Gavin Update

I actually started and almost finished this post about two weeks ago and then our computer shut itself down and I lost it all. Sigh. The blogging mood hasn't come back until now and I must say, I'm glad it hasn't. Both our kids have changed so much in the last week it's really hard to believe. So here is the revised version of the post I lost two weeks ago. 

Mister Gavin (Although lately he's asked to be called Gavin McTavish)

 Gavin is growing up so fast it's hard to even know where to begin. We love this boy so much! He will be 3 1/2 next month and he loves so many things! He loves to read. Gavin just decides to learn something new long before Blair and I are ready and there is nothing we can do but help him learn. He soaks it up like nothing we've ever seen! Every morning begins with breakfast for Gavin and a bottle for Lucy and immediately following that, it is time for books. Gavin picks out book after book to read to Lucy, I'm just there to hold them both. He shows her the pictures and talks about the different colors that we see. It is so sweet. Gavin is back to spending hours in the bathtub playing with and now building words with his alphabet. We hear him in there saying the sounds of the letters - "B  A  T  BAT!! C  A  T  CAT!!" Lately it's been - "B  E  S  T BEST. Take away the B and put in a V spells VEST!!" It is pure excitement to him as he figures this out! We returned a movie to RedBox the other night and I sat in the car with the kids while Blair returned it. Gavin sounded out "R E D B O X" and then started to sound out DVD. He sounds out each letter then says - "Mom, what does DaaVVVVDaa mean?" He loves reading the scriptures with us each night. He reads the words he recognizes and sounds out the ones he doesn't know, it truly is awesome to hear him sound out a word until he understands. He is writing very well these days too. He came home from Nursery with this last Sunday, October 12th -

 We took this the next morning which is why he's in pajamas. He is so bright and he is so excited about learning, it's amazing! 

Gavin loves the moon! He looks for it any night we're out driving and he watches it for as long as he can. It's always "Look there's da moon! Oh it went behind that building. Oh there it is again! Oh now it's behind the tree. Oh there it is again!" All the way home. If he is ever unreasonable, tired and crying, we can almost always calm him down by telling him a fact about the moon, the stars, or the sun. He really loves watching the airplanes come into land and especially loves seeing the helicoptors, he is fascinated with them. More than anything though he loves to see the trains! He hopes we get to see a train every single time we go anywhere and he keeps track of how many we see each time. It's so fun! Blair gets to ride Trax for free because he's in school so we try to take Gavin on it every now and then. A few weeks ago we got to take him to the Childrens Museum in Downtown SL and he had so much fun! He has become the most social boy and is always striking up conversation with whoever will make eye contact with him. The train is the perfect place because nobody moves :-) The morning we told him we were going he tried so hard to say the word museum but he just couldn't. Several times while we were getting ready to go he was trying - "Daddy? Are we going to the mazoum?" "Mommy? Where is the mazorum?" "Lucy, do you want to go to the mazooum?" It was too cute. When we got on the train he started talking to the woman sitting next to him -

Gavin: "I'm on the train with my mommy and daddy!"

Woman: "How fun! And where are you going on the train?"

Gavin pauses and sighs: "The zoo."

We got a good chuckle out of that! He loved the museum and didn't pause for even a picture, this is the best we could get. Lucy loved it too!

 Gavin has become extremely thankful, as well as apologetic, lately. We are getting thank you's and sorry's all day long and it is so sweet, and it is so much! 

Blair: "Do you want cheese too? Or just crackers?

Gavin: "Just crackers. But thank you Daddy for asking me if I want cheese."

Gavin: "Sorry I stepped on your foot mom! I stepped on your foot and hurt you but I am sorry I stepped on you foot. Sorry mom!"

Gavin: "I sorry I bonked you Lucy. I bonked your arm and I am sorry I bonked it! Sorry Lucy!"

Gavin: "Thank you mommy I mean Daddy for getting me a yogurt with a green spoon! Thank you Mommy I mean Daddy!"

Gavin: "Who got me dinner? Mommy or Daddy?"

Me: "Daddy got you dinner."

Gavin: "Thank you Daddy for getting me dinner! Who made me dinner? Mommy or Daddy?"
Me: "I made dinner tonight Gavin."

"Thank you for making me dinner Mommy. It is so tasty and thank you!"

How sweet and polite is he? 

Gavin loves to do everything Lucy, me, and most especially Blair do. Really.

 And he reeeeally loves the massage table!

Gavin loves being outside. This is the first summer that he has actually been adventurous on the playground. He goes down the big twisty slide all by himself and he is so proud! He climbs up all the ladders now instead of just one and he is constantly trying to climb up the slide like the big kids. He has so much fun and is even more comfortable when others are playing too. Last summer he would have a meltdown if even one other kid came to play. There has been some major improvement this year! 

Gavin has become a selective obeyer. It's really frustrating sometimes and other times it is really funny. He is of the opinion that he'll be able to do everything we ask someday, but not today. His excuse for almost everything is - "I can't hold Lucy mom but when I am four I can." "I can't be quiet mom but when I am older I can. Maybe when I'm four!" And you can't imagine how matter of fact he is when he talks. There is no question in his mind that he is unable to do these things until he's four. He has a long list of things to do next year! Even with all his excuses he is actually very obedient and he is very anxious to help. He loves putting his dishes in the sink, throwing away any trash, findind Lucy headbands and onesies, getting us a tissue, helping us bake, and helping bring in the groceries and the mail. It's really wonderful! 

Gavin has suddenly become Mr. Independent. Like, as of three days ago. All the sudden he wants to brush his own teeth, get his own snacks, pull up his own pants after going potty (that has been Awesome!), buckle his own carseat and lots of other things. As nice as it is that he's doing so much more for himself these days, it's also a little bit sad for me, I feel like he's growing so fast. Of course when bedtime comes around we get to see once again how very little he is. We put Gavin to bed and after an hour or so of him coming out needing to go potty he'll finally lay down and will do one of two things. He will either fall alseep, or more likely he'll start to cry which, seriously, doesn't even affect us any more. We let him go for a while the other night and when Blair finally went to check on him -

Blair: "Gavin what's wrong?"

Gavin (imagine the whiniest voice EVER): I don't want to sleep on my back!"

Oh my goodness. Turn over! As silly and sometimes annoying as this can be, I'm glad he does it. We need to work on laughing about (maybe not quite enjoying) this stage because he is so young and I love that he needs us.

Gavin and Lucy are getting along beautifully these days and we love it so much. Lucy has been crawling for more than a month now and she follows Gavin everywhere! We know that he loves it because now he's calling to her to follow him. The other day it was - "Lucy! Let's play in my room! It's so fun! My toys are cleaned so you can play with the floor!" It is so sweet. We are still working on the concept of sharing but he's doing better :-) We are so grateful that Gavin has Lucy now. He struggled so much in the beginning but he loves her so much. He laughs and laughs when she starts to babble and he just glows when she smiles or laughs at him. 

 We can't let them really take a bath yet, Lucy is still too wobbly. We just tried for a minute to see how it would go, they loved it!

Gavin is learning to play Uno right now and he is a little bit obsessed, he asks us many many times a day if we can play "Uno's", he's still getting the hang of it but he loves it! 

Gavin is still climbing into bed with me in the morning and it is so sweet. He watches the clock and gives me a minute by minute play until the time comes that we can go eat breakfast, it's very restful... He always, always knows the minute Lucy wakes up. He hears her before either of us every day and will immediately tell us - "Oh mommy, Lucy's awake! She needs a bum change and a bottle!" I guess it's a big brother intuition. 

We love the way his mind works. It is fascinating watching him write his letters because he does it so differently. Every single one is opposite how we would write it. He loves watching us write the letters upside down or backwards. It is really cool! He is so bright and so sweet. Here are two more quotes from September/October.

 Blair, upon finding Gavin in the bathroom -

Blair: "Gavin, you shouldn't brush your teeth when you're sitting on the toilet. If your toothbrush falls in we'll have to buy a new one."

Gavin: "A new toilet?"

I found him in there dipping his toothbrush in the toilet and brushing it around the seat - gross.

Me: Gavin! No, that is so naughty. Now we have to throw this away and get a new one. Gavin you know better than that, I don't want you to do this ever again. This is so gross!"

Gavin: "What did I do? What did I do mommy?"

He is the silliest, sweetest, smartest boy. We never know what he's going to say or do and we love it!

We found him taking his nap in Lucy's crib :-)

He is too adorable for words. We love you Gavin!