Thank Goodness for Glenda

Glenda came to the rescue again last night. I had Open House; Dave had class. Gavin spent the evening with Glenda and Bill.
She got to see his sharp little mind while they spent time together. Dinner was from Wendy's because Gavin requested some of their "delicious food." Gavin showed Glenda that he knows where Bill works by pointing it out as they drove past. And when it was bath time, he asked for a bath in the sink because that's where he took one before.

Dinner Music

Gavin is quite enamored with music, which makes me happy. I sing to him a lot; he sings at school. He has picked up many songs and now he's making his own songs.

Gavin often says, "I want to hold you." It's cute and sweet that he says that, but lately he says it to try to get out of eating dinner. Last week, he started singing, "I want to hold you, hold you, hold you, hold you." I picked up my phone to record his singing. He, of course, stopped, but finally starts again after blowing his choo-choo train whistle.

It is a sweet serenade.

Friday the 13th

Gavin has been a bit less than perfect this week at school. He didn't take a nap on Wednesday and woke up all of his friends.

That never make a mama happy to know that her child is keeping others from napping. I spoke with his teacher and asked if there was a place they could move him to so that he doesn't wake up all the other children who would like to have a nap.

Thursday he napped because his teacher,Ms. Elaine made sure that he was asleep before she left for lunch, leaving him to the supervision of another teacher.

Friday about 3:15, I got a phone call from the director, Ms. Molly. Gavin wanted to call to tell me about his choice: to be a worker, not a kid.

Bits of the conversation went something like this:
Gavin: Mom, I'm in Ms. Molly's room.
Mama: Gavin, what did you do to get in Ms. Molly's room?
Gavin: I didn't want to take a nap.
Mama: Did you wake the other kids?
Gavin: No.
Ms. Molly: Gavin, tell your mom about the choice you've made.
Gavin: I want to be a worker.
Mama: Ohhhhh.
Gavin: Mom, I miss you. Will you come pick me up?
Mama: Well, I miss you to, but I'm at work and I have jobs to do. Since you're a worker, now you have jobs to do, too.
Gavin: But, Mom, I'm worried about you.
Mama: Well, you're talking to me now. Nothing is wrong with me. There's no reason for you to worry.

At this point, Ms. Molly picks up the phone and whispers: He's OK. I just thought it was too cute that he wants to be a worker. She also reassured me that he's a 3 year old boy.

At some point we also talked about how a worker doesn't get to go outside to play. Ms. Molly said that shortly after we hung up, two kids had to come sit with her while a teacher took care of something. These two kids had on their jackets. Gavin got a little weepy at the realization that they were going outside.

Later, Gavin told Ms. Molly that he would be a kid again on Tuesday when Ms. Elaine got back. (She had taken Friday off to celebrate her 60th birthday. I hope I look that good at 60 and can chase 3 year olds.)

When I picked Gavin up, he was still in Ms. Molly's room. He had helped with tasks throughout the afternoon. He wanted to play football with Ms. Molly's football. I told him that was an outside game. Ms. Molly told him that if he was a kid again on Tuesday, he could take the football outside during play time. He seemed excited about that. Let's see if he really decides to be a kid again.

There was lots of time to fill between 2ish (probably even before that; they go down for a nap at 12:45ish) and 5:30 when I picked him up, so he and Ms. Molly made the lists seen below.

At some point in the afternoon, Gavin was Santa Claus and this was his list. He had to feed corn to his reindeer.
Oh me, how do you stay angry at that?

Even during my long conversation with Ms. Elaine, who's firm with the kids, she said, "He just looks at me with those angel eyes and I have to love him."

Glad he's got everyone else as wrapped around his finger as he does his Mama.

Happy Birthday, Dave

We celebrated Dave's birthday in a low-key fashion today. He is taking an inter-session class at TCU this weekend & is doing the prep work for his two day simulation. Instead of the dinner at Pappasito's that he requested, we had a great pizza dinner in Grapevine. Gavin feasted on his cheese pizza, eating two slices, taking big bites the whole time, while Dave & I enjoyed the Florentine pizza, though we would have enjoyed it more if it had less garlic.
After dinner, I made a quick stop at The Cheesecake Factory for a slice of piña colada cheesecake-- it was delicious (and met my requirements: 1) something new 2) something with coconut.
Dave opened gifts with assistance from Gavin.
The nice thing about delaying our dinner out is that Dave will get a 2nd birthday dinner.

Caroling

This year, Gavin's class sang, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" for the annual ECDC Christmas Caroling.

Enjoy!!!

My Birthday

I know you've all been dying to know about my birthday. Goodness knows Gavin was dying for some birthday cake (or cupcake in this case). We had a nice dinner at Anamia's and dessert at home.

Not only was Gavin happy to help me with the birthday candle, but he is a great little helper with the gifts.

Big smile for the camera . . .

Gavin and I look at the card he got me.

And, Gavin is a great little scarf model.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning, Dave and I heard voices around 6:30. In just a moment, we heard Gavin's voice over the monitor. Dave went up and picked him up to bring him downstairs to see what Santa had left. Gavin immediately honed in on the yo-yo on top of his workbench. Jonas thought the workbench was cool and then he spotted his Angry Birds.
Next the boys opened their stockings to see what treats Jolly Old Saint Nick had left for them.

Then, Gavin got the bright idea that the birdhouse on his workbench would be just perfect as a home for the Angry Birds.

After stockings, we moved on to gift opening. Once I began to put gifts under the tree, Gavin wanted some gifts for his small tree. I gave him a few small packages to place under the tree, telling him to whom each gift belonged. After a few minutes, he looked at me sadly saying, "I don't have any presents." I found a gift for him to put under his tree, showing him the "G" for Gavin. On Christmas morning, when we told the boys that it was time to open gifts, Gavin promptly went to his tree, picked up his gift, looked at me and said, "Can I open it now?" Over the past several days, I had had to tell him he couldn't open the gift until Christmas.

Gavin loved his bowling set from Jonas.

And, the Cars Lego set from Jonas was a hit, too.

The boys each had a big box from GrandBob and Grandma.

Mason enjoyed opening his package of treats. We just have to ensure that Mason gets all of them; Gavin has a tendency to claim Mason's toys for himself. (The boy sleeps with two stuffed animals, a cow and a sheep, purchased at PetSmart for Mason that G promptly claimed as his own in the parking lot.)

Gavin got a cool Lightening McQueen scooter and helmet from Daddy and Mama.

Below, Jonas is opening one of the small gifts that Gavin had for him under the little tree.

The boys did a great job sharing the workbench.

Grandma and Granddaddy sent Gavin this great excavator. Gavin shared the digger with Jonas, too. We are proud of how well the boys shared over the course of the week.

The boys had a great time playing with their Caterpiller heavy equipment. Bob and Judy got one for each of the boys. An excavator for Jonas and a bulldozer for Gavin. Uncle Matthew & Hayden sent Gavin an excavator and dump truck. Thankfully, since the excavator was a big hit with the boys.

It was great watching the boys open their gifts and enjoy playing with each one. The adults barely got to open gifts; we were busy servicing toys for the boys. We may have to work on that next time.

Snuggling with GrandBob and Grandma

Jonas and Gavin had a good time snuggling with GrandBob.

And, snuggling is always fun with Grandma Judy.

Christmas Eve

One of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions is Judy's delicious seafood chowder. Judy and Bob made a trip to Central Market for the seafood, then made the soup. It was a delightful bowl of yumminess; there was none left. So tasty!

Prior to dinner, we went to Christmas Eve services at church. We opted for the family friendly service this year. Gavin stayed with us instead of going to the nursery. Each child was given a baggie of finger puppets to use throughout the service, and instead of candles, we had glow sticks. I missed the candles, but it was nice to have Gavin with us.

Cookies for Santa

On Christmas Eve, we baked cookies for Santa. Gavin and Jonas were so excited. When I asked Gavin if he was ready to bake cookies, he exclaimed, "First you roll the dough. Then you cut it."Thankfully, I had the dough rolled out, cookie cutters out, and two stations ready to go for Santa's little bakers.

Grandma and I did the best we could to keep up with the little boys.

The bell was the cookie cutter of choice for Jonas, while Gavin liked the gingerbread man the best.

I can't wait until next time.