No photos, just text

I haven't blogged a good update in quite a while, mainly pictures of our summer happenings. There are so many new things going on with Gavin that I want to document it somewhere, so bear with this post. No photos, just text.

Well, 18 months, crazy! Gavin's development is just blossoming! I'll start with speech: words are being refined, though still not fully understandable in all cases yet. He pretty much will attempt to repeat anything you say, at least one to two word statements. He is gaining great abilities with words that have three or more syllables. His favorite, most commonly said words include some of his historic favorites, but also some new words as well. All things vehicle are still his favorite (car, boat, motorcycle, truck, train). In the past week or so, we've heard repeated attempts at perfecting these words. Last weekend, during lunch, I must have heard the word motorcycle (sounds like "psy-cho") repeated 300 times at rapid rate, all the while avoiding the task at hand...eating. He calls his grandparents "mae mee" and "bapa" (Grandma and Grandpa) and his cousins (Luke, Lexi, and Ava) are all "coco". I'm not sure if he's maybe trying to say cousins? It's funny to watch him point at them and say "coco". Brad instantly thinks of CoCo in reference to Conan O'Brien and thinks it is quite funny.

Gavin knows and can point out many objects, body parts, etc. He can easily follow commands that are told to him (except "Gavin, we don't throw food. It stays on your plate."- hasn't quite gotten this yet).

Motor skills: this kid is everywhere! Spinning is great fun, dancing to music, attempting to jump, though he can't get airborne yet. Many times, he gets ahead of himself while running and does some tumbles. He's also learning to "ride" his bike, scooting along, but mainly enjoys pushing it around the drive way. The swimming pool and lake are great fun, though he is still cautious. Gavin is very into kissing right now. He even puckers his lips and scrunches his nose. Gavin has become more cautious on furniture. He used to run like a wild man, but has come to learn that he needs to sit down on the couches. And he is climbing less frequently (though still does occasionally) on the coffee table.

Gavin loves to read books. His favorite is The Best Mouse Cookie. There is a page where the mouse is baking cookies and listening to a radio that has little music notes coming out of it. For a couple of months when I would read it to him, I would sing a little on that page "lalalalaaaa". Now, he opens the book to read it by himself in his little chair (which is cute enough by itself) and will shake his head back and forth and sing "ahyayayayay". Very cute to see the learning. He picks up on things when you don't even think he is paying attention to the little things that you do. I love it!

Growth: challenging, I must say. This is the thing we most struggle with. While he is between the 50th-75th percentile for height, he fell off the growth chart for weight around 9-12 months. And hasn't gotten back on it. So, he's officially been tagged as "failure to thrive" which sounds like this awful condition that neglected kids with abusive parents have. So, we've had a couple of appointments with a pediatric endocrinologist, first concerned that he may have a hormone-related condition. Lab work and assessment is not pointing to growth hormone deficiency (he's growing height-wise appropriately) and no concern for thyroid conditions. We're continuing some work-up and trying to rule out Celiac disease (gluten intolerance). He has no symptoms of distress when he eats gluten, but many people with gluten intolerance are asymptomatic from what I've been reading. We'll see. I absolute dread that something could be wrong - I wish it on myself before my child. But I know that even if it is Celiac disease, it could certainly be worse. We are just so absolutely blessed to have an otherwise, perfectly normal and thriving child. We just continue to try to pump calorie-rich "super foods" into Gavin - eggs with heavy cream, whole milk yogurt, cheese, butter on virtually everything, peanut butter (just introduced last week), milk fortified with Carnation Instant Breakfast, etc. So, at his 18 month well-child appointment, he finally weighed in at 20 pounds. I'm open to any suggestions any of you moms out there have for packing on some extra pounds!

Well, that's my post. Finally some updates other than photos. We've been enjoying our summer but we're a little sad that it's winding down. I must say, though, I so look forward to fall, particularly after this extraordinarily hot summer! Hope you all have had a great summer as well!

Sunflowers

Photo by Posh Photography

Hair Cut

Gavin had his very first hair cut this week with Stylist/Cousin Jeni! He was starting to get a bit of a mullet, so it was time to take the scissors to it! How bittersweet! Jeni trimmed up the back and around his ears. And now his whole appearance has changed from baby to little boy. He is just so cute with his little hair-do! Thanks Jeni!

For those of you looking for a fantastic salon in the Grand Rapids area, Jeni's salon, Peristyle, is fabulous!

18 months

This post is a few days late, so pardon my tardiness. Gavin is officially half way through his second year of life!



Note the cut on his face - this was incurred during a temper tantrum while driving from Traverse City to Grand Rapids. We had an extra tired, teething toddler with sharp toe nails, apparently. He sliced his cheek with his big toe nail. Just when you think you've seen it all!

We visited Grand Haven on Gavin's 18 month birthday. He had great fun, as usual, running up and down the hill across from the musical fountain. And of course he enjoyed checking out all the boats in the channel "brrrmmm, brrrmmmm". This photo's not the greatest, it was getting dark. But it sure is cute still!

Surfer Buns

Gotta love the surf board buns!

True Spirit

This is the absolute uninhibited spirit of my child. Just wanted to document because I love this phase of finding pure pleasure with simple play. Here he is running down a "hill" at Grandpa ("BaPa") and Grandma's cottage.

Farmer's Market

Friday morning (before work), we headed to the Fulton Street Farmer's Market to grab some delicious fresh fruit. And, bonus, we had Kasey Vandertol from Posh Photography take some photos along our shopping journey. I learned of Posh Photography through a previous co-worker/blogging friend (thanks EB!).

I just loved the idea of what Kasey calls a "mini-session". For just $30, we had some fantastic journalistic-style photos taken. I've been admiring Kasey's work with EB's girls on her blog, so it was fun to experience first hand. Check out Posh Photography's website.

Here are some of my favorites...Gavin wasn't in a particularly smiley mood, but they still are cute!

Beachin' It

We headed up to Traverse City last weekend Sunday and spent the afternoon on the West Bay beach. It was a bit cloudy, but the perfect temperature. Including the water which was incredibly warm. Gavin played in the sand a bit, then headed for the waves. He had a blast swimming -- more daring that I've seen from him before. And of course, my camera battery died shortly after I took these sand photos, so none of him in the water. Note to self, check the battery more often.

We used paper coffee cups from the hotel room as sand toys, in the absence of packing any real sand toys.

Like sand through an hour glass.

Mini castles

Potty

We have officially purchased Gavin's first potty. I'm not sure that he's ready to use it yet, but we thought it would be a good idea to at least introduce him to it. He was delighted to have this "gift" to open. And he loves to sit on it, not so much for actual use, just for fun. We have been talking with him lots lately about "potty" and "pee" and "poop"...just what you all wanted to hear, huh? He's starting to get it.

Just like Dad in this one! Enjoying a good read!