Weekends have turned into Mommy-and-Gavin time lately. Daddy has been working most weekends and the 10:00-6:00 schedule he's been assigned lately has allowed us to drop him off at work and keep the car for the day. Whenever Jeff works a shift that ends with store closing at 9:00, we're stranded at home without the car since Gavin is already fast asleep by the time we'd need to pick him up.

We don't usually do anything too exciting on the weekends. There is always the weekly Harris Teeter grocery shopping trip and this weekend, we also went to Earthfare for our monthly stocking up of organic staples (heaven help us if we ever ran out of toddler cereal bars!). Last weekend, we were able to stop by the library for Rhyme Time. Gavin attends at least one of the many weekday sessions every week, but there are only two Saturday sessions a month. Playgrounds are usually off-limits because they're too crowded when the weather is nice. No matter what we end up doing, however mundane it may seem, I just enjoy the mommy-and-son time that makes me so jealous of stay-at-home moms!

In addition to the usual shopping trips this weekend and a lot of reading at home, we went for a walk in Aunt Kristen's neighborhood on a beautiful, cool Saturday afternoon. Gmummy came, too, and we stopped at a new gelato and pastry shop during our walk. Gavin and I shared a dish of chocolate hazelnut gelato. The first bite of cold, creamy goodness caught him off-guard but he quickly dug right in and was soon oblivious to his surroundings as he helped me devour the bowl!

I had to eat fast before Gavin devoured the entire bowl...

Gavin was so engrossed in gelato consumption that he barely noticed Gmummy snapping away with the camera. Don't you be getting any ideas like stealing my gelato, Gmummy!

Even more exciting pictures of Gavin eating. How do you stand the excitement of some of these blog entries?

At home, I tried a brief photo shoot. I need practice taking pictures of active toddlers who don't sit still long enough for me to focus the camera and don't like having their picture taken. Fortunately, I have a subject that exhibits those exact qualities in my very own home.

Don't let these images fool you. This kid does not like his picture taken anymore. All of these photos were taken during a noncontiguous 7.38-second time period in between grunts, frowns, and turned backs.

Gavin agreed to reluctantly pose for this snapshot only after I showed him a picture I'd just taken on the LCD screen of my camera. The kid loves seeing pictures of himself. I'll jot that tip down in my photography notepad. It only worked for one round of several shots but at least he cooperated for a few seconds!

I was so desperate that I even tried the old cliched, "Smile!" which goes against my photography philosophy. This is the face I get as a result. Note to self: Never as a child to "smile" or "say cheese."

Then, he just started getting goofy. Gavin likes contorting his mouth, showing his teeth, sticking out his tongue, etc. Perhaps if we stopped laughing at him when he does these things, he'd stop doing them but he's always being the comedian trying to please his audience.

One of the few "bump progress" photos taken while Gavin was growing in my belly was snapped at 32 weeks which is how far along I currently am with Baby Brother. I thought it would be interesting to see a comparison of both bellies during the same week of pregnancy while wearing the same outfit. My belly measures the same size (31-32 centimeters) at the time both pictures were taken and I weigh the same overall, give or take a pound, in both as well (this pregnancy sure feels like deja vu in most ways!).

October 24, 2007 - 32 weeks pregnant with Gavin:

March 6, 2010 - 32 weeks pregnant with Baby Brother

The shirts seem to have stretched out a little in the past 2 1/2 years! I'm not wearing the necklace in the second photo because the baby in the belly of the first photo broke it about a year after that picture was taken!

Today, Gavin is two years and two months old which seems to be the right time to discuss the "terrible two's." As Gavin neared his second birthday, I began hearing that familiar phrase. I know people usually intend to be light-hearted or to easily label a toddler's difficult behavior, but this phrase really bothers me and I've grown to find it highly offensive when directed towards my son. Now that I have a child of my own and see the reason for this slightly difficult phase in his life, "terrible" is the last thing I want to label him.

I clearly see now that a two-year-old is so curious and has so much to say yet is still not able to communicate well. I suspect that this is an even bigger problem for Gavin since he still doesn't speak many words. When Gavin is upset, it's almost always for one of three reasons: he's tired, he's hungry, or we don't understand what he's trying to tell us. How could an adult fault a young child for being upset for any of those reasons and label him "terrible?" Most adults aren't that much fun to be around when very tired or hungry either (I'm guilty of being "hangry" on a regular basis!) and can you imagine trying to communicate with someone and simply not be able? It's difficult for everyone when Gavin gets upset for this reason. I want to cry with him because as badly as he wants to communicate with me, I want to know what he's trying to say. It makes me feel helpless when I can't understand what my son is trying to tell me and he looks at me like I'm the one failing him for not comprehending.

Occasionally, Gavin gets upset for other reasons like when someone is doing something he doesn't want them to do (such as singing) or if he's simply not getting his way (temper tantrum in the snow when we wouldn't let him walk closer to a snow-covered road). In these cases, we are trying to teach him that he can't make people behave the way he wants them to and he doesn't always get his way! He's a child and from the time a child is a newborn, he expresses discontent by crying. It's the only way he knows how. We can't expect that newborn to be able to rationalize his wants and needs in an adult way by the time he's two years old!

While it's natural to focus on all the positive things on this blog, Gavin does have many difficult moments every day but the good always outweighs the bad. It probably sounds incredibly corny, but he's going through a "terrific two's" stage now. It's so much fun to watch his personality continue to develop. Gavin loves to laugh and make people laugh. If two adults are having a conversation and start laughing, he'll start boisterously laughing right along so that he feels included in the conversation. Then, we all end up laughing at him because it's so adorable which makes him laugh even more! It's a never-ending sequence of laughter!

He gets "excited" (as seen in the Catching Cars video) a lot now without prompting. We used to ask, "Are you excited, Gavin?" and then he'd do his "excited" shake. Now, he does it when he is really excited about something. He gets "excited" whenever I tell him that Gmummy is coming over or if he goes to Tiny Tumblers, or even when his peanut butter cracker snack is being prepared!

Gavin is usually an excellent shopping partner and loves to hold each item as I grab it from the shelf. He shakes everything and if the item doesn't make any sound when shaken, he immediately chucks it behind him into the cart as if something that doesn't shake is completely worthless.

I absolutely love the fact that Gavin adores books. I've mentioned it over and over again on this blog, but it's always a great sight to see him walking towards me holding an open book "asking" me to read it to him.

Gavin is such an easy sleeper now. The bedtime routine is definitely something that has changed a lot over the past year and a half. As he neared his first birthday, he wouldn't go to sleep at night without a parent in the room. When we sensed he was finally asleep, we snuck out. He outgrew that stage and bedtime was a breeze again until this past fall. He fell into the pattern again of needing a parent in the room. Most nights, one of us would sit in his dark room for over an hour. We've never believed in sleep training and knew that as difficult and frustrating as this was, the behavior was due to the family's schedule change. Daddy was suddenly often away at work so Gavin needed a parent to feel comforted. There was no way I was going to deny him that and just let him cry alone in a dark room! Sure enough, he eventually got used to the new schedule and no longer needed us to fall asleep anymore, but he still got upset whenever we told him the last book had been read and it was time to go to bed. He'd continue crying as we left the room, but he always stopped within two seconds after shutting his door. Now, after so many teary evenings, there is no more crying at bedtime. After Gavin's bath, he drinks a cup of milk as we read a couple of books while Daddy lays on his bed to warm it up. When I tell him to go lay down on his bed, he toddles right on over and settles in. We both kiss him on the cheek, turn out the light, and leave the room without any protest.

Gavin's favorite and most economical bath toys are used food containers. We cleaned out a few butter tubs, sour cream containers, and yogurt cups and have the cheapest bath toys possible! He sits in the bathtub until his fingers and toes are pruney dumping water from one tub into another.

Gavin is also an excellent car traveler. Small board books are easy for him to hold in his lap, so we keep most of his board books in the car and he silently flips through them, examining the pictures during most of our travels. This, of course, is when he's not looking out the window and pointing to every pick-up truck he sees. His favorite vehicles on the road are pick-up trucks and car carrier trucks. He is also able to climb into the car and up to his seat all by himself which is very helpful! I no longer have to lift him up and position him in the seat. He does the hard work and then I just buckle him in, although he buckles the sternum strap, too!

Gavin could challenge any grown man in an oatmeal-eating contest. His oatmeal recipe is a half cup of oats with some wheat germ, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, and honey, and he eats it fast! Recently, I prepared and served a bowl for him and then threw a load of his clothes in the washer. He scraped the bowl clean before the washer even finished filling with water so I was able to remove his oatmeal-stained shirt and wash it right away!

Gavin really enjoys Rhyme Time now and participates in all the songs. We get a ticket from the youth desk when we arrive at the library and he insists on holding it until we're ready to go into the room. When it's time to go in, he drops the ticket in the basket held by the day's song leader. He feels like such a big boy! His favorite song is still Shake Your Sillies. During the "yawn your sleepies out" verse, he yawns by tilting his head back as far as he can, opening his mouth reeeeeally wide, and patting his hand over his mouth. He's by far the most dramatic yawner in the room! It's so much fun to watch his interpretations of the leader's motions. In one song he has to "bow to his partner" so he leans forward and then squats all the way to the ground. It's so much fun to watch him now after he spent so long just sitting in the lap of his caregiver du jour and not participating. It took a long time, but our patience really paid off and he loves Rhyme Time now!

Gavin is easiest to photograph when he is a captive subject in the bathtub where there is ample, though not natural, lighting... as if this wasn't already apparent if you've actually read this far!

Yes, two-year-and-two-month-old Gavin is quite terrific!

A monkey. A dump truck full of dirt. Enough said.

Today, Gavin stopped playing with LEGO, walked to his room, and returned with this book for Daddy to read to him in the stairwell. Apparently, he thinks about it when he's not even reading books or in the same room where the book is kept. He likes it that much these days!

Okay, so he doesn't really catch the cars. The only thing Gavin can reliably catch at this age is a cold. Nonetheless, it's amusing to watch his face as he first hears the voice of Lightning McQueen signaling the impending launch of a car from the closet. After he gets his car and I ask him to show it to me, he does his "excited" thing where he grins and tenses his arms so hard his little body shakes. When I ask him to thank the car's sender, he looks at me as if he knows that I'm the one who sent the car (I did, for the purpose of capturing this video) and then does his "thank you" noise super slow.

Now that you've seen how happy the cars make him, how can you possibly resist sending him one every time you visit?

If you're wondering how and why our closet emits cars, catch up with these two previous entries:

What's in YOUR Coat Closet? - Video of the actual car launcher (removed from the closet–the closet is too dark for video), along with a few technical details on how the system and the launcher work.

Play with Gavin - Video of a Gavinless launch, as well as an introduction and instructions on how to send a car to Gavin yourself.