Making bread...

Gavin likes to help me "cook" as I said in a previous post. On this particular day, we were making banana bread. He took a 4 hour nap, and I got tired of waiting around, so I measured all of the ingredients out and put them in separate bowls. When Gavin finally woke up, I let him help me pour all of the ingredients into the bowl. I even let him hold the hand mixer. In response, I got the big eyed, circle mouth face. He was having so much fun! Then, it came time for me to pour the big bowl of stuff into the bread pan. I could barely see Gavin while I was pouring the mixture, but I finally caught on to what he was doing...he was sticking his fingers in the bread pan while I was pouring! I let him eat a little more so I could take some pictures...

Crying shame

This week has been quite an emotional drain for the family. Gavin started "school" last week. After 15 months of Isabel coming to our house 3 days a week, every week, we decided it was a good idea to put Gavin in "school". Isabel lost her other job and would probably get a full time job very soon. We wanted to have Gavin someplace that we really liked instead of having to scramble when and if she found a job and could no longer keep Gavin.

So, the day arrived. Gary and I decided that it probably would be best if I didn't go to drop him off. The first sign of sadness, I would have snatched him up, gone home and called in...maybe even quit my job!! We decided Gary would go because he's stronger. Turns out, he's not that much stronger. He struggled with leaving Gavin when he was crying and with the feeling that he was letting him down. As a parent, you always want your child to feel safe and that you'll be there for them no matter what. It's hard to leave your child in a place he's never been before with people he doesn't know. I can't imagine he knew what to expect. Was he wondering if mommy and daddy were coming back? I went to pick him up at lunch and he seemed to be doing ok. He was sitting at the table with his back to the door. His feet were dangling because his legs are too short to touch the floor, and he was looking around. I let him finish eating before I went in to get him. I watched him, with assistance, pick up his plate off of the table, put it in the sink and push in his chair. He was given his lunch box to bring to his cubby, which was outside of the room...where I was waiting. He started to whine a little bit..."momma....momma?" And then he saw me!!!! "MOMMA!!! MOMMA!!! HI MOMMMMMMA! MUAH!" So sweet and so said. He kissed me over and over again and kept saying "Hi momma".

The next couple of days proved to be equally upsetting for Gary and I. But, luckily, the teacher said he didn't cry at all during the day, only when Gary dropped him off. He continued to be excited to see me when I picked him up. Hopefully, this week goes well. He'll be there all day this week, which means he has to nap there. I'm cautiously optimistic about that!

Today, was Gavin's 18 month check up. He started to cry to minute we pulled into the parking lot. He remembered this place. Even more amazing to me was the fact that he started making "fishy" sounds before we opened the door to the doctor's office. He remembered there was a fish tank in there!!! He cried for almost 45 minutes between being weighed, examined by the doctor and given his 18 month immunizations. He was able to follow directions even though he was crying. Dr. Nale tried to distract him while doing his examination. He asked, "Where's your ears? Where's your eyes?" Gavin pointed to the appropriate body part while howling all the while. He finally stopped crying when every one left the room. He was so ready to go! He kept saying, "Bye bye?" "Dada?", and he kept pointing to his battle wounds. Every now and then he would point to his bandages and say, "oww" He was more than happy to show the neighbors his four "ouchies". Poor guy wore himself out so much, that he fell asleep in the car on the way to lunch. He had a fever tonight and was a little fussy, but I hope that passes and he will come away with no other side affects. Poor little guy, and big guy, and me...

BIG helper!

Gavin really is such a big help...mostly. He is really helpful with laundry. I can give him something to carry, and he brings said items to the laundry room. And, if I drop something, he picks it up and brings it into the laundry room for me. Jack has been replaced.

It has been so hot this summer, so in the afternoon, we go outside and turn the hose on and play in the water. Sometimes, spontaneous things happen like washing the car. He wanted to help so I went and got him a little kitchen sponge. He was so cute dipping it in the water and washing the car. He pretty much imitated everything that I did. So adorable. We get pretty soaked from playing in the water.

Gavin found a new hobby the other day while helping me garden. He had so much fun digging in the mud with his little shovel. There is one thing he'll have to get over if he ever wants to be good at gardening...getting himself and his tools dirty! I kept a little trickle on the hose in case he wanted to play in the water. He would go over and dig in the mud and then walk back over to the hose to rinse himself and his shovel off! This happened for about 30 minutes!!

He also tries to help me cook, do dishes, vacuum and sweep and flush the toilet.

Our day...

I haven't taken a whole bunch of pictures lately, so I decided to get my camera out and capture a portion of our day...

Gavin was playing with the lids. He was trying to put all the lids on the pink bowl of blueberries.

There is a fly (or 2) in the bench seat area. Gavin and I were sitting in the bench seat looking outside when he spotted the fly. He tried to get me to touch it, and I said "no". So, he took my finger with his finger and touched the fly and jumped up and down with excitement at my reaction.This is how Gavin eats a tortilla. He shoves the whole thing into his mouth. That's my boy!!There is normally a HUGE puddle here from rain/sprinklers. Yesterday, Gavin pointed to it and said, "puddle!!!!" I explained to him that it wasn't a puddle anymore because there was no water. Then, we proceeded to sing a song that went like this...."No more puddle cuz the water's all gone, no more puddle cuz the water's all gone, no more puddle cuz the water's all gone" and then whatever I felt like finishing with, "it'll be a puddle again when the sprinklers come on". Today, Gavin walked over to it, squatted and shook his head and said, "no, no more". :)

Making a break for it.

"HUT, HUT"

Future underwear model

Gavin messing up my beautiful piece of art. You can't have anything nice with kids...

Jack was outside with us for awhile, but started to get hot, so I let him in. Gavin tried to "rescue" him. Jack looks more demanding than appreciative.

This is why I had kids. Stop looking at it and get to work!

And, this is the look I got in response.

"AIRPLANE!!"

He is THE BEST! We have so much fun together! A couple of other things he did that were funny today.

-I heated up our lunch, but it was too hot to eat. I was holding him at the time, and he started to blow on it. He grabbed my head to make me blow on it, too.

-He watched me smack at a bug outside. Later that day, he started saying "bug" and smacking his hands together.

-He doesn't quite get hide-n-seek. He stands there while you count to 10, then when you say, "ready or not, here I come", he runs.

BYOM

On random Fridays during the month, our neighbors invite us over for "White Trash Friday". We call it this because it involves sitting outside drinking beer. The few time I've gone, it's been in someone's backyard, but I think it originated in the driveway in the back of said someone's truck. Pretty white trash...

This one particular Friday, we decided to have a BYOM, or bring your own meat party. Participants were banned from telling jokes about the male genitalia. Other than that, there were no rules. I made twice baked potatoes and a pound cake with berries on it. Tina brought some yummy blueberry cupcakes, and everyone brought the meat!!! We tried to make a turtle- which was a hamburger patty that was basket weaved with bacon and decorated with hot dogs to make it look like a turtle. You were supposed to bake it, but Gary grilled it and it fell apart when he tried to flip it.

Gavin had fun playing with Haelyn and Heather, and he stayed up way too late! He was so delirious by the end of the night!

Haelyn enjoying a cupcake.
Matt and Gary enjoying a heated discussion and Jonathan enjoying some "butt" cake (I don't know why we called it that by the end of the night)

Matt and Amy.

Tina and Heather. The turtle was gone by this point. You can see his remains in the top left corner.

The boys...
My poor delirious baby!

Gavin's first haircut...

After trying to cut Gavin's hair myself, and failing many times, I finally decided to bring him to get a proper haircut. He had so much fun walking around and playing. This place really does cater to kids. But the fun was all over when he sat in the little seat and got strapped in. At first, he was fine. After all, we had been talking about this all...day...long!! How could he not know what was going to happen! It first started to go wrong when Aurora (girl cutting his hair) put the smock on him and covered up the car in his hands. He started to cry, and he repeatedly pulled the smock off, so we just left it off! With that fiasco behind us, he started to calm down...until he could see Aurora. Every time she came in front of him where he could see her, he started to cry. He also cried random times throughout. A lollipop and some bubbles helped calm him, but overall, it was a tad traumatic for him. Once unbuckled, he was happy to roam around and continue playing. He wasn't traumatized for very long. He didn't want to leave!! Aurora was very sweet to him...and me. She gave me a little plastic baggy for some cut hair and a little certificate with the date on it. (For those of you that don't have kids, I'm sure you're really grossed out right now. Is it gross that I saved the little bell from his circumcision? We threw his umbilical cord out.)

Not getting his hair cut, I just love this picture.
La, la, la...I love life and I'm so happy...oh, and "Truck"

Playing with one of the steering wheels.

Why must I wear this awful thing?!

Momentarily calmed by the sugar.

Again, momentarily calmed by the lollipop. This is a second one because the first got thrown to the floor in his violent attempts to get out of the smock.

Crying with the candy in his mouth.

The after-totally his daddy. He's thinking, "Mom, get that camera out of my face already!"

Here's the back view. Look at those ringlets!

Aurora did a good job. I guess I'm officially retired from the hair cutting business :(

Bubbles!

It doesn't take much to make my sweet guy smile, but this was an exceptional day. He was all about the "bubbas" as he calls them. He was popping them and trying to catch them in his mouth (that did not go over well-YUCK!).

Gavin giving me the stink eye.