G at school!

Today was Gavin's last day of school at the Savannah Chanel winery location. We have been here for a month, and now its time to go to Saratoga Springs!

Gavin looks forward to school all week long. We talk about it and he tells us all the things he likes best at school...."Teacher Becca, friends, creek water, banana slug, ladybugs, truck books and snack" he tells us.

Right when we get to school Gavin RUNS up the trail to the site. He never runs this fast, but he sure knows where he is going! We are always the first to arrive, and Gavin heads straight for the sand pit with Teacher Jane. He then starts playing with her, making "noodle soup" and "bupcakes" in the sand. He immediately starts talking with her, and telling her things. Then he spots "Teacher Becca" and he's off ot see her. He pushes the dump truck up and down the little "heel" (hill) and does not care that he is far from everyone else. He is in heaven.

Then we gear up and hike over to the creek. Most of the other kids need some help getting over the big fallen tree trunk...not G! He climbs right over it, and is off running to the creek. He goes straight to the measuring cups and starts making more soup. Then he adds rocks and dirt to it. After soup, he looks for bugs under the rocks. He keeps telling Teacher Jane he wants to see "banna sugs" and grabs her hand hoping she will take him. They look and look for them...but no such luck today! Then G trips in the water and falls down...Oh no. Right away Teacher Jane steps in and tells him not to worry, that she will help fix the problem. They go out of the water and sit together. She takes off his boots and empties the water. He calms down right away. He would not have been that calm with me! Then she is able to get him laughing...again, when G gets wet he is usually DONE! Not today, teacher Jane knew the tricks. She doesn't know it, but she is also teaching me tips on how to be patient:)

Next its snack time. Today its grapes, and that perfect for Gavin! He loves grapes:) They are all cut up in the bowl and there is also a big vine with grapes attached. Gavin pushes the bowl aside, and grabs for the grapes off the vine:) Everyone is so amazed that he would rather eat the whole grapes off the vine....I just sit and watch, he is now showing off his eating skills:)

Next is story time on the mat. Teacher Becca reads a story to them, and they all kneel up real close to her to see the book. Gavin calls out the answers to the questions....It is Brown Bear Brown Bear which he loves. Gavin then gets up and runs to the painting table. He makes a "petty art" for me and then watches as two of the others fight over the paint...he just observes them. Kyelie starts crying and Gavin says "Kyee cyying now, so sad!" We help calm her down, and help her with the paint. Gavin just watches.

Last is our "hike on trail" for lunch.We all hike down the hill, through the woods and under some fallen trees, and end up in a sweet little spot under a bay tree. We all sit to do one more story before lunch. While Teacher Becca is reading, all of the sudden a breeze sweeps through and all the bay leaves start falling. Gavin looks up and says "Snowing LEAVES!!!" They smell so good, and its such a pretty sight. So glad fall is here:)

Its time to say goodbye after lunch. Gavin jumps up and shouts "CIRCLE TIME!!!" and runs to hold hands. He LOVES ring around the rosie...so so much. We only do it two times, and he asks to do it 5 more. Then we sing our songs and say goodbye. We walk back to the car, and Gavin is asleep before we even get to the main road! We are so glad that we picked this school...such a magical place for him.

2 Monkey's!

We met Hsiaolei and Kekoa at Kirk park last week, and they boys had a blast being monkey's. (Thanks Hsiaolei for the cute pics:) They are both into climbing everything, and of course hanging! The second picture is my favorite...they are just so stinkin cute...and all smiles:) They also look sooo grown up together...seem so big now...feels like yesterday when we met Kekoa at swim lessons when they were just babies!!! Time sure does fly by...

Gavin's first art class

Last week was Gavin's first art class at the community center. He loved the different stations, and did each one by himself. "Gabin do it!" he says. Then after he makes art, they have "circle time" and Gavin seems to really like it! Never in my life would I think that Gav would enjoy sitting still in a circle....but he does! Huge shock to me...he sits and LOVES when the "ring naround rosie" part starts. He is the first to jump up and grab hands. Definitely a fun class! 

I could not take pictures, it was way too messy. One thing Gavin does NOT like is wearing any sort of protective clothing/smock/apron. He will not have it, so I just let him become a huge paint/glue/glitter mess. No big deal, we just hose him down when we get home:)

Monkey or child?

G will figure out a way to climb on ANYthing these days. His upper body strength is pretty amazing...can pull himself up on anything. He also jumps really well now, and can even fall from the monkey bars onto his feet...and stick the landing. People keep asking me "when is he training for the Olympics??" I think this winter is the perfect time to find a fun gymnastics/tumbling class. Until then, he will continue to climb up everything he can in our house...

G & Ma

What would I do without Grandma "Ma" Dayle??? I am pretty sure I would not survive. She spent the day with Gavin today, while I ran a million errands and waited in Kaiser's medical records line for TWO HOURS! It would have been a complete nightmare dragging Gavin there with me, and thank goodness I did not need to. Gavin is thrilled to be with "ma" and pushes me out the door. The relationship they have is very special...We are all so thankful for her!

Over a week....

And NO accidents! I am still in shock that G is potty trained...it was so easy for everyone...including me:) We are very proud of you Gavin!

Kinda funny/sad story. Today when Gav woke up from his nap, he sung/moaned/read books in bis bed for 15-20mins. He does this every day, and he needs this time to "wake up" and not be grumpy. It gives me time to finish up doing whatever I am doing. Well, today he was nice and happy until he started SCREAMING. I ran in his room, and he told me what happened. "Poo-poo in DIAPER, go POO-POO IN POTTY!!!!" He had gone potty in his diaper, and he was really upset about it! We ran to the toilet and tried to "go more" but it was too late. We flushed the poop, and he was happy it "made it in toilet" Hahaha poor thing! We have NEVER made a big deal of accidents, and certainly not when he is in a diaper in his bed!

On to a cute story. Whenever Gavin is done on the potty, and we are washing hands, I will say "Gavin, You did SUCH a good job!" and he will say "Momma proud....Daddy SOO happy!" because these are the things we say to him....I just smile when he says this:)

Big Boy Gavin!

When I was at work last Sunday, I got a picture message on my phone of Gavin going poo-poo on the toilet for the first time! I was so proud, and so was Gavin & Daddy!

From that moment on, G has been in big boy underwear! (Still has diaper for nap and bedtime) He has been doing GREAT! A few pee-pee accidents here and there, but for the most part he knows when he has to go, and tells us! I am pretty sure he even understands to hold it when there is no potty in sight....and if he really has to go, he will shout "PEEEEEE" to me, and we will run to the nearest bathroom! (or tree:)

Since we spend SO much time outside, and school is outside, he has learned how to go potty on a tree or "pee-pee on dirt pile" :) He actually prefers to go outside over inside! Haha he is such a boy!

One little issue....the poop outside! Of course, he likes to poop outside! YIKES, this is not fun for mommy! The past few days he has gone #2 out on the driveway....he will come running to me to tell me afterwards, and of course he is proud...I am happy its not in his pants, but really???? Ever since G was little, he never was a squatter when he went #2...he always stood to do it! So now, telling him to sit, is kinda funny to him, he prefers to stand! When he goes in the potty, I have to keep reminding him to sit to go #2....or else its a mess;)

Overall we are SO proud of Gavin. We never pushed potty training, and let him tell us when he was ready...which I think is key. The transition was very smooth, and he caught on so fast. Next up is teaching him to get his underwear and shorts on himself....this would really help out my very sore back!

{Gavin 25 Months}

Dear Gavin,

Wow, I can't believe that you are over 2 years old now. 25 months seems silly to write, so I am not sure how I will do this from now on, BUT I have been writing you a letter each month since you have been born, and I am not going to stop now!

This past month you have had a lot of new things going on...first real illness, travel to Ohio, starting potty training, and starting school! So many firsts for you, and of course you have handled it so well. You are also talking in sentences like crazy now, and there is never really any confusion with what you want or need...and you even talk to strangers in sentences...and even ask them things! You recently asked the carpet sales lady to "go get you a pillow please" so that you could jump on it while playing on the showroom floor. You also asked a man at the grocery if he could "go buy it for Davin" (You were holding Oreo cookies, and I told you that we could not buy them....so you moved on to a strange man!) Shy is certainly NOT one of your qualities. You talk to strangers even if they are not paying attention to you...:)

Except the few rough nights when you were sick, your sleep has been as great as ever. Most days you don't get up until 630 or 7am and you go to bed at 8pm. Your naps continue to be 2.5 hours, and you are still in your crib....with blankie/paci! Your Dad and I have talked about the paci, and how we think it might be time to take it away soon...but since you just started potty training, we will do one thing at a time. We really want to do it before your little brother gets here!

Yes, we found out you will have a little brother! We are SO excited about it, and we think you are starting to get excited too...Every night at bedtime, we all read books in your room. You sit on Daddy's lap and read and then go to my lap. You get confused when you can't lean back on my belly, and then you snuggle with baby. You lift up my shirt, pat my belly, and then lay your head down on it to snuggle...and you even give it your blankie:) It could be the sweetest thing I have ever seen you do. We asked you last night what baby's name would be and you said "Baby brother" :)

We have a very busy fall schedule with school, art class, and playdates. You saw the pumpkin patch getting set up today, and you are so excited to "Pick Pumpins!" We look forward to a really fun fall:)

We love you Gavin!
Momma & Daddy

First day of Mountain School!

Today was Gavin's first day of school! He now goes to "The Mountain School" in Los Gatos, and we love it! He had a lot of fun playing in the sand and water, and he LOVED his Teachers! We are excited for a fun year ahead:)

The Mountain School

Back when I first met Derek, I learned about “The Mountain School” from his childhood pictures. Dayle told me about this magical school, and from that moment I hoped we could send our kids there. The pictures I saw were so cute, Derek outside in the dirt and sand….”cooking” and playing. It just looked really neat. Then when I was pregnant with Gavin and on bed rest, I had nothing better to do than check out preschools for Gavin…Of course it seemed so far away, but I had run out of things to do while I was home alone all day for 7 weeks…I even made a little chart about all the schools and what they involved. (I made lots of charts while on bed rest…again nothing better to do…and I can’t believe that I admitted this!)

I knew that I wanted to take Gavin to a PPP if I could. (Parent Participation Preschool) At a PPP I would go with Gavin, and help with the day. I quickly learned that there were different kinds of PPP’s. Some schools you drop them off one day, and then stay the other. You also stay at “your station” and help all the kids with that station (Art, clay, color) They were also pretty strict about the “schedules” while at school, and the kids were “supposed” to participate in each class activity…These just did not seem right to me, not for a just turned 2 year old.  I don’t think he needs a structured school setting yet, he’s just a toddler. He needs to explore, and have free play, I think that’s how he learns best. Then we went to the “Mountain School” open house. I was so relieved to see what I saw. It really was a magical place, and Gavin seemed to fall in love with it...after all, it is an outdoor school, and outside is where Gavin is always happy.

First of all the Mountain School is an observation nursery school…quite different than the others. While I still attend with Gavin each week, I am not there to “work” the school. The philosophy is that “the parents are the students, and the children are there to play.” Seemed a little odd at first, but then I learned more, and fell in love with the philosophy. It makes so much sense to me now. They want the parents to “observe” their children in their own free environment. They want us to see how they learn, and see what works for them. We are there to learn from the teachers, and to learn how our children navigate their surroundings.  They say safety is the #1 priority, so if something is unsafe, we are to step in, but other than that, we are there to observe. 

Don’t get me wrong; the responsibilities of this school are quite a lot. We are to write down our “observations” at class, attend a class meeting every other month (with the parents and teachers in the class), attend a “work day” once a year (Where we go to the schoolhouse and fix/help make it better), and bring a class snack a few times a year. Not to mention that Derek and I were asked to be on the school board (this is where there is a lot of work involved!), so that’s another monthly meeting AND we are making the school newsletter…quite a lot! But that’s OK, because it’s a great place and it feels so worth it to us. It’s like a little community, and everyone seems to love it so much…that all their kids go there. I have already been to a few meetings, and they are actually pretty fun! They are after dinner, in teacher Jane’s home, with food/wine. Very informal, and lots of neat mom’s/dad’s to talk with…There are also LOTS of fun events with the school that we can go to. Turkey Trot fundraiser “race” in the fall, winter auction, fall and spring camping trip, fall and spring picnics, and a many others.

We hope to keep G in the Mountain School all through preschool, and hope that he develops the same amazing memories that Derek did! Derek still remembers some of the things they did, and so do other parents who went there. The really neat part is that Teacher Jane (Assistant Teacher) was Derek’s teacher when he was 2!!! (She is also the school director) She is the sweetest woman I have ever met, and just loves the kids so much. She has been there over 35 years, and says she just can’t leave. She is full of wisdom and patience, and I hope to learn a lot from her…Gavin’s head teacher is teacher Rebecca. She is wonderful and just loves the kids. All three of her kids went there years ago, and she fell in love with it. She also teaches at another school, so she brings a lot of experience.

The school is at three different places throughout the school year. All on the same MountainJ In September it is at Savannah Chanel, which is actually a winery. One of the prettiest wineries I have ever seen in person…it is in the redwood forest behind the winery…with a creek, sand pit, and TONS of woods to explore. In October, class is at Saratoga

I think this is going to be a really great experience for Gavin. He has been talking about it non-stop all day and night, and loves to look at his "Pictures of new school" over and over. :) More to come!

Potty Training week one

One day last week while I was at work, Daddy started to potty train Gavin. I came home (Monday night) and G had used the potty 2 times! Since then, while we are home he has been wearing big boy underwear, and only having some accidents. He will tell us when he needs to pee, and then we go with him, and he goes. He is SOOO proud of himself, and then he knows that he gets a "treat" after he goes potty...it is some sprinkles (we used to put on cupcakes) and some nerds. (the only candy we have in the house from last Valentines day!, thanks Grandma!!!) About 5 each, as he likes to pee a LOT!

I had no idea that he was going to catch on this fast!!! I was honestly dreading the process, as I thought it would be a LOT more difficult! I guess that since he is ready, its not too bad! By no means is he completely potty trained, he still has yet to poop in the potty...and we also are still putting on diapers when we leave the house, but we will get to that soon enough, for now we are just letting him call the shots about when he wants to wear his "underwear" and diaper, and so far he is choosing underwear:) I have no idea if this is the right way to go about it, but so far so good...this is how first time parents learn, right?? :)

Fall is here!

I can’t believe that Gavin starts SCHOOL tomorrow!!! I am just so excited for Gavin to start this experience…I know he will love it! I will do an official school post tomorrowJ

Fall is already looking to be nice and busy for us…just what I need after being told to “take it easy” and “stay off your feet” by my doctorJ I told her I am no longer picking up Gavin (or trying) and resting when I can. :) There is a solid 2 hrs a day that I put my feet up. The house and meals are really suffering, but I can clean and cook AFTER this baby is born…for now we will continue to have Arnold hairballs all over, and I am OK with that! HA! I think its time to find a house cleaner...no really, you know its bad when DEREK takes the initiative to clean the BATHROOM!

This is what our week looks like. Mondays are grocery, laundry, hang at home, go to park day. Nothing planned for Mondays. Tuesdays are playgroup day with his Willow Glen playgroup. Wednesdays are Art Class at the community center. Thursdays are library storytime. Friday is SCHOOL. Saturday is family day/zoo/hang at home. Sunday is Mommy work day. All the activities are in the mornings, as G naps from 1-330 so afternoon stuff is out of the question, unless it’s a park trip after nap. Most nights of the week, we walk up to the school to play on the playground…so there it is!

Writing our week out makes me tired already…but of course I am SO very thankful that I am able to be home to do this stuff with G. It is what I always wanted to do, and I feel blessed. I am also thankful that I still have my work too…going to work is very enjoyable for me now, a HUGE change from what it was back when I was full time when G was a baby…I look forward to it, have great friends there, and its always a challenge. For all of this I am thankful.

I am trying to sit back, and really enjoy this time with Gavin. It is so special to me, and I know that at any moment I could be put on bedrest, so until then I am soaking it all in. I also want to enjoy this last fall season that it is just me and G. It is so easy to just get up and go, and he is so much fun to hang out with…I want to remember this timeJ

Dinner date & Flying with KK

Tonight we had Danny, Angie and KK over for dinner. It was a nice evening, and we sat outside to eat hamburgers. The kiddos had fun running around, and then after dinner KK and G went flying together:) The BEST part was watching KK's face when she was up in the air...it was excitement and then immediately PURE terror...then more smiles at the end...She asked for "more" over and over, so she really did love it! :) 

G and his iPad

I can't believe that I have never done an iPad post, so here it is! Gavin is obsessed with his iPad, and has been for a really long time. It is actually Derek's from work, but Gavin just loves it. As ridiculous as this sounds, Derek and I have talked many times about buying G his own...he really learns from it! 

Gavin know show to turn it on, unlock it, and go to his app section. There he has about 12 different games (all VERY educational:) and he plays them. He is really good at maneuvering around the iPad...better than me. He has learned about colors, shapes, opposites, matching and lots more. 

He got a Leapster "Laptop" for his birthday, and as soon as he found out that the screen is not "touchscreen" he said "no like it" !!! Hahaha Oh we are in trouble!!!

Cooking, Mowing, and Coloring with Gavin!

Here are some snaps of a typical day with Gavin and some of his favorite things. 

Cooking. Gavin helps us cook from the moment he wakes up. He helps Daddy make smoothie and egg for breakfast. He helps me make lunch, and then again dinner. He is involved with each step, and sometimes he just has his own pile of food to cook with that we (adults) don't eat...but he has no idea. Why don't we eat it? Do you like OJ on your eggs? Or peanut butter and watermelon toast? Haha he just LOVES to cook...and it does not stop at just stuff on the counter. Gavin knows how to work the blender, food processor, panini press, waffle maker, toaster oven, mixer, and the hand mixer. He could turn them on and off, and change the speeds/setting with his eyes closed. He uses all the kitchen utensils, and will help flip with the spatula, turn with the tongs, stir with spoons, and many many more. Of course, when he is helping us cook on the stove he is watched VERY carefully...same with knives, but yes, we let him use them! He starts preschool next week, and each week there is a "cooking mom and child"...we volunteered to bring and cook snack more than once!

Mowing. We all know Gavin loves to mow. He loves to watch others mowing, and he loves to help his Dad mow our lawn. I am still bummed that he was so sick in Cincy...because he had the chance to ride on the mower with Grandma...and if he was not feeling so bad, I know he would have LOVED it! He rides on his Dad's back, so a real mower was pretty cool...but at least he enjoyed watching it. It does not just stop with mowing. Any sort of edging, weeding or any yard work, Gavin likes. He knows how to edge with the hoe, and he will pull a weed when he spots one...anytime! We will be out playing in the back yard, and all of the sudden he will stop, pull a weed, and then tell me he's going to go throw it in the street. (Yard waste gets scooped up from a pile in the street:) Gavin notices edges everywhere. He notices when someone "needs to edge" and when he is walking on an edge. He loves edges. 

Last but not least, Coloring. Gavin has lots of arts and craft supplies, but markers he did not have yet. He had the kind that only show up on special paper, but he quickly realized that was not too much fun. So we got some real washable markers at Target, and he could not wait to try them out. A LOT more fun than crayons or pencils...and he made some pretty drawings. Most ended up on his legs and bottom of his feet:) He was SO proud when he showed me that the bottom of his feet were orange. Glad they are washable!

Better

I am so thrilled to say that G is all better...no more fevers, no more cough, and a happy child again. Still not eating as much, but I think thats because he was so used to not eating while he was sick. He lost about 3 pounds, so we bought some bacon and avocados at the market:) Time to get back to his good eating habits! I am just so thankful he is feeling better.

He is happy about it too...G is sure not used to being sick...and this one was a bad one.

We went to the zoo today, and he had a blast. He was very tired when we got home as he had not done that much activity in a long time!

Here is to another (hopefully) very long stretch in between illness!