catching up

I haven't posted much lately because I've been busy this month with writing my NaNoWriMo novel. I reached 50,000 words on Sunday, so I have technically won, even though the story is not finished. I am really liking my story so far, so I am hoping to continue writing on it in the coming weeks and finish it up. I'm am thrilled to have won this year. I had my doubts, since I didn't know how caring for Gavin would play into me having the time to write, but I managed it -- I even finished early, so I'm double pleased.

In recent days I have been giving Gavin foods with more texture to them - ground up cooked oatmeal, mashed banana, mashed cooked sweet potatoe - and he seems to like those much more than the pureed food. That makes me think his disinterest in food was more a disinterest in pureed baby food than all food. Since he seems to want to feed himself, I have even started giving him some zwieback toast. I'm a nervous mama bear while he's eating that, hovering over him to make sure he doesn't choke. So far he has managed to get himself out of the choking episodes just fine, though it makes my heart race and I have to restrain myself from grabbing him. I know it won't help, and would actually probably do more harm than good.

Last week at Fiona's birthday party, we gave him a cheerio, which he didn't seem to care for. Today at the store I bought a box and gave him some. At first he went through about five cheerios, just playing with them and dropping them. It wasn't until I put one in his mouth that he seemed to realize it was food, which is odd since he's most definitely an everything-into-mouth baby. After that he "mmmmmbuh mmmmm mmmmbuh"-ed them to bits (mmmmmmbuh is the noise he often makes while eating solid foods). I think I am much more comfortable with cheerios for now. They dissolve easier and are much happier little first finger foods.

Gavin crawled up stairs, have I mentioned that? He now does it quite quickly and quite well. He can make it all the way up the short flight from the family room to the kitchen. He is also cruising more and more every day.

Our friends Beth and Denver were in town over the weekend and we got to spend some time with them and meet their little girl, Madeline, who was born a little less than 2 months after Gavin. She's a sweet little girl, who seemed to take Gavin's curious hands and fingers quite well.

hello

A week ago, we began teaching Gavin to wave hello and goodbye. A couple days ago he started raising one hand sometimes when we did our "wave at Gavin" sessions. Today for the first time, he started waving, in context, both in response to us waving, as well as all by himself to complete strangers in stores. He waved to the ladies in the grocery store today, which completely charmed the socks off of them (and me!).

He is also playing "catch". We bought him a small ball, about 7 inches across, a few weeks ago, and he loves to play with it with Jason. He isn't so wild about playin g with the ball with me. Must already have that boy idea that balls are for boys (pun intended!). Jason rolls the ball over to him and he pounces on it, slapping his hands down on it to stop it. It's the cutest thing. For that matter, he is the cutest thing. I just love this baby!

first date

Jason and I had our first date without the baby this afternoon. We'd planned on doing it for our anniversary in September, but schedules conflicted with my mom, who we wanted to babysit, and we never did it. Last week we realized we'd never done it, so we called mom, who was available this afternoon, and made plans.

We went to see The Incredibles, then went and had a fancy dinner at McDonald's. The movie was cute, but all of Pixar's movies have been really cute so far, so it wasn't a surprise. Dinner was, well, McDonald's.. no surprises, there, either! We had a great time. I felt strange, having Jason with me and not having Gavin there.

Gavin did magnificently with his Grandma. He went to sleep really easily for her (wish he did for us!) and then slept for two and a half hours! Talk about injustice! Or, maybe it's just Grandma Magic. Here I thought I would have it all by becoming a mommy and coming into my Mommy Magic inheritence. Now I find out there's yet another level to gain. Oh well, it gives me something to look forward to, I suppose.

up the stairs he goes

Gavin crawled up the stairs today. Three of them. While I was at a NaNoWriMo "write-in" this afternoon, Jason called me and announced that Gavin had just performed that feat -- and that he got two of the three steps on video (we always have the camera handy for such occasions!). Hurrah for Jason for witnessing one of Gavin's firsts all by himself!

Solid food is something I haven't written much about lately, mostly because Gavin hasn't been too wild about it. We've tried sweet potatoes, bananas, millet cereal, avacado, apples, and green beans. I think that's all. Sweet potatoes have been by far the favorite, but most of the time, even with sweet potatoes, he takes a few bites and then all he wants is to play with the spoon. Even distracting him with another spoon doesn't help. I'm not stressing about this at all. He'll eat when he's ready, and in the mean time I will keep offering things to him every couple days.

feeling like a mama

I've been feeling more and more like a mommy lately. When I'm in the kitchen Gavin is usually on the floor playing. When he gets tired and wants to be picked up, he crawls over (he's crawling for real now, have I mentioned that?) and tugs on my pant legs. Then he climbs up so he's holding onto my legs. Just like I remember doing as a very little kid. Mothering is full of these full-circle moments, isn't it?

he he he

Ah, I am amused. This morning I was listening to the radio and heard that the John Kerry Wafflehead was at the Waffle House on Polaris. I've wanted to see it, since how often do you get to see a larger-than-life float like this. Fortunately we were up and dressed so I popped Gavin into his carseat and headed over to Polaris. Just as I pulled into the parking lot near the Waffle House, the Waffle Head was pulling out.

So I zipped into traffic behind it and followed. Soon I caught up to it and while we were stopped by a light - I was right next to the thing - I took a few pictures.

After that, I went and stood in line for about an hour and a half and voted. If you're in the US and haven't voted yet, get out there!