another first!

At last, Gavin has made another milestone. This time, walking. No, he isn't walking everywhere yet, but he did take his first steps this morning! It was so incredible. He was standing there holding onto something and looking at a bucket of large legos in the middle of the room. He really wanted it. I was between him and the bucket and held my arms out and encouraged him to come to me. I watched as he looked back and forth from me to the bucket and back. He squatted as if to begin crawling over to the bucket, but stopped and stodd back up. I could see the thoughts racing around his head as he made the decision to walk instead. And he did. He leaned toward me and took two or three steps before falling at me. Afterward he had such a look of accomplishment and pride on his face, it was clear that he knew he'd done something big.

Oooooooooooo

This has got to be one of the absolute cutest things Gavin has done yet. I posted recently about how he will do something like pull the printer off the printer stand (it's only 6" off the floor, so no big deal) then look up with a look of alarm on his face. Well, now in addition to the look of alarm, he purses his lips and says "Oooooooooo! Ooooo! oooooo!" It is so freaking cute I could just gobble him up.

And the best part is that he does it not only when something surprises him, but when something frightens him, when he is uncertain about something (like the vacuum cleaner, for instance.. more on this in a moment), when he is interested in something, when he wants to touch/hold/eat something he sees, and so on. So basically all the time.

The vaccum cleaner has become a source of much Oooo-oooo--ooooo-ing lately. He's been unsure of it for several weeks now. He sits in the middle of the floor and looks back and forth between it and me. Part of him wants to explore this fascinating object, but you can tell that the rest of him wants to run far away from it. Or crawl. Or, preferably, be picked up by Mommy and taken far away from it.

This week he nearly took his first steps to get away from it. Maybe I should run the vacuum more often. Not to get a cleaner house, no... to hurry my son along with the walking. Of course. Not that I am honestly in a hurry for him to walk, because after walking comes running and then I'll never catch up with him!

But, come to think of it, there will be two advantages to Gavin learning to walking. First, I might start losing weight again. Still ten pounds to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight (nine months on, nine months off, my foot! Bah!). Second, I can finally get the boy some shoes. His feet are so large that none of the pre-walker shoes on the market fit him. So he goes around a lot of the time with one or no socks on, and let me tell you that in the middle of January this is not a good thing. Tends to get me some mighty nasty looks in the middle of the grocery.

dance dance baby-lution

I've been so bad about updating in the past couple weeks. Gavin's been doing all sorts of fun new things, so I'll try to write about them now.

Christmas day we discovered that he loves to play chase. We'll be across the room and get his attention, then put our hands up like claws and say "Grrrrrr!" or "I'm gonna get you!" and crawl over to him, and he shrieks and laughs and tries to get away. The trying to get away is the funniest thing. He can't walk yet (surprisingly) but he scrabbles at the wall or whatever he happens to be standing near, like he wants to climb up it. If he's sitting down sometimes he'll fall forward and try to crawl away.

He also tries to get away from us if he's doing something he knows he's not supposed to (or at least something he knows we always stop him from doing, like climbing the stairs). He'll see us coming and giggle and laugh and crawl faster, or climb faster if he's on the stairs.

Also, when he does something that causes a loud noise or if something falls onto the floor, he looks up at us with a shocked, scared look on his face. His bottom lip goes out, and sometimes he even cries a little bit. Although I highly doubt that he really feels/thinks it, it sometimes seems for all the world that he's scared he'll get in trouble or that we'll yell at him. This behavior is one of those pathetically cute things where you can't help but laugh a little.

A couple weeks ago we were standing in the lobby of Applebees waiting for a table. Jason was holding Gavin and I was playing peek-a-boo with him, covering my face with my hand. I paused after uncovering my face and when I didn't immediately cover my face again, Gavin took my hand and pushed it up toward my face. He kept on doing it, and after a few times, he was pulling my hand away too. He did that with Jason's hand, too. We started laughing when we realized what he was doing. It was the most awesome feeling, and one of the first things he's done that feels like real communication. Not that everything else he does isn't communication, but this was different. More grownup, I guess.

One of the funnest things he's doing is dancing. He has been bouncing while he is sitting or standing. Last week we started bouncing ourselves anytime there was music. We'd look at Gavin and say, "Dance!" and then bounce ourselves. Now he does it, too. He "dances" all on his own, anytime he hears music. It's so funny. So cute. He'll hear music and look up at us with a goofy grin on his face and start bouncing. Sometimes he'll do it tentatively, like he's not sure it's music he hears, especially if it is slow music. He definitely prefers fast, boppy music; one of his favorites to dance to is the Only Fools and Horses theme song, which we've been watching from the library. He also dances if he hears music while nursing. Sometimes he doesn't even pop off to do it, he just bounces while he lays there eating.

And that's about it. He still isn't walking, though he cruises around holding onto furniture and whatever else happens to be there. Sometimes he lets go and balances for a second or two, but it seems like he doesn't even notice that he's done something special. I think he's just so content at being able to get where he wants to go and get what he wants by crawling that he isn't paying attention to the fact that there might be a different way to go. He'll accidentally do it one of these days, and then watch out world!

Eating solids is still limping along. Some days he scarfs up whatever we offer him (as long as it isn't a vegetable. He doesn't seem to care for them... maybe he caught that from my first trimester aversion?). One night before bed he ate about 6.5 oz of oatmeal and peaches and apricots. He kept on opening his mouth for more. It got me excited that maybe he was finally going to start eating larger quantities, but no. It was a fluke.

Today I cooked up some more oatmeal for him, and then I decided to try some apples, so I peeled and sliced a couple up and cooked them. I fed him some after they cooled, and he gobbled them up. So he'll eat oatmeal and apples and prunes and apricots and peaches. And cheese, and bread, and pasta. The list is growing. In another few months I'll probably be lamenting how much he's eating and how he has replaced entire meals with solids. Just you wait and see if I don't!

comments & spam

I thought I would write a quick post about the comments and spam. As you can see, I removed the password protection from the journal. Turns out the spambots were smart enough not to be foiled by my cunning password protection plan. In the end I upgraded to the latest version of movable type, which is, with the help of a program plugin, doing the trick beautifully, for now. Had I known sooner what improvements they'd made, I'd have upgraded ages ago. I may yet put back the type-a-code security measure, but not until they figure out this system. Until then, bask in my spam-free comments. Ahhhhhhhh....

popcorn

So what happens when the baby is asleep but we want popcorn? What happens when, in an effort to avoid waking the baby with the loud air-popper whirring in the kitchen, we take the popcorn popper into the basement, far from the sleeping babe's room? Why, nothing, except somehow the smoke alarm goes off. Because of said popcorn popper whirring away in the basement. And wakes said sleeping babe. So had we but stayed upstairs in the kitchen to pop our corn, the baby might have continued to sleep. How ironic, yes? We thought so.

a new year and a (still) big boy

Happy New Year! One of the first things I said on New Year's Eve, after kissing Jason and sipping from the champagne was, "It's not the year Gavin was born anymore!" It was a sad thought, and I'm not sure I can even explain exactly why it is sad. I console myself with the thought that this is the year my baby turns one. Wait, that is hardly a consolation, is it?

So we spent New Year's Eve with our friends Dylan and Susan, who threw a lovely dinner party. We had a great time there, with mountains of good food, and lots of good people around us. They even had someone there to watch all the kids. She was such a nice person, and so good with the kids. Gavin was good about being down in the family room with her, and only needed mommy a couple of times.

Saturday afternoon Shannon & Company came over for games and our traditional New Year's Day feast of knockwurst, bratwurst, sauerkraut and black eyed peas. We actually managed to get in three games (Settlers of Catan, Phase 10, and.. um, shoot, now I can't remember the third), which is an unheard of feat with all the kids. I think it helps that the boys are old enough to entertain themselves for long periods of time, plus Fiona is a a great help and plays with the boys so well.

Yesterday Jason woke up with a bit of a stomach flu, so we hung out at home all day and nursed him back to health. He's doing better now, and so far **crossing fingers ** I haven't come down with it. Unfortunately, although Gavin had a great night last night, Jason was tossy and turny so we didn't get much sleep anyway. Yet another corollary to that pesky Third Law, methinks.

Lastly, Gavin had his nine month well baby checkup today. We saw a different pediatrician today, because our regular one was all booked for this week. It turns out I like the new guy better anyway, so it was a blessing in disguise not being able to get an appointment with the old doctor. I have decided to switch and see this new doctor from now on. Our previous pediatrician was a nice enough guy, who I wasn't unhappy with, but the one we saw today is more outgoing, very gentle, asked a ton of questions. Plus, he is vocally supportive of breastfeeding - and not just breastfeeding, but extended breastfeeding - cosleeping, and he didn't push us to increase his solids at all (wasn't concerned that Gavin is still mostly nursing). He did suggest letting Gavin cry if we wanted to teach him to fall asleep on his own, but it was just a suggestion. He didn't by any means demand we do it, or even suggest it was a bad thing that Gavin couldn't fall asleep on his own, so I am not counting that as a black mark against him. A point of caution, perhaps, but not a black mark.

Gavin's stats: 23 lbs 2 oz (90%), 28.5" (45%), and 18.5" head circ (85%). I have been assuming Gavin hadn't gained much in the past three months, because with all his crawling/cruising, he has slimmed up so much, but it turns out he still put on 2 pounds, even with all the exercise he's gotten. I was surprised when he weighed so much today.