Cowboy Gavin...YEE-HAW!

Toy Story has long been a favorite of Gavin's, so when it came time to choose a Halloween costume, it was pretty simple...Woody or Buzz?

Gavin seems to "get" that he has boots, hat, shirt, and vest like Woody, but he insists he isn't Woody, he's Cowboy Gavin.

After being bribed with a Tootsie-Pop, Gavin conceded to wearing his entire costume for a couple pictures at school. He wasn't so cooperative at home, though.

Heading out to trick-or-treat...

This was Gavin's first trick-or-treat, and it didn't take long for him to get the hang of it. At the first house, he darted inside to see Poochie, the dachshaud, and was very confused about the candy and why was he supposed to put it in the bucket? At the second house, he tried to give them the candy that he received at the first house. By house number three, he had it down, and was ready to go! Especially excited was seeing his friend, Buzz Lightyear, also trick-or-treating.

Here he is back at home, checking out the loot!

City Boy

Last Friday, we left Huntsville for a weekend trip to Washington D.C. It's funny how the mind of a 2 year old works. As soon as he heard he was going on an airplane, Gavin started talking about cookies. Good thing we were flying Delta! Anyway, the reason for our trip me running the Marine Corps Marathon, unfortunately I don't have many pictures, but it was so full of firsts for my little man (and for me!) that I wanted to share.



Gavin couldn't have been more excited, and with his usual, "I do it self" mentality, he handed the gate agent his ticket and went charging down the jet way, waving and yelling "adios, adios!" Definitely, the highlight of his trip was the transportation. Taxi cabs, metro, the hotel shuttle...all very exciting. And to top it off - the escalators!



When we arrived at our room, he immediately announced that it was our new "house," and he started looking for things to climb.

Jumping ahead to Sunday, here are a few race photos - courtesy of Marathonfoto, as Chuck and Gavin slept through most of the race.

The weather was perfect, I arrived at the start line completely healthy and injury free, and between the fall colors and many of our nation's greatest monuments the course was absolutely beautiful. I could not have asked for a better experience. I finished in 4:19:27, which was a little disappointing - my "A" goal was sub-4. I don't really know why (this never happend in training), but I started struggling with cramps/stomach issues early on and it never totally went away. It's not that I am disappointed in my time, because it was definitely the best I could do that day, but more that I was disappointed that I felt uncomfortable and didn't enjoy it more. It was a great race, though, and definitely one I'd consider doing again.

So, we aquired a new addition to our family on this trip... We stopped in a toy store in Old Town Alexandria and Gavin selected this monster from Where the Wild Things Are. I asked him what he wanted to name the monster, and he replied "Monster Hardt." That night, Gavin made Monster his own bed, gave him a hug and kiss "night-night" and tucked him in. Here they are sleeping together:

Tate Farms

Hi Everyone! I know...it's been a LONG time. I can't tell you how many notable events I failed to post - or even photograph this summer - but I figure it's never too late to start. What sparked me to get started with this blog again was Gavin in the news. He was featured in an article about his language school, Global Lingua Institute, where he attends bilingual baby Spanish and German classes...but more about that in a future post... Today, I wanted to share our afternoon at Tate Farms, where we went to pick out pumpkins. As usual, I don't have much time to type, so here are the photos with captions.

Petting zoo!

Lots of slides...

Jumping into hay. We didn't get a good shot of Gavin in the air, so here it is in three parts:

Part 1, "ready, set, ..."

"GO!"

Part 2, the landing...

Part 3, covered in hay. "C'mon Momma!"

Plenty of "tecs" to drive.

Some rides for the little ones...

and the not so little ones!

Entering the hay-bale maze. (He never got past the corragated pipe).

Yay, Thomas!


Playing in a large bin of dried corn kernels.

Antique fire truck. Hmmm, this one looks dangerous...

Another "tec" to climb...

and drive!


So much excitement, Gavin wet his pants! And so ended our day at the pumpkin patch, with one of Gavin's newest favorite phrases, "Go again!" (That ranks #2, next to "I do it self.")

Strawberry Season

One of my favorite things about springtime is all the fresh seasonal produce, and strawberry picking at Brown's Farm has become a weekly trip for us!




Gavin is fascinated with farm equipment, so it took a few minutes to get him away from the tractors (or "tecs" in Gavin-speak), but when he finally saw the strawberry patch, he knew exactly what to do!

The first few berries did get put in the basket, but soon after he abandoned it and when straight to eating off the bush!

We're also looking forward to our first order from our local farmers at The Clean Food Network!

Sneak Preview

Wow, I just logged in for the first time...in a while...and realized that I haven't posted anything since February! So, what happened to March??? Well, part of the reason is that we've been very busy, part of the reason is because I can't take pictures and keep Gavin out of trouble (the kid is fast!) at the same time, and part of it is that I'm just lazy. So, I'll try to at least post a link to his Easter photos, but in the mean time I think I better just start with the new stuff, or I'll never get anywhere...

It's been two months since Gavin started swimming lessons through Infant Swimming Resource, and today was his last day.

Swimming has been a really wonderful experience in many ways. Of course, Gavin has learned survival skills which was the objective of the lessons, but we've had other unexpected benefits as well. For one thing, it taught me that I could be ready to leave the house at 7:30 everyday, that I actually liked it, and that we immediately managed to fill those extra hours of the day. Also, Gavin loved the physical activity and he gained so much confidence! I believe that it has helped with his coordination in other activities, too.

So, while I'm waiting on the "official" video and photos - including underwater and fully clothed - here's a sneak peek of Gavin showing off his skills. I didn't get much today because he was in a strange mood. For some unknown reason, he didn't want to get in the water and he cried and complained for most of his lesson. Maybe he knew it was the last day...

For those of you with young children, this program is amazing, and I highly recommend it! Infants 6-12 months are taught to rollback and float, and over 12 months are taught a swim-float-swim sequence. By the completion of the lessons, the child can perform this sequence fully clothed and without any cues until they find an exit from the body of water. Really amazing stuff!

Stuck at Home

Well, Gavin's first cold was a nasty one, and it kept us at home for 2 weeks!!! The first week was because he was sick, and the second because I was sick.

Feeling a bit under the weather didn't slow him down much when in came to getting into things. The little guy has mastered zippers. Here's what happens when he gets into Mommy's purse:




He did spend a little down time watching t.v. I even let him eat his carrot-apple muffins (made from juicer pulp!) on the couch.

His appetite stayed strong despite the cold, but we've entered a new phase of eating. He's gotten over the squishing-food-in-fingers phase, the throwing/flinging-food-on-a-spoon phase, and now is into the stacking/lining-up/organizing phase. He does eat the food, but only after he's done building towers, or whatever structure suits his fancy that day. This particular night, it was stacking grape tomatoes on Gavin's head night.

Here's the procedure: 1. Balance tomato on head, 2. Clap and praise himself, 3. Tilt head forward so tomato falls off, 4. Eat tomato, 5. Repeat

The bad table manners continue... Apparently food just tastes better if you are sitting or standing on the table.

And a few sweeter shots!

With a rose from Valentine's Day...

Just goofing around. Can you believe all those teeth! There are actual eight teeth coming in, include four molars, in various stages!!!

And some more quiet time, reading. Gavin's really quite a bookworm. He reads to himself when I'm getting ready in the morning, he reads with me several times a day, before bedtime, and the youth exercise supervisors at the gym tell me that he brings them books and they often spend an hour reading!

So that was our last two weeks, with the exception of a snot-filled trip to the nature preserve where we hunted golf balls. I'm really sorry I didn't have my camera for that one because Gavin was just so cute! And, I figure he got some good practice in for Easter egg hunting!

By the second week at home, Gavin was as stir-crazy as Mommy. He would bring me his shoes, and then take me over to the door, begging to go somewhere. Thank goodness we are finally better and ready to get out!