Summer Fun

Time for an update in pictures.  I wish that I had more energy to write more, but oh well.  I feel that I have many thoughts about the state of life with a toddler, so maybe one day I'll type it up.  But let's be honest, that might not happen ;)  

Summer has brought with it many chances to get outside and do fun things.  Our typical weekly activities include the pool, the park, story time at the library, class at Romp and Roll and playing the the yard.  It has been nice to explore some other things too though like the duck pond, the fair, the zoo, and berry picking.  While I'm not going to write a whole lot, for my own memories sake I have to note that Gabriel loves BEANS (green and edamame).  The other night he had the choice between a bite of a brownie and a cup of beans and he chose the beans.  He also loves "Old McDonald" and "BINGO", books, his bed, making a pretend "shocked" face, Loki, putting the groceries on the conveyor belt, and of course anything Toy Story.  He's a funny guy.  

Here he is with one of Mommy's headbands.  I call this photo "I want to be in a 80's workout video."  Move over Jane Fonda.

Play Doh is fun

And so is feeding Rice Krispies to a stuffed dog

He loves to play in the kiddie pool.  And by "play" I mean throw Sulley, Mike, Woody, and Buzz into the pool, climb in and throw them out, then climb out and throw them in.  The process continues until he decides that it's time to climb on the patio furniture.

Gabriel loves his Daddy.

He also loves berries

Gabriel loved having his cousin for a visit.  He still occasionally wanders around the house saying her name and looking for her.  If only she lived closer. . .

Feeding the ducks.  While we have gone a couple times I sadly have no good pictures.  To note, however, Gabriel would much rather feed the very large squirrels than the ducks.  And when he does feed the ducks he prefers the say "Hey duck!" and then throw a whole piece of bread and watch them all fight over it.

Gabriel started doing a couple things while his cousin was here.  The first was really getting into giving a "hug" and a "kiss."  He smothered that girl in kisses.  He also kisses his toys and random furniture.  The new habit that I'm not so fond of is his wanting to suck his thumb all the time.  He's always sucked it when falling asleep, which has never really bothered me.  Honestly, if he'd always had this habit during the day it wouldn't bother me so much, but it's too late now to start this habit if you ask me.  We're trying to discourage him from doing it, but what do you do when multiple times every hour he flops down and sticks in it his mouth?  Not sure what the outcome of this will be.

Building tall towers

I found this little Toy Story bag at a consignment store.  He loves having his own bag with pictures of his friends on it.  And while part of me is loving not having the diaper bag anymore, another part of me isn't ready to have a child with a backpack.

Another shot of the "pack pack."  Apparently when he was just with Taylor the other day he was showing random people his "bag."

We saw lots of new things at the zoo!  And rode a train!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The local fair had a petting zoo and Gabriel liked seeing the animals and feeding them carrots.

Big boy on the swings.  I thought he would get scared but he seemed to enjoy it  And when we rode the ferris wheel every time it was going down he said "Whheeeee."  So cute.  Getting way too big. 

18 (almost 19) Months

Gabriel looks so much bigger to me than he did in the posts a couple months ago.  He doesn't really weigh that much more than he did at 15 months (he's now 25 pounds) and he only grew 1.5 inches (now 32.5 inches) but he just acts so much more like a toddler.  So, here are some random pictures and captions to update a little on what Gabriel is up to these day. . .

Aunt Stephanie is hilarious

Why is she staring at me?

Why is she pulling my hair?

I'm not quite sure about her, but my cousin is pretty cute so I'll put on some music for her

Gabriel still loves to read.  His favorite book seems to rotate.  He has a one word name for some of this favorites.  Before bed tonight he wanted to read "Hammy" (Green Eggs and Ham).  Others times we read "Hat" (Cat in the Hat), "Sock" (Fox in Socks), "Pop" (Hop on Pop), "Rock" (Rocks in My Socks),  and "Cordy" (Corduroy).  He also really likes Where the Wild Things Are (he always says "HOT" when you read the last page of the book), SkippyJohn Jones, Alexander and Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, and his Disney Storybooks.

What does this growing boy eat? Everything.  If there is one thing that it's harder for him to eat it's meat.  He will eat plain chicken dipped in ketchup, but he's not a huge fan of other meat (although he does eat it sometimes mixed in something).  Favorite foods: grapes, strawberries ("sabbies"), apples (it's obviously hard for him to bite -- he spent quite a while licking one today before I cut it up), cucumbers, edamame ("beans"),  and broccoli 

What does Gabriel do for fun these days?  Climbs on and in EVERYTHING, plays with the DVDs, carries around random things that aren't technically toys, chases Loki, wanders around outside, plays in the car while it's sitting in the garage (there are lots of cool buttons in there), goes to class at Romp and Roll, the library, the park, the pool. . .

He has so much to say.  It's still mostly babbling, but he knows so many words all of the sudden.  Taylor realized that he's asking what things are called too.  I can't really think of a way to type what it sounds like, but he points at something he doesn't know, asks what it is, and then repeats whatever you tell him.  I can understand why only parents can understand most of what their child says.  He knows the name of most animals, household objects, and simple things outside, but it would be hard to understand him if you weren't around him everyday.

Helping Daddy put together patio furniture

Helping to take apart the futon

He loves to brush his teeth

And he loves his new step stool

There was a fawn in our yard for a few days.  His mother was leaving him during the day and coming to get him at night.  Gabriel loved it.  He was standing at the back door pointing up the hill and shouting "Fawn! Fawn!"  I'm not sure if it was Taylor cutting the grass (even though he left a large area where he was hanging out), but he's no longer there.  Gabriel is really liking having a back yard though.  He likes to watch the birds, squirrels, and rabbits and wander around.  He tried to eat a random flower today and then gagged though. . .not a fun moment.

Gabriel loves his Daddy!  Happy Father's Day!

Such a cute and sweet boy

On a not-so-cute note he now thinks that when you tell him "no" it can be ignored and he laughs when he gets popped on the hand.  Oh, new realms of disciple that we must now figure out.  But, it's hard to stay mad at him when he has such a sweet smile and likes to say "please?" so sweetly.  We love our little man.

Random Stuff

Gabriel is having a fussy day/week .  His mommy has a headache.  And since he is finally taking a nap I thought a little post was in order.  I don't know what to do about his sleep situation.  He still naps in the  morning and in the afternoon.  I guess I figured that when he was ready to "drop" one of these naps that it would be the morning one. I figured he'd just start staying up until closer to lunch and then eventually he'd just need a nap in the afternoon.  For the last week he is taking a really long time to fall asleep for his afternoon nap and then he's not falling asleep for the night until much too late.  So, it would seem that the logical conclusion would be that he's getting too much sleep during the day, BUT he just can't stay up in the morning.  I was in the car with him at 10:15 yesterday and out he went.  I tried to keep him up this morning and it was torture for both of us by 10:45.  If he only were to nap in the morning though he would need to go to bed super early.  I just hate it that it's taking him so long to fall asleep for his afternoon nap, but I can't wait and have him nap at 5 pm, nor do I want to put him to bed for the night at that time.  Ugh.  I don't know what to do.

 

On a happier note, it's getting warmer and that means we can go to the park or walk around outside more.  Hooray for slides, swings, and tromping in the grass!  Gabriel discovered rocks yesterday morning and kept trying to feed them to me.  Yummy.

Chillin' in a chair at the library

Gabriel has been sick twice in the last 2 weeks.  The first time it was some kind of viral thing that lasted most of the week.  I don't like taking him to the doctor (for one thing it's money, and mostly I know that most things are viral and therefore just need to run their course).  But, after a fever for 3 days something just didn't seem right.  The doctor said his throat looked like he could have strep.  They swabbed it (poor guy) and it was negative.  It finally got better at the end of the week.  He did loose 2 pounds in the process though. Then last weekend he got a fever again and had some GI issues.  I'm not sure if it's that he's getting more teeth or what but he still seems uncomfortable and incredibly whiny.

And if that wasn't enough yesterday morning he smacked his face on something at the park.  He barely cried and got right up and started playing, but by the time we were headed home he had a nice black eye show up.  I guess if I'd been sick, was getting teeth, and kept bonking my head I might not be in the best mood either.

 

We did have some visitors last weekend and Gabriel always likes to have some new playmates.  Here he is with his slightly older twin at Cracker Barrel.

And since I don't have a lot of pictures to post, here are some pictures of Gabriel's "Favorite Things" as of today. . .

Stickers and markers.  I was surprised how quickly he latched onto putting stickers on paper.  Thankfully I have lots of those leftover from years ago when I worked at the scrapbook store.

Books, books, books

Puzzles.  Especially these 2 animal ones.  When you hold up the chicken
piece he makes a "bawk bawk" noise at it.  So cute. 

               

DVDs.  But still not just for watching.  He "reads" the back of the cases, he "reads" the little books inside the front cover, he takes the paper out of the jacket.  So many fun projects.  Every once in a while though I ask him if he wants to watch a video.  He always gets one of the above (thanks Aunt Tiffany!).  And while we may only watch 15 minutes before I turn it off, it's a welcome change from Baby Einstein (although he still really likes the animal videos, especially since he can name some of the animals too).

And while he's saying many things now, the most recent funny thing is that he has come to think that "Up" = "Please".  He was wanting to get on the couch a lot the last week and whenever he did we said "Up, please." Now when he needs something he says "Up!" It's really cute.  He wanted more milk yesterday and he brought me his cup and said "Up!"  Funny kid :)

Who could be cooler than this guy?

                                                 

15 Months - Another Installment Directly From the Source

Ok, here we go again!  I had my 15 month appointment at the doctor today so that means it's time for another post.  Come with me and I'll take you for a ride. . .

We'll get going as soon as I start this thing.  Mom, can I have some more quarters?

The doctor today said that I made "a leap" on my growth curve.  Apparently gaining 3 pounds in 3 months really impressed her (moving me from the 9th to the 24th percentile).  I was 22 pounds, 15 ounces, was 31 inches tall (41st percentile), and my head was 19 inches (77th percentile).  Hooray!  Besides that good news they also made me take off my clothes again and then get a couple shots.  Those people are just plain mean.  I don't think we should visit them anymore, but I think Daddy and Mommy might keep dragging me there.  At least they gave me a free book about frogs.  Still didn't make it worth it if you ask me. . .

I've been sick a couple times over the last few months.  Nothing too major though.  I did have a pretty high fever and do nothing but sleep for about a day, but after that I felt fine.  Luckily Grandma was here then and liked holding me.  I'm also in the process of cutting 2 more teeth on the bottom (which will give me a grand total of 8).  It's no fun.  I keep bringing Mommy my Tylenol but she only gives it to me every so often.  I just LOVE that stuff.  It tastes so good.  I'm also pretty accident prone.  I'm just in such a hurry to get everywhere.  I'm afraid I might miss something!  I bonk my head a lot and get bruises.  Oh well.

I'm also starting to learn how to do artsy stuff.  Sometime I finger paint, or throw crayons on the floor, or put stickers on Mommy's face.  I really love it when I can get the top off of Mommy's stuff she puts around her eyes and draw cool things on my face.  I think I do it better than she does.

 At the doctor today she said that kids my age usually have about 6 words.  I'm not sure how many I have.  I'm saying things pretty much constantly but Dad and Mom don't seem to understand much of it.  They need more practice.  Almost every animal I see is a "dog" or occasionally a "cat."  I really love to read "books" (especially Dr. Seuss and SkippyJon Jones).  I repeat random things Dad and Mom say in an attempt to make them excited (the other day I repeated "bug" and "cow" and Mom for some reason thought that was awesome).  I am started to understand a lot more of what they're saying though.  I guess I need to learn their language if I ever hope to let them know what I want.  I know what it means when when they say that have milk for me, or I know that when they say "nap" they're about to put me in my crib.  Most importantly though, I know that when they say "snack" or "breakfast" or "lunch" or "dinner" that it's time to chow down!!!  Now I shall share some pictures of me eating. . .

I LOVE GRAPES!   I like to just keep stuffing them in until my cheeks are full.  Then I can save them for later

I still like vegetables ok, but not as much as I used to.  I'd rather eat fruit or dairy (yogurt, cheese, oranges, pears, or GRAPES preferably.  Did I mention that I like grapes?)

Hmmm.  Oat-bran muffin. You want some?  I often try to share my food with Mommy and Daddy but they don't always want it. I just figure that if I taste it and don't like it that I should just take it out of my mouth and offer it to them.  No sense in wasting it.  That's just silly

Daddy decided that I should have a doughnut after my shots today.  Man was it good stuff. I've never had one of those all to myself before.

And here are a couple shots of me at Romp and Roll playing with this weird thing with wheels.  Some days I love going to play there and other days not so much.  I really just want to go outside and walk around.  I love doing that.  Mommy said after my nap today that we can go to the park because it's pretty warm outside. Yip! Yippee! Yippito! (as SkippyJon would say)

And for our final shot, here is me sitting on my friend the cow.  Some really nice people at church gave this to me because their kids don't want to sit on him anymore.  I'm a cowboy! Later taters!