A Big Day for Gavin

This week, on Wednesday, Gavin had a BIG day. It was such a momentus day, I kept him up a half hour past bedtime so that he could show off his new talents to his Papa after he came home from youth group.

Here is what Gavin added to his repetoire on Wednesday:

1. Sitting Up-- Yes. He is sitting up. I decided earlier in the day to prop him up and see what happened. He fell backwards pretty quickly, but with each try, he was able to stay up longer and longer. By the end of the day, he was holding his hands out at his side to balance himself, sitting for long periods, and even leaning forward to reach for toys. The falling backwards still happens occasionally when he gets excited, but it won't be long before we can rid ourselves of the safety pillows behind him.

2. New Sounds-- I was in the other room when I first heard Gavin's new sound and thought he was choking or gasping for air. Turns out he had learned that if he sucked in his breath he could make a different sort of screeching sound (which still sounds like gasping to me). He finds many ways to incorporate this new sound into his conversations.

Here is a video of these first two new skills...


3. Arms extended/butt up-- This is what I would consider the "crawling position" and Gavin has begun practicing doing his baby push up and getting his bum up in the air. It's a bit before he crawls, but he's getting the idea. I'm more convinced than ever that Gavin will mostly skip the rolling and go straight to crawling.

4. Laughter has been unleashed!-- We don't have a video of this yet, but Gavin is finally laughing-- more than a few giggles at a time. I discovered this when I was holding him on my hip and let his body hang backwards a bit. He had to work hard to hold himself up and for some reason found this as the occasion to finally laugh. Since then, we've found other ways to make him laugh and now have laughing sessions as we tickle or gobble him up. This is where the real fun is. We knew he would be the laughing type-- his laughing gene just had to be unlocked.

Gavin's Half Birthday

Last Friday (Friday the 13th) we celebrated Gavin's 6 month birthday. Half a year. Wow. Wow. I mean, he's so old. So grown up. It's amazing to think how much he has changed and developed over the last six months. What a miracle to watch God's design unfold.

Strike a pose!
Just before he tipped over and was rescued from nearly falling off of the chair. Sitting not quite mastered yet.

We commemorated his six month birthday with a photo shoot (of course) and then his first meal of rice cereal. It wasn't quite what I'd call a meal, but it was definitely an experience. For as much as Gavin has been interested in our eating, he's not quite sure what to do with the runny, not quite breastmilk stuff that is offered to him on a spoon. He welcomed it with joy and interest, even helping with the spoon at times, but most of it came right back out, dribbling down his chin. He needs some time to develop the right tongue movements and then we'll be off and running.

Have we mentioned that this is a fun age?! Tony and I are both having so much fun, I'm not sure I'm ready for a mobile child and the house is certainly not baby-proofed yet. Gotta go, there is work to be done and preparations to be made.

Playing Catch(-up)

The last month has flown by, and as you may have noticed, I have not blogged at all. I did "write" several blog entries in my head, but never did make it to the computer to share them with you. In fact, just last week I downloaded a month's worth of pictures from my camera. I was a little behind.

It almost seems silly to play catch-up now, but since this blog serves as a journal for us of Gavin's first year (and in the off chance you may want to know what you've missed the last four weeks), I will do a quick update before chronicling Gavin's 6 month birthday and the latest news.

One of Gavin's new skills and activities this last month was playing catch. Yes, catch. We'd set him up in a reclined position and without much coaching he learned to move his arms inward to trap the ball. And, if that didn't work, he often stopped the ball with this feet. He would even do some fancy footwork to raise his feet in an effort to bring the ball up to his hands. Seemed like a pretty amazing skill to us, but maybe it's normal. We won't be surprised though if these are early signs that we'll have a soccer all star in the future. We now play a modified version of this game as he loses interest in the reclined position and wants to sit up (but is not quite sturdy enough to catch and sit).

Other than that, the big theme between 5 and 6 months seemed to be "almost."

Almost... sitting up. For most of the month he's enjoyed sitting on our laps or nestled in the boppy pillow on the floor, but hadn't quite mastered sitting on his own. One of the fun new skills that came along with almost sitting-- bouncing. The joy is contagious when he bounces up and down on your lap, arms raising up and down. Don't forget the sound effects.

Almost... giggling. Gavin is no question a happy baby, but for some reason we still have not been entertaining enough for a full giggle. He'll string a few laughs together, but we're still waiting for the unabandoned belly laugh.

Almost... ready for solid foods. It has been obvious for a bit now that Gavin is completely enamored with my coffee cup. He loves watching it raise and lower and will turn and twist his body to get a glimpse of it on the floor. That and some other clues have had us preparing for his first "meal" on his 6 month birthday. I considered feeding him rice cereal in one of our coffee mugs but then had a moment of parent foresight-- Gavin grabbing my full, hot coffee mug thinking it was his food-- so I decided to go with glass bowls instead.

Hi-Chair "Practice"

Do you think he needs more to eat?

Almost... on the move. These days we savor the fact that we can set Gavin down to lay on the floor and when we come back, he is still there. However, he is growing his moving skills and reminding us that it won't be long before he is one the move. On his back, he's learned how to arch and will rotate 180 degrees. On his tummy, he first figured out how to lift his legs and push, burrowing his head and eventually moving forward. Now he's figured out that he can move a bit while in the push up position. But, since his legs don't work in tandem with his arms, when his arms are in control he scoots backwards. This can be a bit frustrating, especially when there is a toy or other target out in front.
Almost forgot to mention that Gavin and I survived our first week without Tony (he was in San Diego at a Pastor's conference). He was definitely missed, but I'd say we fared pretty well. And it was pretty cute to see Gavin smile when we said Good Night and Good Morning to Tony's photo on the wall. He's also been interested in the phone lately and even responded to hearing Tony's voice mail message on speakerphone.
It's been quite a fun month. I wish I could just bottle everything up-- all of the excitement, joy, new discoveries, emotions, sounds --to open up at a later date. But alas, Gavin keeps growing and changing and reminding us what a gift he is and to savor each moment.