It’s been so hot here lately that Gavin sometimes wakes up from his afternoon nap drenched in sweat. He doesn’t find it very comfortable and usually cries for about twenty minutes after waking up in such an icky state. Also he’s not very understanding about holding still while I comb tangles out of his hair. So, we decided it was time for a cut!

The stylist (yours truly) had to be very skilled at cutting Gavin’s hair at a relatively even length while dealing with Gavin’s swiveling head (he really wanted to see what was happening) and keeping the very shiny and attractive scissors out of his hands without appearing to
Gavin to be keeping them out of his reach! The whole process took about half an hour and was done in the bathtub for maximum distractions and washing ease.

This is Gavin enjoying his new low-maintenance look while playing in his block fort in the living room.

Gavin’s been up to alot recently. He’s working on his driving skills… of very small vehicles. He drives his trucks and cars up chair legs, up human legs, down the halls and just about everywhere. He’s really enjoying toys that move.

He’s learned how to open doors by himself, something he’s been aspiring for months now. He loves to go in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. He likes to wave “hi” and “bye bye”. He tried on Daddy’s shoes once too. Very funny but not so easy to walk in.

And he’s been working on talking. He says several words now. On the list we’re sure he’s actually saying (it can be hard to be sure) are: cat, meow, hello, juice, wow, fish, ball, mama, and dada. I’m also fairly sure he says “tickle”. The words we hear the most are ball, meow and juice. They are the most useful in his daily life.

He’s been maturing alot in the last several months and I think his new perspective will be a great help when the new baby arrives. I hope that he doesn’t have too tough a time adjusting to the changes. I’m really thankful Chris will be able to be here at home with us for a while to help with things and to make sure Gavin gets what he needs. I think that will make a big difference.

these were taken at the new playground at the local elementary school. they have a big kids playground and a little kids playground which is just right for gavin now. he tried a few too many death-defying tricks on the big kids one when we were over there once.

he loves the slide and just climbing around the place in general.

he likes it when dad’s over at the slide, but he goes down by himself.
sometimes he goes so fast he ends up on his bum at the bottom!

weeeeee!

gavin also likes help climbing up the top part of the slide.

checking out the drain. you never know what treasures you can find if you just look around. the other day he found a juice box straw. very exciting!

and these are at home.

but instead i thought i’d tell a few anecdotes until i can fix a small problem with those.

gavin’s favorite things these days are cuddling up in mama and daddy’s bed and pulling the covers on top of him. every time we go in the bedroom for a diaper change that’s his first and last stop.

he just figured out how to “twirl” this weekend. chris and gavin and i were all in the living room and then gavin started turning around and around. chris and i laughed and so gavin laughed and twirled some more until he fell down. he’s been doing it since then frequently. i haven’t seen him fall since the first time though.

last night we were all hanging out in the bedroom, reading before bed and i had my chin propped on my hand. gavin reached out for my hand and put my hand to his face and then started saying his version of “Hello!”, which is what he says when he’s pretending to talk on the phone. “EeeeOoohhh!” it was very silly and quite cute. can’t wait to see what he does next!

here we are at Red Butte Gardens watching some orange koi in the lake

Gavin and mama

and one of Gavin’s mama and daddy who’ve been married five whole years!