Gavin has been having a really good summer - I can tell he's really starting to mature and advance in his social/emotional skills - who knows if it's the extra help he received this past year at school (although we definitely did not see a big change during the school year), or if he's just now catching up to what is age appropriate? The major change is his attitude towards Harper - I mentioned in the last post how he recognizes her as a person now and actually interacts with her. One of their favorite activities is for Gavin to duck down behind her crib and pop up with a loud "wheeee" - Harper sees him coming and she ducks down in anticipation. Gavin loves to make her laugh and Harper is a willing audience. She still gets on his nerves of course, but their interaction is a huge leap forward. Gavin is also more outgoing with kids that he knows - asking them to join in his games (like galloping) or asking them to play or if he can borrow their bike. I know that he's never going to be the social butterfly of the group, but if he can make a few friends, that will be good for him. Can you believe he's going to be 5 in September? Only 13 more years before he goes to college (hee, hee)...
Harper is growing leaps and bounds in everything - she's such a fun, joy filled baby - it's amazing to watch what she can accomplish! She is learning new words every day - in fact I realized we are heading to the pediatrician in a week or so and they always ask how many words she knows, so I have to keep track. We still don't have a clear word for what she calls Gavin, but she definitely has Ry-eee (Riley) down pat. She is very strong willed (hmm, wonder how I happened to raise 2 of them?) so it's hard to steer her in a direction she does not want to go, but it's all fun no matter what. When she is done with her plate or cup, she says a very direct and clear "Mahmy" - so I have to go and get said plate or cup from her as she is finished and no longer wishes to have them on her tray, thank you very much. She knows to say "Up" and "Go", especially when she wants to go "Nigh-Nigh", which she still does very willingly. I think she calls her bunny blanket "Mimi" and she can do many animal sounds - cat, dog, monkey, lion, bear, owl are a few of her favorites. She is really starting to hug, kiss and take care of her "baby" (which is pretty much any stuffed animal) - this is a big difference between her and Gavin. Gavin couldn't care less about stuffed animals - if it didn't have wheels, he wanted no part of it. Harper on the other hand, loves to pick up dolls, cover them up, give them kisses....guess this is where the girls really differ from the boys. Overall she's just a nice, sweet and happy baby - with these gorgeous electric blue eyes.
So since our vacation in June, we traveled to Michigan for 4th of July. Now it has been hot here all summer - something like 20+ days of over 100 degrees - so we were looking for a break by heading to Michigan. No such luck, in fact, in may have been hotter there than it has been here. I recently bought 5 dresses that I rotate every day - anything to try to keep cool! Anyway, we headed to Michigan to celebrate 4th of July, my cousin Lindsey's wedding and Garrett's 2nd birthday. I was debating whether to take Gavin to fireworks as he is not really into loud noises and they start so late. Luckily people were letting off fireworks to the North, South, East and West of my parents house, so Gavin and I sat at the end of my parents driveway and just watched in any direction that the noises came from. Gavin liked them this year and wasn't too bothered by the noise. We also bought sparklers and snap pops and he really liked doing those as well. My parents neighbors were nice enough to let us jump in their pool a few times during the week, which helped keep us cool and entertained. My cousins wedding was outdoors and it was so hot that my elbows were actually dripping sweat during the ceremony - didn't know that was possible! Luckily it was a short ceremony as that poor groom was in a full kilt too! Garrett's birthday was another fun outdoor activity (heavy, heavy sarcasm) - don't know why people in Michigan think outdoor events are all the rage - at least in Missouri we know that events in summer belong indoors. But it was good to see lots of family and friends during the party and help Garrett celebrate birthday number 2.
Gavin also played T-ball this summer - yet another way to avoid the HOT weather every Saturday (yup, still dripping with heavy sarcasm). He needs to work on throwing overhand and actually catching the ball in his glove, but overall this was a good sport for Gavin. He still hates when he runs for a ball and a teammate beats him to it, but he loves batting and running. I'm pretty sure if Gavin could just run all day, every day, he would do it! Everybody bats and takes one base until the last batter which is when he gets to run all the bases to signal the end of the inning. When Coach Mark asked him if he wanted to bat first or last, Gavin of course answered first... until he realized that the last batter gets to run all the bases after batting! He quickly switched to being the last batter and ran those bases like the race car that he always pretends to be. I did catch him picking dandelions and watching the other games instead of paying attention the game he was in, but who can blame him - sometimes it takes a while to get through all the batters.
So to wrap this up, I took Gavin and Harper to meet my Mom and Dad at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana - it's an amusement park that I've always wanted to take Gavin to as I had heard that it was very kid friendly. We all had a great time and Gavin was able to ride a ton of the water rides, so he was in 7th heaven! I forgot to take my camera into the park and we were on water rides for the majority of the day, but I have a few from my camera. On Wednesday, Harper and I packed up and headed home and Gavin headed home with Grandpa and Grandma.
So Gavin comes home day after tomorrow and we can't wait! It's been nice to have Harper to ourselves for a while, and I think she has enjoyed the one on one time as well, but we miss him and are so looking forward to his arrival home!
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