Lost August Blog Post

I am in the middle of catching up on blog posts and found this one from the end of August... okay, so I'm posting it a month late; better late than never, right?!

August 26, 2011
We have been enjoying spending Gabriel's evening bottle outside under our umbrella in the backyard too much to acknowledge the end of August. As usual, we are not sure where it went but know we lived it because we are exhausted!

We've been busy visiting with Gaye, helping my mom clean out her house in preparation for her upcoming move, spending time with G and, of course, school. The past couple of weeks have been particularly stressful as we have been in finals.

I shared the Zoo visit in the last post, and unfortunately we've been a bit bad about keeping up with photos, but I do have some updates and a few pics to share about where G is now:

• At last count, he has four front teeth on the top and four on the bottom, two molars on top (one on each side) and bottom. For a total of 12 teeth!

• He loves doggies! Podi and Meko... and really any dog, even ones in print. He finds images of dogs on the table and carries them around with him. I hope he doesn't end up in therapy from being forced to seek love from paper doggies since his real doggies are incapable. He also loves his stuffed doggie from Kristin. Whenever we ask, "where is your doggie?" he first points to Podi and Meko, then to his stuffed doggie (he always seems to know where it is).

We call these Gabriel's Important Papers :)



• He surprises us daily with the words he knows (but doesn't say yet).

                    Tree
                    Foot
                    Nose
                    Belly
                    Elbow
                    Doggie (he actually says this one)
                    Milk
                    More
                    All Done
                    No (though he pretends not to know this one)
                    Lie down

• His patience is worse than mine. If he can't pull his toy box out, can't get his arm immediately into his shirt, or doesn't get the food he wants he breaks down into giant sobs.

• He loves to sit and "read" his books. Perhaps all of our studying is rubbing off on him :)

• He has started roaring/growling at things. His books, images of doggies, his food. I'm not sure if he's a little dinosaur or taking after bad little Podi and Meko!

• He walks holding on to just one of our fingers, or his little toy on wheels. We've found him just standing (not holding on to anything) a few times for several seconds, but still isn't very interested in full-on walking on his own.  **Update: since writing this, Gabriel has officially turned into a walker :)

• He turns over baskets and containers and drums on them. all of our conservatory friends can rejoice... perhaps he will have a musical interest/skill where his mommy and daddy do not!

• He tries to dress himself. He puts shoes on his feet... literally on top of his feet. He tucks fabric, socks, blankets, whatever is around under his chin, I presume as his bib. Sometimes I catch him playing with one of his 'baby leg socks' under his chin. He determinedly holds his chin against his chest or shoulder to keep it there. So cute!

• Pulling out his socks and shoes and empty baskets are still some of his favorite games.

• He is drinking more and more from his cup (instead of the bottle) and really enjoys water.

• He knows the sign for more and uses it appropriately and insists on it whenever there is potato salad in sight. We have to work on the sign for 'all done' though - he uses it, but I'm not sure he knows what it means exactly. When he's all done, he seems to use the sign of throwing his food on the floor. we have to work on that one :) Mama has been a little behind on the signing... so he very well could know more, if I were actually teaching other signs to him!