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.

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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.

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

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Quite simply put, if you click the "Launch Car Now!" button on this website, a car will shoot out of our coat closet.

After you click the "Launch Car Now" link on the left sidebar of this blog, a sound clip from Gavin's favorite movie will play in our living room followed by the coat closet automagically dispensing a toy car. The sound should give our little car fanatic enough time to run over and catch the forthcoming car. The "Send Gavin a Car" section in the left sidebar will let you know if a car is loaded and ready to be launched into Gavin's eager hands. If a car is loaded and ready, click "Launch Car Now" to send a car. If a car has been recently sent, you will be so informed and recommended to come back after I've had a chance to reload the car launcher. If you visit the blog outside of Gavin's normal playtimes (9AM to noon and 3PM to 7PM), you will get a message explaining his absence and suggesting you try back later. Have fun!

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For awhile now, Gavin has been regularly attending a terrific free-play program put on by a local gymnasium. With Mommy along on her day off work, I was free to run the video camera and capture a bit of the crazy running-about behavior that Gavin so enjoys.

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Gavin really enjoyed the first couple slides, but by the time we got the video camera out he was beginning to realize how fast and scary it was.

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Gavin prefers warm chocolate cake to brain-freezing ice cream, and does not appreciate being deprived of either.

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In this video of Gavin's second birthday celebration, you'll see that Gavin does not like to wait to play with cars, and enjoys singing even less.

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On December 31st of 2009, we took Gavin to the aquarium to celebrate his second birthday. Traci previously posted a terrific photographic narrative and now I've finally remembered the video I shot. Here's a loose montage of Gavin's excited pointing, grunting, and general awe.