Gavin Michael Curt

Gavin is becoming a good communicator! This weekend he was chillin' in his playpen gnawing on a cracker. Suddenly he popped his head up and said "Mo? Mo? Mo?" until I acknowledged and obliged him. Last night, after eating a big plate of mashed potatoes, corn and teriyaki chicken, he noticed the banana across the kitchen and pointed screaming "Na? Na? Na?" When I asked him i if he wanted the banana, he practically jumped out of his high chair in delight. But the kicker of all his talking this weekend was his favorite furry little creature, Elmo. Saturday we watched an Elmo movie, one of the first Gavin's seen in the past few months. He was enamored. Afterward, I let him bring one of the many Elmos to the mall. He was so happy sitting in the front seat of the stroller, showing Elmo off to everyone walking towards us. Then he discovered all the many Elmo books we have. As I turned every page, he'd pant "Emo, emo, emo." I realize how we perpetuate this affinity our kids have for Elmo by letting them own every Elmo toy imaginable, but how can we resist when they get so excited? By the way, Andrea told me there is a talking Elmo toilet training kit that I'm going shopping for this week!

Gavin is Mr. Jabberjaw suddenly. Every evening I pick him up from school and he gives me a long paragraph "Blah, bo, bah, duh, da, ma, mah, ba, ba, nene ba bo," pointing to books on the book shelf, toys in the cubbies, Ms. Shauna, and lord knows what else. He's got so much to share! Last night instead of eating dinner and going to the park, I tried doing a combo deal of eating dinner outside. So we cleaned off the kids picnic table. I wasn't sure if Gavin would be able to sit at the picnic table without falling but assessed and decided it wouldn't be too far a fall if he did. What kind of mom does that?

Anyway, as I brought out the plates of Dino Chicken and corn on the cob (Gavin's latest favorite) and ran back inside for drinks, Gavin fell. Tyler, Mr. Security Patrol, hollered loudly at me "Hey Mama Gavin Fell!" so I set up back up at the table and went and back inside for napkins. "Uh Oh Mama Gavin Fell Down Again!" Boy what's that study Pavlov did with the dog and the shocks...apparently Gavin isn't learning by the pain of falling off his bench. I picked him up, dusted him off, showed him how to sit properly and insisted he hold still to avoid falling again. Then I ran inside fast as I could to grab the salt. This time there was no security announcement so I walked out (as opposed to the short sprints I had previously been doing) only to find Gavin on the ground once again. This time he was really pissed, rolling on the floor trying to get up again so he could get back to the best dinner ever. Turned out Tyler was too busy laughing to announce the third fall. In hindsight, my instructions of sitting still to avoid falling must have sounded like "Blah, blah, blah, blah" to Gavin, just like his words sound to me.

Gavin's attachment anxiety appears to be waning somewhat. This week he was introduced to a few new faces at Kindercare and while he made it clear he didn't like being around strangers, he tolerated them for the most part. He's been particularly clumsy this week and has come home twice with accident reports from falls. Both required ice and TLC. One happened under the watch of one of the new teachers, Ms. Sarah. Word is he wailed so loudly while she tried to comfort him, Ms. Shauna had to come rescue him and take him to the three's classroom with her. He wasn't crying from the accident, just from the stranger trying to make him feel better about the accident. Tough deal but good practice I guess.

Gramma has been visiting this week and he's really warmed up to her. I think he even let her pick him up a couple times without too much of a fuss! I try to make everyone feel better letting them know he treats his own daddy with the same reaction as long as I'm in the room. Lucky me, unlucky everyone else :)

Gavin is getting so good at walking. I took him to the park across the street yesterday to play on the playground. The playground is covered in shredded bark which makes for a very uneven surface to walk on. This was a good test to his sure-footedness. As he navigated the bumps (probably seemed more like moguls to him), I noticed he kept his feet further apart than usual. They were so far apart, he almost did the splits on a couple falls! But he did great at the park. Didn't try to eat too much bark at all. He crawled quickly up the steps to the top of the jungle gym, cracking up all the way up. His little face is currently full of bruises, the tell-tale sign of a new walker. He's got a black eye, a bruised forehead, a scratched nose, scrapes on both knees, and a bruised bottom from falling while naked. What a difference those diapers make for padding the falls. He looks so beat up, I'm compelled to explain to everyone we meet that he's just learning to walk and that's why he's full of bruises. I told daycare teachers we are scheduled to get the kids pictures taken next weekend so he can't get any more bruises. They suggested keeping him strapped into the highchair all week :)

Our little walker is getting so fast. I'm pretty sure he was trying to run this morning. He took five or six fast steps, fell, got up and took five or six more fast steps, fell and so on until he made it from my shower to the bedroom door where he was trying to escape out of. He is so tall he can already open the interior doors so we have to lock him in our room while I get ready in the morning and Shawn tries to sleep. The funniest thing about Gavin's walking is although he's been walking unassisted for three weeks now, he still holds his left arm up high over his head everywhere he goes, as if he is holding our hands still. We've got to get more pictures of this so you can see what I mean. It's hysterical.

Gavin is so fun to watch as he learns to walk. He locks his knees and wobbles from the waist up a lot. He also falls a lot. But it doesn't stop him from getting up and trying again. He's a great sport about the whole learning process. Tyler was shorter and stockier than Gavin so he used gravity to keep on his feet. Gavin's taller and leaner, plus we're keeping him in Robeez shoes (cute little moccasin-like slippers) so he has far less working for him than Tyler did. But still he persists. Unlike Brian in his classroom, who learned to walk and then decided he prefers to crawl, Gavin is all about exploring thos new way to travel. I just can't video tape enough of it! He still gets walking the best when he's mad. His legs are stronger and he's just more determined. I sense a temper brewing in this little boy unlike any temper I've experienced.

Baby is so mobile he can now hook that leg of his up and over the edge of just about anything: the coffee table, sofa, bath tub, chair, toy chest, ice chest, stairs, and hoist himself up to a new level. Yep, he's at that age that he cannot be left alone for a minute. So yesterday we were sitting on the floor assembling the rocking horse from Grandma and Gavin suddenly climbed onto the ottoman and once he made it to the top, he climbed into the chair and sat back just like an adult would, one hand on each arm rest, laying back and relaxing. I went back to assembling and not a minute later, plop, that baby just fell right onto the floor. Mortified at myself for not seeing him in danger, I held my breath as I watched him turn himself upright, hook that leg right back up on the chair and climb back up, again assuming the laid-back relax stance.

For some reason, I thought to myself that he must have learned where the edge was and wouldn't do it again so I went back to my battle with using a tiny screwdriver to dig a large screw into the plastic. Plop, he fell again. How am I not seeing this out of the corner of my eagle eyes??? This time I could see he was a little shaken up from the fall, as he began rolling around in frustration (or pain?) So I put the screwdriver down and explained to him in the simplest terms I could that he was on the edge and needed to get down very carefully. I showed him how to get down by swinging his bottom to the edge and putting his feet down first. After he did this drill himself a couple times, I returned to the rocking horse, determined to finish assembling it so Gavin could spend his energy climbing and falling off it instead. He spent the rest of the evening climbing up that chair and climbing right back down. No more falling. Two plops was all it took to teach him that lesson. Smart baby. And Tyler hogged the fully assembled rocking horse so much, Gavin didn't get much of a chance on it last night. We'll try again tonight.

Gavin is really fond of his cousin Jordan. In fact, he would not leave poor Jordan alone. They were sitting on the bed together, Jordan was trying to watch Lion King 1-1/2 and Gavin was climbing all over affectionate Jordan. These two were so cute to watch. Gavin just wanted Jordan to hold him and roll on the bed with him. Jordan wanted to carry Gavin everywhere (yikes) and kept assuring me he was big enough and strong enough. Yeah, it's not you I'm worried about here JoJo ;)

Meanwhile, I noticed Tyler watching this close interaction between the two cousins with mixed emotions. This may have been Tyler's first experience with jealousy, or maybe he was just quietly watching, waiting for Jordan to burn out of playing with the baby and revert his attention back to Tyler. Either way, Jordan and Gavin definitely formed a bond. For Jordan, who has recently been asking his parents for a baby, he enjoyed getting all the attention as the proud big cousin. This was a very fun interaction for Kari and me to watch (not sure it was so fun for Tyler)!

As if Gavin was following a handbook on the transition from baby to toddlerhood, he started walking for distance the day after his first birthday. Before the big day, he'd take a step or two, four if we were really lucky, and then fall down. The day after the big day, he just walked clear across the backyard patio. And inside, he walked from the patio door in the kitchen to the refrigerator. That's like over ten steps. Amazing! He's also talking up a storm, singing bye-bye to everyone, ni-ni at bedtime and more! He is such a sponge, Grammy Dee gave him a brief lesson and now he's mastered the art of giving high fives.

I am beginning to really understand Gavin-speak, and I'm not the only one. Nothing makes Dada happier than to hear baby say "ni ni da da" at bed time. He sees Chili and declares "dah" and sometimes even "cha dah." He calls Tyler "buh" and I haven't yet figured out if that is for brother or buddy, both of which Tyler happily responds to. He loves trees or "tah" as he says while holding his cute little pointer finger up at the trees overhead. Quite a growing vocabulary!