Wednesday, June 22, 2011: Both sides

Gavin hugs himself. He hugs other people, too -- and stuffed animals, for that matter. But he's got this hugging thing down so well that he'll even say, "Gavin hug," and wrap his little arms around himself. His hugging technique is quite good, too. He hugs you and then says, "Other side," and moves his head to the other side of your head so that both sides of you are good and hugged.

Sorting. Gavin's all about sorting things by color and other like-features. He's got this little cart full of blocks and he painstakingly takes the blocks out and forms long rows of all red or all yellow blocks on the floor in his room. Or he'll choose two colors and put the blocks in the little cart careful to separate the two. At his end of the year daycare party one of the women from the toddler room (Gavin was in the infant room but would hang out in the toddler room when there was room for him since he is technically a toddler. He will be in the toddler room officially in the fall) made a point to tell us about Gavin's propensity for sorting and she said it like it was a big deal. Like she was impressed because of how advanced he was. I like to think that Gavin is probably going to win the Nobel Prize for Sorting one of these days. One of the other day care teachers also remarked about how smart Gavin is while we were at the party. I know that at this stage of the game kids are all developing at different rates and some things come earlier than others. But I also like to think that Gavin is really exceptional. Because, you know, he is. I know I'm biased because you can't really trust anyone who is madly in love, but I'm hip to the fact that my kid's no dummy. And so handsome to boot! Stacy says I tell Gavin he is handsome (or some variation) too often. "I don't want him to think that's the only thing we value him for." She actually said that to me. I really don't think that's going to be his perception. It's not like we're neglecting to teach him how to read and stuff. But I am exceptionally shallow, so I can understand where her concern comes from.

Gavin's going to be two in less than one month now. Holy shit.

We're getting our kitchen redone so we've been eating at a lot of restaurants. I think I've mentioned how thankful I am that Gavin is really good when we go out to eat. Here he is the other day sitting proudly in a booth at Panera. That's his Grandma Kathy next to him. Or her arm, at least. I mean, all of her was there, but only her arm made it into this photo. No weird dismemberment stuff going on here. He at mac and cheese and he ate all of it. My mom says she thinks he has hollow legs. He does eat a lot. Some times I worry we're over feeding him and dooming him to a life of obesity, but I realize this isn't rational. He might be going through a growth spurt right now because he's sleeping a bit more than usual and, well, he just seems bigger. Stacy put him on the scale at my mom's and she claims he's still 30 lbs. I think he's more than that now. I don't know how accurate the scale is. After all, it's in the shape of a giant blue plastic fish. Not exactly doctor's office quality. This photo was taken with my cell phone so the quality isn't great, but you still get an idea for how big this kid is. You can also see how beautifully curly his hair is. And Stacy wonders why I tell him he's beautiful all the time. It's just because I'm thinking out loud. I know she thinks it, too.

Stacy signed Gavin up for Spanish classes this summer. The two of them went to a sample class and she was all about it. So now he's going to join the Bright Loritos. Specifically he'll be a Parakeet. I hope he likes it. I didn't get to go to the sample class because our cabinets arrived at the same moment they needed to leave. So I got to stay home and lug stuff out of the garage to make room for giant boxes instead.

Gavin calls the guy who's doing our kitchen "John. Man." You ask, "Who tore up our kitchen?" and he says, "John. Man." When he came home from his last day of daycare there was nothing left in the kitchen and when he saw it he said, "Happened?" And he quickly assumed a man had done it. He's now totally unfazed by the whole kitchen thing. He likes to watch John work and is curious, but he doesn't seem to think it's especially strange that we wash dishes in the bath tub now and go to a lot of restaurants. He's a pretty adaptable kid. We're lucky like that.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011: Sentence level

Full sentences. Short ones, mind you, but full sentences. The other day while he was in bed with Stacy and I nursing (yes, he's still nursing. Twice a day for the most part, before bed and in the morning. It occurs to me that some folks might think this is weird. I can recall many a person saying that it's time to stop nursing once the child can ask for it because that's creepy. And I would have been inclined to agree before I had my own kid. But it's not creepy. So there) I started to get out of bed and said, "I have to pee" (I'm very classy) and he repeated it, clear as can be. He just talks so much now. I can't even begin to list all of the words he knows now, both in Spanish and English.

Speaking of which, last night we went out to eat at an Indian restaurant (Gavin is super well behaved at restaurants, by the way. Very patient and quiet) and when the waiter brought Gavin his high chair I told Gavin to say thank you and Gavin said, "Gracias" and the waiter looked at me and said, "He's Mexican?" Uh, yes. Totally Mexican. We found him on Craigslist.

I reported a little while ago that Gavin had peed in his little potty chair. Update: no more waste of any kind has been expelled into said potty. When he's naked he often says he wants to sit on it to pee, but that lasts all of two seconds and he's off running bare ass down the hallway.

A lot of thumb sucking advice from strangers the older Gavin gets. I may have already mentioned this, but several times now people I hardly know (the lady at the pharmacy) to people I know not at all (a.k.a. strangers) have taken it upon themselves to educate/inform/reassure me about Gavin's thumb sucking when they see him doing it. Thanks, everybody! I really appreciate your concern, not to mention the veiled insinuation that I'm either clueless or a bad mom. I know a thing or two about thumb sucking. I sucked my thumb until I was 30. Actually, that's not true. And not funny. I would be really said if Gavin was an adult thumb sucker because that's a little weird. But I did suck my thumb until before Kindergarten (approximately. I wasn't exactly keeping my LiveJournal updated back then) and I turned out (arguably) okay. So sure, maybe we'll want to discourage it at some point, but I think it's a little too early to be worrying about this.

Gavin is going to be two next month. It's pretty amazing that he is both already two and only two. Apparently I am not the only person surprised by this as my dad thought he was turning 3. "He just...well...looks fucking bigger!" he wrote in an email. "But a cute vato nonetheless." See? I told you Gavin was Mexican.

Back in December I mentioned that Gavin attended a birthday party at Pump It Up and how much fun he had there. Stacy and I have been mulling over having his 2nd birthday party there ever since. Yesterday I finally sealed the deal and booked my boy a party at "the Inflatable Party Place." The cost of the party is around $200 which isn't an astronomical amount, but I can't help but be very cognizant of the fact that $200 IS a lot of money for kids who don't have things like, oh, food. Last year we suggested people make a donation to the North American Bear Center and NABC received a minimum of $125 in donations (not everyone who donated told us they did). Not bad work for a one-year-old. So this year we're thinking of what organization or charity to suggest for folks who want to donate in honor of Gavin (mind you, we're not asking for donations in lieu of gifts because I've found that this makes some people angry -- ahem, Lisa -- because they feel it takes all of the fun out of things. And I totally see that point. But it is also totally fine with us if the donation IS the gift. Gavin's just a really fortunate kid and if his birthday can do a little good in the world then amen). Stacy said we should think of something that Gavin would choose if he could. Right now he's obsessed with garbage and garbage trucks, firetrucks, and construction vehicles. Feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments.