Spring has arrived in Raleigh so we drove to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens on the campus of Duke University on Saturday morning to enjoy the blooms.

Stopping to smell the flowers...

Being told to stand and pose? Not so fun...

Being told to bring a flower petal to Mommy? SO much fun!

Gavin found all of the benches and had to sit on every one...

I love the way Gavin is sitting in this shot with his little pigeon toes pointing up! :)

Gavin rarely uses a stroller, preferring to explore on his own two feet. He got quite a workout walking around the gardens! 

Hi, Mom!

Well, it's March 26th again, a date that has no particular significance for us other than being the day I happened to snap one of my favorite photos of Gavin during his first year...

... and recreated the same picture exactly one year later...

I couldn't let the March 26th tradition end so, knowing that attempting this pose would be nearly impossible with 2-year-old Gavin, I gave it my best shot. It's funny to remember how difficult I thought this photo shoot was one year ago simply because 14-month-old Gavin wouldn't sit still. This year, he not only doesn't sit still, but he also doesn't like to have his picture taken and is extremely stubborn when asked to do something he doesn't want to do! Here is the picture that most closely resembles those from the previous two years:

Besides the obvious color differences on the wall (New house! We can paint walls!) and the red shirt (someone didn't want to take his shirt off), I'm actually surprised I was even able to get him to lay on his tummy on the bed and for that reason alone, I consider this photo recreation a complete success!

Gmummy was my photographer's assistant for this shoot and she'd been standing to the side with her arms folded. Gavin had been playing on the bed not wanting to listen to his photographer's instructions, climbed off, and imitated Gmummy by standing near her with his arms folded (always the comedian). I suddenly knew exactly how to get Gavin to lay on his tummy on the bed so I asked Gmummy to lay down in the same pose I wanted from Gavin. My plan worked like a charm! Gavin immediately climbed onto the bed and mimicked her.

Now that he was having a little fun and forgot about being stubborn, he really opened up and started smiling away for me. Content that I'd gotten a shot vaguely similar to the recreation photo, I kept snapping away at my adorable subject...

Around the time this one was taken, Gmummy was scolding the pregnant woman for standing on the bed...

My favorite shot of the day...

Gavin likes to play with his cars on the living room window sill. Let me rephrase that, Gavin's day simply isn't complete unless he spends at least one hour driving his cars and trucks on the window sill and he requires a specific set of seven rules to be followed regarding his window sill.

Rule #1: Only Gavin may play with cars, trucks, or any other toy vehicle with permission to grace his window sill. No parents, grandparents, aunts, or any human being other than Gavin is allowed.

I don't know why Mommy is dedicating an entire blog entry to my window sill rules. I don't think I have unreasonable expectations.

Rule #2: No cats allowed! Any cat who dares to set foot on Gavin's window sill will be forcibly removed by an adult following a failed attempt by Gavin to lift the cat off the window sill. Note that the only time Gavin doesn't adore the cats is when one walks on his window sill!

Rule #3: Only toy motor vehicles allowed. Gavin played with train cars on the window sill for a short while after receiving his train set as a Christmas gift. He soon realized, though, that train cars and engines aren't "real" cars so they are no longer allowed on the window sill.

Fisher Price Little People vehicles

Rule #4: All vehicles on the window sill at any given moment must belong to the same set. These sets are Cars matchbox cars, non-Cars matchbox cars and trucks, and Fisher Price Little People vehicles. When Gavin has decided that one set of vehicles has had enough time on the window sill, he will move them all of the train table and add the new set of vehicles one at a time. The mixing of sets is never allowed.

Cars matchbox cars, including Sally, the newest car to enjoy solo play time

Rule #5: New cars earn the privilege of a solo window sill drive. Whenever Gavin returns home from the store with a new car, he clears all vehicles from the window sill and plays only with the new car for several minutes. New cars should appreciate this one-on-one time with Gavin. After the novelty of a new car wears off, it joins the other vehicles in its set and never enjoys solo privileges again.

Rule #6: When cars are in a line, they must all face the same direction, as demonstrated by the set of non-Cars vehicles below. If one vehicle is flipped to face the opposite direction, all remaining cars must follow suit.

Rule #7: Curtains must remain clear of the window sill. Gavin seems to forget that his window sill is actually in the living room of the house and as such, Mommy might actually want to decorate it, you know, as a living room! He is not a fan of the curtains that were recently hung on both sides of the window and will make his frustration clearly known when one creeps across the rod and covers any part of his window sill.

Occasionally, Gavin takes a break from playing with cars at the window sill to play with something completely different, like, his Tag Junior book ... about Cars.

While I was taking pictures of Gavin playing at his window sill this weekend, something strange happened...

Several times, Gavin noticed I was taking pictures and he actually didn't mind!

Rather than grunting and stomping his feet as usual, he actually watched Mommy lift that little black box in front of her face and make that clicking sound and he almost smiled a few times...

Really?! He did that, Mom?

That's just shocking!

Tell me about it! Thanks for a few cute expressions, my sweet!

Eh, it a hard job being cute, but I'm up for the challenge!

I don't have a drop of Irish blood in my veins and Gavin has little to none as well, but that doesn't mean we don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day with yummy food! On Saturday, I baked "green velvet" cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I never thought I'd ever make a cake batter that was the same color as my mixer...

I made both regular and mini cupcakes, and hired my wonderful helper to spread the icing...

I gave Gavin one cupcake and a bowl of icing for a trial run...

So far, so good...

He was satisfied with his application of icing on the first cupcake so I gave him a mini cupcake to work on next...

Wait a second! This step wasn't part of your instructions, Mr. Highsmith!

No, this was definitely not part of the plan! Icing first! Eat later!

Why am I not surprised that a toddler doesn't understand that process?

I gave him one more mini cupcake and he promptly ate that one, too, after spreading a little icing on top. Then I fired him.

I went downstairs to raid the kitchen for an afternoon snack today and caught a glimpse of this outside:

Our grass was in terrible shape when we moved in last May. Jeff fixed it up pretty nice, but winter turned it into a mess of weeds and moss again. So, father and son spent some time fixing it up, plucking dandelions, and picking moss by the handful.

Gavin picked moss for an hour. An HOUR! Such a good little helper, than son of ours. He'd rip a handful from the ground and dump it into the bucket over and over again.

Mommy, of course, had to take over a dozen pictures of mundane manly housework. They were just so darn cute working together side-by-side that I couldn't resist!

Oops! I've been spotted!

Sorry, folks. He's not for hire. He's mine!

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring: the air is warming up, tiny buds are growing on tree limbs, and Gavin wore a t-shirt today for the first time this year! Of course, I thought this exceedingly monumental occasion was a great excuse to take a ridiculous number of pictures of my son.

I returned home from a morning walk to find Gavin and Daddy sitting on the front porch. "Aw, Gavin was so excited for me to return home that he had to wait for me outside," I thought. No, Daddy quickly explained that they'd been reading a book with the picture of a garbage truck, so Gavin had to wait for one outside, still not understanding that the garbage truck only drives through our neighborhood once a week and not on Fridays.

Today was still pretty exciting, though. Although Gavin doesn't mind the cold weather at all or being required to bundle up layers upon layers of shirts and coats, it's quite liberating to explore the yard wearing just a simple t-shirt.

When Gmummy arrived to play for the day while Mommy and Daddy worked, he knew exactly who to give his flower to...

Having dirtied his hands in weeds and wood chips, how does a fastidious two-year-old clean up? By wiping his hands on his shirt, of course.

This is the expression I usually get when I'm conspicuous and Gavin doesn't want his picture taken...

He still has the same "trapezoid mouth" that reminds me of his infant days...

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!