Gaining Independence through Yogurt

Gabriel has started grabbing the spoon or fork from me to try feeding himself. He's not usually terribly successful when we're eating rice or peas...but this time he tried doing the yogurt by himself. A surprising amount actually made it into his mouth. But as you can see, a good deal was also on his face, arms, hands, and really just everywhere.

At least he cooperates when it's time
to wash hands after dinner.

Swingin'

Daddy hung a swing outside for monkey. Monkey loves it!

Olympics

Gabriel got to see a tiny glimpse of the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics. We had a special shirt for him to wear. And as you can see, he practiced some important moves.

Top left: shot put practice?
Top right: Disgusted with the judges' scores
Bottom left: Looking to coaches for advice
Bottom right: Appealing the scores...(learned that from the gymnasts!)

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.

Catching Up

I have a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to post, so I'm going to play catch-up this week.

Here are some recent photos.

Black beans are the bomb.

Running away with the circus

Already driving

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.

New Mexico

Gabriel racked up a whole set of firsts last week when we went to New Mexico to visit Aunt Lydia's family.

First trip out of state
(I barely caught the New Mexico sign.)

First long car ride
(About 8 hours each way.)

First stay in a hotel
(We had all this plus J's golf clubs, a stroller, a backpack full of toys, and my purse.)
(For a three night trip)

First time to meet cousin Hunter, cousin Easton, and uncle Ryan
(Easton was born 6 days after Gabriel.)

I think it was also his first Wendy's chicken nugget, his first McDonald's chicken nugget, and his first Dairy Queen blizzard, but I didn't get pictures of those.

It was definitely his first trip to a zoo when we visited the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad. I can't be trusted to get the camera out, apparently, but we saw a bald eagle, prairie dogs, a sleeping bobcat, bison, and elk as well as various snakes and native plants. Hunter's favorite part was the "bomb cat." Gabriel's favorite part was the Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers.