3 and a half year old Gavin!

I’ve been trying to write updates on Gavin at least twice a year or so, and thus it looks like we’re due for another update!

Gavin is just over 3 and a half years old! Every day he seems like he still grows so much and I can’t believe how close we are to having a FOUR year old! I won’t lie, there are times I really wish I could reverse time and go back to when he was a snuggly little baby to re-relish in those times, but I just love the little boy he’s become too.

So here’s the latest and greatest talents of Mr. Gavin:

-This boy loves to talk! If you’ve read any of my past posts this is no surprise. Or if you’ve met his extroverted Daddy, this is also no surprise. But there are many times Tom and I look at each other and smile because Gavin will literally talk your ear off all day long. Sometimes I wonder if he is able to take a breath with how constant he’s talking!  A lot of what he has to say is asking “why” still, which I honestly don’t mind at all, because it’s fun to see how inquisitive and desiring he is to get to know the world around him and make sense of it all.  The way toddlers minds think just amazes me.  He also likes to tell us his interpretations of the world around him too.  Sometimes though things get a little off in the description which cracks us up.  For instance, I like to tell him about when he was a baby and how he used to be in Mommy’s tummy. The other day he told me that someday I’m going to be in his tummy and he’s going to be my Mommy.  Interesting though eh? J

Here are some of my other recent favorite quotes of Gavin's. He sure has us cracking up on a daily basis!

"What does holy mean? Does it mean guacamole?" 

"Mommy, I really like candy, cookies, peanut butter cookies, lobster, and crab"

I asked Gavin to call his Daddy and he yells "Tom! Tooooooooom!" 

He also likes to call our dog Marty "Marcina" or more recently "Marcina-rina".

-Another passion that continues is his love of all transportation.  This love continues to grow and his knowledge base is honestly impressive if not startling to me sometimes. I sometimes call him the "Rainman" of cars and trucks.  He makes Grandpa Denison proud with how well he knows his cars. When we drive around in our car he can name you off almost any car you see.  He knows Dodge Durango's, Saturn Views, Smart Cars, Mini Coopers (he likes to call those Coops), Volkswagens (which he pronounces in his best German way "VoltsVagen"), Nissan Exteras (which used to be his favorite car), you name it.  He has a fleet of his own cars and trucks at home that he likes to park around the house.  

-He's still an outdoors boy.  Anytime we have a halfway nice day out he's pleading to go outside. He has mastered his trike and has quite the endurance level for biking around the neighborhood.  He also loves to pull his little red wagon around and push his big firetruck around.  He loves to blow bubbles or even better pop bubbles that Mommy blows for him.  We got some new outdoor toys I'm excited to try out with him this summer.  We also can't wait to visit the splash pad close to our home.  We recently got a different kind of bike trailer as he's really grown out of our Burley Bee as he's just so tall--his legs stick out and he can put his foot on the back wheel of our bike tires so not super conducive to safety anymore.   

His first try in the new trailer didn't go so well as he got scared, but I have faith he'll learn to love it and we'll be enjoying lots of family bike rides this summer, one of our favorite family past times.  

-He's still got his cute little blonde curls.  Over the winter I questioned whether his hair was starting to turn darker but now that we've had some sunny days it's brightened up again to his same bright blonde.  He loves knowing that he has blue eyes and likes finding out what color everyone else's eyes are too, even his stuffed animals.  As I mentioned above, he's reallyr really tall for his age.  Literally at the top of the growth chart and the tallest kid in his daycare class.  I can't wait to see if this trend continues, it'll certainly be weird when he's eventually taller than me, which feels like it won't be too long now! Last time he was measured he was almost 43 inches tall and about 42 pounds.  

-Bedtimes and nap times have been smoother than they have in quite awhile.  We had a few weeks where he was really trying to rebell against his afternoon nap and I feared the end of naps (aka Mommy and Daddy's break, let's be real here) as we knew them, but he's settled back in to taking a good solid 2 hour nap each afternoon, sometimes longer even.  Putting him to bed has also gotten easier.  We used to go through a major rigamarole every evening trying to put him to bed with a hundred different questions and requests for more snacks, more water, more blankets, more bathroom trips, you name it, to delay bed time. He's really settled in though and we have a great routine of bathtime, putting on jammies, eating a small bedtime snack, brushing teeth, reading a few books, singing some songs while either Tom or myself lay in bed with him, then hugs and kisses and we say goodnight.  We still use his sheep clock (a kid's sleep training clock) we got awhile back and it really has helped get him to sleep until a decent time in the morning.    Then when he wakes up in the morning he yells out loudly "Mommy, Daddy my sheep woke up!!!" so proudly that he slept through the night.  

-About 3 months ago we went on our first big family trip since he was 6 months old when we went to Hawaii, and this time went to Clearwater Beach, Florida.  We all had a blast and can't wait for future family trips!  We flew down all together and Gavin was a trooper on the plane ride down, even when we got delayed with snow, and even napped for a bit on the plane.  We joined Tom on his work trip so Tom had work duties the first 3 days, but that gave Gavin and I some good Mommy/Son bonding time.  We went to a children's museum and an aquarium together and got to see a dolphin show.  The last 3 days Tom was off work AND the weather warmed up considerably so we were able to swim in the pool and went to the beach to build sand castles and dip our toes in the freezing cold water.  Gavin's biggest highlight of the whole trip though was riding in a golf cart shuttle that took us from our hotel to the beach.  He thought that was the most excellent thing ever (see transportation adorer above!).  

Gavin, we love you so much and you bring us so many smiles and sweet moments everyday.  We love your cuddles, your inquisitiveness, and how smart you've already become.  Here's to more memories to come!