Days with the Dawsons: Gabe, Gabe, Gabe

As the summer has been flying by, Gabe has just been growing & changing so much. Some days I just look at him & wonder what happened to that little tiny baby we brought home from the hospital. I think we only had that baby a couple of days before this grown boy emerged! :) He continues to talk up a storm & repeats dozens of words if you say them to him. We are working on connecting those words with objects & concepts, & he is quite the smart little cookie. He definitely knows what he wants & tries so hard to communicate this. He will point & talk & point & talk as I hold up objects only to have him scowl at my error. I know we are both frustrated with not being able to always communicate. Some days I can't wait for him to start using more words just so I know what he is thinking!

We have also been working on using utensils while he eats instead of his fingers or me feeding him everything. He is fairly skilled with a fork & getting better with the spoon. He managed to eat most of his oatmeal this morning & even had Cheerios in milk the other day. After spooning out most of the Cheerios he tried to lift the bowl to drink the milk & ended up dumping the milk down his front...thank goodness for bibs with pockets!!

Gabe has become quite the little helper/budding neat freak. I have always secretly hoped that Gabe will never be as untidy as David, & it seems that I may get my wish. I'm not sure if he just watches me pick up all the time or if he has a natural inclination towards tidiness. However, he will help pick up toys like his blocks or his balls, & he will put his dirty clothes in the hamper every night before bath. He helps me do laundry by putting the wet clothes I hand him into the dryer. He also knows where his shoes are in the closet & will put them away or get them out when needed. My favorite thing that he does is to pick up crumbs or dirt off the kitchen floor & throw them away. He sometimes tries to put them in the sink instead of the trash can, but he's picking them up & not eating them! :) The other day, he took an almost empty box of cereal bars off the lazy susan, set out the cereal bars to play with (& I think hopefully eat), opened the pantry door & then put the box in the recycling next to the trash. I was dumbfounded when he closed the door & went back to playing! The best part of it all is when he claps for himself after he does something. I try to cheer along with him & can't help but smile.

In an effort to save a little money, we recently decided to disconnect our cable. We can get local channels & then watch other shows online as we want to. I recently looked for kids shows for Gabe to watch, & he has really gotten interested in watching Curious George. The episodes are only 15 mins long, & he enjoys watching George get into trouble. I like the episodes because George can't talk either so he has to communicate in other ways. But, Gabe can now say "George", gets excited when we talk about him & insists on reading the one Curious George book we have at every nap & at bed time. We need a new book!!!