First Bike!

Gabriel's birthday present from us was his first big kid bike.

This video is from the first day he got it. He had taken a small tumble earlier, thus the bandages on his knees. Luckily, they didn't deter him much at all.  Every time he rides he shows more control and less fear. :) He does donuts in the living room. (Let's not talk about that.)

Four Year Well Check

At G's 4 year well-check appointment, he was:

weight: 42 pounds 8 ounces (88%)
height: 42 inches (85%)
BMI: 16.93 (85%)

He totally rocked the vaccine part. He didn't even know it was over yet when the nurse told him what kind of band-aid she was putting on. 

He had a good deal of anxiety about getting shots, though, so we had already arranged a donut prize for after his appointment. Can't go wrong with sprinkles. 

Pearly Whites

Gabriel had his first visit to the dentist this morning. We saw Dr. Singleton at Groovy Molar. The goody bag was groovy. :)

We told Gabriel last night while he was brushing his teeth before bedtime that he would be going to the dentist so the dentist could look at all his teeth. He told us no.

As we got ready for school, I told him again that we were going to go to the dentist and then I would take him to school. He said he wanted to go to school first.

When we got closer to the dentist's office, he told me the dentist needed to look at my teeth first.
I could tell he was feeling a bit anxious about the idea, so I wasn't sure how well the whole visit was going to go.

However, once we got there, he opened big and wide for the assistant and the doctor and he didn't fuss AT ALL. I mean, not even a little bit. He was completely happy and completely cooperative.

And the very best part is that there is no evidence of cavities and no problems related to the fact that he sucks on his finger quite a bit.

Whew!

Good job, little monkey!!

3rd Birthday Party

We held Gabriel's birthday party at The Little Gym of Round Rock this year. He and his friends got to run around and climb and tumble just like they're never allowed to do at home on the couch.

Here's all but two of the guests who came to celebrate with us.

Aunt Jordan made cupcakes for us. A few too many cupcakes. I was expecting parents to eat some, but they didn't.

I tried to continue the grumpy clown tradition of getting a picture of Gabriel with the rainbow wig on. He didn't really want any part of it.

But Will, Ruby, and uncle Matt humored me. :)

*Credit to Matt's family for the pic of him dressed as Bozo.

Big Boy Underpants!

Last weekend, we took the plunge into the land of children who wear underwear instead of diapers when they are awake.

Yes, that's right, we spent the weekend focused on Gabriel learning how to use the potty every time he needs to pee or poop. Saturday (the first day) was a little...wet. We went through a few sets of underwear and pants that day, plus we cleaned up several puddles off the floor. Thankfully all puddles were made downstairs on the hard floors instead of upstairs on the carpet.

Sunday was better. Fewer wet clothes, fewer puddles. I think if we had had a third weekend day to stay home and focus on it he would have totally figured it out. As it was, we went to school on Monday with a big stack of extra clothes for Gabriel's cubby.

I was super surprised to find out that he only had one set of wet clothes from school that day. And that was from when they were playing on the playground. It's pretty hard to remember to go potty when you're playing on the playground.

And Tuesday, he came home in the same pants and underwear that he arrived at school in. O_o
I am so proud of him!!!

I know we may have some accidents still, and that it will take a while to get really comfortable in this new landscape, but potty training....check.

Image courtesy of Target.com :)
You can get your own Thomas underpants if you so choose: Thomas Little Boys' Underwear
(You're going to need a pretty small bottom, though.)

Milestone: language

Gabriel is saying many more words now. Most recently he started saying stuck, hug, and no. Lots of no.

Freckles and Moles

Gabriel has sprouted a brand new freckle/mole. It is a strange thing to know for certain that there was no little brown mark on his leg one day and then find a permanent speck on him the next.

Of course, with the number of freckles and moles on each of his parents, it's no surprise that he would have them, too. But the way they just pop up out of the blue (brown?) is very weird.

I just spent 10 minutes reading about freckles and moles to make sure I categorize the spot correctly. I guess it's really a non-raised mole. And I suppose that's what most of my spots are, too, though I've spent my entire life calling them freckles.

I'm never too old to learn something!

Walking Practice

Gabriel has been practicing walking behind a push cart for a while. He just recently took interest in doing it for more than 3 or 4 steps at a time.


This has sound, but it's just the background television noise. There is nothing important to hear.

Bonham and Dallas

Gabriel, Grammaw, and I went to visit lots of our extended family in July. Our first stop was Bonham where I lived when I was little. Gabriel got to meet his Great Grandmother "Mom" while there. Mom is called Mom by all of her grandchildren. There a story of how the name originated, but at this point, I just like to think of it as a way to honor the matriarch of the family. She's sort of the original Mommy from whom the rest of us received life and love.

Gabriel and Mom
You can see Jim's name embroidered
on the blanket thrown over
the back of the chair.
I like that he is in this picture, too.

While visiting Mom, Gabriel also met my Aunt Beth, my cousin Kelley, and Kelley's daughter Lily. Lily was a big, big help in entertaining and caring for Gabriel while the big people visited.

After our visit in Bonham, we left for the Dallas area. We visited with Grammaw's brother and his wife for a little while. Gabriel was lucky enough to get a few little gifts from them, but the highlight of that visit was climbing the staircase!

So glad we don't have stairs at home.

We had to come back down the stairs in order to make it to the family reunion of all kinds of cousins on Justin's side of Gabriel's family tree. There were too many people there to name, but it was fun to see cousin Easton who is just 9 days older than Gabriel.

I was reminded that trying to sleep with Gabriel in my bed is not a good plan. We tried that for a few hours one early morning while in Hobbs, and I tried it again in Dallas. He was really upset and couldn't get back to sleep in his playpen, so I tried to cuddle with him and get him to settle down next to me. But mostly I got kicked and flopped on while he fussed and cried for about 3 hours each time. He hasn't slept in my bed with me since he was 4 months old, and even then he was on my chest, not next to me. I won't soon try that again.

Gabriel was a very good traveler. We were in and out of the car quite a bit, going to a lot of different places, and sometimes driving for a long time. By the end of this trip, he had pretty much mastered drinking from a straw.

Raised on decaf non-fat mocha fraps with whip
and cherry limeades, all because of straws.

Clapping!

Please oh please ignore my voice. We don't realize how silly we sound when talking to children.

Crawling!

He did it!

Crawling, Day 1

Crawling, Day 2

Crawling, Day 3

It's a whole new world. For baby. For mom and dad. For the cats.

Nine Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are 9. Months. Old. !!!!

I truly thought you were trying to make your mama into a big liar this month. I kept saying you were going to be crawling any day now…any day now…any day now…and you kept getting up on your hands and knees, and rocking back and forth, and reaching for something in front of you, and then sitting back up. Last Friday your dad and I were watching you do this over and over again when I turned to him and said, “I know it will open up a whole new set of problems, but I want him [Gabriel] to crawl SO BAD.” And then within half an hour, you did it.

You finally figured out how to put your little gears into forward…and now you are getting into everything imaginable. Seriously. It’s a whole new world for you now, and you want to put your hands (and your mouth) on all of it.

You’re also working on ‘g’ and ‘k’ sounds when you babble. You’ve had ‘m’ and ‘d’ and ‘n’ and ‘b’ for a little while. You repeat ma-ma-ma, da-da-da, na-na-na, and ba-ba-ba all the time. None of your sounds seem to have meaning yet, but we’re trying to get you to associate mama and dada with your parents.

These developmental milestones are accompanied, unfortunately, by yet another ear infection. You were given your fifth round of antibiotics last week, and when those weren’t cutting it, you got antibiotic shots in your little thighs. We’re calling the ENT on Monday to make an appointment to talk about PE tubes. I hate that you keep getting sick!

I started trying to introduce a few finger foods to you, but you aren’t very keen on the textures right now. I tried some beans, a banana, some peaches, and some pears. You make an ugly face and spit it right back out. I found out today that you like wheat bread a lot, though. So…we’ll start from there.

No new teeth...still just the bottom two. Your hair grows fast, though. You’ve had three haircuts in your short nine months. The most recent one was at a children’s hair cut place. A professional cut! I really should learn to do it myself since after only a week and a half your hair is already starting to grow over your ears. Good grief.

We’ll get official height and weight measurements at your well check this coming week, but I know you’re at least 21 pounds now. You’re wearing 12-month clothes very well and will probably outgrow them sooner than I want you to.

You’re my amazing little boy.

I love you,

mama

Sitting Strong

Gabriel has been able to roll over for a while now. He's been sitting up unassisted for a good while as well. In the past couple of weeks he's been getting better at moving from sitting up to a lying down position. But then he would be stuck on his belly or his back and be stuck. But! In the past week or so he has figured out how to get back into a sitting position from being on his belly! This has led to fewer fits and more enjoyable play times.

I mentioned to Justin last night that we probably ought to lower the mattress in the crib because G was figuring out how to sit up. If he were to sit up in his crib, he might start to pull up and that would lead to the potential for toppling out onto the floor. Then I went to get G out of bed this morning, and there he was sitting up. Better lower that mattress tonight!!

There has been a lack of photo posts lately because our camera is MIA. The search party is lazy, so we'll see what they can turn up.

Update: Here's a picture taken on my phone.

Second Tooth!

A brief exploration of Gabriel's gums turned up a second tooth. The bottom right tooth has cut through. Yay!

Pearly Whites a Comin'

I can feel a little tooth coming in! It's nothing I can take a picture of yet, but it's there. It's the bottom left one, and it's just barely poking out enough for me to feel with a finger. Hee hee!

Breaking News!!

After a few nights of sleep training from mom and dad, Gabriel slept for 9 hours straight on November 30 and for 8 hours straight (plus another 1.5 hours) on December 1. Mom and dad, but mostly mom, is SO thankful!!

New Things Gabriel is Doing

Gabriel is lucky enough to get hand-me-downs from his cousin Will...like this jumperoo. It's the same one he plays in at daycare, so he is a big fan.

He's also experimenting with solids now. We've tried oatmeal and sweet potatoes so far. He's mostly interested and liking them, but he is rather particular about the temperature of his food. When it gets too cool, he makes a face. A quick warming and he's back to liking it again. We have our own little Goldilocks here.

G is a little less like himself in these two pictures because he's been sick. He tested positive for RSV (bronchiolitis) and has an ear infection...so his usual smiley demeanor is a bit compromised. But I'm sure he'll be back to himself soon.