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!

by Jeff

Okay, so he doesn't really catch the cars. The only thing Gavin can reliably catch at this age is a cold. Nonetheless, it's amusing to watch his face as he first hears the voice of Lightning McQueen signaling the impending launch of a car from the closet. After he gets his car and I ask him to show it to me, he does his "excited" thing where he grins and tenses his arms so hard his little body shakes. When I ask him to thank the car's sender, he looks at me as if he knows that I'm the one who sent the car (I did, for the purpose of capturing this video) and then does his "thank you" noise super slow.

Now that you've seen how happy the cars make him, how can you possibly resist sending him one every time you visit?

If you're wondering how and why our closet emits cars, catch up with these two previous entries:

What's in YOUR Coat Closet? - Video of the actual car launcher (removed from the closet–the closet is too dark for video), along with a few technical details on how the system and the launcher work.

Play with Gavin - Video of a Gavinless launch, as well as an introduction and instructions on how to send a car to Gavin yourself.

by Jeff

If you're the geek parents of a car fanatic, maybe it's something like this. Another of my weekend projects, this video shows the homemade machinery behind the "Send Gavin a Car" car-launching feature of this web site. I brought it out of the closet for a little introductory video. To recap the original blog entry, clicking the "Launch Car Now" link on this web site will send ones and zeros from your computer all the way to the coat closet in our living room. A sound clip from the movie Cars will play, followed by a toy car shooting out from under the closet door into the living room.

For those interested, the "Launch Car Now" link triggers a bit of PHP script on the web server which sends an email to Traci's home computer (that happens to sit right next to the closet). When the computer's email program finds a properly coded email, it runs an AppleScript that pauses iTunes (if music is playing) and raises the volume to a level commensurate with gaining the attention of a hyperactive two-year-old. The script then triggers an applet I wrote in the Processing language. The Processing applet plays a sound bite of Lightning McQueen psyching himself up for the race in the movie "Cars". The applet then establishes a serial connection with the microcontroller on the car launcher (a Parallax Board of Education ) and sends a notice to launch a car. The microcontroller performs a bit of logic checking with it's sensors and switches while running the servo motor to open the launcher door (mounted to the garage section on a drawer slide) until one of my little black tabs interrupts the infrared beam to signify that the launcher door has opened exactly one garage bay. The car slides out into the excited hands of our son. Don't worry, video of Gavin running to the closet will come soon. You can watch Gavin's reaction in the Catching Cars blog entry. The car launcher then sits idle with the launcher door partly open until the next launch command is received, and continues in that manner until the launcher door is all the way open, at which point the launcher door closes and the launcher waits to be reloaded. The PHP script on the web server makes sure the "Launch Car Now!" link is only available during Gavin's normal living room playtimes, and also limits the number of launches to five per day.

Oh, and we do have coats in there, too.

Gavin's latest book recommendation (his first was Moon Plane) is the Cars Essential Guide published by DK. Perhaps "recommendation" isn't a strong enough word. Gavin is obsessed with this book and all things Cars! Gavin asks to read it several times every day in addition to paging through it himself. Daddy reads him this book...

Mommy reads the book...

Gmummy reads it to him...

And he reads it all by himself...

Each page focuses on a different character or scene from the movie with lots of pictures and paragraphs of text.

It's not necessary to read all of the text on the page to tell the story, so we randomly pick a few paragraphs to read on each page so Gavin hears something a little different every time and we don't get bored from reading the book so often!

Gavin has most of the Matchbox Cars characters and often matches them to their pictures in the book...

Two big cheeks for the Cars Essential Guide!

Raleigh's second snow of the season began falling on Friday night. By morning, there was a two-inch-thick blanket of light, fluffy snow in our yard.

Gavin begged to go outside but just played at his sand table for about a half hour. He always loves playing at his sand table and doesn't mind the cold weather one bit!

Since Gavin could care less about the snow, I ventured into the woods behind our house to take a few pictures.

After watching Mommy and Daddy sled down the hill a few times, Gavin finally decided that snow might be fun after all and rode downhill with Daddy.

Then, Daddy pulled Gavin around the house a few times in his sled. Faster! Faster!

Having tired of the sled, Gavin walked up the steep hill and into the woods all by himself. He was quite determined!

Daddy shook the trees to make snow fall. Good times!

When we reached the opposite edge of the woods, we stopped to wave at cars driving by on the road and make some snowballs. Gavin thought this one was rather wimpy...

This is more like it!

When we wouldn't let him walk closer to the road, he threw a minor tantrum on the ground. The End!

Baby Brother hasn't been getting nearly the attention on this blog that his brother had during this phase in his life. So, this post is all about the little one on the way, due to arrive in just over two months.

Today, I had another prenatal appointment. Just like his brother, Baby Brother is a perfect in utero baby. At every appointment, my belly measures exactly the right size, my test results are all perfect, his heartbeat is strong (today he kicked the doppler - feisty little thing!), and my weight gain is right on target (I'm actually exactly the same weight that I was when I was this far along with Gavin!). My appointments are now biweekly and I also see a hematologist every few weeks for blood tests. My blood platelet levels were lower than normal at my first prenatal appointment back in October, but they've been slowly rising ever since and are now just on the low end of normal. I keep going to my "vampire doctor" to make sure they don't drop again.

We haven't really thought about names yet. Gavin didn't even have a name on his due date so we're a little slow with this process! We're trying to stay away from another -in, -an, -en ending so that the name doesn't sound similar in any way to Gavin. There sure are a lot of popular boy names right now with that ending! We're also trying to stick with a maximum of two syllables. Gavin's middle name was decided pretty early on, but we aren't even close to choosing a middle name, either.

Gavin doesn't have any concept of what's coming. He hasn't even really noticed that my belly is bigger. We'll keep talking about the baby more, though, and maybe he'll catch on sometime before the baby arrives!

No, we are not going to keep trying for a girl. This is by far the most frequent question when I tell people we're having another boy. Why do so many people assume that every mother needs a girl? We are completely thrilled to have two boys. I get more excited with every passing day because I already know how incredible little boys are and can't wait to have two! Some women are desperate to have a girl and there's nothing wrong with that; I'm just not one of those women! That's not to say we would have disappointed with a girl by any means. We simply don't feel like we need one to complete our family.

Having another boy is definitely beneficial for our checking account since we already have so much boy gear. Being a second child myself, I know what it's like to get hand-me-downs throughout childhood and will definitely make sure Baby Brother gets new toys and clothes, but it's nice to know that the basics can be reused - jeans, coats, pants, blankets, toys, etc. Gavin certainly benefits, too, because it's easier to justify lots of clothing purchases for him now that we know they will be used twice!

I purchased Baby Brother's first new clothes recently for his first year photo project - a set of identical blue onesies in every size up to 12 months. I took a photo of Gavin every day of his first year but am realistic and know that won't be possible for this little guy when there's an older brother in the house! A different photo project is in store for Baby Brother that will hopefully be just as special. :)

Baby Brother has become quite active in the past two months. I feel him move throughout the day and some of the kicks are really hard! Before New Year's, I usually only felt him in the evenings when I was quietly resting.

Less than 75 days to go! Can't wait to meet you, Baby Brother!

by Jeff

You don't want him planting a real kiss on you, anyway, he's got a bit of a runny nose.