This weekend, we moved into our new house and one of the biggest changes is that we no longer have a roommate. For nearly 17 months, Gavin has slept in his crib at the foot of our bed. Now, he has his own room across the hall.

Most mornings, I wake up before Gavin but he's usually our alarm clock on the weekends when we try to sleep in a little (sometimes as late as 7:15 - woo hoo!). This past Saturday morning, I woke up to this for the last time:

The sunlight wakes Gavin up around seven o'clock and we hear him start to wrestle around. Once he realizes one of his parents is awake, he stands up in his crib holding Monkey and starts yelling at us. Sometimes, he's upset and is begging for food. Other times, he's just happy and wants company after the long night. Either way, we feed him a bottle of milk and with a full tummy, he's occasionally content to cuddle for a little while:

Last night, our first in the new house, Gavin woke up at one in the morning because he was too cold (seems that Mommy over compensated with the air conditioner after it turned into a sauna upstairs all afternoon!). So, he slept the rest of the night in bed with us. Some habits are hard to break.

We visited the house this evening to check out Daddy's progress in Mommy's office. Gavin was feeling quite confident on Daddy's step ladder. We'll be ready to move in this weekend. All of us are just a little excited!

Yesterday, Aunt Kristen had to work but Mommy had the day off - a rare combination. Working on Memorial Day? That's insanity! So, Gavin and I headed over to school to visit Kristen in her library. We arrived shortly before the final bell and quietly chatted with Kristen in her office. Once that bell rang and the kids were gone, Gavin was off and running, chasing Kristen through the stacks!

Running and yelling!

It's a good thing libraries are so stuffy these days, demanding peace and quiet! Gavin does not do peace and quiet well.

He stopped briefly to share a quick story with Kristen.

And then he was off again!

Running, yelling, and eating .... in a library?! Oh, dear!

Must you follow me everywhere with that camera?

He made a new friend...

And played peek-a-boo ... of course!

He didn't want to leave. More!

He is almost a Kindermusik graduate... He's a professional cat chaser... He's about two-foot-nine, 24 pounds... He likes bananas and ... he just got a haircut.

Inspired by Elaine's description of Kramer at her bachelor auction in the Seinfeld episode "The Barber." Watch it!

It probably hasn't been hard to notice that Gavin's hair has been out of control again and has desperately needed haircut #3. Just like my own hair, I don't know what to do with long curly hair on sticky, humid days like we've been suffering lately. We abruptly altered Gavin's routine schedule during the past week with visits to the new house and numerous shopping trips so we didn't want to stress him out even more by cutting his hair (he cries for 5+ minutes straight). Last night provided the best opportunity so out came the trimmer! Every time we cut his hair, his head suddenly looks half its previous size and he ages eight months!

Gavin had lots of fun playing with some wood shims this afternoon while Daddy finished hanging the door to Mommy's office in the new house.

And, yes, that's a big red bump on his forehead in the first photo. He tripped on the brick patio at the house this afternoon shortly after the photos inside on the stairs were taken. After some brief consoling, he was running around again literally less than a minute after the bump. Yup, he's ALL boy!

GGpa recently gave Gavin a very special gift - the money bank he had as a child. Gavin will gradually obtain many family pieces over the years and already has a few from both sides of the family, but this is the first piece to skip two generations and go directly to him. When he's older, I hope he realizes how special the bank is, that his great grandfather saw him as a little 16-month-old and wanted him to have this bank to save his coins.

GGpa grew up on a farm in tiny Walnut Bottom, Pennsylvania. Over the past three decades, I've heard story after story about my grandfather's life on the farm and I always love hearing them. He had such a different life than I've had, a young rural farm life that very few kids experience anymore. His stories are few these days, but when Gavin and I visited the GG's yesterday, he shared a new one that I hadn't heard before. Remembering that he recently gave the bank to Gavin, GGpa told us that many different sales people visited the farm frequently. In addition to salesmen like the meat man, a junk man also visited regularly looking for items to collect. After some time, GGpa and his sisters understood the types of wares the junk man sought and would search out items for the junk man between his visits. When the junk man returned and collected the new items, he'd pay young GGpa who deposited the dimes in the bunny bank.

It seems like "just a money bank" but I picture my grandfather's young, tiny hands placing those coins in the slot over 80 years ago and think it's so special that Gavin's little hands will soon do the same.

Here, I was aiming for a creative shot of the bunny with Gavin blurred in the background. Gavin chose to take a Quaker oats container and yell into it because he thinks his voice sounds funny that way. So much for the artsy shot. The giggles heard at the time make up for it, though!

Making bunny hops and some noise he thought bunnies might make...

This shot is overexposed, but I simply adore Gavin's eyes. Would I sound too repetitive if I said they are the most beautiful shade of blue that God ever chose to paint anything in this world?

If you visit anytime soon, be forewarned that you will have a little visitor pounding on the door if you need to use the *ahem* facilities. Gavin recently developed the habit of slapping the door and yelling whenever anyone attempts to do private business ... in private. He doesn't stop at simply pounding and yelling, either. It isn't rare for him to lay on the floor and yell into the crack under the door. We have no idea how he developed this habit but suspect he may have learned it from the cats. It may sound annoying and maybe we think it will be if he keeps it up for a long time, but for now we find it completely cute and hilarious!

This week started off just like any other. Gavin played with Little People and LEGO bricks for hours. The cats tried to escape Gavin's wrath but failed. Mommy gave up on trying to photograph her constant motion toddler. Oh, yeah, and we bought a house! After looking online for months (literally, I've been obsessed since October), we looked at four houses and townhouses one Saturday with our realtor last month and knew the first one we visited was our house.

We have a separate private blog documenting our experiences with our first house. Just let me or Jeff know if you want access. The lease on our apartment is up towards the end of June so we aren't moving into the house quite yet and will be gradually taking boxes over, painting, and doing some minor installations and renovations. Jeff will be very busy for the next few weeks!

Gavin is so excited! He'll finally get his own room and has a huge back yard to play in.

Gmummy's friend, Carol, was in town from Florida all week and got this housewarming gift for Gavin (already carting some practical housewarming supplies from Gmummy).

Gavin's Little People cars will sure fly over the smooth wood floor in the living room!

He's still most interested in lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling...

Gavin loved riding in his new wagon. He's showing his sign for "more" here...

Good gracious! Gavin is in HEAVEN in this back yard! It's in desperate need of some weed whacking and loving care, but will soon be the best soccer field a toddler could want. We're already looking forward to next winter when Gavin can sled down the hill!

Mine! All mine!

Oh, yes, Mama! This will do fine!

We went back in the evening even though the house is nearly empty and there's not much to do. We just enjoyed being in our house!

We started moving some of Gavin's toys over so he'll stay occupied while Daddy works on the house during the day.

We think Gavin heartily approves of his new home!

Daddy roasted some coffee beans outside on the porch this afternoon. The boys were very intrigued.

This afternoon we visited the brand new LEGO store that opened on Thursday at Crabtree Valley Mall. Oh dear, am I in trouble now! I feel like I should reprioritize our monthly budget to allow the boys frequent visits to this mecca of Danish plastic.

After being enticed by the new farm sets, extensive Duplo selection (Gavin's favorite), and plethora of pick-a-brick choices, we managed to leave with just one item - a big green plate on which Gavin can attach his Duplo bricks. We spent quite a while playing with it when we returned home, constructing a path for the Duplo car and building all sorts of towers. Gavin seems to really enjoy having something to attach his bricks to rather than just joining his bricks together.

Yesterday was Aunt Kristen's birthday. She turned a mere 396 ... months old. That's how it makes sense to Gavin, anyway. He doesn't really get this "years" business yet. The fam came over for a pizza party and then we all indulged in a chocolate mint cake that the birthday girl made herself. Unlike the cupcakes served at his own birthday party, Gavin loved his aunt's cake and couldn't get enough of it. We limited him to a few small bites.

When the cake was unveiled, Gavin swiped the icing with his finger and wiped it on his pants in 0.82 seconds flat. We all thought it was cute and reacted in surprise which made Gavin believe he did something wrong. I'm sorry I disturbed your perfectly smooth layer of chocolate ganache icing, Aunt Kristen.

This cake was certainly a worthy one to go down in Gavin's life history as his first ever cake tasting: chocolate cake with peppermint buttercream icing and chocolate ganache.

I can't always explain my son's actions, but I like to take pictures and interrupt a storyline...

Oh, that looks like some good stuff, Mama!

Yummy! Gimme more! Gimme more!

Gavin really doesn't like posing for pictures (remember Christmas?), even with a birthday girl.

But he loves the sight of arms outstretched towards him.

And melting into a hug...

Since he began walking six months ago, Gavin has worn just one pair of shoes. We didn't necessarily plan it that way (we were told to expect him to outgrow the shoes in just two to three months). He's just never grown out of them!

His shoes are dark brown and looked great with the long pants he wore all winter. However, shorts season has arrived in Raleigh and dark brown shoes capping off pastey white legs wasn't Gavin's best look. He was due for some sandals to ventilate his swamp feet on hot days and also needed some new light-colored shoes for the times that sandals aren't acceptable.

As mentioned in the last blog entry, we found Keen sandals at REI.

It was a bit windy...

These sandals are lined with neoprene so they're super comfy, I can only assume. They don't leave any red marks on Gavin's feet, at least!

At Stride Rite, we found a nice pair of light beige "Preston" sneakers. They're his first pair of lace-up shoes!

The nice lady at the store measured Gavin's feet. He's only a size 6 now - just a half size bigger than the first pair of shoes we bought way back in November!

Gavin loves wearing shoes. When we're ready to leave the house and ask him to get his shoes, he always finds them and brings them to us so we can put them on his feet.

Where are your shoes, Gavin?

Today, Gavin's parents joined a Raleigh church, a very warm family of Christians who have already expressed so much love for Gavin. Although he doesn't officially become a member of the church until he's old enough to make that decision himself, he really enjoyed shaking hands with many of the church members today. After watching Mommy and Daddy shake hands and having them hold out his hand for shaking, he got the hang of it himself and started holding his hand out for anyone who walked up to him! Everyone thought he was so cute. :)

Gavin got new shoes this weekend. He still hasn't outgrown his first walking shoes that we bought in November (and were only supposed to last 2-3 months before they would be too small), but he needed a pair of sandals now that the weather has warmed up. Daddy has been very resistant to the whole sandal idea, but we finally found a pair of which he approved at REI: Keen Newport sandals in "camo."

As if he wasn't already a rough and tumble boy already, Gavin officially joined the club yesterday. He scraped his knee for the first time. He was walking on the sidewalk to the front door and stumbled, barely brushing his knee on the concrete. Ah, the consequences of warmer weather and wearing shorts! Mommy is tempted to make him wear pants all summer to keep his cute little knees clean - ha!

Gavin's current favorite books are a few classics: The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, The Poky Little Puppy, The Happy Man and His Dump Truck (he points to the cat on every page), Richard Scarry's Busy Town, and Goodnight Moon. We usually read a few books each night before he goes to sleep and Daddy reads several during the day. We sit together in the recliner and when he's ready for the next book, he climbs down from my lap and puts the book we just finished back on the shelf before selecting the next one. He knows most of his books by the cover and can even tell the difference between the two Cat in the Hat books, which have very similar covers!

He "says" thank you by making a two-syllable "hmm-hmm" when we hand him something. He may not speak the words, but at least he's trying to be polite!

Gavin finally signs "more," a word that Daddy has been trying to teach him since he was eight months old! The baby sign for "more" is touching your fingertips together and Gavin's interpretation is more like punching his fist into his other palm.

He hugs himself whenever he sees Mommy and Daddy hugging and, for the first time yesterday, when Daddy told him that he loved him. Gavin, however, still hates "family hugs."

Gavin recognizes which tiny toys are the cat toys and brings them to the cats when he finds them.

Gavin no longer eats baby oatmeal for breakfast. He eats a half cup of Quaker oats with water, cinnamon, flaxseed meal, and wheat germ. He spoon-feeds the entire bowl himself and actually gets most of it in his mouth! He eats more oats than his Gmummy does every morning! The only baby food he still eats is Gerber Graduates cereal puffs - the sweet potato flavor is his favorite.

Gavin is tall enough to easily reach Daddy's cordless computer mouse now without stepping on the shelf besides the desk. He likes to steal it. Mommy keeps her cordless mouse further from the edge of her desk than Daddy does. :)

Gavin "counts." When three or four toys are lined up, he'll individually point to each one in a row and say, "hmm," for each one with an emphasis on the last one. Hm hm hm HM!

Gavin's long list of words he recognizes grows every day. Here, he answers Daddy's question, "Where's the engine?" by pointing to his only Fisher Price Little People car with a functioning hood. He has about a dozen Little People cars but searches out this specific car and lifts the hood whenever we ask him where an engine is!

Mommy and Daddy have reached the point where they have to spell words they don't want Gavin to understand when he's around. This became apparent yesterday while shopping at the mall with an increasingly hungry Gavin and we confirmed to each other that we brought F-R-U-I-T-B-A-R-S for his snack. Had he known we were talking about his fruit bars, he would have immediately begged for one!

Gavin loves to hide toys behind his back. Where's the truck?

There it is!