. If we say 'It's time to put away the tower', Abby will now say 'One', which she learned from when Mom would say 'Ok Abby, just one more time'. Abby will keep re-using the 'one' ploy though over and over again.
19-Dec-2005: HAPPY BIRTHDAY POKEY!
For the first time, Abby & Mom went to the McDonalds with a play center with friends Bertha, Lynn and Richard. Of course she didn't eat anything there.
Dad had some leftover chipotle chicken that Mom made for lunch. It was very good. So good, that Abby wanted some. Again, like the hot pepper cheese we feared we were overdoing it, but she could not get enough. It was a bit of a trick to get her to accept the 'big people' fork but she got the hang of it. Part of the time she was fed she sat on Dad's lap. For dinner, she had flat green beans...and as she often does, she requests yogurt (it's Jenn's homemade strawberry kind). Abby is getting better at saying 'Jesus' - it comes out more like Gee-Juh. She even tried to sing along with 'Happy Birthday Jesus' with the KLOVE radio station. She is really doing more sentences...one today was 'Gampa Greg Help Tower'. Speaking of towers, at night, Dad and Abby built a tower, a stairway, another stairway that Abby could climb with help, an arch, an airplane and a bridge. Abby likes to recite what each one is. After finishing her milk she sat on Dad's lap and described different parts of the Christmas Tree (pronounced Ki muh tee) while Dad got a delightful closeup look of her perfect profile.
18-Dec-2005: For several weeks now Abby has been able to climb in and out of her car seat and stroller much to the rejoicing of Mom! Dad bought a Sesame Street video for Abby called 'Learning About Letters' that they watch together. Sometimes Dad likes to rest his head on the arm of her chair, but Abby tries to push it off in protest. We're working on 'sharing'. Another challenge is that Abby likes to climb on the ends of the couch despite our sternest warnings. All we know to do now is just physically remove her from the couch ends.
Abby's love of the park has grown to an obsession. Any possibly connected statement will be rejoined by 'Pahk'. Example..."We're going for a walk, Abby!". Answer: "Pahk. Alright" (as a statement, not a question, sometimes with slightly lowered head). We really don't know how she could have learned these forms of body language.
We like to often recall Aunt Nancy's rejoinder ("I own this town") to Grandma Jenny's account of Abby's confrontation with the other kid ("You don't own this park") at the park with which Abby did not want to share.
17-Dec-2005: Abby now likes some foods we didn't expect her to like. One night, Dad gave her some hot pepper jack cheese...first he gave her a little bite expecting her to not like it. But then she wanted more and more until she was eating slices at a time. We kept waiting for the burning pain to set in, but her interested never diminished.
Then a few days later, Dad offered Abby an ordinary green olive (pimento stuffed). She immediately loved it. Dad would feed her all he had, and she would go over to the refrigerator door and knock on it for more. This adds to her prior love of pickles to indicate that Abby would love a relish tray.
9-Dec-2005: Abby can count to 3! And if you ask her who's in the Bible, she will say Jesus!
8-Dec-2005: We tried to take pictures for our Christmas card but they didn't come out as well as we wanted. And we found out that we now own our house!
28-Nov-2005: We had to say goodbye to Aunt Nancy and Grandpa Greg this morning as they stopped by on the way to the airport. Abby showed Aunt N. how she eats her oatmeal - with a spoon but mainly with her hands. When Aunt N. saw Abby polishing her shoes with her bunny, Aunt N. commented on how they were kindred spirits.
27-Nov-2005: We had a great church service this morning. We took dad back to his room to rest. Aunt N. and I went to look for wine for her friend and got Subway sandwiches. We came home and decorated our tree. Later, dad was feeling better with his cold, so we went to Patxi's with Dad and Aunt Nancy for dinner. We all went in the same rented Taurus, and so mom and dad got to look at Abby's face up close for the whole drive. The Christmas displays on Eucalyptus were about halfway done, and so we got to show them to Dad and Aunt N. Back home, Abby went to our suncatcher that hangs outside and showed Aunt N. that it contains 'hearts' and was 'pretty'. Jenn is thrilled that Abby can make opinions and describe things. Abby got a bunch of new Christmas books about the Nativity and she loves to read them already.
26-Nov-2005: In the morning, Aunt N. came over to present her new Trike! Abby does not pedal or steer it yet, but we can lock the front wheel and loosen the back so that we can easily push it. We then took Abby to the park where she had a great time as usual. We met another Notre Dame fan who seemed to remember my Dad from last year. Then Aunt N. and I took Abby on her trike downtown. We stopped in the Plantation Roastery so that Aunt N. could try their coffee. Abby noticed the giant Snow Globe at Diddam's and wanted to go 'in'. We came back, and Aunt N. went back to her room for a short rest.
Later Aunt N. and Dad went to the Stanford/Notre Dame game. Dad had to go instead of Grandpa because Grandpa still was getting over his cold. We took the train, and could not believe how many Notre Dame fans there were. There was an altercation in front of us with people who sat in the wrong place. We had fun chatting with the row in front of us...one guy was a HARD CORE Irish fan who knew everything about them one could ask. I also met one of my neighbors in line at the concession stand named Didi who lives on Greenwood. The game was close...ND won just at the end. But we missed the last 2 minutes as we left early to catch the 8:30 train. It was a lot colder than Aunt N. was used to, but Dad was able to manage riding his bike home...the long way.
25-Nov-2005: We got our tree today! The day after Thanksgiving. We think it's our plumpest, nicest tree yet. The guy at Steve's Christmas Trees had to try 6x before he got it to be straight enough. They gave us 3 coffee mugs. Last year you had to pay for the mugs. But like many things in life, once we received them we grew tired of them and threw 2 out. Dad put up the outdoor lights and the lights on the tree. Aunt N. and Grandpa Greg stayed in their room sadly though as they were sick!
24-Nov-2005: We had such a fun Thanksgiving. Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Ken joined Aunt N. and Grandpa Greg. Plus we had Uncle Rowdy, Aunt Rena and Cousin Bailey. Before we ate, Aunt N. and Abby had a very nice long visit to the park - so long that we thought she had gotten lost. Dad made the turkey we got from Whole Foods. Grandpa made sweet and mashed potatoes that everyone loved. Rena brought cake and cookies. Jenny made a very nice Mexican dip both in hot and cold form. Mom made some great stuffing. After dinner we played Scategories and had lots of fun. The pumpkin cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory was unreal.
22-Nov-2005: Abby can already say 'Greg'. She calls him 'papa' as well. She says something that resembles 'Aunt Nancy' but it's hard to discern. At night, Dad & Aunt N. joined us for dinner at Johnny Rockets - a tradition we hadn't done in a while. Then we walked over to Whole Foods to get our Thanksgiving supplies. Dad went and got the car to get the groceries, then Mom, Dad & Abby walked back over to their car at Johnny Rockets because there was no child seat in the Taurus.
21-Nov-2005: Grandpa Greg and Aunt Nancy came in the morning to meet Abby. Abby warmed up very quickly to them. All of us save Jenn and Abby went to Menlo Park to get Abby's trike. Granpa also got Abby a pop up book about 'The Night Before Christmas' after which I warned him that Abby tears those up. We got some coffee beans at Peet's. Later on, Dad and I went to BSF.
20-Nov-2005: Grandpa Greg and Aunt Nancy arrived at SFO at night! Dad went to greet them, then met them at their hotel as they got a rental car. They were hungry because even the pay-for-plate food on the airplane was not available. There wasn't much open, so we had to settle for Jack in the Box which still was pretty satisfying.
19-Nov-2005: Abby has learned to use the word 'pretty'.
7-Nov-2005: Abby was in an especially great mood today. She likes to play 'night-night'...this is where she will be on our bed, lay down on a pillow, say 'night night' and pretend to sleep...for 5 seconds. Sometimes she'll ask for the 'covers'. Mom was laying on one side, and she was on the other. When Dad tried to also lay down on the right side with Abby sitting with ample space in the middle, Abby got upset and tried to push Dad off. We think Abby assumes our bed is a 2-person aparatus. Later she had lots of fun playing with Dad's tape measurer. She caught Dad with the refrigerator door open and requested (and received) a pickle. She also did some coloring and played with her play-doh.
After work, Mom, Dad and Abby went to look at a couple of houses. Abby was then to go down to Salinas for a couple days so that Mom and Dad can look at some more with greater ease. But Mom wisely deduced that Abby needed to be able to 'get out and move' as she was full of energy. So we went to nearby Patxi's. We ordered our pizza (large, half sausage, half kalmata olives and spinach) and then Dad and Abby walked around the block...past the Jing Jing restaurant, past the Stanford, past Mills the Florist, past the parking lot and all the way back to the Gelato place. We had a delightful walk. Abby was just as happy as can be. There were a pair of chairs and a table outside the Gelato place. The chairs were facing towards the street with the table in between. Abby rotated one chair so it faced the table and climbed up. Then she said 'chair', pointed to the other chair and beckoned me to mount mine, which I did. She then took delight in leaning the table over as if to make it fall. This caused her to giggle and laugh continuously each time. She greeted each passerby. Finally we rejoined Mom at Patxi's. Our pizza came shortly afterwards, served by a very kind waitress. Abby had some trouble with her cup and straw and got her outfit wet. It is not clear whether Abby really ate much of her pizza or just pulled the cheese off. But she certainly liked to play with the stringy cheese. Mom and dad's pizza was terrific as always. We departed after having a thoroughly delightful time. Jenn went to drop off Abby and spend the night in Salinas. Dad ran to Fry's to pick up some network cards for his demo machines.
6-Nov-2005: Abby said another sentence today...something like "daddy read book". She had previously said "more up" some time ago at the park while on her swing. You can definitely hear the sentences coming out, but it's very hard to tell what they are.
30-Oct-2005: At dinner, Daddy was talking about someone he knows named Adam. When Daddy said the word 'Adam', Abby immediately said 'EEEE' (as in 'Eve'). Her first Bible from Deb Kilner has made an impression already! Daddy read 'The Cat in the Hat' again...and on cue she says 'BUMP' and she jumps on the corresponding page, and 'No no no!' when the fish shows his apprehensions. Mom and Abby had a great, long walk and park visit while Daddy caught up on our laundry and dishes (we were out of soap and backlogged). Before dinner, Abby for the 3rd day in the row asked for pickles. She does this by pointing out the pickle jar - which is on the first shelf - when Daddy opens the refrigerator. She ate 1.5 pickles. Then she ate a banana. By the time we got to dinner, she didn't eat much and was a bit unruly, playing with her water. Daddy is really trying to learn how to discipline this sort of thing.
29-Oct-2005: Today Abby placed her first phone call...to Aunt Nancy. Dad found Abby holding his cell phone, holding it with curiosity. When he picked it up he heard Aunt Nancy repeating "hello?". 'Aunt N' is first on Dad's speed dial list. One of Abby's favorite books is a short Winnie the Pooh story. There's a scene where Pooh is stuck in the exit to a tree because he has eaten a prodigious amount of honey. Just as the book says "oh no", Abby now will spontaneously exclaim "oh no" whenever she gets to that page. She also now says "Mad" or "I'm Mad" when she gets to a book where a character is angry (such as Goliath). When Abby tries to show us what 'Mad' looks like, she bites her lower lip with her upper teeth so that the top 2 stick out. But she probably thinks being mad is funny or crazy. This is all similar to when she learned about how a certain page in 'The Cat in the Hat' has 'BUMP' on it. We think it's funny that Abby learned the 'mad' emotion first and likes pandemonium (like when she knocks over a tower of legos). Maybe she'll thrive on chaos. We can't wait to eat our leftover Patxi's pizza for lunch. We spread maps out of the peninsula on our living room rug looking at where we might relocate to to be closer to where Dad may work, and Abby happily marched on the maps. She then got out the picture book that has a map in it and showed it to us. Later today we are going to a harvest party at Church. We are bringing yams, cheese and crackers.
28-Oct-2005: After Daddy finished up a day at Pixar and Yahoo, we all met (in 2 cars) at Patxi's in Palo Alto for pizza. Wow, was it good. Mom had sausage, and Dad had spinach with kalamatta olives. Abby really enjoyed walking down University Avenue on the way back to the Ramona avenue garage. At home, Daddy drove Abby and Momma down the driveway in his car. Mom and Dad watched the disturbing movie 'Blue Velvet' showing the underside of a squeaky-clean all-American town.
27-Oct-2005: Abby has copied us in an exciting way...she now knows how to pray. She flops on the ground, puts her hands together, and at the end says "amen".
23-Oct-2005: Dad kept making towers out of Abby's legos, and Abby would knock them down with uncontrollable laughter. She is really getting better at putting the legos together herself.
7-Oct-2005: This morning, Abby was looking at her shape book...and there was a diamond. That makes Abby sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. But this time, she went and got Duck-tar and started dancing with great feeling and enthusiasm. Before Abby went on her walk, she pointed to the fern on our porch and said 'plant'.
6-Oct-2005: Abby has been seen to make our lamb and monkey small stuffed animals to kiss each other.
5-Oct-2005: It seems as if Abby understands just about everything you say to her. Grandma showed us by example how we should just talk to her as if she were an adult, and that she'll figure it out. She does!
4-Oct-2005: Dad drove Abby and Mom from Salinas...Mom had some more back pain, but the back doctor says she's doing better. We stopped at Fry's (the Egyptian one in Campbell), and Abby was absolutely entranced. She in particular liked a coin bank in the shape of the globe. On the way out she ran down the ramp. Later, Abby at the Library today protested sharing the train with another person, pointing to it and saying "NO NO NO!". We notice that her pajamas seem to be shrinking lately. She is very excited about her upcoming trip to Houston.
3-Oct-2005: Dad drove down to Salinas to pick up Abby and Jenn. At dinner, Abby ate broccoli for the first time in a while. They say you have to keep trying. She also gobbled down the delicious steak that grandpa made. After dinner she played on he indoor slide. It seemed as if she would never stop going down it. We had to lead her outside while grandma put it away. Then when she went back in she pointed at the spot where it was and said something with a puzzled look.
2-Oct-2005: Dad and Abby went on a backpack trip around town. Abby really likes the backpack and will circle it when I get it out of the closet. Sometimes she even points at the closet so that I'll get it out. But when she's in the backpack she is fairly quiet. We stopped at the San Carlos City Hall park. They have a big, tall pine tree on which they leave the Christmas lights and a star on top year round. Abby pointed and said 'star', and then started to sing her 'twinkle twinkle little star' rendition. There is a tree that has a nice place to sit only 4 feet up, and Dad perched Abby there (standing in front of her of course). She found this to be a very fun experience. Then she wanted to repeat this on all the other trees...including the palm tree. They played catch with the whipple ball. Dad showed Abby how to put her hands close together to catch the ball and she did so marvelously.
1-Oct-2005: Abby is working on a lot of words. Dad's favorite is 'sock', which is pronounced 'ock'. Mom likes 'green', which she enunciates as 'geen'. She can also say 'blue' and 'yellow'. 'Red' is sort of hard to make out as is 'shoe'. She has gotten much better at saying her own name...it sounded at first like 'Ap-by' (which is also how she says 'airplane', but sounds more like Abby every day. She has leared to make the sssss sound.
30-Sept-2005: It was hot, Abby had lots of fun in her pool. The water was fairly cold, so for a while she just stood up. But then she sat down. She had her diaper on, and so when she went down her little slide she zoomed down as the wet diaper on plastic was like greased lightning. Abby can recognize the sound of Daddy's car when he pulls into the driveway. Abby is fascinated by buckles. She loves to fasten and unfasten an old badge lanyard from one of Daddy's work conferences. She also insists on at least trying to buckle her car seat and stroller latches. She does not, luckily, try to unbuckle them.
28-Sept-2005: Abby can now nod her head to indicate the affirmative.
20-Sept-2005: We have a 6 pack of non-alcoholic St. Pauli Girl in our refrigerator. When Abby spotted it, she pointed at the St. Pauli Girl and said 'momma, momma!'. Later, Dad was wearing his Star Wars villians shirt, and Abby said 'dada' while pointing at Peter Cushing. See this illustration
4-Sept-2005: Abby is very ticklish!
3-Sept-2005: Today, down in Salinas, Abby was doing her picture book with Grandma. When Grandma asked her to point to the 'map', Abby pointed to it. Then Grandma said, "yes, that's the map of the United States of America". And then Abby hopped down, went into the other room and came back with her Uncle Sam hat. Then she found the flag and indicated that they needed to put the flag up. Then she sang her version of 'God Bless America' which basically consists of 'Gaaaa' and some hand waving.
Abby also discovered the word 'burp' today. After Abby burped, Grandma said something like 'oh, did you have a burp'. Then Abby said 'burp' back (more like 'burrr'), and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably. This happened again at dinner, and at Bill & Cheryl's house.
29-Aug-2005: Grandma Roush has come over today to celebrate her birthday, which was yesterday.
28-Aug-2005: Mom and Dad were playing catch in the back yard while Abby went up and down her slide. Dad kept slipping with his mocasin's on. When he would take them off, Abby would notice them and immediatly head over to him to tell him to put them back on. Then she'd walk back to her slide. Then Dad would take off just one, and she'd run back over. We did this like 4 times. Abby INSISTS everyone wears shoes while outside.
27-Aug-2005: We had such a fun time with the Ferri's! Josh and Abby played together very well. We hope we can have more get-togethers soon.
23-Aug-2005: Just about every morning, if the door is open, Abby will bring in one of the picture books to Daddy's office. Previously, if he was already busy, he could just set it down and let her read it to herself. This ploy has not worked recently...however, she DOES like to read the more complex books (like the story of Jonah in Bibleland) for 5-10 minutes at a time on her own.
Abby likes to turn the volume on the clock radio up and down. She tends to like it loud. Her pressing of buttons accidentally set the alarm. She is now combining words for the first time (well, the first time we know of, she talks all day but we can't understand it). She said 'more bubbles' while in the sink/tub to command Jenn to blow more of them. She also said 'more up' on the swing at the park (where we also met a cute boy named Keenan). Previously she would just say 'more'.
Say, also that we point out that we have a shirt on, and Abby doesn't. She will point to our shirt, then her body and say 'no'. In Abby's picture books (where we say the word and she points at it) she still wants to read them all several times daily but she knows essentially every word in it. On the pages with animals, you can make the animal sounds for sheep, roosters, pigs, horses and snakes and she'll point to the right animal. She can make some of the animal sounds - easily for sheep and dogs.
Abby did one of her prettiest colorings today too. She uses both hands for this and most things (eating, throwing - which she does overhand). We have found a cure for enduring crying: tickling.
Abby is trying to add these words to her repetoire this week:
22-Aug-2005: Abby likes to cross-reference...if there's a lion in one book she'll find another book that has one too. She loves to 'count' them, though she doesn't use numbers (that we understand, anyway). When I ask her to find a picture of 'Toast' she will point first to her 'toes' and then the 'toast'. As soon as we just GET to the page in the 'Cat in the Hat' that says "something went BUMP, how that bump made us jump", Abby, before we even read the page, gets down and crouches waiting for the word 'jump', and then jumps when the word is said. Often when she does jumping, CITH or otherwise, she grabs the piggie that Aunt Jenn gave her and makes it jump too.
21-Aug-2005: Abby came into the living room smiling largely and carrying Jenn's red hat. Abby indicated that she wanted Jenn to put on the hat, and Jenn complied. Abby scampered back out of the room and returned wearing Jenn's baseball cap backwards with an even bigger smile. It was clear that she was exuberant that both she and mommy were wearing hats.
Dad and Abby went for a short walk down our street. Our neighbor had their sprinkler going, and Abby stood just within range, getting somewhat wet. She seemed to enjoy this. At dinner, we learned Abby no longer eats broccoli. If you put it, or anything she does not want on her plate, she will carefully and completely extract all the offending material to a destination plate off of her chair.
20-Aug-2005: Abby knows more colors now...red, blue, yellow, green and purple. She can get up all of our living room chairs, and sort of the couch. She tried using her Curious George metal box to get up to the bed.
18-Aug-2005: Abby is still afraid of fire trucks and garbage trucks. When one comes by she says 'up' because she wants to be immediately held.
07-Aug-2005: Went again to the early church service. Abby did well in the nursery. She was clingy, though and wanted to be held quite often. On the way home we went to a doughnut shoppe in San Carlos. Daddy got a crueller, mommy got an old-fashioned and coffee, and Abby got a banana. We walked to the park next door and had our fill. As we did so we met Yoshi the dog, who was very friendly and let Abby pet her. Then Daddy got some vitamins and sea salt from the health food store. On the way back, we got Subway sandwiches. Daddy debated the subtle merits of Spicy Italian and the Italian BMT (the latter has ham, but you get less of the other 2 meats. He prefers the former). While Mommy and Abby napped Daddy put some things up on eBay - some playfields, his motorcycle, our Aerobed and a Stole. We had Ravioli for dinner. Then Daddy and Abby went for a repeat of the walk from yesterday. Abby didn't escape the harness this time. We saw Jenn Rowden in her car on Alameda as we were walking! Abby had an especially giggly moment on the swing as Daddy would hide behind her and then peek to either side as she swung back. If only he could capture that priceless laugh on film. Back home, Daddy did the recycling and garbage while Abby got a bath, bottle and book. The book is about God creating the world, and has a picture of God (a large, kindly white haired man with a mustache). As Mommy was explaining what God did, Abby leaned down and kissed God's picture!
06-Aug-2005: Later Daddy and Abby went for our "loop 'round San Carlos" walk. Abby recognized and can say 'ball'. She is working on 'tree' which sounds more like "sree". At one point she escaped from her harness (still reasonably secure) and was suddenly elated at her ability to move within the harness in new ways. At the park, for the first time she moved herself into position and down the slide. She also rode the swing for a very long time, and used her 'more' sign and verbal ('mooh') language to indicate she wanted to go higher. Abby seems to have no fear and wants to go as high as Daddy can push her! Even when rattled a bit, Daddy would say "want to get down?" and she'd immediately say "no", followed by "mooh". Finally we went home, and she took a bath. Daddy is working on some new anti-athsma breathing exercises that seemed to help on the long walk.
05-Aug-2005: Abby is starting to learn to count. Well, she at least has the sense that there is a sequence when there are three things that go '1-2-3'. Sometimes she even makes sounds that sound like the numbers. So we have been doing a lot of counting to practice with her. She also can recognize the letter 'X'. This is one of her favorite letters; for a long time she has matched her letter 'X' and 'K' on her letter floor tiles...which, as we eventually figured out, actually do look similar - it's just that the 'legs' on the letters are bent differently.
28-July-2005: Today Abby added the third animal sound to her repetoire...the cow (which goes Mooo). Early reports suggest she may also make the 'meow/cat' sound. While Daddy showed Abby older pictures of herself she figured out that pushing keyboard keys cause the pictures to change. Pokey and Granny were floored when Abby demonstrated her long-running skill of saying 'Octogon' (as Ock-a-ga) and pointing to the three different colored octogon shapes on her Ikea wire toy. She can also point out the squares and circles (which are really cubes and spheres). After Jenn's mother's group meeting, Abby (unlike the other kids who wanted to interact with their mommies) Abby climbed on the stage and addressed the crowd. Then she climbed up and down the stairs as she is wont to do. At dinner at the Macaroni grill she excitedly pointed to and talked to all the people like she owned the place.
27-July-2005: Abby can fnd the moon even in a very bright, blue sky. And she will say 'moo' with a diminished 'n'. In the garage, she pointed to Daddy's bicycle and said a 3 syllable word that started with 'B'. Then she did the same to Daddy's motorcylce. She had previously done this outside Target. The word 'clock' was thought to have been heard when she picked up Mom's alarm clock.
25-July-2005: Abby and Mom had a great time at the baby reading thing at the library. Later, Abby LOVED mom's special drink made with with soy and vanilla. She drank it out of the straw. She loved it so much that she forced mom to let her slurp up the drops off the bottom. Then she insisted to draw and suck the dry straw some more. Her fried (and sitter) Becca came over, and Abby was heard to play her piano very nicely. With her crayons she demonstrated her knowledge of the colors red, blue, yellow and purple. Abby can say more words all the time, like Ball, No, yellow, and blue. 'Course you have to use your imagination. She can tell us that the she sheep says 'Baah' and the dog says 'woof'. A cow says 'boom' (we think she's trying to say 'moo'). She seems to recognize every object in her first words book (you say it, she points). She can climb all the way up her 2.5 foot slide and get herself to slide down (a tricky manouevre). She likes to put her own shoes on increasingly, and does so when it seems like we're going somewhere in the car. Today we learned that she is afraid of the garbage truck (even after reading about 'Mr. Gilly - Champion of Trashy Towne'). Abby knows the sign language for 'more' and 'please', and that's it, because that's all we know. She likes to drink her water and then also feed lamb and monkey, which makes her laugh. There is little doubt Abby is ticklish but she seems to like it...at dinner she would keep tilting her head so that we could tickle her neck and chin. Abby when in the backyard will still point to the bushes where the cat was living - we are impressed by how long she can remember such things. She was playing with Dad's cell phone after he showed her how it slides rapidly down her slide. Then she threw it at the slide. Then she held it to her head and said 'bye bye' and what might have been 'gampa'. Then she threw it at the driveway several times ignoring dad's stern 'No' with a smile. She knows some of her shapes - and the shape books are among her favorites. She knows circle, square, moon, star and arrow, and not just in the context of the book.
24-July-2005: After visiting the Schattke's we went to Johnny Rockets (yes, on a Sunday, not our normal Friday). For the first time, Abby drank out of her very own take-out paper cup (water of course). She even ate some tomato from Daddy's salad. Afterwards Dad and Abby went to the park. At one point she was in a little tunnel in the play structure, and a few kinds piled in going the other way squirming by her, and this made her cry. Otherwise apart from one face plant (that made her very dusty on her shirt and face but did not make her cry) we had a great time...including the first time she sat on a tree and liked it. Oh yes, at one point she pointed to a swing...the one that was in the sun. The one next to it was in the shade. So I picked her up and put her in the shady one. But she (in her most cute, not angry way) said her 'no...no...no' indicating the sunny one. Abby now when you put her in her car seat attempts to buckle it herself.
20-July-2005: Abby has gotten a bit pickier about her eating. She combines this with her mastery of the word 'up' (done with hands upraised). She used to sit all the way through dinner, but now will sometimes do this. She also might play the 'up' card during a car ride that has gotten a bit too long for her patience.
13-July-2005: Abby was reading an ABC Animal book. Grandma said 'Xylophone', and Abby went to the piano and started playing it.
10-July-2005: We discovered a plaintive cat hiding under our bushes. We thought it might have been the one that had previously camped out in our garage, but now we're not really sure. It has all night lingered around our house meowing. Abby likes to point at it, and bang on the windows to get its attention.
While reading 'The Cat in the Hat' there is a scene that now makes Abby laugh as she now sees the connection It is during the scene when Thing 1 or 2 is flying a kite coming around a corner on one page (and Abby loves to point at kite to begin with) and on the next the little boy approaching the other direction with his net. On the next page the boy slams down his net capturing said Thing. This causes Abby to laugh each and every time, and we think it's either she's seeing the cause and effect, or maybe that the Thing's eyes open when it is captured.
At dinner tonight, just as mom said 'when babies are done eating and want to get down they tend to do things like put their bowl in their head', Abby proceeded to do so with her plate of avocado. She initially liked her bean mix but stopped after 4 spoonfuls.
Abby was playing with her Play Doh that mom made from scratch. Mom handed her her play-sized rolling pin, and she went and got the big adult-sized rolling pin from the drawer she knows well. Then she brought other items like the popsicle mold. Unbelievably, on command she actually put some of the items away...mom was so proud!
Abby is doing more coloring but is not nuts about it.
Abby is experimenting with putting her own (and sometimes mom's and dad's) clothes on...she can pull shirts over her head and can put her feet in her shoes.
Many of Abby's books involve asking her 'Abby, where are the shoes?' and waiting for her to point. Dad can't believe how many words she knows. He also thinks she must somehow understand the process of elimination when she correctly indicates things we really don't think we've taught her before.
9-July-2005: Had a great time at Cole's party at the Gymnastics center. Abby as usual slowly scoped the place out then got more excited. She got a bit freaked out in the deep pit of small foam squares even with mom nearby, but did a great job on the balance beams.
Abby is playing with her more advanced shape sorter. She knows which shapes go into which holes but is still working on rotating them to make them fit. Often, she will simply take the lid off of it and put the pieces in directly causing us to laugh.
There is a Quaker Oats container that we just recently re-introduced. We put measuring spoons in it to make a clangy sound. Abby will take the lid off, play with the spoons, put them back in, and put the lid back on.
8-Jul-2005: Mom and Abby had a great time with their friend Lucinda. Lucinda picked out a fabulous park that they all want to visit again. Abby and Mom were touched that Lucinda brought cakes, cupcakes, a blanket and water!
Abby seems to know what 'red' is, and sometimes 'blue'.
7-Jul-2005: Abby makes the most adorable sound to date...if you ask her what a dog sounds like, she says 'woof woof', though it sounds a bit more like 'woo woo'. We think this was after dad was having fun making a 'whoop' sound. But Abby thinks that all animals make this sound too. She laughs when we show her that 'a cat makes a MEOW', and 'a happy monkey says EEE EEE EEE!'.
1-July-2005: We all went across the street to welcome baby Jake into the world! Abby is more and more trying to say words. The word for today was OCTOGON...it comes out OK-O-GA. Very cute. She knows the word 'camera' too. Went to Johnny Rockets - Abby didn't want the chicken...but wanted her Oyster crackers that come with dad's chili at a more rapid rate than mom wanted to dispense them. Abby did a lot of coloring on her place mat. We came home and played in the yard. Abby likes to sit in a foldable storage crate, play with her big purple ball, and touch the garage door. She also likes to check on the lemon tree every so often. Daddy did a few sets of weights while watching Abby from the garage. Daddy picked some blackberries from the wild blackberry plant that has invaded the other lemon tree on the side of the house. Abby liked them but kind of made a mess grabbing on to mom's jacket. In fact in doing the laundry mom noticed that Abby's clothes are getting dirtier as she plays more. We are looking forward to the party at the Rowden house but are SO sorry about Dana's tooth! We hope she gets better very soon!
25-June-2005: Abby knows some shapes - hearts, triangles, squares and stars. Daddy was reading one of her 'shapes' books and she somehow knows all these...you can call out the name and she will point at the shape. In another book, there was a picture of a button, and daddy said 'button'. Abby pointed at her belly button. We are working on colors, but Abby seems consufed a bit by them. Abby likes to spend time roaming around the yard and driveway. She will fall sometimes on the blacktop but only whimpers a little and moves on - what tough baby! She isn't afraid of going into the garage anymore either. Sometimes Daddy will do some quick weights and she'll wait patiently. Abby knows the word 'Lego'.
21-June-2005: Abby really knows quite a few words now...we'd guess around 75-100. She knows words for objects like boat, car, truck, clock, and ball. We practice them in her 'First Words' book. For some words, like 'ball', Abby will run out of the room suddenly and bring her ball to the reader. Ditty for bear and pig. If you say 'horse', she goes to see her rocking horse 'Clyde'. If you show her a picture of an apple and say the word, she might look over at our fruit basket and say "UMMMMM!". If you say 'TV', she goes over and touches it. We learned the word 'coat' early this morning...then only an hour later daddy said 'Coat', and Abby went and got hers. Abby has also been trying to dress herself. We have discovered her with clothes removed, but not installed.
Lately, Abby has been much more active around dinnertime. She really has not wanted to sit in her chair and eat. She insists on sitting on one of our adult dining room chairs like everyone else.
Abby can sing a song! She can sing the 'ABC' song. Well, it's actually humming...she doesn't know her letters yet. But she must sing the song a dozen times a day or more. We are working on teaching her "Jesus Loves Me" next. She already knows when she hears that song to go get the book that has the song in it.
Speaking of books, Abby brings more and more books to us to read each day. But you never know if she'll want to hear the whole thing, or just a couple pages before she storms off to get another one.
20-June-2005: Abby is making more sounds all the time. Today after dinner we were working on the 'apple' word, and she actually seemed to copy it by saying "Ah-Po". She strings together lots of sounds that sort of sound like sentences. Abby seems to understand possession...if we say "where is daddy's car?", she touches the right car. She also loves to show groups of things. She will go around and point to everyone in the room as we call out their names. She walks daddy around to each of the plants when he waters them. She will point at all the lights in a room in succession too. She likes to find matching blocks. She likes to have both Mr. Pig and Mr. Bear when one or the other is selected...similarly with the smaller Lamb and Monkey. If we say "where's daddy?" she will point not only at daddy but also the picture of daddy in the living room.
18-June-2005: Abby and Dad like to sit out in back by the fence and play with rocks. In fact, in general Abby likes to distribute rocks from herself to other people and back again.
10-June-2005: Abby has learned to shake her head to indicate 'no' and uses this skill increasingly each day. It is strange to wonder how many things she acquiesced to that she no longer wants. So far, 'yes' is indicated by an absence of 'no'.
22-May-2005: Today, Abby was about to invade mom's closet, and we said "Abby, please close the door", and lo and behold, she did! She even made sure it latched shut! Dad and Abby after church played a bit on our lawn, and she gave dad a big hug. Mom is making her absolutely perfect turkey meatloaf tonight. Dad rode home from church on his bike and got another one of the new Jamba Juice Matcha green tea drinks - he loves them terribly. We are all looking forward to Grandpa coming next week and hearing how Aunt Nancy's 'Great Wall' run went. We wish Aunt Jenn and Great Aunt Nancy could stick around too.
21-May-2005: We went to the San Carlos 'Home Town Days' parade and met our friends the McAffe's at Vivaldi's bakery. Abby sat in rapt attention for the entire 1.5 hours on her dad's lap. We stopped by the fair in Brittan park; dad got a chili and mom got a pulled pork sandwich. The trinkets in the booths interested us not and so we went home. We went to Ikea later for the first time and enjoyed ourselves the meltdown in the parking garage while dad was tieing his new desk to the roof notwithstanding.
15-May-2005: Here are some more words Abby knows
In addition to some vocabulary, Abby can use inflection to indicate a question!
Abby has gotten better at climbing up and down things like steps that are too steep for her to step up or down. Abby also likes to 'fake us out'. Today she held her spoon and tempted her dad with it...then yanked it away as he as about to take it. She also does this with her 'pillow time' pillow...she will pull it down, and just as you are starting to do pillow time she'll run off to her chair. Abby had fun today at the Toddler Reading Group at our library today. Abby hopes her Aunt Jenn, Great Aunt Nancy and Grandpa Greg will read this while she's in China and maybe even send her an email!
14-May-2005: We had a great sermon today about Jesus calming the stormy Sea of Galilee. Later, Abby, Mom and Dad met David (age 13 months) and his mom Cindy today at the park while they had their KFC dinner and had a great time. David is so agile!
26-Apr-2005: Dad and Abby have been taking walks on our block. She likes all the items that mom has introduced to her: flowers, fences and fire hydrants. Just around the corner is a bright yellow fire plug. When Abby got to it she was immediately entranced and continually patted its top and its little chains. Dad led her away grudgingly to the creek just a bit further down...but all the while she looked back. On our way back, we passed the hydrant and again she latched on to it. Finally, dad had to lead her away, she broke down and dad had to carry her home - mostly with Abby looking backward to the hydrant.
24-Apr-2005: Dad and Abby went on one of our walks to downtown. This time, near 'The Door' (our local Christian Bookstore) dad let Abby wander into a store for the first time. Immediately she started to pull items down from the shelves as dad frantically replaced them. Then the TV running a Veggie Tales caught her attention and she headed down there. Partly out of guilt for trashing the store, dad bought a book for Abby. We then explored the post office and the adjacent drug store. But as soon as we entered it, a woman sternly called to us "Can I help you?!" apparently anticpating Abby's destructive streak. We quickly exited, and then walked hand in hand for another good 1/4 mile. Wow! That was a long walk for Abby! Occasionally she'd pull her hand from mine and giggle as she tried to escape. We then went to the park where mom spotted us on the way back from the dentist. We sent Abby down the swing, and we can't tell if she enjoyed it or was stunned. After all that walking Abby went to sleep like a rock.
1-Apr-2005: Jenn and Abby went the library and made lots of noise - not cries - but exclamations. This was accompanied by much throwing of items around the library. This makes sense with Abby's enthusiasm about books - she is looking at them a lot during the day. Now that she can pretty much roam the house rapidly on foot she likes to check in on dad every so often...sometimes even she'll come in, plop down and read a book to herself. Today's selection was 'The Hungry Catepillar', a book Jenn likes as well. Jenn & Abby listened to a 'Billie Holiday' CD set from the library and Abby joined in in song at certain moments. After dad finished work (which included wrapping up the sale of his Grandma's house) we all went to Johnny Rockets - a place we have grown to love. As soon as we entered the store and set Abby barefoot on the ground she began to dance to the disco selections playing on the jukebox. Mom and Abby shared a double hamburger...dad had a patty melt and chili. Abby loved wearing her paper JR hat and looking at boys at other tables. In fact it seemed as if she wanted to join their table on the way out. Afterwards we went next door to Old Navy to get some clothes for dad's trip. Here, too, Abby roamed barefoot on the store floor and had a tremendous time (of course mom was within arm's reach at all times chasing after Abby). Then we came home, washed Abby's feet, wrote this log and watched the rest of The Hidden Fortress.
27-Mar-2005: Many updates...Abby has always liked books but now will pick one and hand it to us to read. She might also sit with a book and read it to herself, with some small, cute utterances. Abby walks like she never crawled. At this point she walks more than she crawls. She can change direction, walk in a circle, carry items in both hands, and even squat down to get something and return to standing position. She has gotten a few bruises on her legs but carries on! Over time, her ability to walk even with socks on hardwood has gotten very good. Once in a while there is a burst of running. During her greatest achievements in mobility she will continuously shriek, so much so we worry that a neighbor might mistake the sound and contact the authorities. We have started to let Abby watch a small amount of 'Baby Einstein', which will hold her attention for a long period of time.
When Abby goes on walks with mom she loves to watch the kids play at the park, watch cars go by and watch birds fly. She loves examine trees - she touches the bark, then looks up at the leaves and smiles. She also loves flowers in a similar way.
During a recent ride to Salinas, rather than falling asleep as is usual, she quietly and alertly would watch the green hills and other sights.
We notice that out of Abby's huge selection of books on her special shelf, she often will pick the same books we have read to her in the past. Abby likes to cuddle her blankets more than ever. We also are seeing her little emotions come out a bit more...taking away an item such as a toothpaste tube which she had been examining can lead to a lot of crying. Often, we have to direct her away from our garbage can.We are starting to detect some 'counterfeit' cries as well as coughs made just for fun or effect.
We often think Abby looks just like Matt's sister Jenn...especially in this picture
26-Mar-2005: Today we went to a great party at the Ferri's house. We always love going over there. We were so sad that Marianne couldn't come as her family got sick. But Abby got to see her friend Joshua and also newborn Annie Lori Sullivan. We had a delicious ham. It is so fun to compare notes with the other parents. There was a sweet moment when Abby and Joshua were both standing/crouching under the high chair.
Here are the words Abby knows...that is, words she understands...most of the words she says are forms of 'Da'. Some variations include 'Ha ta'.
5-Mar-2005: We went to Stacks for breakfast, and then John and Doris headed to Tahoe. Then Jenny & Kenny came up just to see Abby walk! She did not disappoint and walked from the ottoman to the bookshelf. Wow! As dad writes this we are putting Abby to bed so we can watch the taped Oscar awards.
4-Mar-2005: Abby has taken HER FIRST STEPS! Aunt Doris and Uncle John were there to see it on the first day they got to meet her! (Actuall this video is of her second set of steps). We had Coyote Cafe burritos for dinner!
3-Mar-2005: Abby likes a game where she looks at tummies, including hers. We are really hearing more sounds - it seems as if her word learning is really accelerating!
14-Feb-2005: Today is Valentine's day! In the morning Abby and Mom gave some of their gifts to Daddy. He got some chocolate racing cars! Daddy then went out to Yahoo! for some tuning work. It rained today. When Daddy came home he caught up on email then fired up the grill for some heavily Worcester-marinated steaks. Daddy then got some more gifts and gave Mom a day spa gift card. Abby got herself entagled with the bungie cord thing that came with the box that the gift cards came in, and while she untangled it she forgot to notice that she was standing without holding on for 15 seconds!. This happened 2 more times afterwards. At one point, Daddy tried to lure Abby into taking a few steps using her favorite red ball, but just as Abby was ready to take the step she seemed to figure out the ruse and began to cry. Abby also pulled out some glass bowls and broke one. Abby seemed to be trying to kiss everything today too. She will almost every time make a kiss sound if she hears one or heards the work 'kiss'. She also does 'patty cake' and 'roll-em-up' by word or by copying. We loved our steaks and listened to a medley of some of our favorite songs from Matt's laptop.
13-Feb-2005: Abby is getting good at sorting shapes with her shape sorting toy. But rather than get the shapes back out from the door, she tries to reach through the holes and sometimes gets stuck as she can't extract her hand with shape in it. We've decided to cancel our San Diego trip because of non-stop rain!
10-Feb-2005: While watching a Lord of the Rings documentary, Abby saw someone holding The Ring in the air, and then copied this by holding the ring similarly aloft!
25-Jan-2005: Grandma went home this morning after a nice visit. Abby has started to do some different things. She brushes her own teeth if you hand her a toothbrush. She also can sort of take a step between the coffee table and her play pen. Abby really likes her new Jimmy Neutron pillow that Grandpa Roush specially ordered. We have noticed that Abby likes to sort of hop up and down slightly to the sound of music.
24-Jan-2005: Dad went back to Pixar today. Abby and Mom went to another of the San Carlos Library 'read to kids' things and they had a great time, though Abby was a bit tired. We watched some more of our SCTV DVD which we have enjoyed thoroughly. Richard Harris was on Mel's Rock Pile. Abby seems to know the words 'ball 'and 'grandma' now. We had a great dinner and used the bread maker from Abby's Aunt Jenn for the first time. Yumm! Abby liked to sit between Dad and Grandma K and roll the ball back and forth. She is really getting good at it, which is amazing when you see that her technique is sort of 'hit the ball or shake my hand and let go and hope for the best'.
23-Jan-2005: Abby likes to take apart the Lego assemblies that dad puts together. Then she sometimes will throw a piece into the bucket as we say 'IN!'. Then we dump it out and say 'OUT!'. Then she learned that it's fun to throw the pieces off of the bed. Mom and dad went to the Hillsdale mall after church to shop for a few new shirts for dad.
22-Jan-2005: Mom, Dad, Abby and Grandma went downtown today. We bought Abby a set of baby Legos. Grandma Kluever played with Abby and discovered Abby likes to be walked while we hold her hands. At first she cried but now she laughs. Still, sometimes her legs turn to rubber and she doesn't want to proceed.
21-Jan-2005: Abby LOVES her new rocking chair from her Grandpa and Great Aunt Nancy! She likes when we place her in it, and she likes to climb onto it.
19-Jan-2005: Abby is getting better and better at feeding herself. She can hold her own bottle even when it's full now. It takes a lot of dexterity to feed yourself slippery food like avocados with just your hands, but she manages just great.
18-Jan-2005: Abby has thrown things out of her crib! She also routinely crawls down our hallway from the bedroom in search of mom.
12-Jan-2005: Today, Abby was sitting in her feeding high chair and she watched her mom and dad kiss. Abby then immitated it and kissed, well, the air. This happened twice proving it was not a fluke. Abby and Mom had a great time doing errands downtown including the library. Later on Abby would repeatedly don and un-don Jenn's baseball hat. Abby also loves to watch Jenn do the same. Abby goes nuts over the driving toy that her Grandma Kluever sent. Her parents were also impressed by all the sounds and vibrations this sucker puts out. Dad went on another 14 mile ride up Edgewood, over to Woodside via Canada road, then back home via route 84 and Alameda. We ate another Lou Malnati's pizza, and Abby had her Trader Joe's turkey meatballs. It was the first day in a while without a downpour. Abby is really trying to stand without her hands. She also now squirms in dad's arms when she wants to be in mom's arms instead. She consumers less and less milk each day as she is into solid food. She has also become good at holding her own bottle not only on her back but when sitting in her chair. This takes quite a bit of maneuvering, however. Abby's talking is more varied and often though much of it is variations on 'Da'. Our Christmas Tree is down, and so Abby doesn't have something to look at anymore when we say 'tree'. Abby hasn't been doing the raspberry when in disgust recently.
2-Jan-2005: Dad bought Abby a backpack baby carrier. It's like the Baby Bjorn but a bit more extreme. We have gone on our 3 mile loop twice now. Abby seems to like it, but the downside is that dad can't really see or touch Abby while she's loaded like he could with the Bjorn. We have been having a LOT of rain these past 2 weeks, so we sneak out for a walk when we can.
Abby now does a raspberry whenever she's unhappy or distressed. Jenn is practicing more words and teaching Abby how to stack her blocks and cups. Abby's 'cruising' continues, only now she wants to take items with her as she explores the coffee table, bed, etc. She loves the rocking horse and unicorn from her grandpas, but so far she mainly likes to stand up next to them and pat them/pull their tail rather than ride them. Even with dad supporting her she doesn't want to hang on.
We all like the mini piano Grandma Kluever sent us. Abby listens very intently. Dad enjoys aggrevating mom by playing the Celine Dion 'My Hear Will Go On' Titanic theme on it.
We have been reading Abby books every day. Abby still likes the book about Benjamin the Bear and Grandma K's books with the fuzzy animals.
19-Dec-2004: Dad is noticing that Abby makes more types of sounds every day. Still, most objects are referred to as Da or Dada, and distress is accompanied by 'mumumuh'.
18-Dec-2004: Today, we went to Stacks with Grandma. We tried to fee Abby some scrambled eggs, and she got upset until we realized that she was protesting in favor of feeding herself. As soon as we presented a plate to her for her own feeding she was instantly content. Abby still only rarely holds her own bottle, however. Abby has learned to turn off light switches if Dad holds her next to them. This is very exciting for her.
17-Dec-2004: We have to clear off our nightstands now, because Abby pulls herself up to them and goes after anything on top.
16-Dec-2004: Abby has learned the word 'Tree'. If we say 'where is the tree?', she will turn towards our Christmas tree. Well, almost. We then noticed that she looked at the tree if we also said 'where's momma?', or even 'where is'. So we have to invent a new interrogative for each object, I guess. Abby loves our Christmas tree and likes to gently stroke the needles when dad holds her close to it, positioned so as not to imperil the ornaments.
15-Dec-2004: We have been working on teaching Abby various names for objects. There's one book in particular where a little bear gets up, gets dressed, gets ready for school, etc.; and for each page we'll say something like 'pants...pants...pants', while pointing at the mentioned object. She seems completely engaged and wants us to re-read the book 2-3 times.
14-Dec-2004 - Abby loves Cherios. She likes to feed them to herself. They disolve in her mouth after a few seconds so they're safe from choking. Abby also loves turkey meatballs and sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's. In fact, it seems that Abby is about done with eating baby jarred foods. Her favorite, however seems to be mom's homemade oatmeal. Mom spoons a pile on her tray and Abby manages to get a portion of it in. She also gets excited when Mom is eating something and wants to eat whatever it is also.
30-Nov-2004: Our heater went out this morning so Mom, Abby and Dad did a trip together to Whole Foods. Our heater has a remarkable property in that it works better the warmer it is outside, so when we got home it was working again. Abby rode around in the cart, playing with an orange. We looked at 5 different Cheerio-like products to find the one with lowest sugar. We got a box of cookies that remind Dad of the 'Chockit Bears' that Abby's cousin Dasha loves so much. Jenn found her hard-to-find green tea with brown rice. Dad got a vegetable drink and a prosciuto sandwich for lunch. Dad had to pass on his favorite curried chicken salad as Whole Foods wanted $12 a pound for it. Abby has also learned '2 Diaper Monty' - that is, a game where you put a stuffed animal under one of 2 cloth diapers and she tries to pull off the right diaper. It is fun to watch the gears turning. Abby is really proficient now at getting herself into a sitting position and can cruise all day long along tables, people or cribs.
29-Nov-2004: Jenn has been increasingly feeding Abby solid food. Yesterday Dad helped at dinner time where Abby ate oatmeal and mangoes. She really likes the mangoes. Earlier, Abby and Jenn ate turkey meatballs together. Abby for the first time consistently fed herself as she took little meatball pieces and fed them into her mouth. At night, though it was very cold (in the 30s!) Dad and Abby went for a brief stroll to look at Christmas lights. She was mesmorized by the ones just up our block.
27-Nov-2004: Abby today had some of her Uncle Bill's homemade waffles. She could not get enough of them. She would lean toward Pokey's finger to try and snag the next piece, and if that wasn't enough, she would grab her hand and force it into her mouth.
26-Nov-2004: We had great Italian food at Mammy's house and spent lots of time reminicing about Mammy and our strange experiences at the cemetary. The person there who was getting our arrangements ready thought that Mammy would be buried with her husband Jose (not Joe). Before we went over Dad heard Abby cry pretty loudly, and then stop suddenly. He creeped into her room, saw her laying on her front (as she usually does) and then crept slowing to check on her. He just barely touched her back and she instantly shifted but stopped. Dad then departed knowing all was well.
25-Nov-2004: Today, on Thanksgiving Mammy, one of Abby's greatet fans, died around 7:00 am.
23-Nov-2004: Abby can get close to any piece of furniture or person and clamber her way up to standing without really trying! It is such a complicated series of steps, but it is old hat to her now. She will sometimes then hold on with only one hand, which is no problem, but then release the other hand (Dad calls it going 'EVA') and instantly falls on her bottom.
17-Nov-2004: This morning around 5:30 or so we heard some crying and hammer-like thumping. My first half-awake thought was, boy the construction guys are getting started early. But then I noticed Abby's crying. Jenn got up to check on Abby, and immediately called me in. Our baby was discovered STANDING IN THE CRIB! The thumping was her rattling the front gate to the crib! Abby then fell asleep in Mom and Dad's bed and napped with dad.
Abby also repeated the standing maneuvre during her nap this afternoon, which was disturbed by the construction crew shoring up our creek bank in the back yard (imagine sounds of big rocks falling, bobcats driving and spanish). We're not really sure what to do when she hasn't had her whole nap yet when she's standing and waiting for us.
15-Nov-2004: Today, Abby stood herself up! One minute she was sitting next to the coffee table - the same one we got from Ma Paulin - and the next she was standing up!
27-Oct-2004: Abby is increasing her crawling proficiency rapidly! She needs only a few unattended seconds to achieve essentially any target in sight. She loves to slide around a small end table in the living room and we worry she will topple it. She has a new laugh which is like gaspy, almost nerdy (but not nerdy when she does it) inhaled laugh which we love. She is laughing more often but is also more likely to cry when one of us leaves the room. She is taking a bath almost every day and loves to splash and splash. She now also tries to drink out of the running tap which makes an even greater water mess.
22-Oct-2004: Alone on a Friday night, dad went on his longest bike ride ever. He went up Edgewood, took Canada to Woodside to Woodside Road, then Alameda to Palo Alto. He stopped at the Stanford Shopping mall and felt very conspicuous in his sweats and riding gear. He got a chicken crepe from a new place across from the Stanford theatre called GCup to go. Then he rode home on Alameda. It was over 22 miles! There was one point on Canada where it felt like he was rocket-powered. There must be a slight downhill grade there. He is proud of his road tires on his mountain bike. He seems to notice that some roads have pavement that is easier to roll on than others.
15-Oct-2004: Abby is in Houston with her mom and grandma visiting pokey and having a wonderful time enchanting her various cousing and Houstonians. She seems to have gotten sick though, but the doctor was wonderful. She is absolutely gaga about Pokey and John's cat and she has a great love for John as well. Dad is manning the fort and has just wrapped up his NASA project.
8-Oct-2004: OUR BABY IS ON THE MOVE. She is now doing some basic crawling. Between this and her previously-mastered rolling she can get anywhere from anywhere. She is also extrememly interested in electrical cords.
4-Oct-2004: Abby's official specs from the Doctor are... 29 1/2", 21 lbs 8 oz, 46.8 cm head diameter.
3-Oct-2004: We went to church today. Abby's friends Joshua and Elise Butterfield were in the Nursery to keep her company. We sat next to the Butterfield's and had a great service all about Romans 8 and how the Holy Spirit enables us to die to the flesh. Then we came home, went back to the library (which we discovered is 2 miles away if you take the long Alameda way) to return our 'The Way We Live Now' video with David Suchet. Jenn and Abby tried to take a nap, but Abby just played - seemingly singing along with her Ocean Wonders minor key music and Jenn couldn't doze off. Abby finally fell asleep, and Jenn went to get Abby clothes (some especially needed footie pajamas) and again bumpted into the Butterfield's. Meanwhile Dad napped. Then Abby and Dad went for their walk. They walked down the dirt side of the Alameda hill to see the carnival at the catholic church. There was a 10 year old girl belting out 'hit me with your best shot' followed by 'dancing queen' ala karaoke. We proceeded to our Laurel street - Arroyo route home watching some basketball, tennis and softball at Britain park. At home, Abby took a bath. Ma and Pa Walsh then watched 'Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town'. Dad's favorite line was when Pa Kettle is getting a police interrogation and Ma comes to rescue him. As the police protest Ma taking Pa from the room, they say "what about Habeus Corpus", and Ma replies "we're taking that too". For some reason Dad could not stop laughing at that part. Ma Walsh found it easier to cease the laughter. We feasted on vegetarian corn dogs and non-vegetarian chicken wings from TGI Fridays that Jenn didn't think smelled very good but which dad liked very much especially augmented with Durkee Red Hot sauce. We had huge salads in our big stainless steel mixing bowls to justify ourselves (though the wings are low in carbs*). We went to bed tired but with a very nice, full day. Tomorrow, Dad goes back to NASA again where he is enjoying his programming work.
We notice that Abby is a free spirit. She does not care for having her face or nose wiped even when it needs it. She also resists having her hands enclosed by dad's during the walk even though he is trying to warm them up. She can roll with the best of them and is spending more time practicing standing. Her repetoire of sounds includes ma, da, sss, p, th and new today, na. She has mastered the skill of rasberrying initially taught to her by Grandpa Greg and has no compunctions about demonstrating it often and in every circumstance. She also loves to shake her head though we are unsure of the meaning of the gesture. However she does seem to shake her head when Mom asks her if Abby is ready to watch Perry Mason. She does appear to enjoy the Monk television program perhaps because of the wet wipes. She is becoming more affectionate and more inclined to try and escape from her crib, evidenced by the battered bunting that surrounds the interior of it. She is more and more able to put her arounds around her carrier's neck in almost a monkey-like way. When dad is taking care of her, invariably she will attack his watch as it is the accoutrement that most interests her.
2-Oct-2004: Vicky, Jordan and Libby came for a visit! Dad went to visit them the night before as they had driven up the coast. He had tried to walk down the street he knew they'd be driving down to their hotel and thinks he saw them but it was dark. Anyway, we had breakfast at Stack's, went for a nature walk at Edgewood Park, and had dinner at the Peninsula Fountain in Palo Alto. Abby got a beautiful musical glittering snow globe music box with 5 of the Disney princesses in it and we were blown away. We tried to return their umbrellas that we have transported to 3 different houses since we borrowed them on our Chicago trip 3 years ago but they graciously allowed us to retain them a bit longer. We could not believe how Libby had grown and Dad had a wonderful time picking her up and hearing her laugh. Abby was also completely mesmorized by Libby in a way we had never seen before by adults. It's hard to believe Abby will be running around, getting herself in and out of cars and more all on her own someday!
22-Sept-2004: Abby has for a few weeks now gotten to completely enjoy her bath. She sure splashes up a storm! We have to wipe up afterwards each time. We do the baths in the kitchen sink. Dad helped tonight and particularly enjoyed lathering Abby's perfectly wonderful head. Then it was pajama time, feeding time and bed time. What could be more wholesome and wondeful? Abby continues to reach out and grab anything within range whether it's safe or not. Dad was tired today after a full day at NASA/Ames. It may also be a caffeine crash as he had a full-strength latte for the first time in a while. Today when Jenn came into the nursery to pick up Abby she found Abby facing backwards. When Jenn said 'Is there a little girl named Abby here?' Abby turned around readily and smiled. Abby has learned that she can clamp her mouth shut when she doesn't want any more food or realizes an Oragel (teething pain relief) treatment is about to start.
20-Sept-2004: Abby has mastered the word 'dad'. Or, really. 'Da-da-da-da-da'. She uses this term with Mom as she does with Dad, so it really doesn't have the meaning built in yet. But she is really getting good with her sounds.
11-Sept-2004: Abby has mastered the word 'mom'. Or really, 'mum-mum-mum-mum'. She was seen playing with her hair for what we think is the first time today. She loves to play with a Fisher Price toy where you push various buttons to make aminals pop up. She seems intent on closing them. Maybe she's a neat freak.
10-Sept-2004: Mom and Dad went and played cards with Jenn's family. We met Heather's Boyfriend Josh and his friend Nick. Heather did the best at cards and made lots of great food including brownies. Heidi was also there and told us she's learning to ride a motorcycle.
9-Sept-2004: Abby likes to be held in a new way. It's kind of like a monkey where she straddles mom around the waist. We can't wait for her to actively hold on with her hands too.
6-Sept-2004: Another really hot day. Dad had the day off and took a bunch of pictures so he can sell pinball playfields on ebay. He also took a video of himself riding the old Ninja so he can try and sell it on ebay as well. But the picture is pretty shaky. We watched Tron and a bit of Buckaroo Banzai. It was a trip to the 80s. Dad fed Abby some beans and she loved them. But then she ate a bunch of milk too. We're wondering if it's another growth spurt. Matt got a call from his BSF leader and is excited to be starting it up again.
5-Sept-2004: We had Scott, Claire and Iona over for a visit after church. There are a bunch of pictures here of our incredible kids. We had BBQ chicken and Claire's amazing desert which was the only redeemable food served at the college she went to. After dinner we played a fun card game called Fluxx. After everyone went home and Abby went to bed mom and dad watched 'The Wedding Singer'.
3-Sept-2004: This morning Mom went for her promotional chiropractic exam and dad got an adjustment. Crack! Dad and Abby dropped off some ebay packages at the post office. Dad spent most of the day working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator. Too bad he still doesn't have his 'Super Collider'.
Abby really loves to play with pillows. She laughs if we repeatedly wave on top of her.
2-Sept-2004: This morning, Abby gave Mom her first hug. We couldn't believe it. She also gave one of her kisses. At night we hit the farmer's market in San Carlos just as it was closing and got some bread, a chicken, a product made from lavender, and some more roasted & flavored nuts. Abby only had a one-sy on so I covered her with a vest which she liked to kick around.
More and more, Abby is grabbing everything that's in front of her, so we have to be careful what we walk near to when carrying her around. She loves to play with her simple blocks and Quaker Oats can. Although still not crawling, she is becoming more and more aggressive in moving around. For instance we will find her in her crib in a variety of strange positions.
1-Sept-2004: Abby now weighs 20.4 lbs. That puts her just shy of the 90th percentile. She has so many teeth it's hard to keep count. She's getting better at being in sync with the sleep schedule. Abby loves the new books and bath toys she got from Grandma Kluever.
24-Aug-2004: Abby enjoys her new play pen that we can all sit in at once. It has things to spin, and buttons to push that play music. She often uses 'tools' in the form of toys and such to activate them. She always has this adorable concentrative look on her face as she examines things. She was fascinated today with a toy consisting of a cube with holes on each face for soft shapes that go in them. She liked seeing them drop out the bottom. Dad would make towers of toys, and Abby would knock them down. She really does seem remarkably strong in her grip - she can push Jenn's hands away when administering Oragel. Mom and Abby are in Salinas as Mom has a fever and needs some extra care. Dad dropped them off and came back home. Grandma Jenny, Pokey and Bill went to a concert of an 80 year old drummer. Clint Eastwood was even there.
23-Aug-2004: Abby is REALLY starting to grab things without a second thought. My messy desk is an endless delight of objects to grab. She instantly untied her hat during our walk and held on to the string for a mile or so. Lots of extended 'blah blah blah' (literally) statements. She seems to have mastered the 'b' consanant first. It seems like she tries to talk when 2 adults are speaking to each other so that she can be part of the conversation.
16-Aug-2004: Abby has a little cough, and so this morning she and mom have gone to Dr. Marx to have it checked out. Then later they are going down to Salinas to see her Aunt Margie (her great grandmother's sister) for the first time.
15-Aug-2004: We went to church at Trinity in Sunnyvale so that we could see Lucinda praise God with the praise team one last time before she moves out to Sacramento (Roseville, more precisely). Then afterwards, we had a party at P.F. Chang's. Abby got a bit overwhelmed by the excitement of 25 people, so we left just a bit early. But it was great to see Lucinda, Jennifer Meola, Dan, Pastor Fred and the rest of the folks from Trinity. We came home, dad took a nap, and went to our parenting class. On the way, dad took a picture of this billboard which, in his opinion, is a remarkable piece of nerd lore and a fun programming puzzle. He solved it here. Abby enchanted both of the volunteers in the nursery, and mom and dad heard a moving story about the reconciliation of Pastor Chip Ingram and his son. We then had a great discussion with our group.
13-Aug-2004: Abby was relieved to hear that Grandpa Greg, Aunt Nancy and cousin Whitney were safe after we heard about the hurricane that hit their area of Florida.
12-Aug-2004: Abby got some beautiful new books from Grandma Linda. Her favorite so far is 'Oscar Otter', because inside it has lots of textured things to touch and shiny pictures.
11-Aug-2004: Today, when dad went in to get Abby from a nap, she was waiting for him, peeking through her crib. Abby also had a bath, and dad thinks this picture looks a lot like his sister.
30-July-2004: This morning at around 6:00am Jenn heard a sound like cardboard scratching outside. Fearing it was burglars, she looked out to discover that 2 large racoons were 'playing' in our back yard. In fact, they were utilizing the wading pool we had left full of water. They would play in the water, exit, chase each other, wrestle and repeat. This went on for a good 20 minutes. I tried to video it, but the night mode didn't work with them as far away as they were. In fact they spotted me peeking through the blinds, but quickly disregarded me and returned to their activities.
Today, Jenn gave Abby her second kitchen sink bath and her first with just Jenn. Dad and Abby went for a long walk and along the way received greetings from everyone she met. We rented 'The Gospel According to John'. On the way home on our walk we saw a big shooting star and a huge moon. We had turkey over lettuce and started watching 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'.
29-July-2004: Abby went to get her picture taken at Sears. Grandma went home at night. We finished watching 'Meet John Doe' and made cookies.
28-July-2004: Dad installed Abby's new car seat which will fit her for the next 40 pounds or so.
27-July-2004: Abby has started to 'talk' and 'sing' in her own way. We just don't understand the language. She goes on and on with various 'bla' and 'bluf' sounds in a string of sounds. Sometimes they sound like talking, sometimes like nonchalant rambling, sometimes like singing, sometimes in a near-disgust outburst. Today grandma Kluever and Abby went for a 2 hour walk downtown and got a new dolly. On the way back, Abby seemed to be getting too much exposure, so Dad rode his bike to the rescue to bring them a blanket to cover her from the sun in her stroller. Lots of firsts today. Abby took her first bath in the sink. Abby grabbed for her bear blanket. Abby shook her head rapidly as if she was saying 'no'. She also wore her 'Born to Bowl' shirt she got from Grandpa Walsh. We had Lou Malnati's pizza shipped from Chicago for dinner. Jenn got some new food processing equipment so she can make baby food at home. Aunt Jennifer called to see how Abby was doing. Maybe we'll even try the baby pool in the back yard tomorrow. At night, mom and I compared my baby statistics with Abby's. Somehow, I was an even bigger baby at her age, and didn't crawl until 9 months.
26-July-2004: Abby is having a fabulous time with Grandma. Grandma says she is also having a fabulous time and can't believe how much Abby has changed. She can't get over how she seems to be always smiling and has such a cute laugh. Somehow Grandma doesn't seem to tire out like we do after a whole day with Abby. Abby is getting yet more skilled at turning the aquarium on and off. Jenn and Grandma are working on trying to get Abby on a more consistent sleep schedule. So far, she does seem to be taking longer naps. At night, mom and dad went to see "I, Robot" while Grandma watched Abby.
25-July-2004: Abby did great going to the airport to pick up Grandma. We were a bit concerned she wouldn't remember Grandma and might get scared, but she smiled as soon as Grandma got in the car. Matt is working on a book called 'Stealing Time', about the AOL/Time Warner insanity.
24-July-2004: Abby, Mom and Dad went downtown to the library (not a peep this time) and then had coffee. For the first time, Abby put her hand behind her head. We also put her in the exer-saucer we got from the Schattke's. She seemed almost frantic with excitement with the 'balls in cylinder' part of it. Abby has really gotten better at turning her aquarium crib toy on and off - she did it 5 times in a row today. Tonight we're watching 'Meet John Doe' with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. Tomorrow we pick up Grandma Kluever and can't wait.
23-July-2004: When Jenn calls Abby's name, she turns to look. But dad can't seem to get her to respond. We can also point at something and tell Abby to look, and she does.
20-July-2004: Today, Abby had her first real food - some pureed spinach!. Abby likes to put toys in her mouth and then reciprocate them rapidly against her bottom 2 teeth. She is really tring to crawl but without success yet.
19-July-2004: Abby's has made progress in feeding herself! She held her bottle all on her own to consume a full hearty 1.5 ounces (at which time the bottle ran dry).
18-July-2004: Abby is making progess in her ability to sit up on her own! Though she still needs help, she braces herself with her hands both from falling frontwards and backwards. She also can straighten herself to sit upright after she has fallen where her face is on her feet, not before kissing her own toes. Dad also discovered that old Compact Disks make a great toy for Abby. We watched Preston Sturges' "Sullivan's Travels" as well as a documentary on Preston. Dad recently watched a DVD containing Michael Jordan's greatest moments.
17-July-2004: Abby, Mom and Dad went out to the back yard to play catch with our 'Easy Catch Game' (velcro paddles and hacky sack). We put Abby on the grass on a blanket. After about 5 minutes, however, water erupted from the ground! As we grabbed Abby in panic, we realized that our sprinkler system had turned on according to timer. This was a priceless moment. Abby was not upset after the initial shock.
6-July-2004: Abby flipped from back to front today! She's turned onto her side for several weeks, but now knows how to make her arms follow her legs. Mom and she went for a nice walk earlier this morning, and then Dad took a stroll with Abby to the library, and Mom shuttled her to Target, where Abby was a very good little babycita. Mom and Dad watched "Something's Gotta Give", and Abby is refusing to sleep in her crib, much prefering her Daddy's lap. Today's author is Mom.
4-July-2004: Today Abby celebrated her first 4th of July. At church, she and her good friend Joshua Ferri shared sustained eye contact, and she reached out to him. Back at home, while dad and mom were eating lunch, we would periodically look down at Abby on her play mat, and find her rotated to varying degrees. It was almst as if she was break dancing. Abby then took a really long nap, part of it spent laying on top of dad while he lay on the couch. Later we went to a party hosted by Rob and Julie Schilling. Abby wore the bottoms to her 'stars and stripes' bikini with her 'love American style' shirt. We had a wonderful BBQ, then walked down to Hillsdale Ave and parked ourselves on the pavement. But as soon as the fireworks started, Abby began to cry. She settled down, got scared again, and then we covered up her ears with Rob's fleece vest. This helped a lot, and then shortly afterwards Abby went into 'Baby Shutdown Mode' and closed her eyes in apparent sleep for the duration. Then we went back to the Schilling's, had some desert and watched some of them play 'Settlers', a game we had heard the Kilner's and Chris talk about in the past. Mom and dad are watching a 'History of Rome' PBS special.
3-July-2004: Abby has grown increasingly fascinated with her feet. She likes to kick them, but also likes to grab them now. She can grab her left foot with left hand, right with right, and sometimes even go 'cross court'. Abby today also gave her first 'smack' type of kiss today...she's been giving kisses for some time now where she just gets close to you with her mouth open, but she gave a more traditional smack sounding kiss to mom and dad today.
2-July-2004: Abby is now showing her second tooth! Abby is also now a master of transferring objects between one hand and the other. Today Abby also did some drumming using plastic baby spoons and measuring cups upon our yogurt containers.
21-June-2004: This is the first entry on our new, super powerfull server! We're talking dual processor, 1 GB of RAM power!
20-June-2004: Abby, though she has yet to taste solid food, seems to be practicing chewing. Well, either that or someone has secreted some gum to her as sometimes that's what it looks like she's doing. Abby really likes being picked up on her sides so that we can 'airplane' her above us. She also, when practicing her standing, likes it if we lift her up in the air with an accompanying 'voon!' when she kicks as if she's doing it herself.
We are also noticing that Abby is just starting to try and roll from back to front...she very seemed close once, but didn't seem to be really trying very hard. We try and let her practice crawling, but as soon as we get her on her front she immediately and purposefully rolls onto her back.
19-June-2004: Mom, Dad and Abby went for a long walk...watched some local baseball, browsed the downtown art faire, got a peach and nectarine from the downtown produce store, went to Starbucks, went to the library, and went home. But the walk might have taken a bit out of Jenn as her back became very sore.
16-June-2004: Abby's first tooth has made an appearance! Stay tuned!
29-May-2004: This morning dad and Abby got up early and cleaned the kitchen and got the bottles made. Then, after Abby took a nap we went for a LONG walk - all the way down Alameda to San Carlos Ave, to Laurel, to Brittan and back again. Meanwhile mom stayed home and organized the house, especially Abby's closet. During the walk Abby was admired by many of San Carlos' finest, including a member of its museum. Dad wolfed down a turkey sandwich at a coffee & sandwich shop, and got some free anti-static bags for some of his eBay items from our friendly local computer store. Later on we all piled in the cat to go to Costco, only to discover it closes at 6:00. Darn. So we went to Belmont Safeway instead. We had frozen California Pizza Kitchen Jamaican Jerk pizzas for dinner and watched just a bit of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Lady in Green'. Abby was a bit reticent to finally go to sleep and even the jumper wouldn't wear her down. We are excited that Grandma Kluever can watch Abby on her birthday while we go to Chris' and Melody's wedding. We are also very excited that Great Aunt Nancy, Grandpa Greg and the real Aunt Jenn are coming next week! Abby wishes Grandpa Greg the best during his bowling competition in Reno. Jenn is reading 'Tom Sawyer' and laughing on every page it seems.
27-May-2004: In Abby's jumper she and her dad exchanged an extended exchange of what sounded like the word 'hi'. She likes the jumper more and more. She is also taking a much greater interest in her car keys which Grandma Kluever gave her. She examines them in careful detail. She also is enjoying trying to stand more and more. Dad supports her the whole time of course. She is also practicing her sitting but doesn't enjoy that as much. Today, Mom and Abby went to Molly Stone's at which Abby "sat" in the shopping cart for the first time. She handled it on her own for a bit but ultimately this short shopping trip required mom to support Abby as they traversed the aisles. Mom bought out their remaining supplies of the Atkin's Shake mix with the 'good chocolate'. As for rolling from front to back, she has now done it on the much more challenging bed, and has been seen rolling both clockwise and counterclockwise. At one time we wondered if the rolling was deliberate, but now we're sure...it is a complicate ballet of movements and once she even seemed to do it on cue as I verbally expressed doubt. Abby and Jenn walk just about every day. Mom and dad watched 'Harvey', learning that it's better to be pleasant than smart...
26-May-2004: Abby, Matt and Jenn went to the Palo Alto Baja Fresh Burrito to support Jeremiah's Promise. We ran into Jody Lovejoy, who is putting her all into this new ministry. On the way home Jenn did something she rarely does; she rode in the back seat and fed Abby as we drove home. Mom and dad watched 'Remains of the Day'
24-May-2004: Since trying it out in Salinas, Abby has gotten to very much like her jumping aparatus. We have been going on more Bjorn walks too. When playing on her floor in on the playmat, Abby will use one toy to bash another. Abby rolls over as before from time to time. She also (with Dad and Mom's help) practicing her sitting up. She can't quite do it without help yet. Abby and mom read the 'I Spy' book together. Abby dislikes a partiuclar duck. But more importantly, as Jenn alternates from pointing at the picture to find to the jumble of pictures in which to search, Abby follows Jenn's finger. Tonight mom and dad watched Barton Fink and then tried to deciper it. Once again we were blessed when Abby went to sleep at 9pm for the count.
23-May-2004: Mom rushed off to the annual San Carlos Library Book Sale to get a $5 bag of books while Dad watched Abby. Dad had gotten his share of self help, computer and business books the day before. At church, for some reason Abby has for the 2nd time of 2 tries gotten dissatisifed at the nursery leading them to page us visually with 'her number' in the sanctuary. Strangely, though, she is perfectly happy in the same nursery for Jenn's Wednesday Bible study. Abby watched a softball (12") game with dad - though she was asleep most of the time.
19-May-2004: While down at Grandma's, Abby gave dad a birthday gift - SHE ROLLED OVER!. She was on her front during 'tummy time' on her play mat and rolled onto her back. She was suprized by this, and is now in the process of trying again!
15-May-2004: Abby, Jenn and Matt went to "Hometown Days" in San Carlos. There was music, pony rides, food and various carnival like activities. We made our way to the children's store on Laurel and San Carlos and bought a new blue hat suitable for protecting Abby when carried in her Baby Bjorn. On the way back we stopped at the library, where Abby decided to begin a concert of her own after a full day of silence. Dad and Mom are alternatively watching 'Children of Dune' and 'Manor House'.
11-May-2004: This morning dad took Abby for their first morning Baby Bjorn walk to try and sooth Abby's crying from teething. It worked. Leter, Abby turned a page...literally. We were holding a book in front of her (a vinyl one with thick pages) and she turned a page all by herself. Wow. Then she did it again. She is really impressing us with her dexterity. And guess which hand she used! On a sad note, tonight Abby for the first thing threw up. But a quick bath and some soothing and she was soon in bed. Dad read his BSF lecture notes while carrying Abby in her Bjorn. Jenn and Abby went on a walk through a different and less shady (more sunny) section of town than they usually go, because it was dark anyway. Abby had her canopy wide open to have a full view of mom and her surrounginds. Mom and dad started watching the British show 'Manor House', where they re-create life in a big, well, Manor House in Edwardian England times. We thought of how 'Jeeves' was created in that era.
10-May-2004: We are sure Abby is now teething from the telltale drooling and inconsistent crying. The frozen washcloth seems to work pretty well. We met my high school friend Mike and wife Alesha Cozzie for dinner in Fremont and had a great time.
5-May-2004: Today Abby started making some REALLY extensive sounds. More of them than usual in a row, and some really enthusiastic high ones. Stay tuned for a movie of it. Wow. It is amazing how she goes from half-cries to laughs. We think she has kind of discovered her voice and is using it for all it's worth. Abby is getting increasingly profiecient at sucking her thumb! Dad is getting ready to go back to Indiana for Great Grandma Walsh's funeral this weekend. Abby and Jenn are staying home as the Walsh clan is coming out to see her in a month or so. Jenn Meola and Andrew are coming by tonight to see Abby!
4-May-2004: Dad assembled Abby's 'Vibra-Chair' and Abby instantly loved sitting in it. We use the vibrate option only as a last resort. In the evening we went to our small couples group and once again Abby was marvelous in that she didn't greatly distract the adults.
3-Mat-2004: Anyway, Abby went to the Doctor and got a perfect bill of health. She is now 25 inches long and 16.75 pounds. Her head is also a healthy 43 centimeters around. We learned all about tummy time (it's ok if she doesn't want to, her neck is strong, and we can use a 'johnny jumper' instead), TV (it's ok to watch it here and there as entertainment), her lungs (they sound perfect), and staring at lights and fans (it's ok). Oh yeah, and we were told that we can think about starting some solid food, though we plan on waiting.
1-May-2004: Whew, it's been a long time since we've done a log entry. Abby got a nice long ride in her carrier with dad around the neighborhood at night. She was mesmorized the entire time and made no more than 2 vocalizations. We stopped and watched the tail end of a baseball game and generally had fun looking at trees, lights and houses. We came home and had beef stroganoff.
19-Apr-2004: We really think Abby must be a southpaw now, because in experiments involving a small green plastic phone that belonged to her dad 34 years ago, she eagerly grips and holds it in her left hand for many minutes at a time, while she holds it only fleetingly in her right. She also got her first ride in her swing and was immediately and significantly captivated. Abby is staying awake more and more during walks with mom.
18-Apr-2004: Jenn and Matt watched a funny British movie called "Kind Hearts and Coronets" with Alec Guiness playing many different roles. We are definitely up past our normal 32 ounces/day now in food consumption and would like to get a larger Pyrex measuring cup.
17-Apr-2004: Dad was home alone this weekend as Abby went down to visit her aunt Deanna in Salinas and missed her and mom very much. Jenn and Deanna had a lovely time in Monterey too, and Jenn wishes she could see Deanna more often.
8-Apr-2004: A major milestone today; Abby is now aware of her hand. You can see her deliberately practice the action of moving her arm so that her hand is in front of her face. When it gets there, she just stares at it as long as she can hold it there. We also notice an increased awareness to items in a room. When we put her on our bed today, she instantly looked right at our fan, even though it was off. More and more laughing today of the gasp-like kind when watching the fan spinning. When Jenn sang to her, she seemed to really be staring at Jenn's mouth and even seemed to be mouthing back at her in imitation.
7-Apr-2004: Abby is now 15.2 pounds!. We went for another late evening walk (with a flashlight this time) and ran into a couple with a baby who weighs about the same as Abby. Said baby is 6 month old. We have switched to the #2 Avent nipples - time has really flew, we had forgotten that the #1 size should have been outgrown a couple months ago. Anyway, this seems to have sped up the feeding process. Dad did a drum practice/tryout at church, and on the way back unashamedly bought a cartload of baby stuff at Target.
3-Apr-2004: While vacationing in Carmel, mom and dad went and bought some socks which have integrated feathers. Grandma Roush had previously located these.
2-Apr-2004: Today we realized that almost everything Abby does, she does with her left hand. We're not sure if it's because we put her crib mirror (with integrated 'Mr. Bird' she likes to hit) on her left, or if she is like her Uncle Rowdy or her ambidextrous Grandpa Greg. We're trying to balance it out by putting things on her right too. There are more and more sounds to accompany the smiling, still not quite what you might call a giggle though. We notice Abby smiles throughout the day, not just in the mornings (where she used to smile most). We also thought we might have heard some cooing.
1-Apr-2004: Grandma Kluever had to go home today. Abby misses her already. Grandma seemed to really have a way of making Abby talk. We have lots of great video shot of it. At night, Abby did something astounding - she uttered the work 'OK'. I'm not kidding. We even have video of it. We re-watched this a dozen times.
31-Mar-2004: Grandma Kluever bought Abby a really neat mobile. She watches it endlessly. In fact, we have to disable it else she'd never go to bed. Abby has really enjoyed the walks grandma goes on with her.
30-Mar-2004: During 'tummy time' we fascinated Abby by dangling our new illuminated easter eggs in front of her.
27-Mar-2004: Whew, long time since our update! Well, Grandma Kluever arrived today! She was instantly taken by Abby. We treated her to a couple of Lou Malnati pizzas. Dad also installed a really cute ceiling fan. Abby has always been fascinated by the fan in our master bedroom, so we decided to install one in her room too. This one is kind of neat; it has primary colored-blades. She instantly found it and watches it go around.
21-Mar-2004: Check out photos from AbbysDedication!
16-Mar-2004: Abby is continually improving her ability to laugh. Some raspy sounds have come out as well as some loud exclamations. No giggles as yet. She also is playing the tongue game more and more, sometimes initiating by sticking hers out first. Today she went for another installment of baby massage, and once again the massage led her to go to the bathroom during class. No matter. For lunch Abby wore an adorable outfit sent by Aunt Doris & Uncle John. Pokey and Jenny are doing a wonderful job taking care of Abby and she has been sleeping through the night a good percentage of the time. We have also seen that when Abby is not around mom or dad for a long period of time she seems to miss us. Mom and dad started watching a movie about a spelling bee. Because it has been so warm, Abby is often found wearing only her diaper. Abby's eyes are still wonderfully blue, but what surprises dad is that the whites of her eyes also have a blue tinge. Abby is also very excited that her Grandma Kluever is coming very soon too! Jenn found out she may have a milk, soy and yeast allergy, so she and dad are trying to go without.
10-Mar-2004: Abby once again showed she can sleep as well as anyone by sleeping for 7 hours. Wow. Dad took Abby out by the creek where a small patch of yellow flowers called sourgrass is growing. We picked one and put it behind Abby's ear to surprise mom. We finished off watching 'The Women'. At night we reprised our walk downtown only this time brought a bottle and went to our beloved Italian restaurant 'San Remo'. It was dark for the entire walk both ways. Along the way we saw some baseball and soccer practicing at the park. Abby could not get enough sounds and sights especially at dinner where she kept intently looking up. We saw lots of other babies and toddlers downtown. She fell asleep half the way home. Abby is making more and more of what we call 'little cat' sounds because that's exactly what they sound like. They are often used in a state of semi-distress before crying. In general she seems to be trying to make more 'people' sounds here and there as opposed to the standard baby crying and grunting sounds. We are finding we have to work harder to burp Abby than before. But more and more we think Abby is such a good baby in that she rarely puts up a fuss except when her little basic needs aren't met.
9-Mar-2004: Abby and Jenn went to part 2 of the Baby Massage class taught by the wonderful Nancy Hill. Afterward they went and got all kinds of goodies (including hummus and a sushi lunch for dad) from Molly Stone's. Abby is becoming much more proficient with her neck when held upright (e.g. for burping). At night, Abby, Mom and Dad went for a walk all the way from our house to downtown San Carlos. It was nice because Abby could ride with 'the top down' since there was little to no sun. We were going to have a coffee and maybe dinner when Abby got very hungry, and without a bottle we had to go home. Over dinner we watched the Latin Jazz movie 'Calle 54'. It is getting warmer where Abby can wear her legless, short sleeve outfits.
8-Mar-2004: Last night Abby slept an extremely impressive 6.5 hours straight! Grandma and Jenn put her grass skirt on her but alas it is too big. Dad is working remotely from Salinas today as their cable modem enables him to work just as well from here as from home (though he misses his kinesis keyboard ). We can see Abby's gums more because she is laughing and smiling more than ever (though the laughs are mostly silent)
7-Mar-2004: We took Abby to Cypress Community Church, which is where we got married. We were very proud to show her to Pastor Rich and he was excited to see her. Later than day, Abby invented a new game; she looks at herself in her mirror and sticks her tongue out at herself.
6-Mar-2004: Abby slept through the night! for the first time. Well all slept from 12:30 to 8:30. It's a whole new day. We're going to see grandma Roush and while we're there will be seeing 'The Passion'.
28-Feb-2004: In the morning, Andrea and Neil made a wonderful breakfast. Later, Chris came to see Abby, Andrea and Neil. Chris' fiance Melody couldn't make it as she is visiting friends in Illinois. We watched 'Johnny English' and 'Bruce Almighty' staying up too late.
27-Feb-2004: Abby had her checkup this morning, and weighed 11 lbs 6 ounces. She is perfectly on track for a perfectly normal baby. We gave Abby another bath, and this time she tried to do push ups when we had her on her tummy - a big first stem toward crawling! Andrea and Neil have come from Santa Barbara to meet Abby! She also found out this morning that her great grandma Walsh had a very successful operation and should be back on her feet much quicker than I would have thought possible. She still can't wait to meet her. At night, we treated A&N to some Baby Einstein installments.
26-Feb-2004: We have started to put Abby into her crib (vs. her bassinet). We installed her mirror (which has integrated toys), and she loves it. It makes is much easier to put her down because she entertains herself with the toys on the mirror until she falls asleep. This thing was worth its weight in gold. It features a dangling bird, and Abby loves to swat it, and generally smack the entire mirror assembly.
25-Feb-2004: We unwrapped some episodes of Baby Einstein. Abby seems to like them pretty well, though not as captivated as we hear her cousin Dasha is. Her parents are still trying to work out the subtleties of the plot.
22-Feb-2004: Grandma Jenny made her famous muffins, and this time using almond powder in place of half the flour. Abby went to church for the first time today and boy did she do great. We sat back by the rest of the kids, and Abby hardly made a whimper. Our great friend Pat Portman, Sean & Sarah, Loretta and a new friend named Marie (with son James) greeted Abby and us. We are trying to get signed up at our church to see The Passion of the Christ and have been talking all about it. We made another Costco run in which we bought the 'Baby Einstein' set. JohnYates says his little one Dasha loves it, and we hope Abby does too. We don't expect to get much entertainment value out of it ourselves. During 'Tummy Time' Abby continues to cry even with her new special pad aparatus for the purpose. We watched another Jeeves with Grandma Roush. Also took some video footage but need to get it grabbed and squashed for the web. Abby has added some new utterances to her repetoire. There is a very cute new yelp we've heard a few times now. Mom and dad both immediately noticed that this was a 'new' sound.
21-Feb-2004: We got a video camera! The Sony HC40. We really like it. Very small, and easy to use. Tough call against the older TRV22, which has somewhat better low light performance but is heavier and bulkier. It is great fun taking footage and then watching it later. Funny how it can be more fun to watch it on the TV than to actually live it. The video editing software that comes with WinXP is also very easy to use. I just plugged in the Camcorder into the firewire and poof, it worked! Dad wrote some improved extensions to the website to make it easier to upload lots of pictures. Grandma Jenny and Granpa Ken came up, and on the way bought a glider for their house. Jenn couldn't quite decide on one for ourselves yet. We ate at Max's in celebration of Ken's birthday. Ken went back down home but Jenny stuck around which allows us to sleep through the night (hooray!).
20-Feb-2004: We watched 'The Lady Vanishes'. I had seen it before, but I liked it just as much. It was new to Jenn.
19-Feb-2004: Abby now not only looks at the bathroom mirror but has also reached out and touched it. She had a really long outing with mom at the DMV to renew the Saturn's registration.
18-Feb-2004: Mom and Abby went on a long stroll to the library. This was a big accomplishment! We rented a lot of movies, and watched the first one, Sunset Boulevard. Now I know where "I'm ready for my closeup Mr. DeMille" comes from. Abby's eyes now look much more blue than her dark blue green from before.
16-Feb-2004: Jenn's Birthday! Abby is more mesmorized by the bathroom mirror than ever. Now, when brought to her changing area she immediately turns her head to try and see her reflection. This was the first time we've really seen evidence of something that Abby remembers. Dad swore it looked like she was experimenting waving her hands at herself with realization. Abby is also fascinated by our ceiling fan when we have it turned on. She just watches it spin and spin. And last of her fascinations, when we watched Gentleman's Agreement tonight, Abby was riveted to the movie. We told her that Grandpa Greg's name was inspired by the star of that movie. Earlier Dad made a sleeping area for her on our bed with a 'slot' between some pillows and a comforter. She feel asleep very quickly, in part we think because we had jazz music softly playing on the radio. We are also seeing more and more smiles, especially as she dozes off.
14-Feb-2004: Valentine's day! Dad put together the stroller, and for the first time we went for a walk from our house to downtown and back. Abby enjoyed herself thoroughly and expressed this through continual sleep. Bumps in the sidewalk do not wake her up. In fact, she only stirred when we stopped moving. We are very happy with our alinum-framed Metrolite stroller recommended by Sean and Dana. We saw the very nice Burton park where we plan to spend a lot of time. It is eveh equipped with swings that will accomodate a toddler. We met our neighbors Danny and Jan with their dog Kaylee, and all 3 were impressed with Abby. Mom and dad had filet mignon and watched 'Jeeves and Wooster' with no Abby waking interruptions! Abby seems to like when we have the Jazz radio station playing in our bedroom. She is doing a bit more smiling which we love to see. Last night, she went almost 4.5 hours between feedings!
13-Feb-2004: Last night, we observed a very intriguing phenomena. Twice, we went to check on Abby in her crib (or bassinet, really, a smaller version of a crib) only to find her rotated 90 degrees from where we had placed her. This baby's preparing to go mobile - she's already on the move even on her back. We also notice that she seems to be able to entertain herself for longer periods of time on her own. Last, and certainly not least, she has gotten even cuter. We are now watching season 1 of the "Larry Sanders Show" on DVD during feedings.
11,12-Feb-2003: Dad had to visit a customer site to tweak the Linpack/HPL benchmark. He experienced a power trip when he nearly achieved 1 Teraflop of computational processing. He was ready to shout out '1.21 Gigawatts' ala Doc Brown in 'Back to the Future'. In a fun coincidence, he ran into a fellow ex-pinball factory employee named Brian Lavender who worked at Data East. Mom carried the load in a huge way to enable dad to get enough sleep to make it! We've noticed Abby has much more control of her neck - she can hold her head upright and search for food when we are holding her vertically. Before, she could sort of lift her head, scan, then let it plop back down.
10-Feb-2004: We have noticed that, like the rest of her family, television seems to mesmorize Abby. We don't think she can really see the TV as it is too far away, but perhaps she likes the changing light patterns. Abby also seems more and more mesmorized when looking at faces - she is happy to stare into your eyes for many minutes at a time.
9-Feb-2004: First update in a while; dad was at the ISMC conference while mom and Abby were down in Salinas at Grandma & Grandpa Roush's house. As soon as dad arrived in Salinas he could tell Abby had dramatically grown. What a difference a week makes! But dad came back with a cold and despite his best efforts spread it to everyone, including Abby - though it's just a bit of congestion. So Jenn took Abby to the doctor, and though she is just a bit conjested her ears are clear and she has no fever. But, we also learned that Abby now weighs 10 pounds!.
31-Jan-2004: Abby is now 1 month old. She has also outgrown her first clothing: her Gerber snap up 'onesy' outfits are now too small. Dad has gone to the ISMC conference and misses Abby and Jenn already.
29-Jan-2004: More and more head control, and also lots more action with hands. When I held out my hand, she would reach out and touch it. Then later during a particularly ravenous feeding she pulled on my hands for almost an entire bottle's worth as if to say 'MORE, MORE!' Then afterwards she seemed to fold her hands. Jenn took a few pictures to her women's Bible study at Central Peninsula Church and her friends were in awe. Her friend, Anne from the class gave Jenn some very cute clothes. Jenn says Abby will look like a daffodil in them as a hat is included. Dad proudly showed off Abby at his tax session for the year to his accountant, who was impressed by her timely arrival 11 hours and 53 minutes before the new year. And impressed that she was cute, too. Dad is watching the supplements for 'The Two Towers', and mom is watching a Canadian animation festival DVD.
28-Jan-2004: During an all-night programming marathon, Abby sat with dad in his office so that mom could sleep. She sat in her car seat on top of his computer table. This seems to work pretty well especially as a place to put her while fetching things for her feedings - less stress than when splayed on her back.
27-Jan-2004: Without a doubt, Abby is now staring into our faces more than ever. We have discovered that making gentle sounds or singing songs help her go to sleep. Jenn thinks that Abby responds better when we use a more animated tone of voice, that perhaps there is a rhyme and reason to 'baby talk'. I too have noticed that she does not seem that interested in joining me in a dignified discussion of financial news. We have also noticed that Abby has an interest in mirrors. She seems to crane her neck to look at the mirror from the spot where we change her in the bathroom. More experiments to follow. Dad is watching 'A Matter of Life and Death' on our DVD player after discovering the region free code for the Daewoo DVDP480 (7935).
26-Jan-2004: Abby is now part of the system. Yes, she received her Social Security card. Mom and dad have watched 'Cheap, Fast and Out of Control', which is a documentary on a lion tamer, topiary expert, robotics professor and mole rat scholar. Very interesting. Dad has finally gotten time to get a haircut, but got ore than he bargained for as his barber 'Art' cut it much shorter than he expected.
24-Jan-2004: Carl, Dawn, Gregory, Carissa and Kaylee Schattke came over today and gave us some great new baby outfits and a new blanket. It is really great to see their family especially because it is a preview as to what it will be like to have kids in the 3-8 year old range. They brought KFC, just what Jenn wanted. Later, Dad got one heck of a short haircut. Chalk it up to using a new barber. Hopefully Abby will still recognize him. Abby more and more wants to look at faces.
23-Jan-2004: Abby has been been learning to crawl on her belly. We have been letting her try to climb our chests. We use our hands as places for her to push up with her feet. She can make it the entire way, though with great effort and with speed unlikely to win any races with anything but snails. It is fun to think that she's getting exercise!
22-Jan-2004: We got an adorable pink outfit from John and Mary Urrutia (irreplacable Andrea's parents). Mother and daughter are greatly enjoying napping together. Sometimes napping can substitute for food if Abby is getting borderline food induced crankiness. Early this morning during a feeding Abby made a series of smiles for dad - it was the first time he had seen it - though others have reported sightings. Abby looks up at us more and more. Today after Jenn came in from her walk she looked up at Jenn with her brow wrinkled. I'm not sure who was captivated more! Jenn is now watching 'Sweet Charity', which is an odd nexus of the other shows we've been watching. Shirley McClean was also in 'The Apartment'. And, the episode of 'Good Neighbors' that we watched tonight over dinner was all about how Margot's music society was putting on a production of it. Jenn had started to watch 'Streetcar Named Desire' but it seemed too depressing. Also, we have noticed that Abby really likes the blanket that Aunt Doris made for us.
21-Jan-2004: Abby is requiring a bit more finesse in getting her to go to sleep. We also learn how sometimes things work, and sometimes the same thing won't. Yesterday, Jenn used the song 'You Are My Sunshine' to quell crying during a diaper change. But today it didn't work. This is not like working on a car or computer (well, I guess computers are inconsistent and finicky too!).
20-Jan-2004: Dad watched 'Usual Suspects' while feeding Abby. I hope Abby didn't pick up any of the foul language. She still does not like changing outfits, but she seems now to instinctively bring her knees up to assist the changer (and indeed it does make it easy). Sleeve installation tends to be trickier. She tends to 'jam up' by bending her elbow in mid-sleeve. Really, the trick is to be very fast and change her before she has time to think about it. Today, Mom went to her first 'MOPS' meeting (a Christian mothers group) and Dad took care of Abby. It was the first time this new MOPS chapter had met and Jenn heard some great speakers. It was also the first time he did a conference call while doing a feeding. No one seemed to mind the occasional sucking and cooing sounds. The hands free earpiece and 'mute' made it possible. At this point Abby's navel looks to be completely free of the scabs and such. Late at night, we got a UPS delivery from Grandpa Greg, Great Grandma Becky and Great Aunt Nancy. We got some fabulous books: one is a Dr. Dobson devotional Jenn is very excited about (she likes Dr. D a lot). We also liked the magazine that was on infant massage as it is something we had already planned on trying.
19-Jan-2004: Today, Abby crests 7 pounds! 7 lbs 5 ounces to be exact. Wow! She still seems very 'svelte' - not chubby like most babies. But all is on track. She has a new pose where she rests her head on her hand. In fact Abby really likes to use her hands, especially during really 'intense' feeding moments. Sometimes she inadvertantly punches us, which can be dangerous with her deadly sharp nails. Today, as always she showed us how much she likes to ride in the car - not a whimper, just silence and cooing. When Jenn took a nap in the afternoon, Abby got a bit noisy so Jenn put Abby with her in our bed, surrounded by anti-roll pillow barriers. But Jenn was so concerned she didn't sleep much better. We are watching 'Good Neighbors' as video entertainment.
18-Jan-2004: Grandma Roush went home today. But before she did, she created a schedule to help mom and dad keep track of all the things we need to keep on top of - especially the (many) things Grandma was doing for us while she was here. Dad likes that there is somewhat of a structure to help his procrastination/forgetfulness.
17-Jan-2004: We are now watching 'The Apartment' when we need to pass time while feeding and such.
16-Jan-2004: Abby can really pack in the food. Wow. Typical babies eat 2-3 ounces per feeding at this point. Abby almost always eats 4 oz, and sometimes even 5 or more. Where does it all go? Actually, never mind, we know the answer to that question.
15-Jan-2004: Abby lost her belly button plug. Well, it was hanging on by the slimmest thread, and dad helped it the rest of the way. Abby didn't seem too excited. I guess pretty soon we do a normal bath! It also makes diaper installation easier. Grandma Jenny also got a diaper wipe warmer. We hoped that having nice, warm wipes would reduce her propensity to cry during a change. But sadly, this did not. Grandma also made a huge heaping amount of her world famous turkey burgers. Abby's friend Jennifer Meola came by and gave Abby some wonderful flowers and got to have a little visit.
14-Jan-2004: Jenn watches 'An American in Paris' while nursing in the baby room on said TV/DVD unit. Matt has learned all kinds of things about Gene Kelly as he waits for builds and runs of the software he's working on.
13-Jan-2004: Today is the first day Abby does not cry when we change her. She also seems to just barely be able to see us as she turns just a bit to look at us. We bought her a TV/DVD combo for her room which mom likes very much also. We watched Monsters Inc.
12-Jan-2004: Abby now weighs almost 6 lbs 8 ounces - just over her birth weight. She is gaining 1 oz a day - which is right on schedule.
11-Jan-2004: Abby is more and more using her hands to grab things and is very adept at kicking nearby objects and people.
9-Jan-2004: Our wonderful friends Sean and Dana Faris, our partners in this adventure and who are expecting in mid February, came by with some beautiful roses (for Abby's middle name, Rosalee) and some pink frosted cookies that Abby's dad soon devoured. -- MattWalsh - 13 Jan 2004
For lunch we met Sarah and Adam Corkins at the Creperie for lunch and had a great time. Abby was so well behaved given how long she sat there while the adults talked. We dropped by the library, but Abby & Mom had to remain in the car because Abby had gotten her jeans wet with water from the restaurant and we didn't think etiquette allowed brining a diaper-clad 3 year old into the library. Back at home, Abby commented on the holes in Daddy's jeans. Daddy explained that they came that way. Abby then pointed out Daddy's black belt, and said it came from the men's clothing store. I said, no, it was not in fact the belt we had been shopping for at said store. She then said that I still needed to go buy one from the men's clothing store. And added "and pants". She then went down for one of the latest-starting naps ever. Dad and Abby played quite a bit of the 'Goodnight Moon Game' on the bed. Then Abby played in the laundry basket for a while. Dad then tried a variation on the GMG that didn't seem to stick. Mom climbed on the bed, and Abby unsuccessfully instructed her to move from her spot for Abby's occupation. We detected a bit of pseudo hitting with pillow then balloon in protest to which we required and received an apology and hug. Shortly afterward, mom and Dad were discussing a catalog that had just arrived containing all kinds of things including 'Bratz'-themed items. We went on to talk about how pleased we are that Abby likes to play with constructive toys (like blocks/Lincoln Logs/etc) rather than being a glamour-driven girl using her charms to get ahead. Abby then walked into the room and said "can I have my makeup?" (referring to her play makeup bag with a brush and empty compact). Abby watched a bit of her Sesame Street "Learning About Letters" video before doing her pre-bed routine, which includes some singing. Tonight Mom sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness", stopping at certain points to see if Abby can complete the verse. She is able to finish "There is no" with "shadow of turning with thee". Many months later, Abby still starts her prayer with "Thank you God we got to go to the fair". Abby now insists in case we forget to get a goodnight hug and kiss before we close her door at night.
16-Dec-2006: Abby has began reguarly pointing to things and saying "What's this called?". It's the first of these kind of questions she has asked. She has not yet started the "why" questions yet. Little does she know that asking 'why' 5 times to probe into something is a principle used by Toyota to find the root truth of a problem. While Mom and Dad were talking, Abby held a little US flag. She then said the Pledge of Alliegance just up until the word 'Republic'. They sing this at BSF. We had dinner with the Payne's at Red Robin. Abby at first wanted to call it "Red Robbins" ala Baskin Robbins, but we were able to teach the distinction to her. A car cut in half serving as the hostess station made a particularly lasting impression on her. She and Maggie did a good deal of jumping with baloons. They also conversed extensively; something I hadn't see Abby do with other kids much before (vs. adults). We then went to the Ferri's for a desert party. Abby loved playing with Joshua's golf set and shape sorter. The cookies were terrific, and Abby sat at the table so that each plate was within reach. Had Daddy not governed her intake no cookie would have been unmolested. Sean Ferri put on the Disney/Scrooge McDuck version of "A Christmas Carol". Abby was absolutely focused on the presentation. We marvelled at how Josh can quote "You don't understand the power of the dark side" (sometimes substituting "ducks" for "dark side"). On the way home we asked Abby if she had fun with each kid at the party. (e.g. "Did you have fun with __?", one at a time). At the end of the list of kids she added "I had fun with myself". We also drove by the Christmas lights on Eucalyptus and Carmelita streets.
3-Dec-2006: We heard about the Cal Train Christmas Train and went to see it at the San Mateo station tonight. We got there just at the right time, donated our toy and waited. The train, with lights all over it, slowly pulled into the station. There were lots of folks there but Abby could see fine perched up on Daddy's shoulders. Then Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, some guy that I think was the mayor of the North Pole & wife and a 'Christmas Bear' emerged with a number of Marines to shake our hands and present us with candy canes. As we have prevented Abby from eating candy, we intercepted some before Abby got them and others we took possession of to 'hold them for later'. We walked down to the far end of the train and found a flat car with a troup of singers singing Christmas songs and carols. We were so pleased to hear some actual Christian ones. And the train even had a caboose. Abby was entranced. She was unafraid of Santa and reached out and shook his hand. As we were driving home Abby identified a Burger King sign. She really has her logos down. She also insisted she saw 3 letter 'A's somewhere. We then went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Abby sat in a booster seat on the booth (which is a special privilege vs. the high chair) and behaved very nicely, though there was a brief altercation over some additional fries of Mommies she wanted (and did not get despite whining). She showed how she can climb up and dismount from the counter stools as well. Mom even splurged for a kid's size shake, as did Dad. We got gas for our car, drove down our local Christmas display on Eucalyptus street and arrived at home. Daddy quickly cauled the doorway he's been recently re-doing in the living room as Abby went to bed.
2-Dec-2006: One of Mom & Dad's challenges lately is handling Abby's whining. It's becoming a bit of a bad habit.
29-Nov-2006: Abby had a total hysterical 20 minute meltdown after she came home from church and discovered her sweater had been left behind. Absolutely inconsolable, and she refused to even come into the house. She wanted to immediately go back and get it. Mommy did not cave, though. Even after he nap, the first thing she said was "we need to go back [to church] and get my sweater" (though calmly). Daddy and Abby went out on their weekly outing. On one hand Abby wanted to go to Fresh Choice primarily because they have pudding. But on the other hand her heart was set on the Pizza Bakery. We went to the latter - Mountain Mike's on El Camino in Redwood City. Before going in Daddy asked Abby what she wanted on the pizza. She said "Olive, sausage, and.....onion!". Which is what we ordered. Daddy also took Abby to the salad bar with her on his shoulders so that she could indicate what she wanted. She most certainly wanted and received raw onions, plus tomatoes, beans, lettuce, mini-corn (left uneaten) and the like. We had our pizza while watching the exciting end of the Purdue/Univ Virginia basketball game (Abby identified 'basketball' properly, and Purdue won). Daddy then tried to get Abby to play some of the ticket redemption games. One game has you pound a basketball to make ping pong balls fly...but Abby had trouble pushing hard enough. Daddy played it for her. We did do well on the Las Vegas-style coin pusher machine. In all we got 82 tickets with which Abby got a frog she very much desired and a small metal ring. The man behind the counter was adamant that we could not buy the items...that they must be redeemed with tickets. Right. We departed, intending to go to a 'men's clothing store' as Daddy thought there was one near Johnny Rockets. We didn't find one, but Abby strongly insisted we go to one anyway. Daddy said "I don't know where the store is", and Abby said "That's ok, I can help you, I know where it is!". This was not an accurate statement. We drove past some of the houses with Christmas displays and returned home. She did her borderless 'hard' jigsaw puzzle (48 pieces) in record time with less help from Daddy than ever before. Her comments to herself as she puts it together are priceless.
27-Nov-2006: Abby as she has been seen doing a lot lately was found quietly 'reading' her book to herself; one page at a time, cover to cover. Daddy got it on video. It was her beloved 'Lowly Worm' book by Richard Scary. At night Dad went to go to a women's BSF makeup class but accidentally arrived 2 hours early. That was a real shame, because it meant he could have had time to work with Abby on her "Big [jigsaw] Puzzle". While he was gone Mommy and Abby went for a walk around the block, during which Abby wore her mittens. He came home to find out that there had been a sound from the Christmas tree and it was leaning more than before (it was never straight to begin with - we went to Steve's in San Carlos on the first day before the guys had gotten their practice). Luckily Daddy had tied the top of the tree to a hook in the ceiling, else, as he discovered as he loosened the wire, the tree would have fallen! Daddy and Abby went to Home Depot (with a stop at the bank first) to get a new stand. Abby was thrilled to go and wore her pink rain boots. In the parking lot of HD one of said boots fell off but Abby recovered well. But she melted down a bit when she realized Daddy had not secured a cart for their visit. She accepted a shoulder ride as a substitute. She also did some puddle jumping out in the nursery while Daddy consulted the HD folk about a proper stand. He picked a 'low rider' kind anticipating limited headroom in the living room for the swap over. Abby wanted to ride on a small rocking horse but there was no time, and they checked out and went home with only a minor meltdown in the parking lot. Abby with astonishing speed ate a banana while in her car seat. Back at home, Daddy and Mommy pfutzed with the tree. We would shoo Abby away from the tree for her own saftey, and our urgent tone of voice made Abby feel like she was in trouble to the point where she eventually did her tell-tale face-covering-with-hands. Finally, Daddy realized he simply had to lay it down to get it done right. He laid it down on the couch, put on the new stand and stood it up again. With some tweaks it was as close to straight as anyone cared. Before Abby went to bed she said for the first time "Daddy...(pause)...will you kiss me?".
26-Nov-2006: Daddy did all kinds of projects today...new doorhandle in the entryway, and a new door casing in the living room. When Daddy fires up his DeWalt electric finishing nail gun Abby walks into her room and closes the door.
25-Nov-2006: While Aunt Jenn and Daddy went on a bike ride, at the library Abby had a fit in the entryway and laid down right in the center, refusing to budge until a kind librarian offered to do a craft with her. Daddy unpacked some Christmas decorations that resembled holly. Abby picked some of the holly berries, to which Mom said "Abby, don't pick the berries; and we don't eat those". Abby said "They're not edible". We were amazed to hear her use the word 'edible'. Later, Abby & Daddy drove Aunt Jenn and Uncle Don back to the airport where we were sad to see them go. Even before we left the airport Abby asked to ride in the basket at Home Depot, where we then went to buy some extra Christmas lights and so forth.
24-Nov-2006: Mommy went to visit Aunt Andrea in Freemont without Abby. The DiMaggio clan wanted to see Abby and know what she has been doing. Mommy had a great time with Andrea. Aunt Jenn, Abby, Mom and Dad went and got the Christmas tree just before dinner. Abby had fun running around.
22-Nov-2006: Daddy set up his paper shredder, and Abby played basketball with her Notre Dame stuffed soccer ball she got from Carol Gowens. She was 4 for 6. Then she wanted to be in the box, which was fun until it tipped over. Today was the first day Abby say "I love daddy". While Mom went to the Chiropractor Abby and Dad worked on the BIG 48 piece fairy castle puzzle. Abby is really getting good at these. She can do her 'bordered' 25 piece puzzles all day long by herself. She understands the idea of looking for 'a piece of sky' to match with the rest of the pieces that have sky. Pokey and Granny taught her this while in Houston. Abby tried some of Mom's stuffing and liked it very much. She had a nice time with both Rachel and Lauren while Mom and Dad prepared for Thanksgiving. While Dad was doing dishes and Mom was taking Lauren home she got into her stamp kit, getting nearly indelible red ink on her hands. We set up 2 air mattresses for Matt's sister Jenn and friend Don who are coming for Thanksgiving. Abby went absolutely nuts jumping up and down on the thinner of the mattresses in Daddy's office. Even as Dad writes this Abby has snuck back in and done some more jumping, saying "I think this is Jennifer's covers".
21-Nov-2006: Abby and Mom were at the grocery store when Abby pointed to her nose and explained she had a coffee bean up insde of it. It was too far up to reach, but Abby seemed to push it further in. Mom urgently told Abby to blow her nose. She then blew threw her mouth. Mom illustrated blowing through her nose...Abby copied except also breathed in through her nose, nullifying the attempt. After calling daddy and abandoning the groceries for an emergency trip home and maybe to the hospital she ran into someone she had noticed wearing scrubs. Confirming she was a nurse and relaying the situation, somehow the nurse helped Abby to properly blow, and out popped the bean onto the floor covered in snot! Nearby shoppers asked if indeed Abby had just blew a coffee bean out her nose. They were able to finish the Thanksgiving shopping and come home, and Daddy was able to go and have a terrific night at BSF.
20-Nov-2006: To celebrate Daddy's return from his Florida trip Daddy and Abby went out to Baskin Robbins. Abby had Pumpkin Pie and Dad had the old standby Pralines and Cream. Abby talks every day about Jenn and Don coming. Abby has been having plum tomatoes from our 'garden' (one plant by the creek) one every few days as they slowly ripen.
19-Nov-2006: In the kitchen in Salinas, Mom called Abby sweetie. Abby replied "My name is Abby, and your name is mommy". Each night after Abby is read her Bible story, Mom will tell her what the next story is. Then the next day, Abby can remember this and tell us what story we're to start at. Also likes the 'ies' suffix. Like "pajamies".
14-Nov-2006: Abby and Mom are in Salinas. For some reason, Abby has refrained from napping the past few days. Instead she calls out to all that may hear "I jimp, I sing, I hang". Abby also is trying to use the word 'because' but doesn't get it quite right. She might say "I like to jump on my trampoline because I have a ball". Mom especially wants Aunt Nancy to know that today she preferred today to play catch than watch Kipper. She's been doing a walk around her block in Salinas each day too.
5-Nov-2006: Sometimes when Mom drives around trying to find a parking space when going to a store or church, Abby will announce that "We're just borrowing the parking space."
(somewhere in here Abby uttered one of our favorite things she's said...she referred to the ice cream store as 'Robbins Basket')
6-Oct-2006: Today Daddy and Abby went to Lemo's Farm's pumpkin patch. Abby rode ponies, rode the train, had a little bit of pumpkin pie, jumped around in those inflatable things, rode some wooden rocking horses, rode a teeter-totter, fed some goats and pet some goats. Prior to the goat-petting Daddy asked Abby at least 10 times if she wanted to pick out a pumpkin. She responded 'no'. But after walking 1/2 mile back to the parking lot she suddenly said "I want to take a pumpkin home". This was a dead ringer for the Lou/Andy sketch in Little Britain and caused Daddy to laugh. We got out pumpkins and came home.
5-Oct-2006: Today was our first good rain in many months. Abby heard her babysitter Rachel was going swimming, and so on this cold, dreary, wet day she decided she needed to wear a bikini and did so.
1-Oct-2006: After church, Mommy, Daddy and Abby stopped by the Foster City Oktoberfest. We were spotted by the Schillings as they went to church. Abby was drawn trance-like by 'Cat in the Hat' inflated thing. Abby rode on a ride with Daddy that went in circles and up and down. But it had a whipping action too. Abby was freaked out at first but became resigned through the remainder of the ride. We thought she'd be too spooked for the 'berry go round' similar but gentler ride, and she did hesitate, but without prompting decided she wanted to go on it. We were so proud. She is so much tougher than we were as kids! Abby also did the inflatable bouncy jumping thing and rode a train. We had a clown named Millie make Abby a butterfly out of baloons, which later partially broke at home. Abby asked Dad to fix it and he had to explain the impossibility of doing so.
10-Sept-2006: We came back from Salinas this morning in time for mom to go to her volunteer training at church. Abby and mom went for a walk around the block before dinner today. Then dad and Abby went to the creek. Abby played with our previously-prepared bamboo pole with leaves on the end. She caught about 4 (imaginary) fish, which she insisted were all red. For dessert, we fed her watermelon chunks. Before eating one of them she said trapezoid!, and then parallelogram! (correct in both cases!). We also made a deal with her...we had previously said we go to the ice cream store on holidays. We told Abby if she pooped in her potty we would take her to the ice cream store. To check for understanding, dad said "So what do we do when you poop in your potty?", to which Abby replied "it becomes a holiday". Then Abby said that apples have 'bottoms'. Mom corrected that they in fact do not. But Abby gave mom a sidelong glance saying "they have little bottoms". Mom sat back down and Abby said that "plants pee". Mom said that they don't - only animals do - but that they do drink water. Abby replied that "they need cups".
8-Sept-2006: Today was the first day Abby went to 'Little Sprouts', a pre-school like organization. She had a great time! Josh, Maggie and Elise were all there too! Later after dinner, while walking with our cat friend, Abby picked something up and pointed out that she could carry items because she has hands, while the cat could not because it has paws.
6-Sept-2006: Dad and Abby looked in the sky and saw what was probably Venus. Abby called it a star, and daddy said it was probably a planet. Now Abby talks all about planets at night.
21-Aug-2006: Today, during her bath Abby exclaimed that there would be no sharing today. But she meant that she would not share the bed with Grandma when she and Grandpa watch kipper. When Abby sees a round water tower, she says 'Barbecue'.
5-Aug-2006: Abby is sick with a fever and sore throat. On her way into the Doctor's, she said "I'm not going to cry; I'm going to be happy". Even with her bloodshot eyes and eardrum she solidly sat and accepted her treatment. Then later, she said "I'm not going to worry".
31-Jul-2006: We had a really uncanny experience at the breakfast table today eating our cherry oatmeal. Jenn was discussing the use of T.R.E.A.T.'s (spelled for covertness) to reward Abby's potty practice. Abby then said
TREATS. Dumbfounded as to how she could interpret the spelling, we tried to repeat this only to get as far as Abby roughly repeating the spelling of 'TREAT'. We gave up. But then seconds later, Abby said out of the blue "How does Abby do that?" with a slightly mischevious grin.
30-Jul-2006: Abby and Daddy went on a pretend car ride sitting in his car in the garage. Abby learned about all the controls, mirror and such. When Daddy explained that Abby can't reach the pedals until she's older, she made a very long sentence to the effect "Abby can't touch the pedals now. She can touch the carpet now, but can touch the pedals when she gets older." She preferred to have the convertible top up. We went to Kinkos, the coffee store (twice), the grocery store, the zoo, and a car lot where we bought a blue car. Daddy was amazed by her imagination. Abby has a sense of things that are real and things that are pretend. She explained that some horses are real and some are pretend. Then, with a wide glistening smile (as when she's joking) she said "We eat horses!". Aghast mom denied this. Abby laughed, nodded her head and made an even more astounding assertion which I won't report here. Playing 'turtle' on the couch before bed, she said "Hello, said the turtle!".
28-Jul-2006: Abby loves her 'Toad and Frog' book so much that on this day she colored a picture and said "I'm making this for toad".
26-Jul-2006: Abby made a short trip to her doctor. While in the waiting room Abby was playing in the playhouse. She likes to slam the shutters open, leaning out the window and make an exclamation (e.g. "hello"). But one time she got carried away and flew out the window head first. A staff member said "We've got a jumper". Abby only needed 15 seconds of comforting before returning to the playhouse. She then stood in the doorway of the playhouse and, smiling, said "Hello from the little door".
25-Jul-2006: Today is the first day Abby has used her potty!. She did so one time while Daddy was away, and then again tonight at 9:31PST. She is beaming with pride as we stand around and clap and cheer. Abby went to the zoo earlier with mommy, Pokey and Jenny. She pet chicks and loved riding her tractor again.
24-Jul-2006: Abby likes to lay on one pillow while holding one to her tummy and say "I am a turtle!". Abby does 'hand washing' which really consists of Abby standing on her stool in front of our kitchen sink which Mommy fills with water and bubbles. She then splashes water liberally around the room. But today she said "Oh, I forgot to sit down on the stool." then, changing her voice to a lower register with puckered lips she added "No, I need to stand on the stool". The whole time, she watches herself in the mirror often smiling at herself.
5-Jul-2006: Abby continues to love to rhyme. On our way to do our walk, she rhymed 'mocking' when Mommy talked about 'Walking'. Previous rhymes include Anna/Banana and Cheerios/Pistachios.
4-Jul-2006: We had a great 4th of July at Burton Park with Maryanne, Maggie and Mark playing and eating KFC. Then Matt's friend Gary came to join us. It was windy and brisk but died down when the sun went down. Abby was taught and then declared yesterday was America's Birthday. At night we went to see our fireworks. They started late, and it was a bit cold but Abby stuck it out anyway. She kept requesting that they light off "pink ones".
3-Jul-2006: For the past week or so we've instituted going for a walk around our block. Things of interest to Abby include flowers, ants, the creek, bridges over the creek, a cat that follows us home every night, sticks, and a 'rock mountain'.
2-Jul-2006: Songs Abby can sing at least half correctly: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, A-B-C-D-E-F-G, I've Been Workin' on the Railroad, the 'Good Morning Song' from our library *in French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, German, Greek & English), Old McDonald (with her own variations - her own animals), 'C' is for Cookie, La-La-La-La Laughter, God is so Good, God Made Me, B-I-B-L-E (aka "miss Margie song"), Jesus Loves me, Everybody Ought to Know (who Jesus is) and many other tunes. If you sing a song and then hum it, she can identify it. With well known ones she only needs a few notes. Abby can count from 1-10 all the time, and sometimes 11-20.
10-June-2006: Abby loves to run around Pokey's yard in her bathing suit, wave a hose around and/or dance around while being hosed. Abby has said several cute things. She walked up the stairs to Granny, while Granny was reprimanding her about proper stair protocol. Abby said "This isn't Salinas. This is Pokey's house" (as in: "you don't have the authority here".) Also, when she was going up the stairs to begin the going to bed ritual, I reminded Abby that after her milk, she was to brush her teeth. She said no. I said yes. She walked up to Granny and said "No brushing teeth" as she breezed into the room to be read to. Needless to say, Granny brushed her teeth for her. Another: When Abby was contentedly reading to herself in the living room, she didn't know Pokey was watching her from the kitchen. Abby finished reading, shut the book, broadly smiled and said "I's at Pokey's house!". The neighbors next door were doing some tree trimming and using loppers. Abby walked over and starting picking up very large branches and declared "I's strong!" When asked who in the Bible is strong, she replied "Jesus" (as if about to sing "Jesus loves me, this I know") Upon further query, she said "Samson". Also, when we were drinking mom's famous health drink, she practically yelled "It's good!". Tomorrow, John, Abby and Jenn might go to TCBY and get Abby her first dessert yogurt after church.
7-June-2006: Abby, Jenn and Granny have gone to Pokey's house
20-May-2006: Today we went to "Hometown Days", a San Carlos fesitivity. We watched the parade near the toddler section of the park. This is the end of the parade route, and so it was amusing to watch the exhausted kids stumble along. Abby sat in rapt attention the entire time on Daddy's lap. We then wandered over to the petting zoo which was populated with ducks, chickens, rabbits and (friendliest of all) goats. Abby managed to pat - if briefly - most of the animals. Dad was surprised at the patience of the chickens. One of the black ducks squawked continuously. Abby then went on a pony ride after a very patient, prolonged wait standing on hay bales. Lastly she took a turn in the inflated toddler jumping arena during which she handed her socks to us through a side aperature. Leaving, we viewed a similar, larger and more advanced 'jumper' for older kids. Abby declared a desire to 'go in the panda' referencing the inflated head adorning the attraction. Mom and Dad picked out a new bed, and we had steaks for dinner. Dad made his own salad dressing but could not succeed in getting Jenn to try it. We watched the beginning of the Merchant Ivory production "White Countess".
19-May-2006: For Daddy's birthday we went to Red Lobster (partially in honor to his friend John) and Daddy ordered its namesake. But before the food arrived, we had to wait a bit longer than usual for the customary biscuits. Abby was very hungry...in fact for the first time she actually repeatedly requested food. In anticipation of the forthcoming but still waylaid bread, we put one of the provided fiestaware dishes before her to which Abby declared matter-of-factly "put some food on it". Later Matt had some of his homemade cherry pie and watched the rest of the copy of 'V for Vendetta' that Matt brought back from Korea with Jenn.
17-May-2006: Dad was so happy to return from his South Korea and Australia trips!
25-Mar-2006: Today Daddy came home from a work trip to Russia. On the way home, Abby sang 'God is so Good' (GISD). While Daddy was sleeping off his jet lag, Abby and Mommy went to the grocery store. The checkout girl said "how old are you?". Abby said "2" and then asked how old the checkout girl was.
24-Mar-2006: While Abby was at a restaurant, she said "Poppleton sneaky". Upon further questioning she said "pill". This is from her Poppleton book where Poppleton surreptitiously hides a pill in a piece of cake to help his friend take his medicine.
21-Mar-2006: Abby sat alone on her unicorn rocking horse today and sand "God is so good" (ala the song) at least 10x in a row. When asked to sing, she'll demure and ask Mom to sing. Then she will sing once Mom has stopped and is distracted (e.g., talking to Granny).
19-Mar-2006: Abby uses the word 'actually' and does so properly. Today she expressed a thought, then paused, then said actually and expressed a modified version of the thought showing she clearly changed her mind and wanted to connect the two statements together.
18-Mar-2006: In reading the 'Sox on Fox' Dr. Seuss book, Abby substited "Now wait a minute" with "Now look a second".
26-Feb-2006: Before Church, Abby read to herself in the living room for at least 15 minutes, quietly looking at a book she hadn't read prior to Christmas. She read quietly for 10 minutes, and after that she would make audible reactions to what was happening in the story. During Mommy's walk with Abby, they saw a double rainbow. Mommy pointed at it, and Abby offered up 'Rainbow', and then said 'God'. Before dinner Daddy and Abby went back to our creek to dispose of a lemon and watch the water rushing with the rain that had happened today. Daddy threw the lemon in the water. When later asked about this, Abby said "lemon go bye-bye" and "lemon get in there". Abby also is getting pretty good at praying during dinner. She said 'our God help us'. For dinner, we had some leftover chili, and Abby insisted on trying a chili bean. The one she tried was from Dad's bowl that also had Tabasco. She wanted more and more, showing the effects only with an occasional slight, restrained grimmace and some light coughing. Eventually we put a pile of beans in front of her, and against our caution she ate them all rapidly, and that seemed to be a bit much. But she recovered in a very short period of time. Mom provided avocado and then banana yogurt chasers. She is working on her letter 'I' which she has observed looks like a '1'.
25-Feb-2006: Abby went to the park twice today...once with each parent. When mommy's friend Cindy asked if Abby wanted a sister or brother, the answer to both was a firm 'no', and 'nope'. Later at the park with Daddy (via 'trikeride'), Abby seemed to enjoy climbing up the slide as much or more than going down. One of the slides was off-limits, and Abby was able to ascertain this and declare that it was 'broke'. This was all in the 'big kids' park section. Abby wanted to get on some of the swings that don't have the leg holes, and I said no...and she repeated back to me that those are 'older kid swings'. Ditto with the basketball courts as Abby tried to run out onto them during full use. Abby loves to talk about basketball though. She played extensively in the sandbox with the many toys handily left behind. Back at home, she looked at her Peter Rabbit 'lift the flap' book and enjoyed it so much that Mommy got out the real Peter Rabbit books which she was able to read 3/4 through. In Abby's Bible book, there is a picture where Jacob's servant gives Esau a gift, and twice Abby points at the box and says 'money!'.
24-Feb-2006: Abby, Joshua, Dana and Mom had a great time at our house. They played in our new sandbox/water table. We're constantly impressed by how Abby anticipates what we're about to read her in her Bible. And with Abby's Poppleton book, Daddy can read various sentences without completing them, and Abby will give the missing words; sometimes without looking at the pictures. She referred to 'Cherry Sue' matter-of-factly as 'Cherry Sue Bunny Rabbit' (C.S. is a llama).
23-Feb-2006: Abby's appreciate of pillows continues to grow, and now expects a parentally-prepared pillow placed prior to sleep. She is making her own rhymes up now too.
18-Feb-2006: In anticipation of Grandpa Ken's birthday, Mommy was deliberating out loud on what to get G.K. and Abby suggested 'Wood'.
11-Feb-2006: Today Abby, Dad and Mom went to Burton Park to meet Mark, Maryanne and Maggie for a picnic. Dad brought KFC. We had a great time! For dinner, we took Caltrain to Palo Alto to eat at Patxi's. Abby patiently say on my lap the whole ride both ways. It was Abby's first train ride. Abby rode in her backback while we walked around PA. When we stopped at a gas station, she said something like "Car Eat" because Mommy had previously explained that cars eat gas. Back home, Abby invited me to share the swing with her ("Daddy swing too?") which he readily agreed to do. She looked at Jenn's sun catcher and pointed out the shapes and which ones she thought were "pretty". Back inside, Abby stomped in with Mom's boots, and Dad said "nice boots", and Abby said "Galoshes!". She really seems to be good with synonyms. Abby has been practicing on her potty and tonight was no exception. She was just wearing her diaper, and as she started to take it off she said "almost nude". Then she sat on it and said "let the pee out". She keeps checking to see if something has happened but so far we haven't had a transaction. For a couple months now, when Abby sits on her potty, she says "magazine?" and hands Mommy a magazine and then selects one for herself.
Some of the sentences Abby does are "Wash mud off of the pig" (referring from memory of the Prodigal Son being in the mud with the pigs). "Daddy come right back home". "Abby mommy in the kitchen". "Wait mommy get in car". "Abby, Mommy, Daddy riding on train".
Over the past few days Abbys seems almost to look forward to her naps. None of the pre-sleep crying happens. And she now fashions a pillow out of one of her blankets, and appreciates it when you make a pillow for her. She will even walk into Daddy's office and turn his chair and say "Abby in crib".
10-Feb-2005: Abby and Mommy had a fabuolous day at the park. First they walked to the park and played with Richard and Lynne while mommy talked with Bertha. Then they saw a recently 2-years-old Joshua and Dana later at the same park. Joshua aptly found, pointed out and enunciated the moon. Mommy loves to see her friends at the park and looks forward to many more meetings. When Abby sees Joshua's picture she kind of shies away. Abby is really talking non-stop. 6 word sentences are pretty routine. One of the sweetest things she says is "I got you", which she repeats when Dad says it. She also now says "I love you...I love mommy...I love daddy". After dinner, Dad gave Abby some tea to drink, but she spilled some of it. On her own, she opened the right drawer, got out a washcloth and wiped it up. That sure sounds like a particular aunt I have. At night, Abby woke up and Dad got to hold her and rock her back to sleep.
9-Feb-2005: Abby is becoming a Bible scholar already. Mommy thinks they've read the over 500 page illustrated Bible from the Kilners at least 6 times. Abby easily identifies and exclaims Jesus, Joshua, David, Goliath, Annanais, Anna, Mary, Zechariah, John, Saul, Peter and Noah. She also tells the characters to turn around if they are facing their backs to her in the picture. She remembers that Saul is jealous. When asked if she thought Esau would be happy or angry to see Jacob, she stopped and thought about it and said "happy". After mommy does the reading, she will sing "Jesus Loves Me" during which Abby at first would point at the Bible (during "The Bible Tells me So"). More recently she flips through it herself and asks Mommy questions.
8-Feb-2005: Abby knows that Mommy's car is green, Daddy's is red, Grandma's is white and Papa's is blue/purple. She really has a good memory. She remembers things like when a 'man' came and talked to Daddy about windows. It is lots of fun to ask her to recap her day. She still says that she goes to Johnny Rockets with Gampa Greg and Aunt Nanny.
7-Feb-2005: Abby refers to herself as 'Abby *Walsh*'. She says the word "DVD", and knows the go with the TV. Unfortunately somehow she jammed Grandpa Ken's DVD player. When we changed her pajamas she says "differnt one".
6-Feb-2005: Abby still thinks rhymes are fun. Now she says "Pink...Ink" from Dr. Seuss. She also really likes the work "Jiboo" from the "The Thinks you can Think" book. After BSF, mommy noticed that Abby initated prayer. Where as before Abby would say "pray" and want mommy to pray, now Abby will also say "O God" or something like "Dear God".
31-Jan-2005: Abby is just about recovered from her cold and is back home. Dad is amazed with the things Abby can do now. She can recount what she does during the day...I asked her where she went earlier, and she said 'Joshua' as she had just been to her friend Joshua, Dana & Sean's house. She seems to know most of her letters - you can ask her to point to one on her puzzle and she'll pick the right one out most of the time. She can tell when there are 2 things - she'll say "two balls". She can say comparative things like 'too hot' or 'pretty light'. After an interrupted nap Dad brought Abby to the changing area. As he was about to set her down she indicated no, and just wanted to be held. This happened 3 times.
30-Jan-2005: Dad went down to pick up Jenn and Abby. He brought In & Out burgers. He was so thrilled to see Abby again after his trip and the delay while Abby & mom recuperated. Abby now uses -ed and -ing suffixes with some verbs.
Circa 15-Jan-2005: Pa-pa Ken was working on Abby's "Little People" airplane and said he needed a tool to insatll the batteries. Abby ran over and brought him her toy screwdriver.
Abby help both of Mommy's big toes and said "To Market, To Market"; then "pig", later "big toe". She was trying to do "This little piggy went to market".
Abby is working on her counting. When Granny says "1,2...7", Abby says "8, 9, 10". A week later, she added "11". She really loves "11". When Abby sees a can of coffee, she says "Pa-Pa". When Granny got on Abby's rocking unicorn, Abby waved her hand for Granny to get off and said "too big", and later said "Abby little". Abby can sing a little bit of "Jesus Loves Me". After Mom and Abby do their pre-nap/sleep Bible reading and drink they sing "Jesus Loves Me". When we finish our reading she says "Gee-Ju" (her version of Jesus), repeats it several times and sings 2-3 notes. When Mom asked "Who does Jesus love" she says "lub Abby".
Abby grabbed a brown grocery bag and looped the handles around her arm. She put several lemons from a plate into her bag and exclaimed "grocery shopping" and gave a huge smile when we understood it.
Abby now has many little conversations with herself (in her crib, playing with her shape sorter, etc.) and can be overheard saying "Abby", "Momma", "Daddy" or other things/events from her day.
Abby now calls Mama "Mommy" sometimes, and Dada is sometimes "Daddy".
When asked what her favorite part of BSF was, Abby smiled and declared "wacker". Mommy asked "worker?", and Abby more emphatically said "wacker...mmmmmm". Mom laughed heartily.
Abby clearly and strongly said "creamy" using 3 syllables when eating an avocado. Mommy used to say this many months ago when pumping Abby up about eating avocado. Abby now uses "creamy" to describe many foods she likes, even bread.
Abby says the word "time" as a suffix to various things. When Mommy is making up a sippy cup of milk, Abby says "Bed time". When it's dark she says "night time".
27-Jan-2005: Abby can rhyme...When identifying Anna from the book of Luke back in December Abby said "Anna" paused and said "banana" and smiled. She repeats rhymes, though if asked to make a spontaneous rhyme, she can some of the time, but this is still kind of random.
5-Jan-2005: Abby is still nuts about her Kipper DVDs. She's got the whole set now, some in Salinas and some here.
31-Dec-2005: Today is Abby's 2nd Birthday!. This morning she opened a Magna-Doodle that Mom and Dad got her and had fun drawing or 'color'-ing on it as she said. Then Grandpa & Grandma Roush & Pokey came up despite the heavy rain and reports of flooding in nearby Redwood City. We proceeded to Johnny Rockets only to find that it, along with a good chunk of Redwood City had no power. We retreated to San Carlos and ate at Sneakers. Abby aggressively picked out pieces of chicken from Grandma's and Pokey's salad. She got antsy, that is until we put her between Grandpa and Pokey. After some prompting, the Sneakers staff brought Abby a baloon and some ice cream, which she ate until she got brain-freeze and promptly stopped. We went home, and Abby opened a couple of other presents but then went to bed. In fact by the end of the day she still has some things to open...she is still just getting used to the toys from today. Dad worked on the garage and built a couple of computers. Later on Abby was heard to say 'Gampa Greg, Ann Nanny, '. She also enunciated 'Jennifer' when her Aunt Jenn called. After we set up the air mattress for Jenny and Pokey, Abby got on the bed and then got very upset when others would try and share her half of the bed (something that happens on mom & dad's bed too).
After Abby went down, Matt, Jenn, Pokey and Jenny played a couple of rounds of Pitch...and Jenny and Pokey soundly won!
30-Dec-2005: Abby loves watching the 'Kipper' videos that John, Doris, Dasha and Daphne sent! And she can answer questions about the story...she knows that the escaped bird is blue, and they Kipper dropped nest pieces on Tiger, and that the other bird ate a worm.
29-Dec-2005: Abby is starting to know more and more letters. She can pretty much always identify A, B, C, O and H. She knows that she can invert a J and make it into a 'Canny Cane', even though she has never eaten one. She watches her Sesame Street 'Learning About Letters' DVD often. Her absolute favorite part is when Oscar emerges from his can, followed up by when Telly jumps. So, we notice that Abby's most entertaining characters are the fish from 'The Cat in the Hat', Bert (of Bert and Ernie) and Oscar.
22-Dev-2005: Abby thinks rhymes are fun. She came up with something. She will point out "Anna" in her Bible, and then say "Banana", and laugh.
20-Dec-2005: Recently, Abby has learned a new verbal technique for extending her play time. If we say 'It's time to put away the tower', Abby will now say 'One', which she learned from when Mom would say 'Ok Abby, just one more time'. Abby will keep re-using the 'one' ploy though over and over again.
19-Dec-2005: HAPPY BIRTHDAY POKEY!
For the first time, Abby & Mom went to the McDonalds with a play center with friends Bertha, Lynn and Richard. Of course she didn't eat anything there.
Dad had some leftover chipotle chicken that Mom made for lunch. It was very good. So good, that Abby wanted some. Again, like the hot pepper cheese we feared we were overdoing it, but she could not get enough. It was a bit of a trick to get her to accept the 'big people' fork but she got the hang of it. Part of the time she was fed she sat on Dad's lap. For dinner, she had flat green beans...and as she often does, she requests yogurt (it's Jenn's homemade strawberry kind). Abby is getting better at saying 'Jesus' - it comes out more like Gee-Juh. She even tried to sing along with 'Happy Birthday Jesus' with the KLOVE radio station. She is really doing more sentences...one today was 'Gampa Greg Help Tower'. Speaking of towers, at night, Dad and Abby built a tower, a stairway, another stairway that Abby could climb with help, an arch, an airplane and a bridge. Abby likes to recite what each one is. After finishing her milk she sat on Dad's lap and described different parts of the Christmas Tree (pronounced Ki muh tee) while Dad got a delightful closeup look of her perfect profile.
18-Dec-2005: For several weeks now Abby has been able to climb in and out of her car seat and stroller much to the rejoicing of Mom! Dad bought a Sesame Street video for Abby called 'Learning About Letters' that they watch together. Sometimes Dad likes to rest his head on the arm of her chair, but Abby tries to push it off in protest. We're working on 'sharing'. Another challenge is that Abby likes to climb on the ends of the couch despite our sternest warnings. All we know to do now is just physically remove her from the couch ends.
Abby's love of the park has grown to an obsession. Any possibly connected statement will be rejoined by 'Pahk'. Example..."We're going for a walk, Abby!". Answer: "Pahk. Alright" (as a statement, not a question, sometimes with slightly lowered head). We really don't know how she could have learned these forms of body language.
We like to often recall Aunt Nancy's rejoinder ("I own this town") to Grandma Jenny's account of Abby's confrontation with the other kid ("You don't own this park") at the park with which Abby did not want to share.
17-Dec-2005: Abby now likes some foods we didn't expect her to like. One night, Dad gave her some hot pepper jack cheese...first he gave her a little bite expecting her to not like it. But then she wanted more and more until she was eating slices at a time. We kept waiting for the burning pain to set in, but her interested never diminished.
Then a few days later, Dad offered Abby an ordinary green olive (pimento stuffed). She immediately loved it. Dad would feed her all he had, and she would go over to the refrigerator door and knock on it for more. This adds to her prior love of pickles to indicate that Abby would love a relish tray.
9-Dec-2005: Abby can count to 3! And if you ask her who's in the Bible, she will say Jesus!
8-Dec-2005: We tried to take pictures for our Christmas card but they didn't come out as well as we wanted. And we found out that we now own our house!
28-Nov-2005: We had to say goodbye to Aunt Nancy and Grandpa Greg this morning as they stopped by on the way to the airport. Abby showed Aunt N. how she eats her oatmeal - with a spoon but mainly with her hands. When Aunt N. saw Abby polishing her shoes with her bunny, Aunt N. commented on how they were kindred spirits.
27-Nov-2005: We had a great church service this morning. We took dad back to his room to rest. Aunt N. and I went to look for wine for her friend and got Subway sandwiches. We came home and decorated our tree. Later, dad was feeling better with his cold, so we went to Patxi's with Dad and Aunt Nancy for dinner. We all went in the same rented Taurus, and so mom and dad got to look at Abby's face up close for the whole drive. The Christmas displays on Eucalyptus were about halfway done, and so we got to show them to Dad and Aunt N. Back home, Abby went to our suncatcher that hangs outside and showed Aunt N. that it contains 'hearts' and was 'pretty'. Jenn is thrilled that Abby can make opinions and describe things. Abby got a bunch of new Christmas books about the Nativity and she loves to read them already.
26-Nov-2005: In the morning, Aunt N. came over to present her new Trike! Abby does not pedal or steer it yet, but we can lock the front wheel and loosen the back so that we can easily push it. We then took Abby to the park where she had a great time as usual. We met another Notre Dame fan who seemed to remember my Dad from last year. Then Aunt N. and I took Abby on her trike downtown. We stopped in the Plantation Roastery so that Aunt N. could try their coffee. Abby noticed the giant Snow Globe at Diddam's and wanted to go 'in'. We came back, and Aunt N. went back to her room for a short rest.
Later Aunt N. and Dad went to the Stanford/Notre Dame game. Dad had to go instead of Grandpa because Grandpa still was getting over his cold. We took the train, and could not believe how many Notre Dame fans there were. There was an altercation in front of us with people who sat in the wrong place. We had fun chatting with the row in front of us...one guy was a HARD CORE Irish fan who knew everything about them one could ask. I also met one of my neighbors in line at the concession stand named Didi who lives on Greenwood. The game was close...ND won just at the end. But we missed the last 2 minutes as we left early to catch the 8:30 train. It was a lot colder than Aunt N. was used to, but Dad was able to manage riding his bike home...the long way.
25-Nov-2005: We got our tree today! The day after Thanksgiving. We think it's our plumpest, nicest tree yet. The guy at Steve's Christmas Trees had to try 6x before he got it to be straight enough. They gave us 3 coffee mugs. Last year you had to pay for the mugs. But like many things in life, once we received them we grew tired of them and threw 2 out. Dad put up the outdoor lights and the lights on the tree. Aunt N. and Grandpa Greg stayed in their room sadly though as they were sick!
24-Nov-2005: We had such a fun Thanksgiving. Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Ken joined Aunt N. and Grandpa Greg. Plus we had Uncle Rowdy, Aunt Rena and Cousin Bailey. Before we ate, Aunt N. and Abby had a very nice long visit to the park - so long that we thought she had gotten lost. Dad made the turkey we got from Whole Foods. Grandpa made sweet and mashed potatoes that everyone loved. Rena brought cake and cookies. Jenny made a very nice Mexican dip both in hot and cold form. Mom made some great stuffing. After dinner we played Scategories and had lots of fun. The pumpkin cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory was unreal.
22-Nov-2005: Abby can already say 'Greg'. She calls him 'papa' as well. She says something that resembles 'Aunt Nancy' but it's hard to discern. At night, Dad & Aunt N. joined us for dinner at Johnny Rockets - a tradition we hadn't done in a while. Then we walked over to Whole Foods to get our Thanksgiving supplies. Dad went and got the car to get the groceries, then Mom, Dad & Abby walked back over to their car at Johnny Rockets because there was no child seat in the Taurus.
21-Nov-2005: Grandpa Greg and Aunt Nancy came in the morning to meet Abby. Abby warmed up very quickly to them. All of us save Jenn and Abby went to Menlo Park to get Abby's trike. Granpa also got Abby a pop up book about 'The Night Before Christmas' after which I warned him that Abby tears those up. We got some coffee beans at Peet's. Later on, Dad and I went to BSF.
20-Nov-2005: Grandpa Greg and Aunt Nancy arrived at SFO at night! Dad went to greet them, then met them at their hotel as they got a rental car. They were hungry because even the pay-for-plate food on the airplane was not available. There wasn't much open, so we had to settle for Jack in the Box which still was pretty satisfying.
19-Nov-2005: Abby has learned to use the word 'pretty'.
7-Nov-2005: Abby was in an especially great mood today. She likes to play 'night-night'...this is where she will be on our bed, lay down on a pillow, say 'night night' and pretend to sleep...for 5 seconds. Sometimes she'll ask for the 'covers'. Mom was laying on one side, and she was on the other. When Dad tried to also lay down on the right side with Abby sitting with ample space in the middle, Abby got upset and tried to push Dad off. We think Abby assumes our bed is a 2-person aparatus. Later she had lots of fun playing with Dad's tape measurer. She caught Dad with the refrigerator door open and requested (and received) a pickle. She also did some coloring and played with her play-doh.
After work, Mom, Dad and Abby went to look at a couple of houses. Abby was then to go down to Salinas for a couple days so that Mom and Dad can look at some more with greater ease. But Mom wisely deduced that Abby needed to be able to 'get out and move' as she was full of energy. So we went to nearby Patxi's. We ordered our pizza (large, half sausage, half kalmata olives and spinach) and then Dad and Abby walked around the block...past the Jing Jing restaurant, past the Stanford, past Mills the Florist, past the parking lot and all the way back to the Gelato place. We had a delightful walk. Abby was just as happy as can be. There were a pair of chairs and a table outside the Gelato place. The chairs were facing towards the street with the table in between. Abby rotated one chair so it faced the table and climbed up. Then she said 'chair', pointed to the other chair and beckoned me to mount mine, which I did. She then took delight in leaning the table over as if to make it fall. This caused her to giggle and laugh continuously each time. She greeted each passerby. Finally we rejoined Mom at Patxi's. Our pizza came shortly afterwards, served by a very kind waitress. Abby had some trouble with her cup and straw and got her outfit wet. It is not clear whether Abby really ate much of her pizza or just pulled the cheese off. But she certainly liked to play with the stringy cheese. Mom and dad's pizza was terrific as always. We departed after having a thoroughly delightful time. Jenn went to drop off Abby and spend the night in Salinas. Dad ran to Fry's to pick up some network cards for his demo machines.
6-Nov-2005: Abby said another sentence today...something like "daddy read book". She had previously said "more up" some time ago at the park while on her swing. You can definitely hear the sentences coming out, but it's very hard to tell what they are.
30-Oct-2005: At dinner, Daddy was talking about someone he knows named Adam. When Daddy said the word 'Adam', Abby immediately said 'EEEE' (as in 'Eve'). Her first Bible from Deb Kilner has made an impression already! Daddy read 'The Cat in the Hat' again...and on cue she says 'BUMP' and she jumps on the corresponding page, and 'No no no!' when the fish shows his apprehensions. Mom and Abby had a great, long walk and park visit while Daddy caught up on our laundry and dishes (we were out of soap and backlogged). Before dinner, Abby for the 3rd day in the row asked for pickles. She does this by pointing out the pickle jar - which is on the first shelf - when Daddy opens the refrigerator. She ate 1.5 pickles. Then she ate a banana. By the time we got to dinner, she didn't eat much and was a bit unruly, playing with her water. Daddy is really trying to learn how to discipline this sort of thing.
29-Oct-2005: Today Abby placed her first phone call...to Aunt Nancy. Dad found Abby holding his cell phone, holding it with curiosity. When he picked it up he heard Aunt Nancy repeating "hello?". 'Aunt N' is first on Dad's speed dial list. One of Abby's favorite books is a short Winnie the Pooh story. There's a scene where Pooh is stuck in the exit to a tree because he has eaten a prodigious amount of honey. Just as the book says "oh no", Abby now will spontaneously exclaim "oh no" whenever she gets to that page. She also now says "Mad" or "I'm Mad" when she gets to a book where a character is angry (such as Goliath). When Abby tries to show us what 'Mad' looks like, she bites her lower lip with her upper teeth so that the top 2 stick out. But she probably thinks being mad is funny or crazy. This is all similar to when she learned about how a certain page in 'The Cat in the Hat' has 'BUMP' on it. We think it's funny that Abby learned the 'mad' emotion first and likes pandemonium (like when she knocks over a tower of legos). Maybe she'll thrive on chaos. We can't wait to eat our leftover Patxi's pizza for lunch. We spread maps out of the peninsula on our living room rug looking at where we might relocate to to be closer to where Dad may work, and Abby happily marched on the maps. She then got out the picture book that has a map in it and showed it to us. Later today we are going to a harvest party at Church. We are bringing yams, cheese and crackers.
28-Oct-2005: After Daddy finished up a day at Pixar and Yahoo, we all met (in 2 cars) at Patxi's in Palo Alto for pizza. Wow, was it good. Mom had sausage, and Dad had spinach with kalamatta olives. Abby really enjoyed walking down University Avenue on the way back to the Ramona avenue garage. At home, Daddy drove Abby and Momma down the driveway in his car. Mom and Dad watched the disturbing movie 'Blue Velvet' showing the underside of a squeaky-clean all-American town.
27-Oct-2005: Abby has copied us in an exciting way...she now knows how to pray. She flops on the ground, puts her hands together, and at the end says "amen".
23-Oct-2005: Dad kept making towers out of Abby's legos, and Abby would knock them down with uncontrollable laughter. She is really getting better at putting the legos together herself.
7-Oct-2005: This morning, Abby was looking at her shape book...and there was a diamond. That makes Abby sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. But this time, she went and got Duck-tar and started dancing with great feeling and enthusiasm. Before Abby went on her walk, she pointed to the fern on our porch and said 'plant'.
6-Oct-2005: Abby has been seen to make our lamb and monkey small stuffed animals to kiss each other.
5-Oct-2005: It seems as if Abby understands just about everything you say to her. Grandma showed us by example how we should just talk to her as if she were an adult, and that she'll figure it out. She does!
4-Oct-2005: Dad drove Abby and Mom from Salinas...Mom had some more back pain, but the back doctor says she's doing better. We stopped at Fry's (the Egyptian one in Campbell), and Abby was absolutely entranced. She in particular liked a coin bank in the shape of the globe. On the way out she ran down the ramp. Later, Abby at the Library today protested sharing the train with another person, pointing to it and saying "NO NO NO!". We notice that her pajamas seem to be shrinking lately. She is very excited about her upcoming trip to Houston.
3-Oct-2005: Dad drove down to Salinas to pick up Abby and Jenn. At dinner, Abby ate broccoli for the first time in a while. They say you have to keep trying. She also gobbled down the delicious steak that grandpa made. After dinner she played on he indoor slide. It seemed as if she would never stop going down it. We had to lead her outside while grandma put it away. Then when she went back in she pointed at the spot where it was and said something with a puzzled look.
2-Oct-2005: Dad and Abby went on a backpack trip around town. Abby really likes the backpack and will circle it when I get it out of the closet. Sometimes she even points at the closet so that I'll get it out. But when she's in the backpack she is fairly quiet. We stopped at the San Carlos City Hall park. They have a big, tall pine tree on which they leave the Christmas lights and a star on top year round. Abby pointed and said 'star', and then started to sing her 'twinkle twinkle little star' rendition. There is a tree that has a nice place to sit only 4 feet up, and Dad perched Abby there (standing in front of her of course). She found this to be a very fun experience. Then she wanted to repeat this on all the other trees...including the palm tree. They played catch with the whipple ball. Dad showed Abby how to put her hands close together to catch the ball and she did so marvelously.
1-Oct-2005: Abby is working on a lot of words. Dad's favorite is 'sock', which is pronounced 'ock'. Mom likes 'green', which she enunciates as 'geen'. She can also say 'blue' and 'yellow'. 'Red' is sort of hard to make out as is 'shoe'. She has gotten much better at saying her own name...it sounded at first like 'Ap-by' (which is also how she says 'airplane', but sounds more like Abby every day. She has leared to make the sssss sound.
30-Sept-2005: It was hot, Abby had lots of fun in her pool. The water was fairly cold, so for a while she just stood up. But then she sat down. She had her diaper on, and so when she went down her little slide she zoomed down as the wet diaper on plastic was like greased lightning. Abby can recognize the sound of Daddy's car when he pulls into the driveway. Abby is fascinated by buckles. She loves to fasten and unfasten an old badge lanyard from one of Daddy's work conferences. She also insists on at least trying to buckle her car seat and stroller latches. She does not, luckily, try to unbuckle them.
28-Sept-2005: Abby can now nod her head to indicate the affirmative.
20-Sept-2005: We have a 6 pack of non-alcoholic St. Pauli Girl in our refrigerator. When Abby spotted it, she pointed at the St. Pauli Girl and said 'momma, momma!'. Later, Dad was wearing his Star Wars villians shirt, and Abby said 'dada' while pointing at Peter Cushing. See this illustration
4-Sept-2005: Abby is very ticklish!
3-Sept-2005: Today, down in Salinas, Abby was doing her picture book with Grandma. When Grandma asked her to point to the 'map', Abby pointed to it. Then Grandma said, "yes, that's the map of the United States of America". And then Abby hopped down, went into the other room and came back with her Uncle Sam hat. Then she found the flag and indicated that they needed to put the flag up. Then she sang her version of 'God Bless America' which basically consists of 'Gaaaa' and some hand waving.
Abby also discovered the word 'burp' today. After Abby burped, Grandma said something like 'oh, did you have a burp'. Then Abby said 'burp' back (more like 'burrr'), and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably. This happened again at dinner, and at Bill & Cheryl's house.
29-Aug-2005: Grandma Roush has come over today to celebrate her birthday, which was yesterday.
28-Aug-2005: Mom and Dad were playing catch in the back yard while Abby went up and down her slide. Dad kept slipping with his mocasin's on. When he would take them off, Abby would notice them and immediatly head over to him to tell him to put them back on. Then she'd walk back to her slide. Then Dad would take off just one, and she'd run back over. We did this like 4 times. Abby INSISTS everyone wears shoes while outside.
27-Aug-2005: We had such a fun time with the Ferri's! Josh and Abby played together very well. We hope we can have more get-togethers soon.
23-Aug-2005: Just about every morning, if the door is open, Abby will bring in one of the picture books to Daddy's office. Previously, if he was already busy, he could just set it down and let her read it to herself. This ploy has not worked recently...however, she DOES like to read the more complex books (like the story of Jonah in Bibleland) for 5-10 minutes at a time on her own.
Abby likes to turn the volume on the clock radio up and down. She tends to like it loud. Her pressing of buttons accidentally set the alarm. She is now combining words for the first time (well, the first time we know of, she talks all day but we can't understand it). She said 'more bubbles' while in the sink/tub to command Jenn to blow more of them. She also said 'more up' on the swing at the park (where we also met a cute boy named Keenan). Previously she would just say 'more'.
Say, also that we point out that we have a shirt on, and Abby doesn't. She will point to our shirt, then her body and say 'no'. In Abby's picture books (where we say the word and she points at it) she still wants to read them all several times daily but she knows essentially every word in it. On the pages with animals, you can make the animal sounds for sheep, roosters, pigs, horses and snakes and she'll point to the right animal. She can make some of the animal sounds - easily for sheep and dogs.
Abby did one of her prettiest colorings today too. She uses both hands for this and most things (eating, throwing - which she does overhand). We have found a cure for enduring crying: tickling.
Abby is trying to add these words to her repetoire this week:
| OK |
| Oh yeah |
| Cheese |
| Truck (70%) |
| Music (20%) |
| Car (20%) |
22-Aug-2005: Abby likes to cross-reference...if there's a lion in one book she'll find another book that has one too. She loves to 'count' them, though she doesn't use numbers (that we understand, anyway). When I ask her to find a picture of 'Toast' she will point first to her 'toes' and then the 'toast'. As soon as we just GET to the page in the 'Cat in the Hat' that says "something went BUMP, how that bump made us jump", Abby, before we even read the page, gets down and crouches waiting for the word 'jump', and then jumps when the word is said. Often when she does jumping, CITH or otherwise, she grabs the piggie that Aunt Jenn gave her and makes it jump too.
21-Aug-2005: Abby came into the living room smiling largely and carrying Jenn's red hat. Abby indicated that she wanted Jenn to put on the hat, and Jenn complied. Abby scampered back out of the room and returned wearing Jenn's baseball cap backwards with an even bigger smile. It was clear that she was exuberant that both she and mommy were wearing hats.
Dad and Abby went for a short walk down our street. Our neighbor had their sprinkler going, and Abby stood just within range, getting somewhat wet. She seemed to enjoy this. At dinner, we learned Abby no longer eats broccoli. If you put it, or anything she does not want on her plate, she will carefully and completely extract all the offending material to a destination plate off of her chair.
20-Aug-2005: Abby knows more colors now...red, blue, yellow, green and purple. She can get up all of our living room chairs, and sort of the couch. She tried using her Curious George metal box to get up to the bed.
18-Aug-2005: Abby is still afraid of fire trucks and garbage trucks. When one comes by she says 'up' because she wants to be immediately held.
07-Aug-2005: Went again to the early church service. Abby did well in the nursery. She was clingy, though and wanted to be held quite often. On the way home we went to a doughnut shoppe in San Carlos. Daddy got a crueller, mommy got an old-fashioned and coffee, and Abby got a banana. We walked to the park next door and had our fill. As we did so we met Yoshi the dog, who was very friendly and let Abby pet her. Then Daddy got some vitamins and sea salt from the health food store. On the way back, we got Subway sandwiches. Daddy debated the subtle merits of Spicy Italian and the Italian BMT (the latter has ham, but you get less of the other 2 meats. He prefers the former). While Mommy and Abby napped Daddy put some things up on eBay - some playfields, his motorcycle, our Aerobed and a Stole. We had Ravioli for dinner. Then Daddy and Abby went for a repeat of the walk from yesterday. Abby didn't escape the harness this time. We saw Jenn Rowden in her car on Alameda as we were walking! Abby had an especially giggly moment on the swing as Daddy would hide behind her and then peek to either side as she swung back. If only he could capture that priceless laugh on film. Back home, Daddy did the recycling and garbage while Abby got a bath, bottle and book. The book is about God creating the world, and has a picture of God (a large, kindly white haired man with a mustache). As Mommy was explaining what God did, Abby leaned down and kissed God's picture!
06-Aug-2005: Later Daddy and Abby went for our "loop 'round San Carlos" walk. Abby recognized and can say 'ball'. She is working on 'tree' which sounds more like "sree". At one point she escaped from her harness (still reasonably secure) and was suddenly elated at her ability to move within the harness in new ways. At the park, for the first time she moved herself into position and down the slide. She also rode the swing for a very long time, and used her 'more' sign and verbal ('mooh') language to indicate she wanted to go higher. Abby seems to have no fear and wants to go as high as Daddy can push her! Even when rattled a bit, Daddy would say "want to get down?" and she'd immediately say "no", followed by "mooh". Finally we went home, and she took a bath. Daddy is working on some new anti-athsma breathing exercises that seemed to help on the long walk.
05-Aug-2005: Abby is starting to learn to count. Well, she at least has the sense that there is a sequence when there are three things that go '1-2-3'. Sometimes she even makes sounds that sound like the numbers. So we have been doing a lot of counting to practice with her. She also can recognize the letter 'X'. This is one of her favorite letters; for a long time she has matched her letter 'X' and 'K' on her letter floor tiles...which, as we eventually figured out, actually do look similar - it's just that the 'legs' on the letters are bent differently.
28-July-2005: Today Abby added the third animal sound to her repetoire...the cow (which goes Mooo). Early reports suggest she may also make the 'meow/cat' sound. While Daddy showed Abby older pictures of herself she figured out that pushing keyboard keys cause the pictures to change. Pokey and Granny were floored when Abby demonstrated her long-running skill of saying 'Octogon' (as Ock-a-ga) and pointing to the three different colored octogon shapes on her Ikea wire toy. She can also point out the squares and circles (which are really cubes and spheres). After Jenn's mother's group meeting, Abby (unlike the other kids who wanted to interact with their mommies) Abby climbed on the stage and addressed the crowd. Then she climbed up and down the stairs as she is wont to do. At dinner at the Macaroni grill she excitedly pointed to and talked to all the people like she owned the place.
27-July-2005: Abby can fnd the moon even in a very bright, blue sky. And she will say 'moo' with a diminished 'n'. In the garage, she pointed to Daddy's bicycle and said a 3 syllable word that started with 'B'. Then she did the same to Daddy's motorcylce. She had previously done this outside Target. The word 'clock' was thought to have been heard when she picked up Mom's alarm clock.
25-July-2005: Abby and Mom had a great time at the baby reading thing at the library. Later, Abby LOVED mom's special drink made with with soy and vanilla. She drank it out of the straw. She loved it so much that she forced mom to let her slurp up the drops off the bottom. Then she insisted to draw and suck the dry straw some more. Her fried (and sitter) Becca came over, and Abby was heard to play her piano very nicely. With her crayons she demonstrated her knowledge of the colors red, blue, yellow and purple. Abby can say more words all the time, like Ball, No, yellow, and blue. 'Course you have to use your imagination. She can tell us that the she sheep says 'Baah' and the dog says 'woof'. A cow says 'boom' (we think she's trying to say 'moo'). She seems to recognize every object in her first words book (you say it, she points). She can climb all the way up her 2.5 foot slide and get herself to slide down (a tricky manouevre). She likes to put her own shoes on increasingly, and does so when it seems like we're going somewhere in the car. Today we learned that she is afraid of the garbage truck (even after reading about 'Mr. Gilly - Champion of Trashy Towne'). Abby knows the sign language for 'more' and 'please', and that's it, because that's all we know. She likes to drink her water and then also feed lamb and monkey, which makes her laugh. There is little doubt Abby is ticklish but she seems to like it...at dinner she would keep tilting her head so that we could tickle her neck and chin. Abby when in the backyard will still point to the bushes where the cat was living - we are impressed by how long she can remember such things. She was playing with Dad's cell phone after he showed her how it slides rapidly down her slide. Then she threw it at the slide. Then she held it to her head and said 'bye bye' and what might have been 'gampa'. Then she threw it at the driveway several times ignoring dad's stern 'No' with a smile. She knows some of her shapes - and the shape books are among her favorites. She knows circle, square, moon, star and arrow, and not just in the context of the book.
24-July-2005: After visiting the Schattke's we went to Johnny Rockets (yes, on a Sunday, not our normal Friday). For the first time, Abby drank out of her very own take-out paper cup (water of course). She even ate some tomato from Daddy's salad. Afterwards Dad and Abby went to the park. At one point she was in a little tunnel in the play structure, and a few kinds piled in going the other way squirming by her, and this made her cry. Otherwise apart from one face plant (that made her very dusty on her shirt and face but did not make her cry) we had a great time...including the first time she sat on a tree and liked it. Oh yes, at one point she pointed to a swing...the one that was in the sun. The one next to it was in the shade. So I picked her up and put her in the shady one. But she (in her most cute, not angry way) said her 'no...no...no' indicating the sunny one. Abby now when you put her in her car seat attempts to buckle it herself.
20-July-2005: Abby has gotten a bit pickier about her eating. She combines this with her mastery of the word 'up' (done with hands upraised). She used to sit all the way through dinner, but now will sometimes do this. She also might play the 'up' card during a car ride that has gotten a bit too long for her patience.
13-July-2005: Abby was reading an ABC Animal book. Grandma said 'Xylophone', and Abby went to the piano and started playing it.
10-July-2005: We discovered a plaintive cat hiding under our bushes. We thought it might have been the one that had previously camped out in our garage, but now we're not really sure. It has all night lingered around our house meowing. Abby likes to point at it, and bang on the windows to get its attention.
While reading 'The Cat in the Hat' there is a scene that now makes Abby laugh as she now sees the connection It is during the scene when Thing 1 or 2 is flying a kite coming around a corner on one page (and Abby loves to point at kite to begin with) and on the next the little boy approaching the other direction with his net. On the next page the boy slams down his net capturing said Thing. This causes Abby to laugh each and every time, and we think it's either she's seeing the cause and effect, or maybe that the Thing's eyes open when it is captured.
At dinner tonight, just as mom said 'when babies are done eating and want to get down they tend to do things like put their bowl in their head', Abby proceeded to do so with her plate of avocado. She initially liked her bean mix but stopped after 4 spoonfuls.
Abby was playing with her Play Doh that mom made from scratch. Mom handed her her play-sized rolling pin, and she went and got the big adult-sized rolling pin from the drawer she knows well. Then she brought other items like the popsicle mold. Unbelievably, on command she actually put some of the items away...mom was so proud!
Abby is doing more coloring but is not nuts about it.
Abby is experimenting with putting her own (and sometimes mom's and dad's) clothes on...she can pull shirts over her head and can put her feet in her shoes.
Many of Abby's books involve asking her 'Abby, where are the shoes?' and waiting for her to point. Dad can't believe how many words she knows. He also thinks she must somehow understand the process of elimination when she correctly indicates things we really don't think we've taught her before.
9-July-2005: Had a great time at Cole's party at the Gymnastics center. Abby as usual slowly scoped the place out then got more excited. She got a bit freaked out in the deep pit of small foam squares even with mom nearby, but did a great job on the balance beams.
Abby is playing with her more advanced shape sorter. She knows which shapes go into which holes but is still working on rotating them to make them fit. Often, she will simply take the lid off of it and put the pieces in directly causing us to laugh.
There is a Quaker Oats container that we just recently re-introduced. We put measuring spoons in it to make a clangy sound. Abby will take the lid off, play with the spoons, put them back in, and put the lid back on.
8-Jul-2005: Mom and Abby had a great time with their friend Lucinda. Lucinda picked out a fabulous park that they all want to visit again. Abby and Mom were touched that Lucinda brought cakes, cupcakes, a blanket and water!
Abby seems to know what 'red' is, and sometimes 'blue'.
7-Jul-2005: Abby makes the most adorable sound to date...if you ask her what a dog sounds like, she says 'woof woof', though it sounds a bit more like 'woo woo'. We think this was after dad was having fun making a 'whoop' sound. But Abby thinks that all animals make this sound too. She laughs when we show her that 'a cat makes a MEOW', and 'a happy monkey says EEE EEE EEE!'.
1-July-2005: We all went across the street to welcome baby Jake into the world! Abby is more and more trying to say words. The word for today was OCTOGON...it comes out OK-O-GA. Very cute. She knows the word 'camera' too. Went to Johnny Rockets - Abby didn't want the chicken...but wanted her Oyster crackers that come with dad's chili at a more rapid rate than mom wanted to dispense them. Abby did a lot of coloring on her place mat. We came home and played in the yard. Abby likes to sit in a foldable storage crate, play with her big purple ball, and touch the garage door. She also likes to check on the lemon tree every so often. Daddy did a few sets of weights while watching Abby from the garage. Daddy picked some blackberries from the wild blackberry plant that has invaded the other lemon tree on the side of the house. Abby liked them but kind of made a mess grabbing on to mom's jacket. In fact in doing the laundry mom noticed that Abby's clothes are getting dirtier as she plays more. We are looking forward to the party at the Rowden house but are SO sorry about Dana's tooth! We hope she gets better very soon!
25-June-2005: Abby knows some shapes - hearts, triangles, squares and stars. Daddy was reading one of her 'shapes' books and she somehow knows all these...you can call out the name and she will point at the shape. In another book, there was a picture of a button, and daddy said 'button'. Abby pointed at her belly button. We are working on colors, but Abby seems consufed a bit by them. Abby likes to spend time roaming around the yard and driveway. She will fall sometimes on the blacktop but only whimpers a little and moves on - what tough baby! She isn't afraid of going into the garage anymore either. Sometimes Daddy will do some quick weights and she'll wait patiently. Abby knows the word 'Lego'.
21-June-2005: Abby really knows quite a few words now...we'd guess around 75-100. She knows words for objects like boat, car, truck, clock, and ball. We practice them in her 'First Words' book. For some words, like 'ball', Abby will run out of the room suddenly and bring her ball to the reader. Ditty for bear and pig. If you say 'horse', she goes to see her rocking horse 'Clyde'. If you show her a picture of an apple and say the word, she might look over at our fruit basket and say "UMMMMM!". If you say 'TV', she goes over and touches it. We learned the word 'coat' early this morning...then only an hour later daddy said 'Coat', and Abby went and got hers. Abby has also been trying to dress herself. We have discovered her with clothes removed, but not installed.
Lately, Abby has been much more active around dinnertime. She really has not wanted to sit in her chair and eat. She insists on sitting on one of our adult dining room chairs like everyone else.
Abby can sing a song! She can sing the 'ABC' song. Well, it's actually humming...she doesn't know her letters yet. But she must sing the song a dozen times a day or more. We are working on teaching her "Jesus Loves Me" next. She already knows when she hears that song to go get the book that has the song in it.
Speaking of books, Abby brings more and more books to us to read each day. But you never know if she'll want to hear the whole thing, or just a couple pages before she storms off to get another one.
20-June-2005: Abby is making more sounds all the time. Today after dinner we were working on the 'apple' word, and she actually seemed to copy it by saying "Ah-Po". She strings together lots of sounds that sort of sound like sentences. Abby seems to understand possession...if we say "where is daddy's car?", she touches the right car. She also loves to show groups of things. She will go around and point to everyone in the room as we call out their names. She walks daddy around to each of the plants when he waters them. She will point at all the lights in a room in succession too. She likes to find matching blocks. She likes to have both Mr. Pig and Mr. Bear when one or the other is selected...similarly with the smaller Lamb and Monkey. If we say "where's daddy?" she will point not only at daddy but also the picture of daddy in the living room.
18-June-2005: Abby and Dad like to sit out in back by the fence and play with rocks. In fact, in general Abby likes to distribute rocks from herself to other people and back again.
10-June-2005: Abby has learned to shake her head to indicate 'no' and uses this skill increasingly each day. It is strange to wonder how many things she acquiesced to that she no longer wants. So far, 'yes' is indicated by an absence of 'no'.
22-May-2005: Today, Abby was about to invade mom's closet, and we said "Abby, please close the door", and lo and behold, she did! She even made sure it latched shut! Dad and Abby after church played a bit on our lawn, and she gave dad a big hug. Mom is making her absolutely perfect turkey meatloaf tonight. Dad rode home from church on his bike and got another one of the new Jamba Juice Matcha green tea drinks - he loves them terribly. We are all looking forward to Grandpa coming next week and hearing how Aunt Nancy's 'Great Wall' run went. We wish Aunt Jenn and Great Aunt Nancy could stick around too.
21-May-2005: We went to the San Carlos 'Home Town Days' parade and met our friends the McAffe's at Vivaldi's bakery. Abby sat in rapt attention for the entire 1.5 hours on her dad's lap. We stopped by the fair in Brittan park; dad got a chili and mom got a pulled pork sandwich. The trinkets in the booths interested us not and so we went home. We went to Ikea later for the first time and enjoyed ourselves the meltdown in the parking garage while dad was tieing his new desk to the roof notwithstanding.
15-May-2005: Here are some more words Abby knows
| Word | Notes |
|---|---|
| Cheerios | she eats (and leaves behind) a great deal of them |
| socks | she likes to remove daddy's |
| swing | we have a swing on our porch she likes to ride and/or push |
| lemons | our lemon tree is readily identified |
| egg | to refer to the many plastic ones we have left over from easter |
| hand | uttering this causes her to raise hers |
| nose | this word has been learned and forgotten a couple of times. She points to her daddy's and doll's noses |
| spoon | she knows what it is, what it does, but doesn't know how or want to use it |
| shoe | especially likes Daddy's slippers |
| hair | causes Abby to grab her own hair |
| leg | |
| bunny | she can point at one in her book |
| bear | |
| lap | as in 'come sit on my lap' |
| brush | a black one mom uses is often around |
| light | causes her to find all lights in the room, on or off |
| banana | and she eats many of them too, no matter how ripe |
In addition to some vocabulary, Abby can use inflection to indicate a question!
Abby has gotten better at climbing up and down things like steps that are too steep for her to step up or down. Abby also likes to 'fake us out'. Today she held her spoon and tempted her dad with it...then yanked it away as he as about to take it. She also does this with her 'pillow time' pillow...she will pull it down, and just as you are starting to do pillow time she'll run off to her chair. Abby had fun today at the Toddler Reading Group at our library today. Abby hopes her Aunt Jenn, Great Aunt Nancy and Grandpa Greg will read this while she's in China and maybe even send her an email!
14-May-2005: We had a great sermon today about Jesus calming the stormy Sea of Galilee. Later, Abby, Mom and Dad met David (age 13 months) and his mom Cindy today at the park while they had their KFC dinner and had a great time. David is so agile!
26-Apr-2005: Dad and Abby have been taking walks on our block. She likes all the items that mom has introduced to her: flowers, fences and fire hydrants. Just around the corner is a bright yellow fire plug. When Abby got to it she was immediately entranced and continually patted its top and its little chains. Dad led her away grudgingly to the creek just a bit further down...but all the while she looked back. On our way back, we passed the hydrant and again she latched on to it. Finally, dad had to lead her away, she broke down and dad had to carry her home - mostly with Abby looking backward to the hydrant.
24-Apr-2005: Dad and Abby went on one of our walks to downtown. This time, near 'The Door' (our local Christian Bookstore) dad let Abby wander into a store for the first time. Immediately she started to pull items down from the shelves as dad frantically replaced them. Then the TV running a Veggie Tales caught her attention and she headed down there. Partly out of guilt for trashing the store, dad bought a book for Abby. We then explored the post office and the adjacent drug store. But as soon as we entered it, a woman sternly called to us "Can I help you?!" apparently anticpating Abby's destructive streak. We quickly exited, and then walked hand in hand for another good 1/4 mile. Wow! That was a long walk for Abby! Occasionally she'd pull her hand from mine and giggle as she tried to escape. We then went to the park where mom spotted us on the way back from the dentist. We sent Abby down the swing, and we can't tell if she enjoyed it or was stunned. After all that walking Abby went to sleep like a rock.
1-Apr-2005: Jenn and Abby went the library and made lots of noise - not cries - but exclamations. This was accompanied by much throwing of items around the library. This makes sense with Abby's enthusiasm about books - she is looking at them a lot during the day. Now that she can pretty much roam the house rapidly on foot she likes to check in on dad every so often...sometimes even she'll come in, plop down and read a book to herself. Today's selection was 'The Hungry Catepillar', a book Jenn likes as well. Jenn & Abby listened to a 'Billie Holiday' CD set from the library and Abby joined in in song at certain moments. After dad finished work (which included wrapping up the sale of his Grandma's house) we all went to Johnny Rockets - a place we have grown to love. As soon as we entered the store and set Abby barefoot on the ground she began to dance to the disco selections playing on the jukebox. Mom and Abby shared a double hamburger...dad had a patty melt and chili. Abby loved wearing her paper JR hat and looking at boys at other tables. In fact it seemed as if she wanted to join their table on the way out. Afterwards we went next door to Old Navy to get some clothes for dad's trip. Here, too, Abby roamed barefoot on the store floor and had a tremendous time (of course mom was within arm's reach at all times chasing after Abby). Then we came home, washed Abby's feet, wrote this log and watched the rest of The Hidden Fortress.
27-Mar-2005: Many updates...Abby has always liked books but now will pick one and hand it to us to read. She might also sit with a book and read it to herself, with some small, cute utterances. Abby walks like she never crawled. At this point she walks more than she crawls. She can change direction, walk in a circle, carry items in both hands, and even squat down to get something and return to standing position. She has gotten a few bruises on her legs but carries on! Over time, her ability to walk even with socks on hardwood has gotten very good. Once in a while there is a burst of running. During her greatest achievements in mobility she will continuously shriek, so much so we worry that a neighbor might mistake the sound and contact the authorities. We have started to let Abby watch a small amount of 'Baby Einstein', which will hold her attention for a long period of time.
When Abby goes on walks with mom she loves to watch the kids play at the park, watch cars go by and watch birds fly. She loves examine trees - she touches the bark, then looks up at the leaves and smiles. She also loves flowers in a similar way.
During a recent ride to Salinas, rather than falling asleep as is usual, she quietly and alertly would watch the green hills and other sights.
We notice that out of Abby's huge selection of books on her special shelf, she often will pick the same books we have read to her in the past. Abby likes to cuddle her blankets more than ever. We also are seeing her little emotions come out a bit more...taking away an item such as a toothpaste tube which she had been examining can lead to a lot of crying. Often, we have to direct her away from our garbage can.We are starting to detect some 'counterfeit' cries as well as coughs made just for fun or effect.
We often think Abby looks just like Matt's sister Jenn...especially in this picture
26-Mar-2005: Today we went to a great party at the Ferri's house. We always love going over there. We were so sad that Marianne couldn't come as her family got sick. But Abby got to see her friend Joshua and also newborn Annie Lori Sullivan. We had a delicious ham. It is so fun to compare notes with the other parents. There was a sweet moment when Abby and Joshua were both standing/crouching under the high chair.
Here are the words Abby knows...that is, words she understands...most of the words she says are forms of 'Da'. Some variations include 'Ha ta'.
| Word | Notes |
|---|---|
| tree | a word she's known since Christmas but which she applies now to other kinds seen during her walks |
| momma / da-da | she can say both, and says 'mamama' when in distress sometimes |
| Purse | Especially her blue purse, which she will go retrieve from her room if you ask her to |
| Hand | If you say 'Abby where's your hand' she will promptly hold it up |
| Bye-bye | This causes Abby to start waving |
| Foot | This is Abby's favorite body part. When said, she will raise her foot toward you so that you can tickle/kiss/blow upon it |
| Tummy | This primarily refers to daddy's or mommy's tummy. When spoken, Abby will gleefully lift up our shirts and probe our navels |
| Pillow Time / Uh oh | This initiates the 'Pillow Time' activity. We have a large body pillow that cradled Jenn while pregnant. It normally stands up next to the dresser (see March photos). Abby has for a long time pulled it down. But now she expects us to then grab her with the pillow and more or less do situps. Abby will utter 'uh oh' when the time approaches, throw herself face down on the pillow, and then if no one comes, look backwards expectantly at mom or dad |
| Light | If there is a light on, she will look at it when this word is said and reach toward it. Also seems upset when one of our 2 kitchen lights is not on. However Abby is not afraid of the dark and will enter a dark room for 'Pillow Time' (above) |
| Airplane | When an airplane flies overhead, which is often as we are near a small commuter airport, she will detect it whether she is inside or out. She will track it, point at it and say 'Da da' |
| Monkey / Lamb | there are two (2) 1.5 inch animals in our bedroom that sit atop our respective lamps - a monkey and a lamb. Abby will look at the corresponding one when its name is called |
| Abby, why don't you have some water | this causes Abby to grab her sippy cup and inbibe, smile and laugh |
| clock (see also) | Jenn has a small plastic white clock atop her nightstand that Abby loves to tote arond the house |
| unicorn | Abby has several unicorns, 2 that are small and portable, and one she can ride. Abby likes to grab the former as we select items from her wardrobe |
| diaper | Abby responds by indicating hers |
| fire hydrant | she shows recognition and desires to touch it |
| fence | many seen during walks with mom. Likes to put her hand out to thump them as she walks by |
| hat | we have many. She likes to alternately move the hat from her to mom's head |
5-Mar-2005: We went to Stacks for breakfast, and then John and Doris headed to Tahoe. Then Jenny & Kenny came up just to see Abby walk! She did not disappoint and walked from the ottoman to the bookshelf. Wow! As dad writes this we are putting Abby to bed so we can watch the taped Oscar awards.
4-Mar-2005: Abby has taken HER FIRST STEPS! Aunt Doris and Uncle John were there to see it on the first day they got to meet her! (Actuall this video is of her second set of steps). We had Coyote Cafe burritos for dinner!
3-Mar-2005: Abby likes a game where she looks at tummies, including hers. We are really hearing more sounds - it seems as if her word learning is really accelerating!
14-Feb-2005: Today is Valentine's day! In the morning Abby and Mom gave some of their gifts to Daddy. He got some chocolate racing cars! Daddy then went out to Yahoo! for some tuning work. It rained today. When Daddy came home he caught up on email then fired up the grill for some heavily Worcester-marinated steaks. Daddy then got some more gifts and gave Mom a day spa gift card. Abby got herself entagled with the bungie cord thing that came with the box that the gift cards came in, and while she untangled it she forgot to notice that she was standing without holding on for 15 seconds!. This happened 2 more times afterwards. At one point, Daddy tried to lure Abby into taking a few steps using her favorite red ball, but just as Abby was ready to take the step she seemed to figure out the ruse and began to cry. Abby also pulled out some glass bowls and broke one. Abby seemed to be trying to kiss everything today too. She will almost every time make a kiss sound if she hears one or heards the work 'kiss'. She also does 'patty cake' and 'roll-em-up' by word or by copying. We loved our steaks and listened to a medley of some of our favorite songs from Matt's laptop.
13-Feb-2005: Abby is getting good at sorting shapes with her shape sorting toy. But rather than get the shapes back out from the door, she tries to reach through the holes and sometimes gets stuck as she can't extract her hand with shape in it. We've decided to cancel our San Diego trip because of non-stop rain!
10-Feb-2005: While watching a Lord of the Rings documentary, Abby saw someone holding The Ring in the air, and then copied this by holding the ring similarly aloft!
25-Jan-2005: Grandma went home this morning after a nice visit. Abby has started to do some different things. She brushes her own teeth if you hand her a toothbrush. She also can sort of take a step between the coffee table and her play pen. Abby really likes her new Jimmy Neutron pillow that Grandpa Roush specially ordered. We have noticed that Abby likes to sort of hop up and down slightly to the sound of music.
24-Jan-2005: Dad went back to Pixar today. Abby and Mom went to another of the San Carlos Library 'read to kids' things and they had a great time, though Abby was a bit tired. We watched some more of our SCTV DVD which we have enjoyed thoroughly. Richard Harris was on Mel's Rock Pile. Abby seems to know the words 'ball 'and 'grandma' now. We had a great dinner and used the bread maker from Abby's Aunt Jenn for the first time. Yumm! Abby liked to sit between Dad and Grandma K and roll the ball back and forth. She is really getting good at it, which is amazing when you see that her technique is sort of 'hit the ball or shake my hand and let go and hope for the best'.
23-Jan-2005: Abby likes to take apart the Lego assemblies that dad puts together. Then she sometimes will throw a piece into the bucket as we say 'IN!'. Then we dump it out and say 'OUT!'. Then she learned that it's fun to throw the pieces off of the bed. Mom and dad went to the Hillsdale mall after church to shop for a few new shirts for dad.
22-Jan-2005: Mom, Dad, Abby and Grandma went downtown today. We bought Abby a set of baby Legos. Grandma Kluever played with Abby and discovered Abby likes to be walked while we hold her hands. At first she cried but now she laughs. Still, sometimes her legs turn to rubber and she doesn't want to proceed.
21-Jan-2005: Abby LOVES her new rocking chair from her Grandpa and Great Aunt Nancy! She likes when we place her in it, and she likes to climb onto it.
19-Jan-2005: Abby is getting better and better at feeding herself. She can hold her own bottle even when it's full now. It takes a lot of dexterity to feed yourself slippery food like avocados with just your hands, but she manages just great.
18-Jan-2005: Abby has thrown things out of her crib! She also routinely crawls down our hallway from the bedroom in search of mom.
12-Jan-2005: Today, Abby was sitting in her feeding high chair and she watched her mom and dad kiss. Abby then immitated it and kissed, well, the air. This happened twice proving it was not a fluke. Abby and Mom had a great time doing errands downtown including the library. Later on Abby would repeatedly don and un-don Jenn's baseball hat. Abby also loves to watch Jenn do the same. Abby goes nuts over the driving toy that her Grandma Kluever sent. Her parents were also impressed by all the sounds and vibrations this sucker puts out. Dad went on another 14 mile ride up Edgewood, over to Woodside via Canada road, then back home via route 84 and Alameda. We ate another Lou Malnati's pizza, and Abby had her Trader Joe's turkey meatballs. It was the first day in a while without a downpour. Abby is really trying to stand without her hands. She also now squirms in dad's arms when she wants to be in mom's arms instead. She consumers less and less milk each day as she is into solid food. She has also become good at holding her own bottle not only on her back but when sitting in her chair. This takes quite a bit of maneuvering, however. Abby's talking is more varied and often though much of it is variations on 'Da'. Our Christmas Tree is down, and so Abby doesn't have something to look at anymore when we say 'tree'. Abby hasn't been doing the raspberry when in disgust recently.
2-Jan-2005: Dad bought Abby a backpack baby carrier. It's like the Baby Bjorn but a bit more extreme. We have gone on our 3 mile loop twice now. Abby seems to like it, but the downside is that dad can't really see or touch Abby while she's loaded like he could with the Bjorn. We have been having a LOT of rain these past 2 weeks, so we sneak out for a walk when we can.
Abby now does a raspberry whenever she's unhappy or distressed. Jenn is practicing more words and teaching Abby how to stack her blocks and cups. Abby's 'cruising' continues, only now she wants to take items with her as she explores the coffee table, bed, etc. She loves the rocking horse and unicorn from her grandpas, but so far she mainly likes to stand up next to them and pat them/pull their tail rather than ride them. Even with dad supporting her she doesn't want to hang on.
We all like the mini piano Grandma Kluever sent us. Abby listens very intently. Dad enjoys aggrevating mom by playing the Celine Dion 'My Hear Will Go On' Titanic theme on it.
We have been reading Abby books every day. Abby still likes the book about Benjamin the Bear and Grandma K's books with the fuzzy animals.
19-Dec-2004: Dad is noticing that Abby makes more types of sounds every day. Still, most objects are referred to as Da or Dada, and distress is accompanied by 'mumumuh'.
18-Dec-2004: Today, we went to Stacks with Grandma. We tried to fee Abby some scrambled eggs, and she got upset until we realized that she was protesting in favor of feeding herself. As soon as we presented a plate to her for her own feeding she was instantly content. Abby still only rarely holds her own bottle, however. Abby has learned to turn off light switches if Dad holds her next to them. This is very exciting for her.
17-Dec-2004: We have to clear off our nightstands now, because Abby pulls herself up to them and goes after anything on top.
16-Dec-2004: Abby has learned the word 'Tree'. If we say 'where is the tree?', she will turn towards our Christmas tree. Well, almost. We then noticed that she looked at the tree if we also said 'where's momma?', or even 'where is'. So we have to invent a new interrogative for each object, I guess. Abby loves our Christmas tree and likes to gently stroke the needles when dad holds her close to it, positioned so as not to imperil the ornaments.
15-Dec-2004: We have been working on teaching Abby various names for objects. There's one book in particular where a little bear gets up, gets dressed, gets ready for school, etc.; and for each page we'll say something like 'pants...pants...pants', while pointing at the mentioned object. She seems completely engaged and wants us to re-read the book 2-3 times.
14-Dec-2004 - Abby loves Cherios. She likes to feed them to herself. They disolve in her mouth after a few seconds so they're safe from choking. Abby also loves turkey meatballs and sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's. In fact, it seems that Abby is about done with eating baby jarred foods. Her favorite, however seems to be mom's homemade oatmeal. Mom spoons a pile on her tray and Abby manages to get a portion of it in. She also gets excited when Mom is eating something and wants to eat whatever it is also.
30-Nov-2004: Our heater went out this morning so Mom, Abby and Dad did a trip together to Whole Foods. Our heater has a remarkable property in that it works better the warmer it is outside, so when we got home it was working again. Abby rode around in the cart, playing with an orange. We looked at 5 different Cheerio-like products to find the one with lowest sugar. We got a box of cookies that remind Dad of the 'Chockit Bears' that Abby's cousin Dasha loves so much. Jenn found her hard-to-find green tea with brown rice. Dad got a vegetable drink and a prosciuto sandwich for lunch. Dad had to pass on his favorite curried chicken salad as Whole Foods wanted $12 a pound for it. Abby has also learned '2 Diaper Monty' - that is, a game where you put a stuffed animal under one of 2 cloth diapers and she tries to pull off the right diaper. It is fun to watch the gears turning. Abby is really proficient now at getting herself into a sitting position and can cruise all day long along tables, people or cribs.
29-Nov-2004: Jenn has been increasingly feeding Abby solid food. Yesterday Dad helped at dinner time where Abby ate oatmeal and mangoes. She really likes the mangoes. Earlier, Abby and Jenn ate turkey meatballs together. Abby for the first time consistently fed herself as she took little meatball pieces and fed them into her mouth. At night, though it was very cold (in the 30s!) Dad and Abby went for a brief stroll to look at Christmas lights. She was mesmorized by the ones just up our block.
27-Nov-2004: Abby today had some of her Uncle Bill's homemade waffles. She could not get enough of them. She would lean toward Pokey's finger to try and snag the next piece, and if that wasn't enough, she would grab her hand and force it into her mouth.
26-Nov-2004: We had great Italian food at Mammy's house and spent lots of time reminicing about Mammy and our strange experiences at the cemetary. The person there who was getting our arrangements ready thought that Mammy would be buried with her husband Jose (not Joe). Before we went over Dad heard Abby cry pretty loudly, and then stop suddenly. He creeped into her room, saw her laying on her front (as she usually does) and then crept slowing to check on her. He just barely touched her back and she instantly shifted but stopped. Dad then departed knowing all was well.
25-Nov-2004: Today, on Thanksgiving Mammy, one of Abby's greatet fans, died around 7:00 am.
23-Nov-2004: Abby can get close to any piece of furniture or person and clamber her way up to standing without really trying! It is such a complicated series of steps, but it is old hat to her now. She will sometimes then hold on with only one hand, which is no problem, but then release the other hand (Dad calls it going 'EVA') and instantly falls on her bottom.
17-Nov-2004: This morning around 5:30 or so we heard some crying and hammer-like thumping. My first half-awake thought was, boy the construction guys are getting started early. But then I noticed Abby's crying. Jenn got up to check on Abby, and immediately called me in. Our baby was discovered STANDING IN THE CRIB! The thumping was her rattling the front gate to the crib! Abby then fell asleep in Mom and Dad's bed and napped with dad.
Abby also repeated the standing maneuvre during her nap this afternoon, which was disturbed by the construction crew shoring up our creek bank in the back yard (imagine sounds of big rocks falling, bobcats driving and spanish). We're not really sure what to do when she hasn't had her whole nap yet when she's standing and waiting for us.
15-Nov-2004: Today, Abby stood herself up! One minute she was sitting next to the coffee table - the same one we got from Ma Paulin - and the next she was standing up!
27-Oct-2004: Abby is increasing her crawling proficiency rapidly! She needs only a few unattended seconds to achieve essentially any target in sight. She loves to slide around a small end table in the living room and we worry she will topple it. She has a new laugh which is like gaspy, almost nerdy (but not nerdy when she does it) inhaled laugh which we love. She is laughing more often but is also more likely to cry when one of us leaves the room. She is taking a bath almost every day and loves to splash and splash. She now also tries to drink out of the running tap which makes an even greater water mess.
22-Oct-2004: Alone on a Friday night, dad went on his longest bike ride ever. He went up Edgewood, took Canada to Woodside to Woodside Road, then Alameda to Palo Alto. He stopped at the Stanford Shopping mall and felt very conspicuous in his sweats and riding gear. He got a chicken crepe from a new place across from the Stanford theatre called GCup to go. Then he rode home on Alameda. It was over 22 miles! There was one point on Canada where it felt like he was rocket-powered. There must be a slight downhill grade there. He is proud of his road tires on his mountain bike. He seems to notice that some roads have pavement that is easier to roll on than others.
15-Oct-2004: Abby is in Houston with her mom and grandma visiting pokey and having a wonderful time enchanting her various cousing and Houstonians. She seems to have gotten sick though, but the doctor was wonderful. She is absolutely gaga about Pokey and John's cat and she has a great love for John as well. Dad is manning the fort and has just wrapped up his NASA project.
8-Oct-2004: OUR BABY IS ON THE MOVE. She is now doing some basic crawling. Between this and her previously-mastered rolling she can get anywhere from anywhere. She is also extrememly interested in electrical cords.
4-Oct-2004: Abby's official specs from the Doctor are... 29 1/2", 21 lbs 8 oz, 46.8 cm head diameter.
3-Oct-2004: We went to church today. Abby's friends Joshua and Elise Butterfield were in the Nursery to keep her company. We sat next to the Butterfield's and had a great service all about Romans 8 and how the Holy Spirit enables us to die to the flesh. Then we came home, went back to the library (which we discovered is 2 miles away if you take the long Alameda way) to return our 'The Way We Live Now' video with David Suchet. Jenn and Abby tried to take a nap, but Abby just played - seemingly singing along with her Ocean Wonders minor key music and Jenn couldn't doze off. Abby finally fell asleep, and Jenn went to get Abby clothes (some especially needed footie pajamas) and again bumpted into the Butterfield's. Meanwhile Dad napped. Then Abby and Dad went for their walk. They walked down the dirt side of the Alameda hill to see the carnival at the catholic church. There was a 10 year old girl belting out 'hit me with your best shot' followed by 'dancing queen' ala karaoke. We proceeded to our Laurel street - Arroyo route home watching some basketball, tennis and softball at Britain park. At home, Abby took a bath. Ma and Pa Walsh then watched 'Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town'. Dad's favorite line was when Pa Kettle is getting a police interrogation and Ma comes to rescue him. As the police protest Ma taking Pa from the room, they say "what about Habeus Corpus", and Ma replies "we're taking that too". For some reason Dad could not stop laughing at that part. Ma Walsh found it easier to cease the laughter. We feasted on vegetarian corn dogs and non-vegetarian chicken wings from TGI Fridays that Jenn didn't think smelled very good but which dad liked very much especially augmented with Durkee Red Hot sauce. We had huge salads in our big stainless steel mixing bowls to justify ourselves (though the wings are low in carbs*). We went to bed tired but with a very nice, full day. Tomorrow, Dad goes back to NASA again where he is enjoying his programming work.
We notice that Abby is a free spirit. She does not care for having her face or nose wiped even when it needs it. She also resists having her hands enclosed by dad's during the walk even though he is trying to warm them up. She can roll with the best of them and is spending more time practicing standing. Her repetoire of sounds includes ma, da, sss, p, th and new today, na. She has mastered the skill of rasberrying initially taught to her by Grandpa Greg and has no compunctions about demonstrating it often and in every circumstance. She also loves to shake her head though we are unsure of the meaning of the gesture. However she does seem to shake her head when Mom asks her if Abby is ready to watch Perry Mason. She does appear to enjoy the Monk television program perhaps because of the wet wipes. She is becoming more affectionate and more inclined to try and escape from her crib, evidenced by the battered bunting that surrounds the interior of it. She is more and more able to put her arounds around her carrier's neck in almost a monkey-like way. When dad is taking care of her, invariably she will attack his watch as it is the accoutrement that most interests her.
2-Oct-2004: Vicky, Jordan and Libby came for a visit! Dad went to visit them the night before as they had driven up the coast. He had tried to walk down the street he knew they'd be driving down to their hotel and thinks he saw them but it was dark. Anyway, we had breakfast at Stack's, went for a nature walk at Edgewood Park, and had dinner at the Peninsula Fountain in Palo Alto. Abby got a beautiful musical glittering snow globe music box with 5 of the Disney princesses in it and we were blown away. We tried to return their umbrellas that we have transported to 3 different houses since we borrowed them on our Chicago trip 3 years ago but they graciously allowed us to retain them a bit longer. We could not believe how Libby had grown and Dad had a wonderful time picking her up and hearing her laugh. Abby was also completely mesmorized by Libby in a way we had never seen before by adults. It's hard to believe Abby will be running around, getting herself in and out of cars and more all on her own someday!
22-Sept-2004: Abby has for a few weeks now gotten to completely enjoy her bath. She sure splashes up a storm! We have to wipe up afterwards each time. We do the baths in the kitchen sink. Dad helped tonight and particularly enjoyed lathering Abby's perfectly wonderful head. Then it was pajama time, feeding time and bed time. What could be more wholesome and wondeful? Abby continues to reach out and grab anything within range whether it's safe or not. Dad was tired today after a full day at NASA/Ames. It may also be a caffeine crash as he had a full-strength latte for the first time in a while. Today when Jenn came into the nursery to pick up Abby she found Abby facing backwards. When Jenn said 'Is there a little girl named Abby here?' Abby turned around readily and smiled. Abby has learned that she can clamp her mouth shut when she doesn't want any more food or realizes an Oragel (teething pain relief) treatment is about to start.
20-Sept-2004: Abby has mastered the word 'dad'. Or, really. 'Da-da-da-da-da'. She uses this term with Mom as she does with Dad, so it really doesn't have the meaning built in yet. But she is really getting good with her sounds.
11-Sept-2004: Abby has mastered the word 'mom'. Or really, 'mum-mum-mum-mum'. She was seen playing with her hair for what we think is the first time today. She loves to play with a Fisher Price toy where you push various buttons to make aminals pop up. She seems intent on closing them. Maybe she's a neat freak.
10-Sept-2004: Mom and Dad went and played cards with Jenn's family. We met Heather's Boyfriend Josh and his friend Nick. Heather did the best at cards and made lots of great food including brownies. Heidi was also there and told us she's learning to ride a motorcycle.
9-Sept-2004: Abby likes to be held in a new way. It's kind of like a monkey where she straddles mom around the waist. We can't wait for her to actively hold on with her hands too.
6-Sept-2004: Another really hot day. Dad had the day off and took a bunch of pictures so he can sell pinball playfields on ebay. He also took a video of himself riding the old Ninja so he can try and sell it on ebay as well. But the picture is pretty shaky. We watched Tron and a bit of Buckaroo Banzai. It was a trip to the 80s. Dad fed Abby some beans and she loved them. But then she ate a bunch of milk too. We're wondering if it's another growth spurt. Matt got a call from his BSF leader and is excited to be starting it up again.
5-Sept-2004: We had Scott, Claire and Iona over for a visit after church. There are a bunch of pictures here of our incredible kids. We had BBQ chicken and Claire's amazing desert which was the only redeemable food served at the college she went to. After dinner we played a fun card game called Fluxx. After everyone went home and Abby went to bed mom and dad watched 'The Wedding Singer'.
3-Sept-2004: This morning Mom went for her promotional chiropractic exam and dad got an adjustment. Crack! Dad and Abby dropped off some ebay packages at the post office. Dad spent most of the day working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator. Too bad he still doesn't have his 'Super Collider'.
Abby really loves to play with pillows. She laughs if we repeatedly wave on top of her.
2-Sept-2004: This morning, Abby gave Mom her first hug. We couldn't believe it. She also gave one of her kisses. At night we hit the farmer's market in San Carlos just as it was closing and got some bread, a chicken, a product made from lavender, and some more roasted & flavored nuts. Abby only had a one-sy on so I covered her with a vest which she liked to kick around.
More and more, Abby is grabbing everything that's in front of her, so we have to be careful what we walk near to when carrying her around. She loves to play with her simple blocks and Quaker Oats can. Although still not crawling, she is becoming more and more aggressive in moving around. For instance we will find her in her crib in a variety of strange positions.
1-Sept-2004: Abby now weighs 20.4 lbs. That puts her just shy of the 90th percentile. She has so many teeth it's hard to keep count. She's getting better at being in sync with the sleep schedule. Abby loves the new books and bath toys she got from Grandma Kluever.
24-Aug-2004: Abby enjoys her new play pen that we can all sit in at once. It has things to spin, and buttons to push that play music. She often uses 'tools' in the form of toys and such to activate them. She always has this adorable concentrative look on her face as she examines things. She was fascinated today with a toy consisting of a cube with holes on each face for soft shapes that go in them. She liked seeing them drop out the bottom. Dad would make towers of toys, and Abby would knock them down. She really does seem remarkably strong in her grip - she can push Jenn's hands away when administering Oragel. Mom and Abby are in Salinas as Mom has a fever and needs some extra care. Dad dropped them off and came back home. Grandma Jenny, Pokey and Bill went to a concert of an 80 year old drummer. Clint Eastwood was even there.
23-Aug-2004: Abby is REALLY starting to grab things without a second thought. My messy desk is an endless delight of objects to grab. She instantly untied her hat during our walk and held on to the string for a mile or so. Lots of extended 'blah blah blah' (literally) statements. She seems to have mastered the 'b' consanant first. It seems like she tries to talk when 2 adults are speaking to each other so that she can be part of the conversation.
16-Aug-2004: Abby has a little cough, and so this morning she and mom have gone to Dr. Marx to have it checked out. Then later they are going down to Salinas to see her Aunt Margie (her great grandmother's sister) for the first time.
15-Aug-2004: We went to church at Trinity in Sunnyvale so that we could see Lucinda praise God with the praise team one last time before she moves out to Sacramento (Roseville, more precisely). Then afterwards, we had a party at P.F. Chang's. Abby got a bit overwhelmed by the excitement of 25 people, so we left just a bit early. But it was great to see Lucinda, Jennifer Meola, Dan, Pastor Fred and the rest of the folks from Trinity. We came home, dad took a nap, and went to our parenting class. On the way, dad took a picture of this billboard which, in his opinion, is a remarkable piece of nerd lore and a fun programming puzzle. He solved it here. Abby enchanted both of the volunteers in the nursery, and mom and dad heard a moving story about the reconciliation of Pastor Chip Ingram and his son. We then had a great discussion with our group.
13-Aug-2004: Abby was relieved to hear that Grandpa Greg, Aunt Nancy and cousin Whitney were safe after we heard about the hurricane that hit their area of Florida.
12-Aug-2004: Abby got some beautiful new books from Grandma Linda. Her favorite so far is 'Oscar Otter', because inside it has lots of textured things to touch and shiny pictures.
11-Aug-2004: Today, when dad went in to get Abby from a nap, she was waiting for him, peeking through her crib. Abby also had a bath, and dad thinks this picture looks a lot like his sister.
30-July-2004: This morning at around 6:00am Jenn heard a sound like cardboard scratching outside. Fearing it was burglars, she looked out to discover that 2 large racoons were 'playing' in our back yard. In fact, they were utilizing the wading pool we had left full of water. They would play in the water, exit, chase each other, wrestle and repeat. This went on for a good 20 minutes. I tried to video it, but the night mode didn't work with them as far away as they were. In fact they spotted me peeking through the blinds, but quickly disregarded me and returned to their activities.
Today, Jenn gave Abby her second kitchen sink bath and her first with just Jenn. Dad and Abby went for a long walk and along the way received greetings from everyone she met. We rented 'The Gospel According to John'. On the way home on our walk we saw a big shooting star and a huge moon. We had turkey over lettuce and started watching 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'.
29-July-2004: Abby went to get her picture taken at Sears. Grandma went home at night. We finished watching 'Meet John Doe' and made cookies.
28-July-2004: Dad installed Abby's new car seat which will fit her for the next 40 pounds or so.
27-July-2004: Abby has started to 'talk' and 'sing' in her own way. We just don't understand the language. She goes on and on with various 'bla' and 'bluf' sounds in a string of sounds. Sometimes they sound like talking, sometimes like nonchalant rambling, sometimes like singing, sometimes in a near-disgust outburst. Today grandma Kluever and Abby went for a 2 hour walk downtown and got a new dolly. On the way back, Abby seemed to be getting too much exposure, so Dad rode his bike to the rescue to bring them a blanket to cover her from the sun in her stroller. Lots of firsts today. Abby took her first bath in the sink. Abby grabbed for her bear blanket. Abby shook her head rapidly as if she was saying 'no'. She also wore her 'Born to Bowl' shirt she got from Grandpa Walsh. We had Lou Malnati's pizza shipped from Chicago for dinner. Jenn got some new food processing equipment so she can make baby food at home. Aunt Jennifer called to see how Abby was doing. Maybe we'll even try the baby pool in the back yard tomorrow. At night, mom and I compared my baby statistics with Abby's. Somehow, I was an even bigger baby at her age, and didn't crawl until 9 months.
26-July-2004: Abby is having a fabulous time with Grandma. Grandma says she is also having a fabulous time and can't believe how much Abby has changed. She can't get over how she seems to be always smiling and has such a cute laugh. Somehow Grandma doesn't seem to tire out like we do after a whole day with Abby. Abby is getting yet more skilled at turning the aquarium on and off. Jenn and Grandma are working on trying to get Abby on a more consistent sleep schedule. So far, she does seem to be taking longer naps. At night, mom and dad went to see "I, Robot" while Grandma watched Abby.
25-July-2004: Abby did great going to the airport to pick up Grandma. We were a bit concerned she wouldn't remember Grandma and might get scared, but she smiled as soon as Grandma got in the car. Matt is working on a book called 'Stealing Time', about the AOL/Time Warner insanity.
24-July-2004: Abby, Mom and Dad went downtown to the library (not a peep this time) and then had coffee. For the first time, Abby put her hand behind her head. We also put her in the exer-saucer we got from the Schattke's. She seemed almost frantic with excitement with the 'balls in cylinder' part of it. Abby has really gotten better at turning her aquarium crib toy on and off - she did it 5 times in a row today. Tonight we're watching 'Meet John Doe' with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. Tomorrow we pick up Grandma Kluever and can't wait.
23-July-2004: When Jenn calls Abby's name, she turns to look. But dad can't seem to get her to respond. We can also point at something and tell Abby to look, and she does.
20-July-2004: Today, Abby had her first real food - some pureed spinach!. Abby likes to put toys in her mouth and then reciprocate them rapidly against her bottom 2 teeth. She is really tring to crawl but without success yet.
19-July-2004: Abby's has made progress in feeding herself! She held her bottle all on her own to consume a full hearty 1.5 ounces (at which time the bottle ran dry).
18-July-2004: Abby is making progess in her ability to sit up on her own! Though she still needs help, she braces herself with her hands both from falling frontwards and backwards. She also can straighten herself to sit upright after she has fallen where her face is on her feet, not before kissing her own toes. Dad also discovered that old Compact Disks make a great toy for Abby. We watched Preston Sturges' "Sullivan's Travels" as well as a documentary on Preston. Dad recently watched a DVD containing Michael Jordan's greatest moments.
17-July-2004: Abby, Mom and Dad went out to the back yard to play catch with our 'Easy Catch Game' (velcro paddles and hacky sack). We put Abby on the grass on a blanket. After about 5 minutes, however, water erupted from the ground! As we grabbed Abby in panic, we realized that our sprinkler system had turned on according to timer. This was a priceless moment. Abby was not upset after the initial shock.
6-July-2004: Abby flipped from back to front today! She's turned onto her side for several weeks, but now knows how to make her arms follow her legs. Mom and she went for a nice walk earlier this morning, and then Dad took a stroll with Abby to the library, and Mom shuttled her to Target, where Abby was a very good little babycita. Mom and Dad watched "Something's Gotta Give", and Abby is refusing to sleep in her crib, much prefering her Daddy's lap. Today's author is Mom.
4-July-2004: Today Abby celebrated her first 4th of July. At church, she and her good friend Joshua Ferri shared sustained eye contact, and she reached out to him. Back at home, while dad and mom were eating lunch, we would periodically look down at Abby on her play mat, and find her rotated to varying degrees. It was almst as if she was break dancing. Abby then took a really long nap, part of it spent laying on top of dad while he lay on the couch. Later we went to a party hosted by Rob and Julie Schilling. Abby wore the bottoms to her 'stars and stripes' bikini with her 'love American style' shirt. We had a wonderful BBQ, then walked down to Hillsdale Ave and parked ourselves on the pavement. But as soon as the fireworks started, Abby began to cry. She settled down, got scared again, and then we covered up her ears with Rob's fleece vest. This helped a lot, and then shortly afterwards Abby went into 'Baby Shutdown Mode' and closed her eyes in apparent sleep for the duration. Then we went back to the Schilling's, had some desert and watched some of them play 'Settlers', a game we had heard the Kilner's and Chris talk about in the past. Mom and dad are watching a 'History of Rome' PBS special.
3-July-2004: Abby has grown increasingly fascinated with her feet. She likes to kick them, but also likes to grab them now. She can grab her left foot with left hand, right with right, and sometimes even go 'cross court'. Abby today also gave her first 'smack' type of kiss today...she's been giving kisses for some time now where she just gets close to you with her mouth open, but she gave a more traditional smack sounding kiss to mom and dad today.
2-July-2004: Abby is now showing her second tooth! Abby is also now a master of transferring objects between one hand and the other. Today Abby also did some drumming using plastic baby spoons and measuring cups upon our yogurt containers.
21-June-2004: This is the first entry on our new, super powerfull server! We're talking dual processor, 1 GB of RAM power!
20-June-2004: Abby, though she has yet to taste solid food, seems to be practicing chewing. Well, either that or someone has secreted some gum to her as sometimes that's what it looks like she's doing. Abby really likes being picked up on her sides so that we can 'airplane' her above us. She also, when practicing her standing, likes it if we lift her up in the air with an accompanying 'voon!' when she kicks as if she's doing it herself.
We are also noticing that Abby is just starting to try and roll from back to front...she very seemed close once, but didn't seem to be really trying very hard. We try and let her practice crawling, but as soon as we get her on her front she immediately and purposefully rolls onto her back.
19-June-2004: Mom, Dad and Abby went for a long walk...watched some local baseball, browsed the downtown art faire, got a peach and nectarine from the downtown produce store, went to Starbucks, went to the library, and went home. But the walk might have taken a bit out of Jenn as her back became very sore.
16-June-2004: Abby's first tooth has made an appearance! Stay tuned!
29-May-2004: This morning dad and Abby got up early and cleaned the kitchen and got the bottles made. Then, after Abby took a nap we went for a LONG walk - all the way down Alameda to San Carlos Ave, to Laurel, to Brittan and back again. Meanwhile mom stayed home and organized the house, especially Abby's closet. During the walk Abby was admired by many of San Carlos' finest, including a member of its museum. Dad wolfed down a turkey sandwich at a coffee & sandwich shop, and got some free anti-static bags for some of his eBay items from our friendly local computer store. Later on we all piled in the cat to go to Costco, only to discover it closes at 6:00. Darn. So we went to Belmont Safeway instead. We had frozen California Pizza Kitchen Jamaican Jerk pizzas for dinner and watched just a bit of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Lady in Green'. Abby was a bit reticent to finally go to sleep and even the jumper wouldn't wear her down. We are excited that Grandma Kluever can watch Abby on her birthday while we go to Chris' and Melody's wedding. We are also very excited that Great Aunt Nancy, Grandpa Greg and the real Aunt Jenn are coming next week! Abby wishes Grandpa Greg the best during his bowling competition in Reno. Jenn is reading 'Tom Sawyer' and laughing on every page it seems.
27-May-2004: In Abby's jumper she and her dad exchanged an extended exchange of what sounded like the word 'hi'. She likes the jumper more and more. She is also taking a much greater interest in her car keys which Grandma Kluever gave her. She examines them in careful detail. She also is enjoying trying to stand more and more. Dad supports her the whole time of course. She is also practicing her sitting but doesn't enjoy that as much. Today, Mom and Abby went to Molly Stone's at which Abby "sat" in the shopping cart for the first time. She handled it on her own for a bit but ultimately this short shopping trip required mom to support Abby as they traversed the aisles. Mom bought out their remaining supplies of the Atkin's Shake mix with the 'good chocolate'. As for rolling from front to back, she has now done it on the much more challenging bed, and has been seen rolling both clockwise and counterclockwise. At one time we wondered if the rolling was deliberate, but now we're sure...it is a complicate ballet of movements and once she even seemed to do it on cue as I verbally expressed doubt. Abby and Jenn walk just about every day. Mom and dad watched 'Harvey', learning that it's better to be pleasant than smart...
26-May-2004: Abby, Matt and Jenn went to the Palo Alto Baja Fresh Burrito to support Jeremiah's Promise. We ran into Jody Lovejoy, who is putting her all into this new ministry. On the way home Jenn did something she rarely does; she rode in the back seat and fed Abby as we drove home. Mom and dad watched 'Remains of the Day'
24-May-2004: Since trying it out in Salinas, Abby has gotten to very much like her jumping aparatus. We have been going on more Bjorn walks too. When playing on her floor in on the playmat, Abby will use one toy to bash another. Abby rolls over as before from time to time. She also (with Dad and Mom's help) practicing her sitting up. She can't quite do it without help yet. Abby and mom read the 'I Spy' book together. Abby dislikes a partiuclar duck. But more importantly, as Jenn alternates from pointing at the picture to find to the jumble of pictures in which to search, Abby follows Jenn's finger. Tonight mom and dad watched Barton Fink and then tried to deciper it. Once again we were blessed when Abby went to sleep at 9pm for the count.
23-May-2004: Mom rushed off to the annual San Carlos Library Book Sale to get a $5 bag of books while Dad watched Abby. Dad had gotten his share of self help, computer and business books the day before. At church, for some reason Abby has for the 2nd time of 2 tries gotten dissatisifed at the nursery leading them to page us visually with 'her number' in the sanctuary. Strangely, though, she is perfectly happy in the same nursery for Jenn's Wednesday Bible study. Abby watched a softball (12") game with dad - though she was asleep most of the time.
19-May-2004: While down at Grandma's, Abby gave dad a birthday gift - SHE ROLLED OVER!. She was on her front during 'tummy time' on her play mat and rolled onto her back. She was suprized by this, and is now in the process of trying again!
15-May-2004: Abby, Jenn and Matt went to "Hometown Days" in San Carlos. There was music, pony rides, food and various carnival like activities. We made our way to the children's store on Laurel and San Carlos and bought a new blue hat suitable for protecting Abby when carried in her Baby Bjorn. On the way back we stopped at the library, where Abby decided to begin a concert of her own after a full day of silence. Dad and Mom are alternatively watching 'Children of Dune' and 'Manor House'.
11-May-2004: This morning dad took Abby for their first morning Baby Bjorn walk to try and sooth Abby's crying from teething. It worked. Leter, Abby turned a page...literally. We were holding a book in front of her (a vinyl one with thick pages) and she turned a page all by herself. Wow. Then she did it again. She is really impressing us with her dexterity. And guess which hand she used! On a sad note, tonight Abby for the first thing threw up. But a quick bath and some soothing and she was soon in bed. Dad read his BSF lecture notes while carrying Abby in her Bjorn. Jenn and Abby went on a walk through a different and less shady (more sunny) section of town than they usually go, because it was dark anyway. Abby had her canopy wide open to have a full view of mom and her surrounginds. Mom and dad started watching the British show 'Manor House', where they re-create life in a big, well, Manor House in Edwardian England times. We thought of how 'Jeeves' was created in that era.
10-May-2004: We are sure Abby is now teething from the telltale drooling and inconsistent crying. The frozen washcloth seems to work pretty well. We met my high school friend Mike and wife Alesha Cozzie for dinner in Fremont and had a great time.
5-May-2004: Today Abby started making some REALLY extensive sounds. More of them than usual in a row, and some really enthusiastic high ones. Stay tuned for a movie of it. Wow. It is amazing how she goes from half-cries to laughs. We think she has kind of discovered her voice and is using it for all it's worth. Abby is getting increasingly profiecient at sucking her thumb! Dad is getting ready to go back to Indiana for Great Grandma Walsh's funeral this weekend. Abby and Jenn are staying home as the Walsh clan is coming out to see her in a month or so. Jenn Meola and Andrew are coming by tonight to see Abby!
4-May-2004: Dad assembled Abby's 'Vibra-Chair' and Abby instantly loved sitting in it. We use the vibrate option only as a last resort. In the evening we went to our small couples group and once again Abby was marvelous in that she didn't greatly distract the adults.
3-Mat-2004: Anyway, Abby went to the Doctor and got a perfect bill of health. She is now 25 inches long and 16.75 pounds. Her head is also a healthy 43 centimeters around. We learned all about tummy time (it's ok if she doesn't want to, her neck is strong, and we can use a 'johnny jumper' instead), TV (it's ok to watch it here and there as entertainment), her lungs (they sound perfect), and staring at lights and fans (it's ok). Oh yeah, and we were told that we can think about starting some solid food, though we plan on waiting.
1-May-2004: Whew, it's been a long time since we've done a log entry. Abby got a nice long ride in her carrier with dad around the neighborhood at night. She was mesmorized the entire time and made no more than 2 vocalizations. We stopped and watched the tail end of a baseball game and generally had fun looking at trees, lights and houses. We came home and had beef stroganoff.
19-Apr-2004: We really think Abby must be a southpaw now, because in experiments involving a small green plastic phone that belonged to her dad 34 years ago, she eagerly grips and holds it in her left hand for many minutes at a time, while she holds it only fleetingly in her right. She also got her first ride in her swing and was immediately and significantly captivated. Abby is staying awake more and more during walks with mom.
18-Apr-2004: Jenn and Matt watched a funny British movie called "Kind Hearts and Coronets" with Alec Guiness playing many different roles. We are definitely up past our normal 32 ounces/day now in food consumption and would like to get a larger Pyrex measuring cup.
17-Apr-2004: Dad was home alone this weekend as Abby went down to visit her aunt Deanna in Salinas and missed her and mom very much. Jenn and Deanna had a lovely time in Monterey too, and Jenn wishes she could see Deanna more often.
8-Apr-2004: A major milestone today; Abby is now aware of her hand. You can see her deliberately practice the action of moving her arm so that her hand is in front of her face. When it gets there, she just stares at it as long as she can hold it there. We also notice an increased awareness to items in a room. When we put her on our bed today, she instantly looked right at our fan, even though it was off. More and more laughing today of the gasp-like kind when watching the fan spinning. When Jenn sang to her, she seemed to really be staring at Jenn's mouth and even seemed to be mouthing back at her in imitation.
7-Apr-2004: Abby is now 15.2 pounds!. We went for another late evening walk (with a flashlight this time) and ran into a couple with a baby who weighs about the same as Abby. Said baby is 6 month old. We have switched to the #2 Avent nipples - time has really flew, we had forgotten that the #1 size should have been outgrown a couple months ago. Anyway, this seems to have sped up the feeding process. Dad did a drum practice/tryout at church, and on the way back unashamedly bought a cartload of baby stuff at Target.
3-Apr-2004: While vacationing in Carmel, mom and dad went and bought some socks which have integrated feathers. Grandma Roush had previously located these.
2-Apr-2004: Today we realized that almost everything Abby does, she does with her left hand. We're not sure if it's because we put her crib mirror (with integrated 'Mr. Bird' she likes to hit) on her left, or if she is like her Uncle Rowdy or her ambidextrous Grandpa Greg. We're trying to balance it out by putting things on her right too. There are more and more sounds to accompany the smiling, still not quite what you might call a giggle though. We notice Abby smiles throughout the day, not just in the mornings (where she used to smile most). We also thought we might have heard some cooing.
1-Apr-2004: Grandma Kluever had to go home today. Abby misses her already. Grandma seemed to really have a way of making Abby talk. We have lots of great video shot of it. At night, Abby did something astounding - she uttered the work 'OK'. I'm not kidding. We even have video of it. We re-watched this a dozen times.
31-Mar-2004: Grandma Kluever bought Abby a really neat mobile. She watches it endlessly. In fact, we have to disable it else she'd never go to bed. Abby has really enjoyed the walks grandma goes on with her.
30-Mar-2004: During 'tummy time' we fascinated Abby by dangling our new illuminated easter eggs in front of her.
27-Mar-2004: Whew, long time since our update! Well, Grandma Kluever arrived today! She was instantly taken by Abby. We treated her to a couple of Lou Malnati pizzas. Dad also installed a really cute ceiling fan. Abby has always been fascinated by the fan in our master bedroom, so we decided to install one in her room too. This one is kind of neat; it has primary colored-blades. She instantly found it and watches it go around.
21-Mar-2004: Check out photos from AbbysDedication!
16-Mar-2004: Abby is continually improving her ability to laugh. Some raspy sounds have come out as well as some loud exclamations. No giggles as yet. She also is playing the tongue game more and more, sometimes initiating by sticking hers out first. Today she went for another installment of baby massage, and once again the massage led her to go to the bathroom during class. No matter. For lunch Abby wore an adorable outfit sent by Aunt Doris & Uncle John. Pokey and Jenny are doing a wonderful job taking care of Abby and she has been sleeping through the night a good percentage of the time. We have also seen that when Abby is not around mom or dad for a long period of time she seems to miss us. Mom and dad started watching a movie about a spelling bee. Because it has been so warm, Abby is often found wearing only her diaper. Abby's eyes are still wonderfully blue, but what surprises dad is that the whites of her eyes also have a blue tinge. Abby is also very excited that her Grandma Kluever is coming very soon too! Jenn found out she may have a milk, soy and yeast allergy, so she and dad are trying to go without.
10-Mar-2004: Abby once again showed she can sleep as well as anyone by sleeping for 7 hours. Wow. Dad took Abby out by the creek where a small patch of yellow flowers called sourgrass is growing. We picked one and put it behind Abby's ear to surprise mom. We finished off watching 'The Women'. At night we reprised our walk downtown only this time brought a bottle and went to our beloved Italian restaurant 'San Remo'. It was dark for the entire walk both ways. Along the way we saw some baseball and soccer practicing at the park. Abby could not get enough sounds and sights especially at dinner where she kept intently looking up. We saw lots of other babies and toddlers downtown. She fell asleep half the way home. Abby is making more and more of what we call 'little cat' sounds because that's exactly what they sound like. They are often used in a state of semi-distress before crying. In general she seems to be trying to make more 'people' sounds here and there as opposed to the standard baby crying and grunting sounds. We are finding we have to work harder to burp Abby than before. But more and more we think Abby is such a good baby in that she rarely puts up a fuss except when her little basic needs aren't met.
9-Mar-2004: Abby and Jenn went to part 2 of the Baby Massage class taught by the wonderful Nancy Hill. Afterward they went and got all kinds of goodies (including hummus and a sushi lunch for dad) from Molly Stone's. Abby is becoming much more proficient with her neck when held upright (e.g. for burping). At night, Abby, Mom and Dad went for a walk all the way from our house to downtown San Carlos. It was nice because Abby could ride with 'the top down' since there was little to no sun. We were going to have a coffee and maybe dinner when Abby got very hungry, and without a bottle we had to go home. Over dinner we watched the Latin Jazz movie 'Calle 54'. It is getting warmer where Abby can wear her legless, short sleeve outfits.
8-Mar-2004: Last night Abby slept an extremely impressive 6.5 hours straight! Grandma and Jenn put her grass skirt on her but alas it is too big. Dad is working remotely from Salinas today as their cable modem enables him to work just as well from here as from home (though he misses his kinesis keyboard ). We can see Abby's gums more because she is laughing and smiling more than ever (though the laughs are mostly silent)
7-Mar-2004: We took Abby to Cypress Community Church, which is where we got married. We were very proud to show her to Pastor Rich and he was excited to see her. Later than day, Abby invented a new game; she looks at herself in her mirror and sticks her tongue out at herself.
6-Mar-2004: Abby slept through the night! for the first time. Well all slept from 12:30 to 8:30. It's a whole new day. We're going to see grandma Roush and while we're there will be seeing 'The Passion'.
28-Feb-2004: In the morning, Andrea and Neil made a wonderful breakfast. Later, Chris came to see Abby, Andrea and Neil. Chris' fiance Melody couldn't make it as she is visiting friends in Illinois. We watched 'Johnny English' and 'Bruce Almighty' staying up too late.
27-Feb-2004: Abby had her checkup this morning, and weighed 11 lbs 6 ounces. She is perfectly on track for a perfectly normal baby. We gave Abby another bath, and this time she tried to do push ups when we had her on her tummy - a big first stem toward crawling! Andrea and Neil have come from Santa Barbara to meet Abby! She also found out this morning that her great grandma Walsh had a very successful operation and should be back on her feet much quicker than I would have thought possible. She still can't wait to meet her. At night, we treated A&N to some Baby Einstein installments.
26-Feb-2004: We have started to put Abby into her crib (vs. her bassinet). We installed her mirror (which has integrated toys), and she loves it. It makes is much easier to put her down because she entertains herself with the toys on the mirror until she falls asleep. This thing was worth its weight in gold. It features a dangling bird, and Abby loves to swat it, and generally smack the entire mirror assembly.
25-Feb-2004: We unwrapped some episodes of Baby Einstein. Abby seems to like them pretty well, though not as captivated as we hear her cousin Dasha is. Her parents are still trying to work out the subtleties of the plot.
22-Feb-2004: Grandma Jenny made her famous muffins, and this time using almond powder in place of half the flour. Abby went to church for the first time today and boy did she do great. We sat back by the rest of the kids, and Abby hardly made a whimper. Our great friend Pat Portman, Sean & Sarah, Loretta and a new friend named Marie (with son James) greeted Abby and us. We are trying to get signed up at our church to see The Passion of the Christ and have been talking all about it. We made another Costco run in which we bought the 'Baby Einstein' set. JohnYates says his little one Dasha loves it, and we hope Abby does too. We don't expect to get much entertainment value out of it ourselves. During 'Tummy Time' Abby continues to cry even with her new special pad aparatus for the purpose. We watched another Jeeves with Grandma Roush. Also took some video footage but need to get it grabbed and squashed for the web. Abby has added some new utterances to her repetoire. There is a very cute new yelp we've heard a few times now. Mom and dad both immediately noticed that this was a 'new' sound.
21-Feb-2004: We got a video camera! The Sony HC40. We really like it. Very small, and easy to use. Tough call against the older TRV22, which has somewhat better low light performance but is heavier and bulkier. It is great fun taking footage and then watching it later. Funny how it can be more fun to watch it on the TV than to actually live it. The video editing software that comes with WinXP is also very easy to use. I just plugged in the Camcorder into the firewire and poof, it worked! Dad wrote some improved extensions to the website to make it easier to upload lots of pictures. Grandma Jenny and Granpa Ken came up, and on the way bought a glider for their house. Jenn couldn't quite decide on one for ourselves yet. We ate at Max's in celebration of Ken's birthday. Ken went back down home but Jenny stuck around which allows us to sleep through the night (hooray!).
20-Feb-2004: We watched 'The Lady Vanishes'. I had seen it before, but I liked it just as much. It was new to Jenn.
19-Feb-2004: Abby now not only looks at the bathroom mirror but has also reached out and touched it. She had a really long outing with mom at the DMV to renew the Saturn's registration.
18-Feb-2004: Mom and Abby went on a long stroll to the library. This was a big accomplishment! We rented a lot of movies, and watched the first one, Sunset Boulevard. Now I know where "I'm ready for my closeup Mr. DeMille" comes from. Abby's eyes now look much more blue than her dark blue green from before.
16-Feb-2004: Jenn's Birthday! Abby is more mesmorized by the bathroom mirror than ever. Now, when brought to her changing area she immediately turns her head to try and see her reflection. This was the first time we've really seen evidence of something that Abby remembers. Dad swore it looked like she was experimenting waving her hands at herself with realization. Abby is also fascinated by our ceiling fan when we have it turned on. She just watches it spin and spin. And last of her fascinations, when we watched Gentleman's Agreement tonight, Abby was riveted to the movie. We told her that Grandpa Greg's name was inspired by the star of that movie. Earlier Dad made a sleeping area for her on our bed with a 'slot' between some pillows and a comforter. She feel asleep very quickly, in part we think because we had jazz music softly playing on the radio. We are also seeing more and more smiles, especially as she dozes off.
14-Feb-2004: Valentine's day! Dad put together the stroller, and for the first time we went for a walk from our house to downtown and back. Abby enjoyed herself thoroughly and expressed this through continual sleep. Bumps in the sidewalk do not wake her up. In fact, she only stirred when we stopped moving. We are very happy with our alinum-framed Metrolite stroller recommended by Sean and Dana. We saw the very nice Burton park where we plan to spend a lot of time. It is eveh equipped with swings that will accomodate a toddler. We met our neighbors Danny and Jan with their dog Kaylee, and all 3 were impressed with Abby. Mom and dad had filet mignon and watched 'Jeeves and Wooster' with no Abby waking interruptions! Abby seems to like when we have the Jazz radio station playing in our bedroom. She is doing a bit more smiling which we love to see. Last night, she went almost 4.5 hours between feedings!
13-Feb-2004: Last night, we observed a very intriguing phenomena. Twice, we went to check on Abby in her crib (or bassinet, really, a smaller version of a crib) only to find her rotated 90 degrees from where we had placed her. This baby's preparing to go mobile - she's already on the move even on her back. We also notice that she seems to be able to entertain herself for longer periods of time on her own. Last, and certainly not least, she has gotten even cuter. We are now watching season 1 of the "Larry Sanders Show" on DVD during feedings.
11,12-Feb-2003: Dad had to visit a customer site to tweak the Linpack/HPL benchmark. He experienced a power trip when he nearly achieved 1 Teraflop of computational processing. He was ready to shout out '1.21 Gigawatts' ala Doc Brown in 'Back to the Future'. In a fun coincidence, he ran into a fellow ex-pinball factory employee named Brian Lavender who worked at Data East. Mom carried the load in a huge way to enable dad to get enough sleep to make it! We've noticed Abby has much more control of her neck - she can hold her head upright and search for food when we are holding her vertically. Before, she could sort of lift her head, scan, then let it plop back down.
10-Feb-2004: We have noticed that, like the rest of her family, television seems to mesmorize Abby. We don't think she can really see the TV as it is too far away, but perhaps she likes the changing light patterns. Abby also seems more and more mesmorized when looking at faces - she is happy to stare into your eyes for many minutes at a time.
9-Feb-2004: First update in a while; dad was at the ISMC conference while mom and Abby were down in Salinas at Grandma & Grandpa Roush's house. As soon as dad arrived in Salinas he could tell Abby had dramatically grown. What a difference a week makes! But dad came back with a cold and despite his best efforts spread it to everyone, including Abby - though it's just a bit of congestion. So Jenn took Abby to the doctor, and though she is just a bit conjested her ears are clear and she has no fever. But, we also learned that Abby now weighs 10 pounds!.
31-Jan-2004: Abby is now 1 month old. She has also outgrown her first clothing: her Gerber snap up 'onesy' outfits are now too small. Dad has gone to the ISMC conference and misses Abby and Jenn already.
29-Jan-2004: More and more head control, and also lots more action with hands. When I held out my hand, she would reach out and touch it. Then later during a particularly ravenous feeding she pulled on my hands for almost an entire bottle's worth as if to say 'MORE, MORE!' Then afterwards she seemed to fold her hands. Jenn took a few pictures to her women's Bible study at Central Peninsula Church and her friends were in awe. Her friend, Anne from the class gave Jenn some very cute clothes. Jenn says Abby will look like a daffodil in them as a hat is included. Dad proudly showed off Abby at his tax session for the year to his accountant, who was impressed by her timely arrival 11 hours and 53 minutes before the new year. And impressed that she was cute, too. Dad is watching the supplements for 'The Two Towers', and mom is watching a Canadian animation festival DVD.
28-Jan-2004: During an all-night programming marathon, Abby sat with dad in his office so that mom could sleep. She sat in her car seat on top of his computer table. This seems to work pretty well especially as a place to put her while fetching things for her feedings - less stress than when splayed on her back.
27-Jan-2004: Without a doubt, Abby is now staring into our faces more than ever. We have discovered that making gentle sounds or singing songs help her go to sleep. Jenn thinks that Abby responds better when we use a more animated tone of voice, that perhaps there is a rhyme and reason to 'baby talk'. I too have noticed that she does not seem that interested in joining me in a dignified discussion of financial news. We have also noticed that Abby has an interest in mirrors. She seems to crane her neck to look at the mirror from the spot where we change her in the bathroom. More experiments to follow. Dad is watching 'A Matter of Life and Death' on our DVD player after discovering the region free code for the Daewoo DVDP480 (7935).
26-Jan-2004: Abby is now part of the system. Yes, she received her Social Security card. Mom and dad have watched 'Cheap, Fast and Out of Control', which is a documentary on a lion tamer, topiary expert, robotics professor and mole rat scholar. Very interesting. Dad has finally gotten time to get a haircut, but got ore than he bargained for as his barber 'Art' cut it much shorter than he expected.
24-Jan-2004: Carl, Dawn, Gregory, Carissa and Kaylee Schattke came over today and gave us some great new baby outfits and a new blanket. It is really great to see their family especially because it is a preview as to what it will be like to have kids in the 3-8 year old range. They brought KFC, just what Jenn wanted. Later, Dad got one heck of a short haircut. Chalk it up to using a new barber. Hopefully Abby will still recognize him. Abby more and more wants to look at faces.
23-Jan-2004: Abby has been been learning to crawl on her belly. We have been letting her try to climb our chests. We use our hands as places for her to push up with her feet. She can make it the entire way, though with great effort and with speed unlikely to win any races with anything but snails. It is fun to think that she's getting exercise!
22-Jan-2004: We got an adorable pink outfit from John and Mary Urrutia (irreplacable Andrea's parents). Mother and daughter are greatly enjoying napping together. Sometimes napping can substitute for food if Abby is getting borderline food induced crankiness. Early this morning during a feeding Abby made a series of smiles for dad - it was the first time he had seen it - though others have reported sightings. Abby looks up at us more and more. Today after Jenn came in from her walk she looked up at Jenn with her brow wrinkled. I'm not sure who was captivated more! Jenn is now watching 'Sweet Charity', which is an odd nexus of the other shows we've been watching. Shirley McClean was also in 'The Apartment'. And, the episode of 'Good Neighbors' that we watched tonight over dinner was all about how Margot's music society was putting on a production of it. Jenn had started to watch 'Streetcar Named Desire' but it seemed too depressing. Also, we have noticed that Abby really likes the blanket that Aunt Doris made for us.
21-Jan-2004: Abby is requiring a bit more finesse in getting her to go to sleep. We also learn how sometimes things work, and sometimes the same thing won't. Yesterday, Jenn used the song 'You Are My Sunshine' to quell crying during a diaper change. But today it didn't work. This is not like working on a car or computer (well, I guess computers are inconsistent and finicky too!).
20-Jan-2004: Dad watched 'Usual Suspects' while feeding Abby. I hope Abby didn't pick up any of the foul language. She still does not like changing outfits, but she seems now to instinctively bring her knees up to assist the changer (and indeed it does make it easy). Sleeve installation tends to be trickier. She tends to 'jam up' by bending her elbow in mid-sleeve. Really, the trick is to be very fast and change her before she has time to think about it. Today, Mom went to her first 'MOPS' meeting (a Christian mothers group) and Dad took care of Abby. It was the first time this new MOPS chapter had met and Jenn heard some great speakers. It was also the first time he did a conference call while doing a feeding. No one seemed to mind the occasional sucking and cooing sounds. The hands free earpiece and 'mute' made it possible. At this point Abby's navel looks to be completely free of the scabs and such. Late at night, we got a UPS delivery from Grandpa Greg, Great Grandma Becky and Great Aunt Nancy. We got some fabulous books: one is a Dr. Dobson devotional Jenn is very excited about (she likes Dr. D a lot). We also liked the magazine that was on infant massage as it is something we had already planned on trying.
19-Jan-2004: Today, Abby crests 7 pounds! 7 lbs 5 ounces to be exact. Wow! She still seems very 'svelte' - not chubby like most babies. But all is on track. She has a new pose where she rests her head on her hand. In fact Abby really likes to use her hands, especially during really 'intense' feeding moments. Sometimes she inadvertantly punches us, which can be dangerous with her deadly sharp nails. Today, as always she showed us how much she likes to ride in the car - not a whimper, just silence and cooing. When Jenn took a nap in the afternoon, Abby got a bit noisy so Jenn put Abby with her in our bed, surrounded by anti-roll pillow barriers. But Jenn was so concerned she didn't sleep much better. We are watching 'Good Neighbors' as video entertainment.
18-Jan-2004: Grandma Roush went home today. But before she did, she created a schedule to help mom and dad keep track of all the things we need to keep on top of - especially the (many) things Grandma was doing for us while she was here. Dad likes that there is somewhat of a structure to help his procrastination/forgetfulness.
17-Jan-2004: We are now watching 'The Apartment' when we need to pass time while feeding and such.
16-Jan-2004: Abby can really pack in the food. Wow. Typical babies eat 2-3 ounces per feeding at this point. Abby almost always eats 4 oz, and sometimes even 5 or more. Where does it all go? Actually, never mind, we know the answer to that question.
15-Jan-2004: Abby lost her belly button plug. Well, it was hanging on by the slimmest thread, and dad helped it the rest of the way. Abby didn't seem too excited. I guess pretty soon we do a normal bath! It also makes diaper installation easier. Grandma Jenny also got a diaper wipe warmer. We hoped that having nice, warm wipes would reduce her propensity to cry during a change. But sadly, this did not. Grandma also made a huge heaping amount of her world famous turkey burgers. Abby's friend Jennifer Meola came by and gave Abby some wonderful flowers and got to have a little visit.
14-Jan-2004: Jenn watches 'An American in Paris' while nursing in the baby room on said TV/DVD unit. Matt has learned all kinds of things about Gene Kelly as he waits for builds and runs of the software he's working on.
13-Jan-2004: Today is the first day Abby does not cry when we change her. She also seems to just barely be able to see us as she turns just a bit to look at us. We bought her a TV/DVD combo for her room which mom likes very much also. We watched Monsters Inc.
12-Jan-2004: Abby now weighs almost 6 lbs 8 ounces - just over her birth weight. She is gaining 1 oz a day - which is right on schedule.
11-Jan-2004: Abby is more and more using her hands to grab things and is very adept at kicking nearby objects and people.
9-Jan-2004: Our wonderful friends Sean and Dana Faris, our partners in this adventure and who are expecting in mid February, came by with some beautiful roses (for Abby's middle name, Rosalee) and some pink frosted cookies that Abby's dad soon devoured. -- MattWalsh - 13 Jan 2004
Topic revision: r85 - 18 Dec 2006 - MattWalsh
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