Little Things

Most of our blogs are about trips we've taken or the big things we've been up to, but sometimes I forget how special all the little daily things are.  Especially with a little one running around - who seems to be changing and learning new things each day - I thought I should remember to post about some of the new discoveries Gavin is making.

• Gavin is becoming a pro at all the animal noises, and now also points animals out in movies, books, or on his pjs!  If you ask Gavin, "What does a _____ say?" he knows the answer to all these animals: pig, horsey, cow, bird, puppy, kitty, sheep, donkey, fishy (fish lips), hyena, elephant (puts his hand up as a trunk while making noise), owl, froggy, bee, snake, flamingo (flaps his arms), monkey, wolf, tiger, dinosaur, Santa, & pirate (so the last two aren't animal noises, but he knows what they say as well).  And I'm sure there's some more I'm missing.  This morning Gavin woke up and saw that the  door on DVD cabinet was open so he ran over, and started pointing at one saying, "Antint! Antint!"  I guess this means elephant, and right now we are watching his Baby Noah DVD making all the animal noises and naming the animals.

• Gavin's pretty much got "Please?" down when he asks for something, although his initial reaction alot of the time is still to scream when he wants something.  He's getting better, and knows that if he screams when he wants something, even if he's screaming 'please' the answer is going to be no until he can ask without screaming.  But it is pretty cute hearing Gavin's, "pleeeease" for everything!

• We've also been working on sharing lately.  Gavin's got the word down, but we're still working on the concept!  He thought that going up to other kids at playgroup, yelling "share!", and taking the toy away from them meant that he was sharing.  So Gavin is practicing how to share things with Mommy and Daddy, and how to ask Mommy and Daddy to share things with him.  But sometimes he can be a little bossy, and will tell us "away", when he's done sharing.

• We're not officially potty training yet, but the past few weeks Gavin has been obsessed with the potty, and since he usually HATES getting his diaper put on, he's spent a few days diaperless, and has even gone pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty a few times!  His favourite part is flushing, waving bye-bye, and giving us a high-five.

• It makes me a little sad, because I realize that Gavin's starting to grow up, but it's so cute to peek in on Gavin when he's playing by himself.  I love watching his little imagination develop!  Just today I was doing some sewing while Gavin played with some fabric scraps under the table.  I then heard, "Eat! Eat!", followed by sipping noises.  I looked under the table, and found Gavin laying on his back holding his turtle in one hand, and his sippy cup in the other, pretending to make turtle drink his milk.  He must have gotten this from our new fish we bought.  It's Gavin's job to help us feed Fishy every day.  He drops the fish food in, and says, "Eat Fishy! Eat!"  Gavin will also make his stuffed animals do the actions when we sing songs, or have a pretend conversation on the hello (phone).

• Having a little one around is humbling.  Gavin picks up on everything - good or bad - and makes me more conscious of what I say and do.  I'll admit I tend to get frustrated with drivers when they take too long to turn....so a while a go I was pulling out of the grocery store, at the exit that clearly says "no left turns", and ended up wedged between a guy trying to turn left out of the parking lot, and another car behind me.  I was stuck, waiting for the car in front to make his illegal left hand turn, when I was in a hurry to get home.  I yelled at him to Go! and next thing I know Gavin is yelling from the back seat, "Go! Go! Gooo!" in the same frustrated voice.  (oops!).  But Gavin also helps us be better at saying our family prayers each night, and at meal time.  It's cute to watch him peek up at us, arms folded, sneak a bite of food, and quickly fold his arms again during prayers.

• The other day Gavin and I were sitting outside on the steps and he started noticing all the bungs (bugs) crawling around.  The next while was spent blowing kisses, waving, and cheering when they flew (fy) away.

• One of Gavin's favourite games is a combination of peek-a-boo and hide and seek.  Now that he can open doors, he'll shut one, knowing we're waiting on the other side to scare him when he opens it.  Sometimes we'll hide around a different corner, so when he opens the door and finds we're not there he has to comes searching for us.  One of Gavin's common phrases is, "where it go?" (meaning where'd it/he/she/me go?)  When we're playing peek-a-boo under his blanket he'll cover himself up, say "where it go?" pull the blanket off and shout, "ere is" (there it/he/she/me is).  He also does this when hiding toys, and covering us up with his blanket - pronounced bankek!sd

I know this is a long post, with no pictures, but I want to make sure to record all the little things that Gavin does!  He changes so quickly, and I don't want to forget any of the adorable things that I love about him.  So hopefully I'll be better at posting about the little day to day things.