Cheese!

I have no idea how I actually got him to sit down and pose for this picture. Most of our pictures turn out blurry because he is running around so much.

Happy Halloween!

Gavin got to wear his costume to daycare the day before Halloween. He was very excited about it until we got there and everyone else was dressed up. He was not at all interested in staying there, but after awhile he warmed up to it and he was fine.
We took him trick or treating in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood a little bit, but he mostly wanted to hand out candy to the other kids. He was anxiously awaiting the first trick or treaters!

"Wait! Have more!" He wanted to give the trick or treaters more candy when they would start to walk away. He was very generous with the candy!

Children's Discovery Museum

Gavin went to his monthly class at the CDM and after the class he (shocking, I know!) wanted to drive! He loves this tractor and will sit here forever. I have to make him get off for awhile to let other kids have a turn. I don't know, maybe he has a future in truck driving.

Apple Blossom Farm

We went to Apple Blossom Farm and Gavin was mostly interested in driving (of course!). We were able to distract him long enough from that to go down the giant slide, feed some goats with Grandpa and go on a hayrack ride.

Big Boy Bed!!

After Gavin climbed out of his crib last week we immediately made our decision that we could move him to a toddler bed and give his crib to the baby. We let him "help" us put it together and he was ecstatic about the whole thing. He has done fabulous the last 2 nights and at naptime staying in his bed. He has gotten out a couple of times, but when I look on the monitor and notice he isn't in his bed I go in and he has just been standing in the middle of the room or sitting in his rocking chair. All I have to do is put him back in bed and then he doesn't get out again. I was ready to spend hours practicing the Supernanny technique, but we have been extremely lucky!!

Making Faces

Gavin was making all kinds of faces at me after we waved goodbye to dad in the morning. After I grabbed the camera these were the only two I could get, but at least one of them is a nice smiley face. : )

Rainy Days

Since we thought it may never stop raining and it wasn't lightning outside I let Gavin go outside and play in the rain. He had a blast and of course did not want to come back inside.

Shoe Fetish

Gavin loves shoes! He gets very excited when we buy him new shoes, he loves to make everyone put their shoes on and he likes to try everyone else's shoes on himself. He is doing quite well at walking in high heels. : )

Easter!?

I was cleaning closets and Gavin found his Easter basket. I let him play with it so I could finish cleaning his closet and he went crazy!

Learning to drive

Gavin thinks he is ready to learn how to drive. He always wants to get in the car to "drive". This picture was from the children's museum. They have an agricultural floor and this is a tractor he was able to sit in and "drive". He stayed here for a good 30 minutes and then I had to pry him away to take him to a different activity so other kids could drive the tractor. He was not happy at all.

T.P.

Gavin takes instruction very literally, so when I asked him to go get tissue to blow his nose he grabbed the end of the roll and came running out of the bathroom with it! We never have a dull moment with little Gavin. : ) I am trying to teach him how to blow his nose. He holds the tissue up to his nose and blows out of his mouth. I guess I have some work to do!

Favorite Foods

Spaghetti and corn on the cob are two of Gavin's favorite foods right now. He doesn't like to get messy so it is very surprising that he likes spaghetti so well. He will try just about anything we put in front of him (even eggplant!).

Trip to Memphis

Jason and I took a bus trip to Memphis to visit the St. Jude Hospital. The statue above is releasing the doves from Memphis, representing the runners and/or children of St. Jude and there is another statue in Peoria accepting the doves. The second picture is the runners taking off from Memphis. You can see that 2 St. Jude patients were able to lead the pack! We ended the trip with a fabulous dinner at Lambert's (Home of the Throwed Rolls) in Sikeston, MO. This was Jason's meal and yes, it was served in a huge skillet! I should have taken a picture when he was done. He was not able to finish everything, which for those of you who know Jason.....that just doesn't happen. We had a very successful fundraiser at our house in June and also raised a lot of money during our hour of answering the phones on the telethon. The telethon and runs raised $4.7 million, Wow!

A Trip to the Zoo

We thought the African part of the zoo was closer to completion so we took a trip to the zoo. Apparently they have a tiny kangaroo and a couple of zebras. We had a good time anyway though. : ) Gavin's favorite animal was this little cat like thing (I can't remember the official name). He was chasing it around the glass and it started playing games with him. He had a great time!

Lovies

Some children have blankies, bears and binkies. Gavin falls asleep with one ball in each hand and then eventually drops them, but the second he wakes up he picks them up. He started asking for a ball when he would go to bed and I always told him "no, it is time to go to sleep". Finally, I decided maybe if I just give him a ball he will lay down and go to sleep. That is exactly what happened! We do have house rules because the squishy night night balls have been lost before. They must not leave the crib. Sometimes he will hold on to them while we change his first diaper of the day, but he knows as soon as he is done he has to go put them back in the crib.

Gavin and Gwyneth

We went to Chicago last weekend to visit some friends and Gavin got to meet Gwyneth for the first time. Gavin is 10 months older than Gwen so he thought she should sit and listen to him read a book. She had her own plan and you can see by the look on his face he isn't pleased with her. All in all, they had a great time playing together!

Bubble and Ball Blowout

Gavin went to Toddler Time at the museum on Friday. He had a blast playing with the balls and bubbles. I wasn't able to get very many pictures because he needed assistance with most of the activities. They incorporated paint in a lot of the activities.....not a great idea for a 19 month old! After his class we went through the museum and Gavin had a great time. This is the first time I let him do the paint wall. He thought it was pretty cool!

I'm going to be the big brother!!!!!

Yes, Gavin is going to be a big brother! Now everyone knows why I have been so delinquent with blogging. Any free moment I get to myself is spent napping!

Turkey Festival

We went to the Turkey Festival and Gavin played the "Pick a Duck" game. He got enough points to win a small stuffed animal. As you can see, he was thrilled! If only we could keep his expectations so low. : )

18 month photos

Gavin was a big cheese for his 18 month pictures. They turned out really well. We hope he continues to do so well with pictures!

Children's Discovery Museum

Gavin's cousins from VA have been visiting for the last couple of weeks so we took them to the Children's Discovery Museum in Normal. Gavin loves it and the other kids had a great time too! Gavin loves driving, which is a new talent he learned since our last trip to the museum. Not sure how he learned to drive a tractor.....must be all of the yellow blood in our family. We learned he weighs 3 gallons and we won't tell you how many gallons mom weighed. : )

At last.....he is in bed!

After Gavin goes to bed Abbey takes over his chair. It is just her size.

Surgery

Gavin did awesome with his ear tubes. He was so busy playing and watching the nurses that when one of them came to take him to surgery he didn't even cry; he looked at me to make sure it was ok and then he was off. He has not had any problems with them so far and hopefully he will be a very healthy boy now.

A Visit to Great Grandma Sophie

The Janitor

If college doesn't work out it looks like Gavin has an alternative career ahead of him. He is quite the little helper now. Sometimes too much! He loves to throw things in the garbage so anything his level or below is fair game to go in the garbage. Needless to say, the garbage must be checked often because he can be very sneaky.

Ouch!

Gavin is extremely clumsy, but usually gets pretty lucky and doesn't have any major injuries. Last Thursday he didn't get so lucky.....he wiped out in the kitchen and hit the side of his face on a corner. You can see that he has a line all the way down his face. : (

Playing outside!!!!

We finally had a nice day and I was able to take Gavin outside to play with his new water table. He loves being outside so we spent several hours outside this day.

Grocery Shopping

Gavin loves to play with pretend food and pretends like he is cooking all the time. We cleared a cabinet out in the kitchen for him to put his food in. He has his grocery cart completely full of food (and a few other misc. items) as you can see the cabinet is nearly empty. : )

Going Home : (

Papa took Gavin for a walk every morning. This was our last day and Papa and Gavin were able to get one last walk in before we left for the airport.