Gavin toy arrangement #274:

During Gavin's first year, I took a few photos. Just a few. This photo is one of my absolute favorites. It was taken one year ago today. Click to view it really big for ultra cuteness.

And here is Gavin today, trying to pose the same way exactly one year later. You can click this one, too, to view it larger. The kid's still really cute, after all.

It's not spot-on, but the pose is more similar to the original than I expected considering my goal was a very subdued expression. Photographing a 2-month-old infant is infinitely easier than photographing a 14-month-old toddler. If anyone doubts this fact, here's proof with some outtakes of Mr. Personality from today's photo shoot:

A year ago, I just had to keep the sheets out of his mouth...

Mommy takes advantage of a rare still moment to give our boy a vocabulary quiz.

Last week, Gavin was looking pretty stressed out. The canine teeth breaking through, the gradual self-weaning to one nap a day, the increase in adult food consumption ... it was all too much for a 14-month-old to handle. He needed a break from the daily grind. So, we took Gauntie Faye up on an offer to visit her newly-completed house in the mountains near Boone and escaped the day-to-day routine for a couple days. We last visited back in October when the house was still under construction.

Waking up to this scene off the back porch makes stress instantly melt away!

We hit the road with Gmummy on Friday morning and arrived at Faye's house shortly before noon. Our relaxing weekend began with a stroll around the top of her mountain.

Gavin was in awe of the views from the windows...

Sigh. He was a relaxed baby, for sure.

Before evening settled in, Gavin and Daddy fetched some wood from Faye's stockpile to keep the fireplace burning until bedtime.

Gavin spied just the right piece...

...and quickly hurried back inside to contribute to the fire.

Faye was most appreciative of her great-nephew's efforts.

His arduous work complete, Gavin could simply gaze out the windows at the beautiful scenery again.

On Saturday, we planned to do some hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway, but our favorite spot was closed and the colder-than-expected weather dampened everyone's spirits a bit. Instead, we ate a memorable picnic lunch in Faye's Subaru out of the cold and Gavin ran around the field at the Julian Price picnic area for a while.

He had a fun time navigating the curb and is walking up and down steps with a great sense of balance now. Here we were trying to teach him to jump which he did admiringly well aside from the whole feet-leaving-the-ground part.

Don't worry, Gavin. We'll visit again soon when the weather is a bit warmer and you can hit the trails again!

A week ago, we took advantage of unseasonably warm weather to give Gavin the restorative experience of a hike in the woods. This last weekend's weather, however, returned to normally scheduled programming with rain and low temperatures. No walks, parks, or playgrounds could be enjoyed without spending a fortune on GoreTex baby clothes. Not disheartened, Traci concocted a most wonderful way for us to entertain Gavin and ourselves without ever leaving our warm and dry apartment.

Traci's idea combined each of our favorite activities into a nice little project for the three of us. She was challenged with round after round of action toddler photography. I say "challenged" because toddlers are hard enough to photograph when they are working from their own little gameplans. Getting a boisterous fellow like Gavin to cooperate with our plan was interesting, indeed. Try explaining to a fourteen-month-old that yes, he is doing a terrific job mopping the kitchen floor, but the low light necessitates a small aperture and thus the shallow depth-of-field requires him to remain coplanar with his father, while still keeping his face at a three quarter angle to Mommy and positioning his body according to the rule of thirds. Gavin nonetheless enjoyed playing along with his parents' silly ideas, especially since he was able to partake in his own favorite activity: trying new things. Not only was he allowed to dance with the mop and play in a sinkful of suds, he was encouraged.

Myself, I was especially pleased to have a go at the Hobby of All Hobbies: learning a new hobby. There is nothing I enjoy more than figuring out something new, especially when the knowledge will empower me to do things I could not previously do. In this case the puzzle du jour was anapestic tetrameter. I won't burden you with that explanation here. It probably won't interest you and, besides, I enjoy the mystique.

The project, inspired by a book about boredom on a rainy day, is a book about boredom on a rainy day. Incorporated into my story are a whole batch of crazy activites that occur daily in our household (such as pillow-diving), plus a few normal activities (mopping, dusting, etc.) thrown in as fictional additions purely to support the plot.

Pull a nearby child into your lap, and read The Ape in the Cape.

Bathtime has turned into fun time for Mommy to discover the words that Daddy has taught his son during the day. He knows his name and always points to himself when we ask, "Where's Gavin?"

He understands many bath-related words like splash, duck, and cups (as in his set of nesting toy cups). This evening, I tested body parts and learned that Gavin knows where his feet, toes, eyes, teeth, head, and hair (which got cut again over the weekend) are although I don't think he knows the difference between those last two. The greatest discovery was that he can correctly answer the question, "Where's your navel?"

Speaking of teeth, here's the source of so much discomfort for our little molar man over the past month:

This is a cute picture taken while working on a project as we were stuck indoors on this long, cold, wet weekend. Yes, that's Gavin sitting fully-clothed in the kitchen sink washing his bottles. It'll make more sense when the project is completed in a few more days!

Gavin did this.

For months, Gavin has been pulling apart conjoined Duplo LEGO bricks. Yesterday, for the first time, he assembled two bricks together. Pardon me, but I must cut this blog entry short. I'm getting all verklempt...

In the months leading up to Gavin's birth, we did a lot of research and purchasing of baby gear. Babies need a lot of stuff. Stroller, diapers, toys, car seat, clothes, booger-snatcher (or, "nasal aspirator" as sophisticated types call it) ... Little did we realize just how briefly Gavin would use these items, but that's a subject for a whole 'nother blog entry. Fortunately for our checking account, the baby gear needs taper off by the first birthday. Other than toys and a few new clothes, Gavin hasn't needed much in the past few months. Until this past week.

With his eating habits improving, we found ourselves in need of a good dinner plate. Gavin eats single foods throughout the day - yogurt, oatmeal, bananas - but we like to share several options from our plates at the dinner table and needed a divided plate for serving several foods at once. Again, we were on the hunt for a quality yet inexpensive solution. My first choice was the palette plate by Skip Hop. It provides several small bowls and is made of the good plastic we were looking for, but won't fit on Gavin's highchair tray and is pricey at $28. It's just so darn cute, though!

I continued searching online for several evenings and was beginning to feel defeated by mere toddler plates. Every plate was either too expensive, too big, or had sections that were too large. I finally stumbled upon the perfect solution.

These brand-new Saucer plates are made by Boon. Gavin already has a spill-catching bowl and utensils produced by the same company. The saucer plates were exactly what we were looking for - BPA-free plastic, will fit on the highchair tray, perfect-size food sections, and only $5.99 a pop.

Too new to be in local stores, I ordered the plates online and solved the second baby gear dilemma at the same time. Gavin has also been in need of new bath toys. He has had several sets of squirt toys and nesting stacking cups since he was old enough to play in the tub. A kid can only be amused by toys like that for so long when taking baths almost daily. However, there's really not much else available in the rhelm of bath toys for a kid Gavin's age. There is an endless varity of squirters available, but then then the next step up is a toy shaving set. Seriously. Gavin's a bit to young for that yet.

Boon sells a set of Bath Goods, appliques made of a dense foamy material in unique shapes that stick to the side of the tub when wet. These sounded like they were right up Gavin's alley.

The set also includes mini soap scrubbers that lather him up real good and a few balls that we're withholding until the appliques aren't such a novelty anymore. Bath time is fun again!

Disclaimer: Gavin Highsmith and his parents are not affiliated with Boon Inc. Nor do they receive any compensation, financial or otherwise, for proclaiming the excellentness of Boon products. They just want to document their tedious baby gear searches for posterity so that the excessive amount of time spent researching said products is not in vain.

The air in Raleigh has been warm. Like, "Florida in June" warm. Temperatures have exceeded 80 degrees for three straight days now. So, along with practically everyone else in Raleigh, we headed outdoors.

Our destination yesterday was William B. Umstead State Park again, but we chose a trail that is new to us, accessible from the south entrance to the park which we hadn't been to before.

Isn't this awesome? I can't believe we're lucky enough to live in an area with so many parks like this within a half-hour drive of our home!

Gavin enjoyed royal treatment again by hitching a ride for the entire three-hour hike.

The sun beat down on us through the bare trees so we lubed Gavin up with some sunscreen. Just six days earlier he frolicked in the snow! We have such crazy weather here.

We stopped every half hour or so for a water break.

The Company Mill Trail is 5.8 miles long. Gavin slept for half that distance.

Towards the end of the day, we let Gavin explore the trail on his own two feet.

Gavin absolutely loves walking and had a great time!

This day also marked Gavin's first diaper change in the woods. Just to prove I don't take photos of everything Gavin does, here's another walking photo.

I'll end with one of Gavin's newest expressions. Lately, he smiles really big, scrunching his nose and bearing his teeth. It's really not the most flattering face, but still completely adorable!

Gavin and Daddy always brush their teeth together. Gavin doesn't enjoy getting his teeth brushed all alone but thinks its fun when he can imitate someone else.

This afternoon, Gavin started taking out his books and opening them on the floor. I think it was a subtle hint that he wanted a story read to him. I mean, really, who could miss this big hint?!

One of Gavin's favorite books right now is Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. When we get to the page about the bird stuck in the giant mouse guy's ear, Gavin always tugs on his own ear.

Today, Gavin is 14 months old. Before we begin a peek at Gavin's current life, let's take a quick stroll down memory lane, shall we? This is Gavin one year ago back when he had a baby mullet and his cheeks weren't the size of an entire zip code yet. He hated tummy-time, loved to be Bjorned about, and was frightened by the sight of his bouncer's toy bar. He's grown up so much!

Fast forward to the present for a gander at Gavin's current list of quirks and activities:

• Driving his toy cars around while making car motor and siren noises
• Riding and pushing his Wheely Bug, Buzz Buzz
  
• Playing Hide-and-Seek
• Tickling his parents when he catches them hiding
• Running with no regard to grace or style
• Kissing his own reflection
• Walking into the arms of anyone who sits on the floor, opens their arms, and asks for a hug
  
• Running to and waiting by the door to leave after having his shoes put on
• Waving goodbye to people who put coats or bags on, or in some cases, say "I have to go" in the right tone of voice
• Attending Kindermusik class with Mommy every Saturday morning
• Enjoying Rhyme Time at the library with Daddy at least once a week

Gavin's favorite game is pillow diving. We pile all the pillows we can find in the middle of the living room and jumping on the stack. Contagious giggling ensues.

Apparently, though, Mommy standing on a chair with a black box pressed against her face is even more interesting...

No, Gavin. Ignore the lady towering over you on the chair making clicking sounds with that black box.

OK, one more shot because this face has got to be next to the word "cute" in the dictionary, right?

Yes, pillow diving is the tops, man.

Gavin was so impatient the other night that he started collecting pillows himself to make the pile.

Gavin enjoys walking around with Duplo LEGO bricks on his two index fingers.

Gavin's eating habits are slowly improving. He's still quite far behind where he "should be" food-wise, but he's becoming more adventurous with his textures now.

Bananas are his new favorite big people food.

On the tooth front, Gavin now has four molars poking through. We realize now that he was quite cranky due to his tooth issues for much of the past month. Overall, he's a happier boy now.

Gavin loves to bring books to any parent or visitor and crawl into their lap for storytime. His current favorite books are Jazz Baby (he tries to snap now), Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Baby Bear's Books, and Do You Do A Didgeridoo?

Gavin discovered the light switch on the oven.

He insists that the light be on at all times.

While we slept last night, Raleigh was showered with snow...

A gorgeous, beautiful blanket of snow ...

And guess who actually enjoyed it this time? (in his makeshift sled)

By plowing through the undisturbed sheet of snow, Gavin was able to do what he loves best: make chaos out of order.

Who said anything about chaos? This is merely a gentle unheaval.

Ooh. Snow.

Yeah, the physics of frozen water crystals is fascinating, Dad. Can I get back to causing great upheaval now?

I can't believe I dissed this stuff before. It's so much fun!

March snow is rare in Raleigh, so this was likely the last snow of the season. You mean, this is the last bit of snow I'll see for a really long time?

Promise me there will be more next year, won't you?