Gabi & Bella: Gabi: 4 Years

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Gabi: 4 Years

Posted by Lissa at 12:28 AM

Gabi loves to play outside. She runs around our yard whenever I will let her. The weather recently has been very nice as Spring arrives. Gabi has a song about Springtime and warm days that she learned at school. In fact, Gabi has a song for pretty much everything; she memorizes lyrics upon first hearing them, and if she doesn't know a song for a particular theme, she'll make one up.

Tree-hugger

Leaf-finder
At her well-check, Gabi weighed 36 pounds and measured 39.5 inches tall, both around 50th percentile.

Four-year-old profile

Enjoying the fresh air

Windy day
Gabriella is definitely her father's daughter. Every night we end her bedtime routine with Hey Diddle Diddle, and last week she laughed and sang along at the same time. Then she said, "I was laugh-sing!" What an incredible play on words for a four-year-old! It almost sounds like "laughing" but it adds an "s" phoneme to incorporate "sing" as well. She was quite impressed with herself, too.

Gabi likes to dress herself.
In the above picture, Gabi had taken off her headband and put it back on herself. Also, she put her sweater on inside out. Gabi loves to pick out her own clothes, and being allowed to do so is very important to her. Sometimes she is fine with only retrieving the panties and socks (and, strangely, she wants the panties to match her pants, while the socks are chosen based on unrelated criteria), but other mornings she needs to select the entire outfit.

Climbing the Jap maple by our front door

Hanging like a monkey
Gabi is becoming more adventurous. She takes gymnastics at school and loves it. She also enjoys the roller skating activities at school; this week, the kids skated with bunches of artificial flowers to "plant" them in a flower trough. At home, Gabi likes to climb on the couches and jump into the cushions. On the playground, Bella is more willing to swing or slide down the tallest slides, but Gabi is learning to be brave as she watches her little sister.

Picking "flowers" (from the weeds in our yard)

Don't eat it, Bella!

Sitting in the grass

Gabi declared this space to be her "tree home"

Gabi with her prized flower

Bella could be a Sonic model
Gabi is a fantastic big sister. She is so patient with Bella and obviously loves her. It warms my heart to listen to Gabi use a soft, kind voice to soothe Bella when she's upset. Gabi is very eager to make Bella happy, and she usually shares well. If Bella asks for milk, Gabi will open the fridge and find her sippy cup for her. After Gabi gives something to Bella, Bella says, "Thank you!" and Gabi beams with pride. It's wonderful to watch them interact (most of the time). I should start recording specific examples...