Today is Gavin's 2nd birthday. I honestly cannot believe he is 2-years-old!!
Some friends of ours were going to throw this Power Wheels out because it didn't work. Ryan worked on it one afternoon and bought some new parts to fix it. This has been hiding in Ryan's shed waiting for today...
To say that Gavin is a fan may be an understatement.
He was ecstatic!
We didn't show it to him until after dinner and after the rain stopped, so it was almost completely dark outside. That didn't stop him!!
Here's a video to show this boy's driving skills (and his very paranoid Mom)!
(Oh sad, I just watched it on the blog and you can't see the end on the youtube video like you can see on our video at home. But you can still hear this boy laugh in excitement!)
Last week, the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team rebuilt a house in Chattanooga for a little boy with Brittle Bone Disease. As into construction as Gavin is, Mom suggested we come down to see it! Of course we had to go!
They had the road blocked off, so we had to park at Lake Winnepesaukah and take a shuttle to get there. This is in a neighborhood with 1,000 sq ft houses and they built a 3,000 sq ft house (I think). You can see it sticking up above all the rest of the roofs:
I have Gavin a construction hat for his upcoming birthday party, so he of course had to dress the part!
We got to see them film a short 30 second take for the show. Eduardo just jumped in, talked for the camera, and jumped back out while the other workers kept working. So much for reality TV--guess they don't really help as much as it looks like they do!
There was a Bobcat that Gavin enjoyed watching go back and forth with gravel:
But the rest of the time, he played with his tool set that Nani brought.
Fitting for a little construction worker, don't you think?
A lady that works for Vision Homes that helped build the house came by and snapped a picture of Gavin. It would be fun if he got in the newspaper!
I think it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I'm glad we went!
Too much going on at the end of December to do a recap, so I'm combining December and January recaps here. Prepare yourself...
I have started letting Gavin help me cook a lot lately. He LOVES it. We pull a chair up next to the counter and he usually has his own bowl to mix something. Most of the time my little helper ends up being not-too-helpful and we get this...
But he loves it and messes can be cleaned up!
This boy consistently only has 1 sock on. Every single day, without fail, one sock on, one sock off. Ryan and I call him "The One Sock Bandit."
One of Gavin's favorite things about having a little sister is being able to name body parts on her:
No post would be complete without Gavin's best buddy Braden who we see at least once a week (if we're all well, that is!).
Dress up in December:
These are from Elizabeth that I think are so cute I had to post:
My absolute favorite! Looking for a truck I think:
When we took the kids to the mall to sit on Santa's lap, we finally let Gavin ride this thing. Are we mean parents or what for holding out on this guy for so long!?
This Winter, we've had snow, snow, and more snow. And we have loved it!
Gavin is a big help after we build fires to clean up the ash:
...and pour it on the floor and all over his clothes...
We have been having family worship time when Ryan gets home from work. Ryan usually plays guitar while Gavin and I dance around the coffee table and sing. I have to get a video of it someday because it is quite entertaining!
We have officially ditched the baby bathtub. It's just so much easier to give these 2 a bath at the same time! And Gavin loves helping me with Henley:
For B Week a couple weeks ago, Gavin had his first bubble bath. Really!? How have we never given this boy a bubble bath!?!? He was a fan.
Gavin has a favorite towel that is a fireman hooded towl. He wears it like it's a cape and it's so fun!
HUGE NEWS!!! On December 31, Gavin pooped in the potty for the first time! He is not consistent at all, but we are using the potty on a regular basis. A lot more of a regular basis when he remembers he gets a Red Hot (his favorite treat) as a reward!
I think I would like to pause time with Gavin right now. We are enjoying him sooo much at this age.
(And notice...The One Sock Bandit strikes again!)
We've taken a few field trips so we're not stuck inside all day every day during these cold days. We went to the open play time at Gym Bugs with London, Phoebe, and Haylee:
And sweet Henley Jane did what she always does on our adventures...
Speaking of Henley, she is such a joy and growing up so fast!! So much faster than I remember with Gavin and I want it to slow down! She's already able to do her exersaucer (she practiced here with Hudson's)
Of course we had to have some time with her buddy Rev:
And Tummy Time to work on our neck muscles!
Henley has flipped over one time and I MISSED IT!!! I was cooking dinner and came back in the room and she was on her belly. She prefers to be on her back so much more than her belly! Maybe that's why she hasn't attempted it anymore.
Henley loves loves loves her brother and he loves loves loves her. They are so sweet together. He asked to lay down next to her one morning when he woke up:
Can you tell these 2 are siblings or what?
Henley is one growing girl!! Here's her 4 month stats:
Weight: 16 lb 1 oz: 97%!!! Wowsers.
Height: 25 3/4 in: 90% I hope she's taller than me!!
I don't even want to say it that Gavin will be TWO at the end of this month!! Wow, how time has flown.
I say often that I have a suppressed kindergarten teacher inside of me dying to get out. I loved loved loved teaching kindergarten for 5 years, and I really do miss it. But I can't imagine going back to work and not staying home with my kiddos right now. So when my buddy Elizabeth said she was going to do a letter a week with Braden, Gavin and I of course said we wanted to join her!
I sure have loved all the students I've had over the years, but I think this little guy might be my favorite! :)
Since Gavin is not even 2, I didn't want to do a ton of things that would be over his head, so I came up with a fun schedule to give us structure that I think is age-appropriate for him. My schedule looks like this (and is subject to change on a weekly basis!)...
Scripture Sunday
Music Monday
Tasty Treat Tuesday
Working Wednesday
Thinking Thursday
Field Trip Friday
Cinema Saturday
And let me say that I am a teacher, therefore most of what I'm coming up with is completely copied! These are my favorite websites right now:
The kitchen table is our work space for most of these activities--he loves it!
This boy loves to color! Twistables are my favorite (and were a requirement in my classroom) because they're always sharp and don't break!
Finished product:
Thinking Thursday
Math skill to go along with the letter.
We sorted different colored apples. Gavin is getting this sorting thing down!! He wanted to line them up after he sorted them. He's a bit particular about lining things up these days!
He was so proud of himself!
(And I do in fact put clothes on my son, we were just waiting on Henley to wake up for bathtime!)
Field Trip Friday
Fun adventure that starts with the letter.
This technically wasn't on A week because I got sick, but we had plans to go to the Zoo to see the Animals! We postponed it a week and Ryan was able to go with us!
Sweet Henley always along for the ride and happy as can be!
I think Gavin likes the Zoo more with his Dad there!
I think we need to go back for M week for these crazy monkeys. The Gibbons are probably my favorite at the whole Zoo, but they were CRAZY Saturday! A lady started talking to one of them and he kept talking--for literally 30 more minutes. We heard him as we walked all around the rest of the zoo still yelling:
Gavin loved the petting zoo! I guess it helps that we have an 80 lb Boxer, so he wasn't afraid of the animals at all!
And onto the main event...the Alligator!
Cinema Saturday
I love having family movie time, so I would love to find a family movie to go along with each letter. This week, it was Aladdin! I remembered so many songs from when I watched it when I was little that it was so fun to watch it again!
After we did a full week of A, we were at my friend Kim's house with an "A" magnet on her fridge and Gavin walked up and said, "A!"
HOLY COW!!! I freaked out. This is a horribly blurry video, but I had to document my little genius:
But don't be fooled, he now thinks EVERY letter is an A. It's pretty funny actually. We were outside this afternoon playing and he saw letters on his basketball goal and said, "A!!" No, buddy, "Little Tikes" does not have an A in it. But hey, he is recognizing letters which is progress! So maybe all letters will be A for a little while. :) But we're having so much fun and I'm having so much fun teaching again!
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