Aunt Cindy and Uncle Chuck visited us from Florida last week. We planned to show them the great outdoors of our fair city. First, we suffered though enjoyed a game of basketball with Chuck.

Gavin felt a bit of a height disadvantage so he escaped to the nearby playground with Mommy. It was shaded. Mommy had no complaints!

Gavin loves slides! He'd slide down and beg to go right back up top again.

OK, maybe Mommy should put down the camera and be a better spotter...

After spending enough time running around in the August heat, we headed to Umstead Park, refueling with lunch before hitting a trail.

It didn't take long for the playground exhaustion to catch up with Gavin. He missed seeing most of the trail!

We did a bit of hiking while in the Smokies over the weekend. Gavin usually rides on my back during our hikes, but at the end of the day, we gave Gavin a break from being carried everywhere and let him do a bit of his own hiking about.

This morning, Gavin and Daddy went to a local gymnastics club for the first of four "Tiny Tumblers" sessions. Gavin was awfully proud of the sticker he got to wear for the rest of the day.

The session is a free-for-all for one-year-olds to try out the gym equipment. Gavin walked on balance beams, climbed on stacks of gym mats, waded into a pit of foam blocks, and danced on the long spring-loaded tumble track. Mommy will insist that Daddy brings the camera to one of the remaining sessions! :)

This is Gavin's latest "smile" for the camera. He gives me a cheesy grin and shuts his eyes with his eyelids wiggling. I guess he's observed that many people appear to shut their eyes when they smile!

It was a long week at the Highsmith house. Daddy and Gavin spent the entire week battling colds. Gavin's fever never returned, but he had a cough and runny nose for days.

He only napped for a short time because his stuffy nose kept waking him up. :(

Many movies were watched. Gavin now has two favorite movies: Toy Story 2 and Cars. Good taste!

This is not my usual rambunctious boy! If the pajamas look familiar, they are the same ones that fit him last August!

On Tuesday evening, the air conditioner broke. It wasn't fixed until Thursday morning so we spent the days at Gmummy's place and the nights in our warm house. Gavin copied Daddy's method of keeping cool.

The guys are still on the mend and not 100% back to normal, but they're improving every day. And life is certainly more bearable with a cool house!

Gavin started off his weekend with a trip to Aunt Kristen's pool. He enjoyed floating in the refreshing waters...

... until Mommy and Daddy tried pushing these water wings on him. We had a dry run with them in the living room the night before and he didn't mind wearing them at all. On this morning, though, the water was a bit chilly, the sky was a bit overcast, and he just wasn't in the mood for something new.

Mr. Pouty Face always wins.

After swimming for a half hour, he was ready for dry land again.

Hopefully the water will be warmer again next weekend.

View the Video

Every once in awhile, the funny little feller will come up with something completey different. Our job is to contain our laughter well enough to 1) not necessarily encourage the boy, and 2) record the outburst for posterity.

View the Video

Though Gavin likes him that Grand Old Duke, his most special favorite activity is playing cars.

View the Video

If you want to get on Gavin's good side right quick, bounce him through a coupla rounds of The Grand Old Duke of York.

I couldn't leave Gavin's blog hanging with two sad entries, so I'm passing along a report that the patient was rather well today and back to his normal self, whatever "normal" is for Gavin! Here, he is playing his latest favorite game with Daddy. He runs behind the couch and peeks over...

Then, he starts giggling at himself and runs around to Daddy who's sitting on the living room floor...

He presses his nose against Daddy's covered face until...

PEEK-A-BOO!!!

So, yes, Gavin is doing quite fine now. Not a smidge of a fever left and acting crazy again!

Yesterday, Gavin's great-great Aunt Minnie passed away. We last saw her just this past Sunday as she and Grandma passed through Raleigh on their way to Indiana. Gavin gladly shook her hand...

Time spent with Minnie was time filled with laughter and love. She provided one of our favorite quotes from the end of the Raspberry video, "What a kid!" We love how she says it in that gruff voice. :) And she certainly loved her great-great nephew (two Easters ago)...

Minnie will be dearly missed, but we'll be sure to pass down the juicy family stories she so willingly shared with all of us - when Gavin is old enough! ;)

Well, we knew it would happen eventually. Gavin woke this morning burning up and registered a temperature of 102.4 degrees. He's officially had his first fever. I've been wondering if he's had fevers that have just gone undetected (I mean, seriously, the kid is 19 months old and has never had a fever?!) but after feeling his skin this morning, I know we didn't miss any before! The poor little guy was so hot to touch. Still no sniffles, coughing, or other usual sick symptoms. This kid's got a powerful immune system!

Some Motrin helped to bring his temperature down, but he was definitely not his active, crazy self the entire day. Gavin and Daddy spent much of the day bumming on the couch watching a parade movies: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Bee Movie, A Bug's Life, Shrek 2, and a new one that Mommy picked up at Target this evening - Cars! Of course he'd love a movie all about cars!

He eventually started feeling better and got up to play, but spent a majority of the morning and evening like this...

Finally posting the last of the weekend photos ... These were taken Saturday evening. Fun with a rock and a water hose ...

Grandma Highsmith and Great Gauntie Minnie spent the day with us on Sunday for a too-short visit while traveling to Indiana. Gavin and Grandma quickly got down to business with a LEGO construction project.

What grandma doesn't want to spoil her grandson?! Gavin loves his little Cars chair and gardening gloves. We have a fledgling herb garden and plan to dig a vegetable garden in the back yard next spring.

He's not so sure about the gardening apron, though. Yes, his shirt is soaked with water. Long story. Don't ask.

Gavin can never resist The Grand Old Duke of York.

More!

Life for a 19-month-old doesn't get much better than sitting on the front porch in the morning wearing your pajamas waiting for the garbage truck to drive by!

This morning, Gavin decided he wanted to use Burt as a pillow. He rested his head on Burt, but by the time I got the camera, he was up on all fours looking like a bull.

The still image may suggest otherwise, but Gavin was gently laying his head on Burt's tummy. Burt should win some sort of award for being the calmest, gentlest, most loving and understanding cat alive!

On Saturday, Gavin shopped till he dropped, searching for deals on the tax-free shopping weekend. Our destination was The Streets at Southpoint in Durham, the best mall in the Triangle!

Gavin started the adventure with Gmummy while Mommy and Kristen shopped for clothes. He got a bit tired of the stroller.

Gavin's best Bob Wiley impression: Freeeeeee! Freeeeee!

After the group reunited, Kristen couldn't resist a quick game of hide-and-seek. She just covers her face and Gavin presses his face against her hands. Obviously, it's insanely adorable!

Ready for lunch, Gavin?

We grabbed a quick bite to eat in the food court. Gavin loves sitting in big boy chairs.

Gavin is an expert stalk... um, people watcher.

Refueled, we were ready to explore the outdoor Main Street section of the mall.

With three pairs of arms to share the load, Gavin was happily carried or walked the rest of the day, especially when he was able to touch the super-soft blankets at Restoration Hardware.

The highlight of the day was the water fountain. Gavin got mad at Mommy because she refused to let him jump in.

She didn't really mind, though. It freed up her arms to take more pictures!

Gavin most certainly did drop when the shopping extravaganza concluded. He was deep in dreamland by the time we arrived back home.

View the Video

Daddy and Auntie Beth took the Young Master to the local natural sciences museum yesterday. Among other things, Gavin enjoyed watching the fish swim about, and later surprised everyone with a previously unknown ability to make bird noises.

View the Video

Gavin is quite atlhetic now, due to all the running about and exploring that are themselves products of his age-appropriate curiousity and attention span. His is now able to gain the height of a regular dining chair with only minor difficulty, and can mount the sofa or recliner with a mere flop and grunt. Once in the big-boy seat, he mimics the lazy adults he lives with, leaning back and relaxing.

View the Video

Gavin makes a lot of heartbreakingly cute noises and gestures, but raising a child isn't all rainbows and butterflies. While trying to elicit a performance of his latest cute noise, we accidentitally evoked a couple of his regular noises of discontent.

View the Video

Ah, to be easily entertained...

Another month went by. How'd that happen?! Time sure is flying fast this summer!

Gavin's new favorite books, in addition to all of the books from last month, are The Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss and Puss in Boots.

reading an all-time favorite, Go Dog Go, with Gmummy:

Gavin watches almost no television, but has been introduced to the cinematic masterpiece that is Finding Nemo. He's seen it twice in the past month and I've given him my Nemo stuffed animal. He seems to like it but doesn't have the attention span for television. It's not that we are deliberately trying to avoid the television. We just don't watch it much! The only television he experiences on a regular basis are programs on the Food Network and HGTV, but he won't sit for more than three minutes and watch either before he gets bored and finds some LEGOs to play with. I'm dreading the day when he gets hooked on scary shows featuring grown men singing corny songs while dressed in jumpsuits of primary colors so we're trying to delay his introduction to children's programming for as long as possible!

He still has no desire to try new foods. We're trying new cereals for snacks but he has no interest in foods other than his stand-bys: oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce, bananas, cereal bars, bread, pancakes, and cereal puffs. Unfortunately, this sounds quite reminiscent of his mother's affinity towards grains and carbs while shunning most fruits and veggies, so the apple isn't falling very far from the tree! The only breakthrough in the past month was a slice of toasted and buttered cinnamon-raisin bread.

We currently aren't pushing new foods too much because Gavin is still teething his second set of molars. He's been chewing on anything and everything in sight for the past month and I just haven't had the heart to be pushing new foods on him when his mouth is already hurting.

Gavin runs everywhere. He doesn't seem to walk much anymore - he's always running!

He discovered that putting his fingertips in his ears serves two functions: everything gets quieter (this is especially helpful when the vacuum is running) and voices sound really funny. He'll often plug his ears and then urge us to talk to him.

Gavin is still wearing only 12-18 month clothing. He even still wears one pair of 6-12 month shorts! This is quite a change from last year when he was always ahead with clothing sizes - wearing 6-12 when he was still 4 months old and then 12-18 when he actually hit 6 months! He still wears his BumGenius one-size diapers on the largest setting or size 3 Seventh Generation disposables. The kid has a tiny tushie!

When he wants to go upstairs, Gavin gets a toy and sits on the bottom step. He fidgets the toy until someone notices him and offers to go upstairs. He knows he's not allowed to climb up the stairs without supervision!

Gavin has nearly weaned down to one bottle of milk a day. He gets sippy cups of milk all day long, but gets a bottle first thing in the morning and just before bedtime. We've successfully transitioned to a cup for the nighttime feeding several times and hope to be bottle-free by next month's update! Pacifiers are another story but we're not trying to wean him yet, especially while he's teething. He's only used a pacifier while napping and sleeping for a while now.

Gavin is beginning to learn colors. He can usually correctly identify red and blue.

Gavin is our little helper. He loves to help with chores. One of his favorites is laundry. He'll stand in front of the open dryer and throw each article of clothing in as its handed to him from the washer. When the washer is empty and I say, "all done," he steps back and shuts the dryer door.