Gavin Michael Curt

For Valentine's Day Daddy took us all out to a lovely sushi dinner. Gavin and Tyler did a fantastic job of eating their miso soup, even using those klunky soup spoons at Chinese and Japanese restaurants. As Gavin slowly concentrated on using his spoon carefully to get every last drop to his mouth, Tyler picked up the bowl and drank his soup. The soup was a great way to keep Gavin preoccupied during most of the dinner because when he got toward the bottom of the bowl where he could see the tofu chunks, he focused on trying to pick those up and eat them--one at a time. Meanwhile, Tyler helped us eat the fried calamari appetizer and he was loving it. I asked Shawn if we should tell Tyler what he was eating and so Shawn did. But since squid isn't really an animal you teach kids about, he didn't know what we were talking about so Shawn told him it was octopus. We held our breaths watching his reaction. He gave us a big belly laugh at the idea. "That's funny!" he declared. So Daddy picked up a calamari with the tentacles and pointed out how much it looks like an octopus. Tyler agreed and then promptly at the tentacles. Even as much as I like the calamari rings, I can't swallow down the tentacles the way Tyler could. Throughout the rest of our dinner, Tyler kept telling us he ate octopus. I can only imagine how that's going to sound at daycare tomorrow when he tells his teachers what he ate. They both wanted seconds when they were done.

Saturday morning Gavin was playing in the pantry. Normally I only put boxes and innocent packages of food within his reach so I didn't worry about supervising him. Chili was right there next to him, probably hoping Gavin would find some morsel or crumbs or who knows what. We were having a dinner party that night so I had just cleaned the floor. Of course, the minute the floor is clean something has to happen. Gavin found a Cup O' Noodles cup which he shook and shook laughing at the sound. Next thing I knew, out of the corner of my eye I saw this big yellow cloud of dust flying overhead. Gavin had managed to pull the lid off the Cup O' Noodles and shook the flourescent yellow seasonings all over Chili. Poor dog was covered in yellow on his entire right side. He was busy licking up the salty flavoring off the floor as I tried brushing the seasonings out of him. Last week one of the kids threw their mashed potatoes on him and I still had not washed that off, now he's got some chicken soup seasonings mixed in there too. He really needs a bath.

Man Gavin sure does hate to get dressed. He screams and cries and wails laying on his back, resisting every step of the way. I think we're going to have to dress him vertically from now on. His new trick is something he started doing at Gramma's house a couple weeks ago. Since big brother Tyler spends much of his time on the toilet and Gavin sees him getting big praise, Gavin has learned to mimic going potty himself. This is hysterical. He gets up close to the toilet, pulls up his shirt (sorta, doesn't work too well with a onesie), makes the motion like he's pointing his uhh-hmm into the toilet, and says pssssssssssssssss. Funny thing is, he's way too short to actually point it over the toilet. But don't try telling him that.

Tyler and Gavin were playing on the ground. Tyler loves to roll around with Gavin but Gavin doesn't really like being treated like a rag doll so only sometimes will he go along with this. But last night he did, and it was making Tyler's day as they hugged and rolled on top of each other. Somehow, Gavin got a hold of Tyler's hair and pulled to which Tyler responded by crying a very tearful and broken-hearted cry. As I pried Tyler's hair out of Gavin's grasp, I told Gavin to tell Tyler he's sorry. Gavin said "Sorry Tyler," more clearly than I've ever heard him say anything. Tyler was as surprised as I was because the tears instantly turned into laughter at such big words coming out the baby's mouth.