What He's Doing Now . . . April 10

Gavin is growing up so fast. Since I'm not doing the "month-day" posts, I thought I should document what he's up to these days.

His vocabulary includes Mama, Dada, dog, ball, num-num, this, and that. He can sign "all done" to let us know that he is full. Gavin jabbers all the time. He's learning the intonation of words. Sometimes it sounds like he says things like, "I want that one." He often does say "Dada?" with the question mark. He might know "mine", but if he does, I'm not going to encourage it.

We weighed Gavin tonight and he's at 21 lb. 2 oz. He continues to be a bit small, but I'm OK with that. He'll grow as he is supposed to. He's a picky eater, sometimes prefering to self-feed; others, opening his mouth for whatever is on a spoon. He loves yogurt and now eats an entire 6oz one for breakfast. He also loves carbs--Goldfish, CheezIts, Cheetos Puffed Corn, Cheerios--if it comes from a rattle-y bag, he will eat it. He's drinking milk from a sippy cup. I still take 2 bottles to school with him. I need to ask if they'll exclusively give him a sippy cup.

Gavin isn't walking, but he's close. He pulls up and walks along the sofa and ottoman. He is getting quite adept at pushing the walker toys. He crawls whereever he wants to go.

Being outside always makes Gavin happy. We spent most of the day outside today. While we did put a blanket down in the backyard, Gavin is quick to crawl to whereever he takes a notion. He picks Mason's balls up and trys to throw them. He giggles when Mason comes over to get a ball. Mason is becoming more comfortable with a mobile Gavin. Though, I still laugh at the fact that Mason gets up whenever he sees G coming his way.

Gavin has been taking a bath in the real bathtub for a while now. He's figured out that he can crawl around in the tub and that he can stand up. He's slipped a few times with the standing up, so I really wish he'd stick to crawling in the tub. He loves to play while I'm giving him his bath. Thursday night I had to laugh at him. He was playing with the big plastic cup that I use to rinse his hair. He had it filled about half-full with water. Before I could stop him, he turned the cup up to his mouth, pouring water in his mouth and up his nose. He quickly dropped the cup, crawled to the other end of the tub, then looked at me and started crying. He crawled over to the side and stood up for me to get him. I pulled a soaking boy out, chuckling that he crawled to the other end of the tub before deciding that he needed to cry. I also learned that I need to always keep the towel unfolded on my lap and ready to go should I need to pull him from the tub.

Gavin understands "no." About a month ago, he would make a terrible face and start crying when he was told no. Lately, we've been able to tell him no--like don't take all the books off the shelf or leave the plants alone--and he does exactly what we need him to.

Gavin can have quite the temper and can pitch a good fit when he doesn't get his way. Often the meltdown is caused by us not allowing him to have something he wants--cell phone, remote, sharp knife. Sometimes it's a diaper change that sets him off. Other times, we have no idea. Even Grandma Judy admitted that he can pitch a good fit and that she wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't witnessed it herself when we were visiting in March.

When I picked G up from school yesterday, Miss Gina told me that Gavin and the other kids had been really playing together that day. Gavin was trying to get Owen to chase him. Eventually Paige joined in the fun. Then, Gavin disappeared; he was hiding behind the rocking chair. Later, Gavin and Carter were playing peek-a-boo: while Gavin was in the high chair having his snack, Carter was underneath him. The two of them were looking at each other and giggling. And, when I dropped Gavin off Friday morning, Miss Linda told me they had moved Gavin to a different crib because he and Carlos like to "talk" across the room when they're supposed to be napping. And, Miss Linda also told me this week that Gavin loves arts and crafts time. (Dave and I are fighting over who he gets it from. I love arts and crafts; Dave has the talent. So I guess we'll have to see how talented G is.) So, I need to get Gavin working on some projects at home. Jonas is doing a great job creating cards, maybe that can be Gavin's next art project.