Offspring updates

Often, out of the blue, Valerie will look at me all seriously and say, "Saw Gabriel sitting in the high chair." Oh the trauma of sharing life with a younger sibling! (I say this with love, Rosanne and Anita!) She reminds me of the old lady in Cold Comfort Farm who "saw something nasty in the woodshed" when she was a little girl and never let anyone forget it; in fact, she used this phrase to browbeat people into doing whatever she wanted them to do. We got the high chair for Gabriel but I'd say Valerie uses it about 3x as often as he does. If he so much as touches it when she's in it, screaming banshees come flying out of the woodwork. Teaching her to share is probably our parenting challenge #1 these days.

On the other hand, sometimes apropos of nothing she will run over to Gabriel and throw a toy in his lap and say "Good job sharing with Gabriel!" so something, at least, is sinking in.

Valerie is also learning to spell! We use the alphabet cards Anita gave us, or the wooden blocks, or alphabet puzzle, or old-fashioned pen and paper, and I write words as she dictates. Then I'll ask her to identify which one says "Mama," which says "sun," etc. She knows Val-Val, mama, Dada, sun, and cat. And, randomly, hole. She can pick out the letters to spell Val, mama, and sun by herself!

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Gabriel is so full of laughter! We should have named him Isaac maybe! He laughs and chortles when he gets the hiccups, one time so hard that he actually spit up. Fake-sneezing is another thing he finds hilarious.

He's also getting more and more interested in doing and exploring. It's pretty hard now to distract or divert him from something he wants to play with, which makes that whole "sharing" thing that much more urgent. Electrical outlets, plugs, appliances, drains... lovely baby toys, from his perspective!

He's learned to shake his head "no" and to wave hello and goodbye as well. And he's really good at peek-a-boo - yet another completely hilarious game as well! (I guess his propensity for laughter strikes me particularly because Valerie is so serious. Even when she's having a lot of fun she often doesn't even crack a smile. Although it is possible to make her helpless with laughter, you just have to hit it pitch-perfectly. Playing catch with a beanie baby monkey and failing to catch it every time is a good one.)

I may have to cut his hair after his birthday, since it's long enough to get in his eyes and I don't think I can get away with clipping it back like I used to Valerie's.