We were pretty grateful that Gideon's doctor made it to his 15 month check-up today.  When I called to make the appt the receptionist told me that today is the day she has in the baby pool for the twins to be born.  Oddly enough we almost didn't make it due to Mac's train malfunctioning.  Gideon charmed everyone as usual and the shots were a battle, but all is well that ends well.  Here are the official 15 month stats:


wt: 27lbs 10 oz (80th percentile)
ht: 32.2in (80th percentile)
head: 19.2in (90th percentile)

His height is hanging steady in the 80th, his weight dropped a bit but his head is still quite the noggin.  Go Gideon! 

True Story

Here is a story that is going to make every parent of a toddler nod and sigh.  Mac was putting up yet another baby gate (The number one sign we were not planning on having children when we bought this house? 4 flights of stairs!) and Gideon was, of course, "helping."   At one point I saw Gideon carrying around a giant screw that was part of the gate so I said "Take that to daddy" and to my surprise he started toddling in that direction.  Mac saw Gideon coming with the screw in hand, but his hands were full and he couldn't take it.  Fast forward to Mac trying to finish installing the baby gate when he realizes he is missing an integral part- a giant screw.  We both recalled seeing the baby with it but neither recalled what had happened afterwards.  We spent the next hour tearing the house apart, asking Gideon where he put it (I even handed him a pen and stalked him to see what he would do with it), and questioning our sanity ("did I take it from him?", "did he ever have it?", "is any of this real?").  Finally I got down on my hands and knees and crawled around the house at Gideon level, opening cabinets, searching under furniture, and revisiting every spot that had already been searched but from a lower vantage point.  My first discovery was the yoga DVD I lost a week ago and actually reordered (luckily the package was damaged in transit, thank you gods of fate), then part of the camera case that we havent seen in months, and finally the large screw, in Noah's Ark (my mother later pointed out that it made no sense for it to be there because there was only one (ha ha ha)).  So I guess the moral of the story is to craw around your house at baby level once a week?

Luckily it is impossible to be mad at this:

So, what have you had relocated by a toddler lately?

Match Game

Again...Smartest Boy In The World!!!!!

First Word!

And it was...*drum roll please*... Shoes!

He has to put on shoes to go outside (his favorite place) and has gotten very good at bringing shoes to me when asked.  As we were getting ready for lunch with gramma CC I could have sworn he said "Choos"  but when I told Mac he was skeptical.  I still thought he had said it so while we were putting on his jammies I grabbed a shoe and after just a little bit of prompting we got the cutest little "sssss-oo?"   Smartest boy in the world!!!!!!

Members Only!

Gideon and I are now members of the coolest club around, that's right, we are now ZOO MEMBERS!

We went to the zoo with our besties Emily, Flint, Lyla, Michelle, Violet, and Aidan and while there decided that we wanted to be like the cool kids and join the zoo.  Now we can go whenever we want!

It was a really fun day and I am so glad to have good friends to do this kind of stuff with.

I love seeing them together like this.  We all tried to get pregnant at the same time and now we all have beautiful babies!

Aidan is the sweetest big brother, he ran over and said "I want my picture with my sister!"

Tacos!

Quattrochi lunch!

The kids loved he alligators in the zoo cafe and we loved that they were distracted so we could clean up from lunch.  Well played Fort Worth Zoo, well played.

Little boys looking at alligators

Gideon is a big fan of aquariums

"oooo fish!"

The Komodo Dragon never had a chance

Spoon!

Easter

Easter was pretty low key around our house, so much so that I totally forgot about his Easter basket until right before naptime and had to run to the car and get all of the stuff out (hopping chick, rabbit rubber duck, little people Noah's Ark, little people Easter bunny boy and basket (he is a big fan of the little people), and gold fish crackers) and put it in his bedroom while acting like that was totally how I had planned it.  After nap we went to my mom's house for an Easter egg hunt with my brother, Bethany and Liyah, her friend Jeremy and his son Jordan, and the Edwards.  It was probably the cutest Easter egg hunt ever with little babies doing their best to figure out what the heck we wanted from them.  My mom went all out and had 50 eggs to find.  The cool part was that each person had a special egg with their name on it that had a lottery ticket inside (Mac and I won a DOLLAR!).  After the hunt the sky opened up and dropped 3 inches of rain, but we didn't care because we were eating ham, potato salad, and green bean casserole, yum.  When we got home we took advantage of the perfectly cloudy day by taking naps.  All in all a great day.

We didn't take very many picture but there were a few cute ones.

Gideon was pretty tickled by the hopping chick rabbit thing

Figuring it all out

Peyton had this egg hunt thing down

"Whatcha got in there?"

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeremy

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy did not get a birthday video this year because instead we went to daddy's work and took him out to lunch at his favorite place, Red Lobster!  Gideon loves shrimp and now he also loves crab legs and cheddar biscuits.  That evening we had pizza and gave daddy his presents (a new book, a new tie, some movies) and generally relaxed and enjoyed the fact that now daddy is as old as mommy!

 Eating an enormous birthday meal/feast

mmmm, crab legs....

 

My Favorite Things (Part III)

My final favorite thing of the day is one I don't have any pictures of and probably never will because it is a moment I want to experience and I am perfectly happy not to document it from behind a camera.

Every morning (except weekends when Mac and I alternate sleeping in) Mac and I go into Gideon's room at 6:30 to wake him up for the day. Some mornings he wants Mama, most mornings he wants to snuggle Dada, every morning he squints and yawns and holds his sweet Ellie tight. We let him wake up slowly, rubbing his back in the dimmed lights until he is ready to sit up and then we give him more snuggles as he rests his head on one of our shoulders. Once he is awake enough Mac takes him over to the changing table and they chat and giggle while he changes his diaper and I go let the dog it. After that moment we all go our separate ways but for those few minutes it is just our little family hugging and snuggling. It is truly the best way to start the day for all of us.

My Favorite Things (Part II)

Gideon has a sense of humor. I was caught off guard by this; I know that he finds things funny but I had no idea he would make funny of his very own. The other day Mac and I went in his room to get him up for the day and he sat straight up and then fell over on his side into he blankets with a huge grin on his face. Then he sat up again and did the same thing. It was obvious he thought this was pretty hilarious and that he knew we thought it was hilarious. I think he might be like his mama, we love to "make 'em laugh." He does little quirky stuff like that all the time and it melts my heart. Like Monday he climbed into his tube and laid down in the bottom and laughed and laughed (I still don't know why that was so funny unless the very thought of doing something different is giggle worthy) and yesterday, I took one of his little cars and "vroom vroom"-ed it up his arm, which gave him the Giddy Giggles. Then he took a car and did it over my arm and across my back which gave us Giddy and Mama Giggles and pretty much made my day. Last night Mac was playing with him in the office while I was making dinner and Gideon wrapped himself in the curtains then popped out giggling, only to wrap himself right back up to start the cycle again.

We have been so blessed by his smiles and easy giggles, this is one kid who knows how to have fun!

Laying in the dog bed? Hilarious

Mama's feet? completely ridiculous

Stroller at the mall? Total gut-buster

My Favorite Things (Part I)

Spring has sprung with all of its mild sunny days and tornado spawning storms. Gideon has grown a ridiculous amount and in my eyes appears to be a giant (my mother put it in perspective the other day though when she said "he still looks pretty tiny to me."). The child has developed a real personality and I don't want to forget any bit of it. My favorite thing of the moment? Pointing. He points at everything. And it is an adorable three fingered point with his thumb jutting to the side, his pointer finger forward and his middle finger towards the floor. I can't believe I don't have a single picture of him doing it, because he does it all the time. He points at the dog, he points at cars, leaves, houses, toys. We took him to the mall this past weekend and he sat up straight in his stroller and pointed at nearly ever person who walked by like "hey buddy, let's be friends." Sometimes he goes full on E.T. and attempts to touch after the point and if you touch the end of you finger to his you are rewarded with a cascade of Giddy Giggles. The only downside? He may be pointing but not necessarily at what he wants. For example, at dinner time he often thrusts his little finger into the air and says "mama." This could mean he wants anything from a drink of water to throwing things at the dog. My hope is that soon he will actually point AT what he wants instead of using his finger just to make...well...a point.

Haircut

So I gave Gideon a haircut. His hair was completely out of control. It was adorable at times, but very shaggy and I could tell it was bothering Gideon, especially when it curled into his ears. Sooo it took a couple of days to finish because I had to wait for moments when he was totally distracted in a chair, i.e. Sesame Street time and meals. I think it turned out alright but he looks SO MUCH OLDER. and oddly he reminds us of his newborn days, probably because his hair was so short when he was a baby.

What do you think?