Christmas toys

Gavin's absolute favorite toy he got for Christmas was this stuffed dog that dances and sings "Who let the dogs out?" Gavin loved playing with it so much we had to hide it so he would pay attention when we opened his other presents. It is actually a re-gifted present that was given to Jake by his mom several years ago. I never saw Jake do this with it:

Gavin also really likes this vtech toy that has a bunch of buttons that you push and to either hear music or a description of the picture on the button. Gavin's favorite button is the one with a picture of a baby that magically says "Hello Gavin, booga booga booga" in Daddy's voice.
Gavin got a bunch of books, but his favorite, of course, was the one with the big picture of a dog on the front. He doesn't care about the story too much, but he loves to play with the cover.

Gavin also really likes his ride on car/ push toy. He prefers to crawl around pushing it, however. He also likes to sit on it and be pushed around. He really like opening and closing the hood, and taking things out of it that I hide in there.
And, as always, the tv remote control is a favorite. Gavin crawled away while we were opening his presents to go play with it.

Growing boy

As of today Gavin is wearing size 18 month onesies. Regular 18 month shirts are still big on him, but the onesies fit. Some of his 12 month shirts are too short now. Gavin's blue dress shirt that goes with his suit still fits but its now too tight to button the top button so he can wear a tie. Luckily, our friends the Kozaks gave Gavin an 18 month suit for Christmas. Perfect timing. We're still rolling up Gavin's pant legs in his 12 month pants. Some new things Gavin has been doing: pushing his toys around while crawling, usually babbling constantly while playing, and crawling in and out of Tyler's crate. He's also graduated into the big tub. He didn't have the trunk stability needed to safely sit in the big tub when we first got him, so he used a toddler tub. Now he has no problem keeping his balance. This was Christmas eve:
His favorite thing to do in the tub is play in a waterfall made by me pouring water out of a bowl:

Christmas Party

Last night was our Christmas party at church. Gavin ate a roll, turkey, green beans, and sampled several types of sweet potato dishes. He prefers the type loaded with sugar, as does Jake. We got a lot of comments about how well behaved he is, as we always do when we're out with him. He's a really easy going little guy. He was happy to sit and eat for an hour. Then we listened to the choir sing, and Gavin danced along. The batteries in our camera died after taking this picture:

Before we left home:

Taken with our other camera when we got home:

Morning nap

Pancakes

Today Jake made pancakes for breakfast:

Gavin watched and played with his spatula:


And then they enjoyed their breakfast:

Wednesday

Now that Gavin can stand up holding on to stuff he can get toys off the top shelf and look out of the window in the kitchen.

He also found new toy today:

Gavin is doing a good job of drinking out of his sippy cup now, with help to tilt it to get the water out. I noticed today his eyebrows go up and down as he drinks.

Also, during his bath tonight Gavin made a "d" sound for the first time. He has been saying mamama and sometimes bababa but no dadada yet. He was playing with his rubber ducky in the tub and he dropped it. I asked "where's the duck?" and he made a "d" sound.

Bookworm

Today for the first time Gavin picked up a book and turned all the pages himself. Upside down. His favorite book right now is "First Words." His favorite pictures are the boy, the cat, and the dog. They make him giggle. The picture of the boy does kind of look like Gavin, maybe that's why he like it so much. Gavin does own other clothes besides this romper, he just happens to sleep in it a lot and then I don't bother dressing him until after his morning nap. I'm all about being comfy.

Two peas in a pod

Gavin's new moves

This week Gavin is entertaining us by dancing. He shakes his head and his hands when we sing or play music and tell him to dance. He is getting more adventurous and pulling up on everything. Time to do some more baby proofing.

Surprise

Today was my first day back at work since we got Gavin. It was hard to leave him but I was glad he was home with Jake and Tom instead of in daycare. Jake got lucky because Gavin slept in until 8:30. When I got home I was pleasantly surprised to find Jake and Tom had put up our Christmas decorations. I bought a tabletop tree this year to avoid calamity. Gavin loves the lights.
Town of Bethlehem

This stocking makes Gavin laugh and laugh and laugh

Gavin is pulling up to stand on everything now. He's made a lot of progress this week!

Thanksgiving milestones

My brother Tom came in to meet Gavin for the long weekend. We went over to our friends the Kozak's for Thanksgiving. Gavin ate a roll and mashed sweet potatoes. Yum. Later, a few minutes after we put Gavin down for his afternoon nap, we were suprised to find him standing in his crib!

Gavin's book

Today Gavin's book came in the mail. A couple of weeks ago I found a coupon for a free photobook on Snapfish so I made Gavin a book about joining our family. It has a few pictures of us before Gavin, and then tells the story of our first couple of weeks with Gavin, through pictures. It will be a great tool for us to use to tell him his story. I went ahead and ordered an extra one too, in case the first one gets torn up.

Checkup

Today Gavin had his 9 month checkup. He has met all his milestones for his age. The doctor prescribed him zantac for his acid reflux. Gavin now weighs 19lbs 9.5oz, and is 29.25in tall. He is in the 25th percentile for weight, and the 75th percentile for height. The doctor did not have any concerns about his health or development.

collage

Tonight I put together a picture collage for our living room. My Grandma Martin has one in the hallway in her house and I always loved looking at it as a kid. Gavin loves to look at pictures too - he giggles every time I hold him up to look at the pictures over our couch.

1 month later

As of today Gavin has been with us one month! It really flew by. Today for the first time I found Gavin sitting up in his crib. When we first got him he couldn't sit unsupported or sit up on his own. He became strong enough to sit unsupported the first week, but it took longer to learn to sit up. I did "occupational therapy" with Gavin everyday to teach him to sit up on his own. Looks like it has paid off.

Climbing

Gavin has started climbing on everything. One of his favorite things to do is to climb all over Jake or me while we're lying on the floor. To give Gavin a fun place to climb we took the legs off our footstool. After his bath tonight Gavin climbed up and down the footstool and couch about a zillion times. He loved it. He learned really quickly how to climb down backwards instead of head first. The romper he's wearing was a late baby shower gift he got at church today. It's amazing how generous everyone has been!

Post 1

Ok, so I decided I should start a blog to explain some of the pictures we keep sending out and let all interested parties know what's going on with Gavin (and sometimes us). If you want to take a look at our old adoption blog, it's at www.jacobandkellyadopt.blogspot.com