to celebrate Daddy’s birthday this week….

and one more at the park

Laughing at his Daddy at home before our trip to the park

Looking at all the leaves on the ground at Warm Springs Park

Who’s on the other side of this tree?

He was a very cute little devil. (Very well-behaved and happy for a devil, though.) We went to a Halloween party the weekend before and he was initially a bit nervous and scared, but spent the rest of the evening exploring and making new friends. On Halloween, at the park, he mostly walked around and picked up leaves off the ground and handed them to me, but we spent a good five minutes petting the bronze dog sculpture. He especially liked to pet it’s nose, and for me to pet it’s nose.

Climbing!!

He’s fearless! So far, he’s conquered the coffee table, as seen above, the toychest, the armchair, the ottoman, and the couch via the ottoman. He’s very proud of his new ability and shows off his climbing prowess whenever he can.

Halloween pictures coming….check back soon.

Often when I am putting our cats back in their room so I can change Gavin or try to put him down to sleep, I end up carrying him in one arm and a cat in the other. Gavin thinks this is very fun. Sometimes I kiss the cats before I put them down in their room and lately Gavin has been trying to kiss them too. He leans toward the cat and makes a little “ttt” sound. Then he laughs. It’s very endearing, and the cats don’t mind at all, since he keeps several inches away from then with his face.

In the past few weeks Gavin has begun signing in ways that are more recognizable. I’ve seen him sign Dog, Cat, Hat, Eat, Sleep, Bird, Telephone, and he’s attempted Mama and Daddy. I always say before I feed him and put him down to sleep: “It’s time to eat and then time to sleep” and I sign eat and sleep. Today, he signed them back at me! I wasn’t sure at first so I did the signs again, and so did he. He seemed very happy to be signing. Maybe it’s just a relief that he knows that all of my strange finger waving and twirling was me trying to say something to him.

His record this week in walking is fifteen feet without falling. He’s actually so intent on walking that when he falls and there’s nothing to pull up to a standing position, he opts for scooting or walking on his knees instead of crawling till he can get back up on his feet. He’s done with crawling, thank you very much.

We are reading alot these days. His favorites are Goodnight Moon, I Like It When, Five Little Ladybugs and Duck In a Truck. He brings the books over and sits in my lap and we read. As soon as the book is finished, he fetches the next one. I haven’t figured out how he decides which ones get one read per day and which get seven in a row.

He also took his stuffed toy elk for a walk in his stroller the other night. Very thoughtful, as the elk hasn’t had much exercise lately.