Deeeeez!

Gavin is now consistantly saying ball, help (sounds like "hhhalp"), please (often comes out "deeeeeeeez" or "deeeeee") and thank you - which actually sound like thank you. He needs reminders about thank you but is pretty good about saying please. Earlier this week Gavin wanted the dog toy Tyler was playing with so he walked up to him and said "deeeeeee." Unfortunately Tyler does not understand good manners.

Rough week

These pictures pretty much sum up last week. Gavin is having a somewhat difficult transition to his big boy bed. He refuses to take naps in it, so some days he didn't nap at all and a couple others he passed out in the living room watching cartoons (he did stay in his bed when I carried him in after falling asleep in the living room, but only for about an hour each day). Last week every day Gavin would pull out everything from his drawers upon waking too. He's staying up later at night, at least until 9. Some nights after I put him in bed he immedietly gets up and walks over to the door. He was flipping on the light and playing until I realized I could turn it off at the fixture to avoid that. So when he gets out of bed I put him back in, he cries, then gets out of bed again. This process continues on average 30-45 minutes. Some nights. Others he goes right to sleep. This was made harder by the fact that both Jake and I were sick last week and I had both a talk and a lesson to prepare for church. I also had to work Saturday as usual. So it was kind of a frusterating, tiring week. But this week is turning out better so far. Yesterday I layed down with Gavin on the couch in front of cartoons about 3 and he quickly fell asleep, and once I put him in his bed he stayed asleep until after 5. Last night he stayed in bed when I put him down at 9. And today he even ate the Thai lettuce wraps I cooked for lunch without incident.

Gavin's big boy bed

Like father like son

Jake and Gavin hanging out before Jake went to work on Saturday. Gavin's controller doesn't work but he loves to pretend.

I have a lot to learn about little boys

I finally got Gavin to sleep for about an hour or so this afternoon, and he did stay in his bed the whole time.  After his nap we went outside to play as usual. I noticed the grass was half dead in spots so I decided to hook up the sprinkler and water half the yard while Gavin played. Now, I'm not an idiot, I knew Gavin would end up playing in the water and get soaked. "No big deal, let him have some fun," I said to myself...

What I didn't anticipate was Gavin picking up the sprinkler and chasing me with it. Come on, really? Would a little girl do that? I tried everything I could think of to get him to put it down - bribing, threatening, pleading. None of it worked. I had to run after him and take it away from him, getting soaked in the process.

Milestones

Over the last couple of weeks Gavin has been eating like a lumberjack. Everyday he feels heavier and I suspected he's been growing taller too. Well this morning my suspicion was confirmed as Gavin reached up and flipped the lightswitch. Then during naptime Gavin was still making a lot of noise 20 minutes into it so I went to check on him and found him standing in the chair in his room holding a ball. He climbed out of his crib for the first time. Then, while I was trying to write this post I heard Jake telling Gavin not to break his Curious George music box that is kept in his room. Gavin can now open doors too. It's only 2:55, I'm scared to see what the rest of the day brings.

Ok, I let Gavin stay up for about an hour and then put him down for his nap again. 30 minutes later I peeked into his room to find this:

Yay!

We got some great news last Friday! Our background check, needed to start the adoption process again, is finally done after 5 months of crazy holdups. Our home visit from our caseworker to complete our homestudy is scheduled for May 7. The next week or two after that we should have our profile online and be ready to be chosen to be parents again! Yay!

Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Bunny came to our house Saturday afternoon while Gavin was taking his nap. Gavin was quite pleased to find eggs with m&ms inside all over the backyard. He wasn't too keen on putting the eggs in the basket though. His method was to pick up the egg, shake it to hear if there was an m&m inside, then open it up, eat the m&m, drop the egg on the ground, and go get another one.

Gavin's newest toy - he hits the ball really well.