little monkey

Gavin is a climber. We always suspected that he would be, but when he didn't start climbing early along with walking, I thought maybe he wouldn't be so much of one. But no, we were wrong. A couple weeks ago he surprised us by pushing a box up against the sofa and climbing on the box then the sofa and playing with the stuff on the end table that he couldn't otherwise reach. One day last week he climbed up onto the sofa with no help at all. He also started climbing up onto his play table. And the dishwasher (as you saw last entry). Now he's climbing up onto a low trunk we have here in the office and standing behind out chairs giggling at how clever he is.

Such a sweetheart though. Everyday he makes me laugh and smile and I am truly amazed at how smart and clever he really is. I know, I know, all mothers think their babies are the smartest, cutest, cleverest babies ever. But in my case it has to be true. Ha ha ha.

A couple months ago we started playing the "where's the [insert name of object]" game. He picked up on it really fast, and even picked up the little shoulder shrug I unknowingly did each time I asked him where something was. I wish you could see and hear him when he does this. He shrugs his shoulders and throws his arms out to the side and makes a sweet little interrogative noise. One night recently, he was playing with Jason's cell phone, which lives on a belt clip attached to his jeans. Jason got annoyed with the constant attention to his phone and hid it. Gavin went to look for it, found it missing, then did the shoulder shrug, made the noise, and tugged at Jason's belt. "Where's the phone?" he was asking. See? Clever!

The weather has been so nice lately that we've taken walks almost every night. Gavin, who is all about asking what things are now (he points and says "buh?"), now knows what a house, a tree, a car, a truck, the moon, and a mailbox are. I started asking him "Where's a house?" and he'd look around and point at a house. "Where's a tree?" And he'd point up at the tree we're walking under. And so on. See? Smart!