Gavin Michael Curt

Little man is walking around with one big nasty bruise on each side of his forehead. Last night we played with the hose and he slipped off the table which Mommy didn't notice he had climbed onto, and tumbled onto the concrete. Earlier this week, he was climbing on the soft castle at daycare and, according to their account, threw himself over it crashing onto the tile floor. While getting him dressed this morning, I noticed he now has a chipped front tooth. Not sure which incident caused it but yikes how do I teach him boundaries?!

We were on a nice walk yesterday. Gavin and I walked holding Chili's leash. Tyler rode his bike. We got to a hill (one of two in our area). Tyler is learning to brake but isn't very good at it yet. I couldn't convince Gavin to let me hold him so things got chaotic as I had to tune in very closely to make sure nobody would get hurt. Tyler's riding downhill and Gavin's eight feet in front of us, walking close to the street. Do I help Tyler brake or do I grab Gavin? Well, the first thing I do is drop the dog's leash (sorry Chili, you've moved to the bottom of the totem pole) then I yell at Gavin to stay out of the street. Then I tell Tyler to brake but I have to change the tone of my voice because Tyler begins to cry when I yell at him. Then I yell to the dog to get back here. Then I reinforce to Gavin that he's doing a good job of waiting for us. Then I beg Tyler to release the brake and go a little bit, it's really not scarey. Then Tyler starts crying and wants to get off his bike. For the love of God! Then low and behold, a snake slithers right past Gavin. It was just a very skinny but also pretty long gartner snake. Gavin goes nuts, squeals with excitement and doesn't know whether to grab it or run from it. Suddenly my priorities change a bit, I push Tyler's bike onto the grass so he can't go. He screams and yells at me. The snake slithers off the curb and into the street and Gavin's right there chasing after it but somehow also listening to me scream at him not to go in the street. I race (all of five feet) to grab him just to make sure he doesn't go in the street. Then I get down next to him and tell him that's a snake. SSSSS snake. Always gotta make it a learning experience. Tyler is hysterically bawling in the background. I tell Gavin he can stay right here on the curb and look at the snake but don't touch. I go back and get Tyler, apologize for abandoning him and hurting his feelings and get him to coast and brake the rest of the way down the "hill" to where Gavin is screaming at the snake. Tyler points across the park far far away and asks if that's Chili playing with another dog. Yes. Let's go. Bye (disgusting slithering footless freaky) snake. I can't believe how well I handled that.

Gavin literally woke up Sunday morning speaking in sentences. From the minute he woke us all up, he was just chatting away, in complete sentences, and with new words he just added to his vocabulary. Instead of the usual "No No No," while changing his diaper, he said "I don't like it." As if we hadn't guessed that was what he meant by the no no nos. Instead of the usual whining when he wants something, Gavin suddenly is telling us "Want watch Wiggles!" or "Want dink," when he's thirsty, or "Want eat cracker," when he's hungry. Just one day before, we heard him say his name for the first time. Until now, whenever we showed him a picture or had him look in the mirror and asked him who that was, he'd just smile or sometimes he'd say Tyler. But suddenly out of the blue, he started saying his name. And it's sooooooooo sweet. Gabin.