Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Happy Birthday Gavin! I can't believe that an entire year has passed already! It has been a truly amazing year. I love him more today than I did a year ago when I first held him (and 8 months before that when I found out he would be joining us). What an incredible year it has been watching Gavin grow and learn. As I look back, it is hard to believe he was ever as small and helpless as he was, especially since he is now walking all over and asserts his independents regularly!

Brand new Gavin:



One Year Old Gavin (too busy to stop and smile for the camera):



We had decided that it would be fun to go to the Mid Hudson Children's Museum for Gavin's birthday. We planned to go right after lunch because Gavin normally is up from his nap by then (he sometimes still takes two one hour naps, but more often he is down to one longer nap of anywhere from an hour and a half to two and a half hours). That didn't work out. So we had a later lunch since Gavin took an exceptionally long nap (around 3 hours) and then packed up and headed to the museum. It was a rainy day so it was perfect weather to go somewhere indoors to hang out and get out of the house. Gavin loved it and immediately started exploring the toddler area (the main floor has a section intended for babies and toddlers, another area for toddlers and older and then the upstairs that is intended for kids a bit older but toddlers can explore as well).






We spent a couple hours there and Gavin wasn't interested in leaving the baby/toddler area. Scott explored a bit and convinced Gavin to check out a few other things like the firetruck (which has buttons for a flashing light, siren and a couple of messages and a bell) and the bakery, restaurants, school, construction and ATM areas.

It was getting close to their closing time so we decided to head home so I could get dinner made. We didn't do anything fancy, just a normal dinner and we had a little ice cream after dinner. Since his party is this weekend, we decided not to do a huge dinner and dessert on his birthday this year.

After dinner, we had Gavin open his presents. We figured since he loves to eat and rip paper normally he might catch on and want to rip all the paper off. No such luck. He was more interested in other things than opening presents.


He was interested in the first present once it was unwrapped. He enjoyed eating it.


After that, he wasn't interested in opening other things, so I helped him out a little. Once everything was opened he showed more interest in things. He liked his new books, pumpkin sing a ma jig and wooden blocks. He especially loved knocking over the stack of blocks we made.





We had a lot of fun together as a family!

As for what Gavin has been up to in the last month...

Stats:

Weight - 26 pounds plus (we have his one year well baby visit on Monday for official weight).

Height - Probably 32 inches at least (we have his one year well baby visit Monday for official height).

Clothing Size - He hasn't grown out of anything in the last month but we did buy larger sizes for him for winter/spring because we are hoping he won't grow out of much during the winter. So his new clothes are a variety of 18 month, 18-24 month, 2T in sizing. It just depends on the brand and type of clothing what he needed. (Pants are bigger because he needed the length and room for his diapers since his cloth diapers are not quite as small as a disposable).

Milestones -

*Gavin is a walking machine that is working on running and climbing now. He does pretty well with running, but still often ends up taking a spill because his top half gets in front of his legs. He is getting quicker every day. I am just glad that I am still faster, for now! He is working on climbing anything that he can get a good enough grip on. He tries to climb all kinds of things but the items he can manage is small. He can climb in and out of his rocking chair, tries to use the phone to climb/reach up to higher shelves and he climbs on and off of Lightening McQueen. He tries to get up on the couch and bed but he can't quite get his legs up enough to make it. He tries to climb his high chair, shelves, the gate, anything in reach.

*Gavin is a babbling maniac. I thought he talked a lot before, but he just keeps adding noises to his vocabulary. It is really funny to have "conversations" with him now because he seems to actually be trying to say things and he points to things as he is talking. It is great. I am sure that he will be replacing the babbling with actual words and will continue to talk all day long. We have a lot of fun talking back and forth and he repeats noises back to me and I will repeat what he says too. He has added "cheese", "cluck, cluck" and "say/see it" to his actual word list. He even says cheese when I pull some out of the refrigerator now.

*Gavin and I spend a great deal of time reading every day. He loves to sit with me in his room or on the couch or in his box. Anywhere will do. He certainly has favorites but the list of books he really likes continues to grow. Unless it is a book he doesn't favor, he sits with me as we read book after book. Usually we do at least 4 at a time and quite often we read a lot more than that each time we sit down, which is at least twice and sometimes three times a day. That has become one of my favorite times of the day because I love to read, getting to share that with Gavin and get a snuggle in, it is absolutely perfect!

*Gavin loves to "help" out while Scott and I are doing things. Although it isn't all that helpful yet, it will be a lot of fun when it is. He likes to be in the kitchen while I cook and bake and usually has a spoon, whisk, spatula or some type of utensil and a container or bowl of some kind. He wants to help stir, but doesn't quite get that yet. He loves watching the Kitchen Aid while it mixes whatever we are making.

He loves to check out all of Scott's tools. He loves his drill and drill press the most. He "asks" to go downstairs several times a day to get a chance to play with that and check out what other tools are available. He loves tape measures, screw drivers, levels, hammers, anything he can get his hands on to explore. I am sure Scott will have lots of help on projects when Gavin is old enough to actually bring him tools and use them. Gavin is already attached to Scott whenever he is home, so once he can actually help, I am thinking I will have a lot of alone time.

*Gavin still just has seven teeth (three on top and four on the bottom) with who knows how many more coming in. It has been a nice break from the constant night wakings from teeth pain and the grumpy days from not sleeping and teething pain. I am sure it won't last since the rest have to come in some day.

What an incredible year we have had. Gavin is a truly amazing little boy and I am so grateful to be his mother. I couldn't ask for a better child and I look forward to all the many wonderful years to come, watching him learn and grow!