Gavin composed a song for his xylophone, performed here for the first time. He dedicates this piece to his Great Great Aunt Minnie, who gave him the xylophone for Christmas. I am no expert, but after much review, I conclude that this is rather advanced work for a first composition. He varies his mallet technique, hitting with both the wooden and rubber ends of the mallet as well as interspersing vigorous but silent taps on the foam pipe-holders. He even carefully avoids the common novice xylophone player's mistake of overusing the glissando.

It's a good thing that Gavin likes to shop, because we've been dragging him along on many shopping trips this month! The day after Christmas, Daddy took a well-deserved break from all of us and stayed home while the Ziller women brought Gavin along on our search for after-Christmas deals.

At Triangle Town Center, we had to stop in front of the big outdoor tree for a few snapshots.

The photo above is much like this shot taken in front of a similar tree at the Bell Tower Shops in Florida last year. Gavin's three days overdue here and shopping wasn't as much fun or relaxing then!

Mommy and son...

Aunt Kristen gets in on the picture action (notice all EIGHT of Gavin's teeth!)...

Enough with the cheesy posed photos. I'm ready to walk!

After several hours of shopping, our little trooper started getting bored and wasn't even entertained by the cute activity table in the Hallmark store. Time to go home!

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Riding a horse was instinctive for Gavin. He got right on and started rocking immediately! After showing off his skills, he decides to leave on a high note.

On Christmas Eve, we spent time with the great grandparents and gave them their usual gift - a homemade wall calendar. I've been making my grandparents a calendar for Christmas every year since the early 90's when they were made using Print Shop and printed on a noisy Okidata dot matrix printer. This year, of course, the calendar is filled with photos of Gavin and was made using iPhoto on my Mac and printed by the fine folks at Apple. Afterward, we went home where Gavin hit the sack and we watched It's A Wonderful Life. For the first time I could remember, I didn't go to church since it would have been difficult attending with Gavin so late in the evening.

The following morning, we packed up the gifts and headed over to Gavin's grandparents' place for the gift exchange and lunch.

Gavin received a pony from his grandparents.

After opening the pony, Gavin didn't have any interest in other gifts until it was assembled. Daddy appreciated the help, I'm sure!

Gavin immediately mounted and rocked his pony. His dismount wasn't so graceful!

His parents gave him an activity center that he can stand by and keep his fingers busy.

Gavin loves moving the beads on the tracks. His parents love how quiet this toy is!

Gmummy helped Gavin open a few wooden puzzles.

This gift isn't for me, Ma. Why should I smile?

Gavin prefers to hand his puzzle pieces to a parent and then, after all pieces are given away, he hands us the board!

After gift-giving, it was chow time! We dined on lasagna, cranberry applesauce, veggies, and bread. Gavin wouldn't have liked any of it, but we gave him a bite of the cranberry applesauce which didn't please him much.

Aunt Kristen knit Gavin the cutest little baby-sized scarf. He didn't appreciate it so much at first and peeled it off with two fingers, dropping it as far away as possible like it was someone else's used tissue. He doesn't hold quite so much distain for it anymore!

We headed over to the G-G's for Christmas cookies and games. Gavin was tuckered out. Mommy and Daddy won the You Might Be A Redneck If... board game but haven't yet decided if that's a game you should really be proud to win!

Gavin with his proud great-grandma.

And G-Gpa. None of us had seen G-Gpa smile so much since, well, the last time we plopped his great-grandson on his lap.

Merry Christmas!

One of my photography goals on Christmas Day was to get a family portrait of the three of us. Gmummy took over as photographer and snapped away, ultimately resulting in the best shot of the bunch above. The outtakes, though, are probably the better photos because they show Gavin's personality and are evidence of the difficulty in photographing an active toddler!

First, we tried posing on the floor but Gavin quickly let us know he'd have none of that...

He wasn't content to just smile at the camera and had to be bribed to not escape with a piece from one of his new puzzles.

Of course, he didn't want to just hold the puzzle piece...

Oh, dear...

Looking at these, I'm just shocked that Gmummy actually got one well-behaved shot out of the bunch!

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On his recent trip to Florida, Gavin was delighted to stop and visit his good buddy Logan. They are of an age where they play/find mischief next to each other, if not necessarily together. Just a coupla dudes, comfortable with each other's quiet company - no need to get all mushy by communicating. At least until they're older, whereupon they'll write maudlin country songs about undying friendship and the misery of parting.

Mommy unexpectedly got the afternoon off, so we headed to the playground to enjoy the balmy afternoon and tire Gavin out so he'd nap before visiting the family tonight!

Over the weekend, Gavin saw Santa Claus for the first time ... at the mall ... from a distance. Gavin is currently going through a very shy stage and with all of his recent teething tears, there was no way I was going to sit him on Santa's lap knowing he'd burst out crying. I just didn't want to subject him to anymore crying if it could be avoided. Still, Gavin was able to glimpse him from the second floor of the mall. See Santa very tiny and blurred out in the distance?

Our Christmas tree has been surrounded by Gavin's fence since it was erected in our dining room knowing it was no match for Gavin's curious fingers. I took the fence down last night just to see how interested Gavin would be in the tree.

He pulled a few ornaments off but, overall, wasn't as destructive as I would have guessed. Still, the fence is back up to prevent any pokes in the eye and to give Doozer sanctuary from Mr. Grabby-hands in her favorite sleeping spot on the tree skirt.

One of Gavin's first ornaments was given to him last weekend by his grandparents.

I've been neglecting development updates lately and want to capture a snapshot of Gavin's latest habits as his first Christmas nears:

• Gavin says, "hi," but it comes out as, "haaaaaaaaaaaaa!" It seriously takes him at least five seconds to say a one-syllable word.
• Gavin loves to clap. He claps at himself we praise him and will clap along with a group, like this past Sunday when Aunt Kristen finished playing a piano-organ duet at church.
• He also loves to wave goodbye. He is able to sense when someone is leaving, usually because they are putting shoes on or he hears keys jingling, and starts waving his arm wildly. Half the time, he waves both arms at the same time.
• Gavin currently loves to yell, "mamamamama," at the top of his lungs. He also mutters, "dadadadada," softly while playing by himself. I wish he'd switch the volume settings on these babbles so I don't hear my name yelled harshly all the time! ;)
  

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It was a cold and windy day that we took Gavin to the beach for the first time. After a bit of quiet play with an errant bivalve, the little feller discovered he could walk to stay warm. He walked quite a ways from the beach back down the boardwalk to the car, occasionally finding an interesting leaf or stick to fiddle with.

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Fun with a wrench.

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There's no deep theme here, just some footage I shot on a night Gavin seemed to be banging out one milestone after another. As I fired up the camera, he started clapping for the first time. You can discern my excitment by the pitch of my voice. Later in the show, he stood up without furniture for only the second time ever. He almost demonstrates another of that night's milestones, filling the wagon, but his aim was faltering by the time I got the camera rolling.

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Gavin learned to walk shortly before Thanksgiving and couldn't stop showing off his new skill.

Sunday was departure day but we couldn't leave without visiting our church first. Construction began on the new Christian life center the week after we moved to North Carolina. We were amazed by how much progress has been made ... and by how cheesy Gavin's grin can be!

Gavin visited with lots of his church friends again but was too shy to do anything more than bury his face in Mommy's shoulder. I guess he didn't remember that these were the same people he begged to pick him up and rock him to sleep just months ago.

After the service and visiting, Gavin bid farewell to the grandparents and Aunt Beth.

Daddy couldn't pass the construction site without introducing his son to each piece of heavy equipment. We would have had more impressive photos, but we couldn't find the keys under the seat.

By noon, we were back on the road driving to Kingsland, Georgia for the night before finishing the route home on Monday. Gavin continued to be an excellent traveler, slept a lot, and played with all of his new toys.

On Friday, Mommy went to work at the office in Naples while Gavin and Daddy played with the grandparents on Sanibel. I found these photos in my camera that evening which revealed the fun they had with Grandpa in the front yard that afternoon.

In the evening, Gavin settled down with Aunt Beth, Grandpa, and a good book.

Aunt Cindy and soon-to-be Uncle Chuck stopped by to visit.

Saturday morning brought Gavin's first trip to the beach. The morning was very windy and sunny (yes, there IS such thing as too much sunshine), but Gavin was a trooper and amused Mommy by sitting in the sand for a few photos.

Once he found a good shell, he wouldn't let it go!

With shell in hand, we walked along the water line as Gavin dodged the waves nipping at his shoes.

Having tired of the beach, we took the long series of boardwalks back to the car. Gavin insisted on walking the entire way. Notice his cute little wind-chilled nose and cheeks!

In the afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and exchanged gifts. Gavin loved his chime set from great-great-aunt Minnie. Our ears...not so much!

His grandparents knew that if he inherited just a fraction of his father's love of LEGO bricks, then Gavin would love this gift!

Gavin was under a lot of pressure to enjoy his presents.

Gavin enjoyed Aunt Cindy's rockstar homemade alphabet book. See, Son. Aunt Cindy didn't pay her traffic tickets, so the judge sentenced her to marry this cop.

Grandma didn't enjoy Gavin's visit at ALL! ;) 

Last Wednesday, we packed up Puddy for Gavin's first big car trip. With inclimate weather on the way, we left a little earlier than planned, leaving at noon and arriving in Georgia by nightfall.

Gmummy did a great job keeping Gavin busy all morning while Daddy packed so the tired boy slept most of the afternoon in the car. His first motel stay was at a Brunswick, Georgia Microtel Inn.

Gavin and Monkey spent the night in the pack 'n play which barely fit in the small room!

The following morning, we headed south and stopped in Gainesville for lunch at Cracker Barrel. I mean, seriously, what road trip is complete without stopping in at least one Cracker Barrel?!

Afterward, I had to get the obligatory shot of the Highsmith men sitting on rocking chairs outside.

Gavin's blue eyes are so pretty on sunny days. :)

Next, we visited Gavin's old buddy, Logan, who recently celebrated his first birthday. The boys have grown so much since they first met six months ago.They are both walking now  and it was easy to see that they would probably get in all sorts of mischief if they had the opportunity to see each other more often!

Logan and Gavin were so cute toddling around together. They played beside but not with each other, although one would quickly follow the minute the other left the room.

Check out Gavin's grip on that football. My boy's been paying attention to all the football games we've been watching!

Do I even need to mention that this scene didn't end well?

Having made a mess of the living room and spilling popcorn all over the kitchen floor, the boys went to Logan's room to get into more mischief.

Note the number of books on the shelf in the photo above compared to the photo below...

Then, it was on to the dining room!

Before leaving, the mommies had to get a photo together with their boys. When we first met in middle school, I'm sure neither of us would have imagined that years later we'd both have boys so close in age!

Tomorrow evening, we leave for Florida to visit Gavin's paternal family and allow Mommy to work at the office so her co-workers know she really does still exist. While we've always made the 800-mile trip from Raleigh to Fort Myers in one day in the past, we aren't trying that this time with a very active 11-month-old. We'll put a few hundred miles of road behind us tomorrow and sleep for the night in South Carolina before driving the rest of the way. We'll arrive back home on Monday. Until then, there will be no daily photo updates but I'll be snapping away the entire time and will post when we return.

Gavin must have been getting nervous when I plopped him in a half-packed suitcase to take his picture today considering that the last time I did this, Mommy and Daddy left without him for the weekend. Do I get to go this time, Mommy?

I'm going with you?! Really? YAY!

This evening, Gavin found the pile of discarded hangers in the closet from all of his clothes that we were packing. He promptly knocked them to the floor and played with them for a half hour.

We were unpacking Christmas decorations this evening and found a "Baby's First Christmas" Santa hat given to Gavin last December when 2007 was expected to be his first Christmas. It doesn't fit so well on an almost-one-year-old who's a tad big for his size.

I had to laugh a few weeks ago when one of my favorite baby clothing stores, Gymboree, launched its Christmas line including a "Baby's First Christmas" sleeper that was only available up to size 6-12 months. Gavin is exclusively wearing 12-18 month clothing now and is starting to fit in 18-24 month clothes! It's a good thing I didn't want any "Baby's First" wear anyway!

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Mommy decorates the tree while Gavin unpacks the ornaments.

At eleven months...

• Gavin now has seven, going on eight teeth. Number seven just poked through on the bottom, right. Its partner on the left looks to make its appearance any day now. The poor little guy has gone through a few tough weeks of teething, including a few rough nights and a week or so of general irritability.
• Gavin is scared of umbrellas, or so we learned Sunday morning when Gmummy attempted to walk him to the car for church. I guess we haven't opened an umbrella around him yet because we certainly would have remembered his alarmed reaction!
• Daddy and Gavin have been attending a weekly program at the library for the past two weeks. They read books and play with the other babies.
• We now live in a gated community. Gavin has outgrown his pasture so we have two baby gates to keep him from undesirable areas: the kitchen and front entryway, laundry room, and feline bathroom.
• Gavin likes to immitate our laughing. If we're laughing, he'll start laughing right along with us to feel included. That makes us laugh even more and it turns into a neverending cycle of laughter.
• Gavin walks everywhere. He will crawl short distances if he's tired, but otherwise uses walking as his exclusive form of locomotion. He loves it so much, that he literally walks in circles if he has nothing else to do.

This evening we visited the local Christmas tree lot to buy a tree for Gavin's first Christmas.

Santa's coming HERE?

I better go home and clean my crib to be sure I'm on Santa's list of good little boys!

Is this the one you want, Daddy? Alright, give me a second to saw it down!

As such, I hereby propose these alternate lyrics for use when it's just Gavin and I:

The miniscule arachnid ascended the drainage duct,
precipitation washed him back into the muck.
Solar infrared evaporated the rain,
And the miniscule arachnid ascended the duct again.