Spoons

Gavin is learning the mechanics of feeding himself with a spoon. It's quite the messy challenge. But we must put up with the mess in order for him to learn. He is very insistant on self-feeding with a spoon and doesn't tolerate much help. Here he is eating breakfast over the weekend.

And dinner tonight, black bean stoup -- Happy Cinco De Mayo!

And just a random photo of Monster Baby, heading to attack the camera with socks shoved in his mouth.

Over the past couple of weeks, Gavin has gained four teeth, for a grand total of 11 now! This includes three molars! Boy, those molars are much harder to cut than his other teeth. He's been struggling with the pain and irritation. Though he still maintains his spunky, humorous-self most of the time.

What else is he up to? He's running, does a little skipping/jumping thing, walks backwards (this garnered a a great reaction from mom, so now he thinks it's the funniest thing in the world). He loves to play with his shape sorter, Little People farm animals, ride-on trucks (or should I say stand-on trucks--see previous post), sits a little more patiently for books, and absolutely loves peek-a-boo around the furniture with anyone who will play it. He has a wonderful sense of humor and typically is just smiling away!

His vocabulary is increasing as well. I've blogged previously about some of his words, which he is still saying and perfecting. New additions to the vocabulary include "staa" (star), "dow" (down), "doo" (door), "pen" (open), "oohs" (close), "ba" (ball), "ca" (car), "soo" (shoe), "no" (nose). And he is beginning to understand what the words mean. He will retrieve things when we ask -- "go get your car" and he'll look around and bring us his car. "Go get your socks" and he's bring us his socks.

We've been having some difficulties with naps lately -- he was in a pattern of taking one 3ish hour nap (down from two, hour and half naps). Lately, it's a struggle to get him to nap for an hour. He seems to be experiencing separation anxiety (at least I think). And maybe all of this teething is contributing as well. Once he wakes from a nap or even from sleeping in the mornings, he cries hysterically until Brad or I get him. I'm hoping it's just a phase. He is consistently sleeping through the night, but is an early riser, usually getting up between 6 and 7am...even on weekends (bummer!).

So, that's my update for now. Happy spring to everyone!