Go-Go-Gavin started crawling the weekend before Easter. He especially shows off his new skills when a cat looks like it might be in reach! He can get around quite well now though and is also holding himself up in a kneeling position and holding onto things.

He still loves to go for walks (he loves feeling wind on his face, and I think he likes moving fast!) and is also really enjoying watching “Signing Time” dvd’s. I’m not sure how much of it he understands, but I think he does get some of it. Mostly I think he finds it great entertainment! And he likes seeing and hearing the other kids. He’s been splashing like crazy in his bath lately so we tried the rubber ducky this last time and it was a huge success. He loves it and carried it out of the bath and into the bedroom to get dressed.

Here are some new pictures of the baby. He thinks he is related to Dr. Evil in the first one…..ha ha.

gavin has been eating lots of butternut squash. he really likes it and smiles and starts waving his arms around and stomping his feet when he sees the container and spoon.

he still isn’t quite crawling forward (backwards is easy) but between scooting around, crawling backward and rolling, he can get to where he wants to be. if he’s over by the videos and we put him back on his blanket, it’ll take him 15-45 seconds to get back to the videos. he really likes pulling things off of shelves. it’s very exciting. and once, he tried to pull the tablecloth, with food and books and other paraphenalia off the table, and would have succeeded if i didn’t rescue the tablecloth from his mighty grip!

he’s also starting showing signs of separation anxiety from me. if he’s upset or tired and someone else tries to hold him (sometimes including Chris) he cries/screams. i wish that wasn’t the case, but i guess it’s a normal part of development. it would be nicer if this happened when he was not quite so heavy!

i sometimes turn on the ceiling fan in the bedroom when changing him so he can watch it go around. these days, most of the time a distraction is needed while attempting a diaper change, otherwise he’ll roll and scoot right off the table and prevent you from getting a new diaper on at all costs!

last week i hauled his exersaucer out onto the lawn and put him in it while i did some much-needed weeding of the front “flowerbeds” (which might be more accurately called weed extravaganza.) he really liked being outside. some neighbors came by and stopped to chat about the baby and try to coax a smile from gavin, which he gave. and the neighbors were so thrilled! it made me think of all the other times when people i meet around town are so eager to try to interact with gavin. people are so enthusiastic about babies and want so much to be a part of their experience, even if just for a moment.

babies and kids can be so charismatic. it feels like having gavin is a gift not only to me and chris and our family, but also to the community (and maybe world) at large. seeing this makes me realize how huge the love my family and others had for me must have been when i was a child. it’s a good thing to know. it’s not that i didn’t know this before, but having gavin around and being on the other end of things makes me realize in new ways and to a further extent. i hope that when gavin is older, he’s able to understand his immense worth to me and others.

Gavin just started doing this last week…and it’s so cute!

and here are a couple of Daddy and Baby

gavin is quite excited about communicating vocally now. he calls his dad alot “da da da da da”. of course, he also refers to his blankie, and his mama, and his toes as “da da da”. he also says “ma ma ma”, but this is usually directed toward his own fingers or the room he’s in. he really likes reading books for approximately thirty seconds at which point he gets very frustrated if he’s not allowed to eat the book. He is rolling all over the place, especially to areas underneath furniture. It must seem like his very own cave or something. he’s a very active little guy. i suspected he would be because of how active he was before his birth. but he sure is in a hurry to do whatever he’s doing at the moment. i think we’ll spend a lot of time at the park when he learns to run.

often he screams for just a second or two when i put him down on his blanket or in the exersaucer (which by the way, he graduated to the middle height setting in) and then is completely happy. i think he doesn’t like being put down, but is happy to play once that initial moment is over. either he has a very short memory, or doesn’t hold grudges. i doubt the former, seeing as how it’s obvious he recognizes his aunt meara and his grandpa and grandma mcclenahan. and that he seems terribly bored with the toys he plays with every day.

“this rattle again?! do you think i’m as easily amused as all that? i’ll show you what’s fun. these kitty nail clippers are fun…or this pen, or a chair leg, or, heeeey, check this out: a keyboard! i know how this works, i watch you guys do it all the time…just pound on it, like this!”

gavin rolled himself up in the blanket, then wondered why he was rolled in the blanket

chillin’ on the couch

every boy needs a toy dragon!