Gepetto finds his Jack O' B...and together they find Baby Jam Jam

2010-12-26T18:26:00.005-06:00

2010-11-21T16:47:00.000-06:00

2010-09-21T15:36:00.003-05:00

2010-09-21T11:31:00.001-05:00

2010-09-21T11:27:00.001-05:00

2010-09-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

2010-06-29T22:04:00.004-05:00

2010-05-02T15:15:00.002-05:00

Brotherly affection? We caught Bennett holding Gavyn's arm at the zoo while the two watched animals from a tram.

2010-04-11T22:32:00.002-05:00

2010-02-06T15:16:00.000-06:00

The Bathinator!

The King has entered the building

2009-12-10T15:26:00.002-06:00

2009-11-22T11:44:00.000-06:00

2009-10-24T20:58:00.003-05:00

I caught Gavyn sitting with Bennett on the big blue chair and Gavyn was watching a movie about coral reefs. I overheard Gavyn pointing out all kinds of different fish to Bennett--"see Bennett, there's a shark and a clown fish and an electric eel...AND A STING RAY!!" That's when I snuck up on them and snapped this shot.

2009-08-21T10:17:00.002-05:00

Centennial Lakes Clowning Around!

Just some recent pix!

2009-07-28T15:49:00.003-05:00

Mr. Bennett Giggly

2009-02-13T22:19:00.002-06:00

He Rolled!!

2008-11-30T18:18:00.000-06:00

Today was a landmark day in Bennett-world, he rolled over for the first time while having 'tummy time!' He's had the arched back thing down for awhile, but today he finally put the arched back together with lying on his tummy and pushing his arm away so that he just rolled right over.

Oh oh, this means it's time to put up the crib. Yikes! Pretty soon he'll be going to college...eesh

2008-09-28T13:41:00.000-05:00

Everybody Loves Baby!

2008-09-28T13:16:00.007-05:00

One min. clip of Bennett giving a brief preview of the smiles that have been coming in spades since this week (we work hard for these smiles)! Plus, a baby Urp for a finale.

Photolog of Bennett Harrison Schacher

2008-08-28T15:48:00.003-05:00

Two brothers and their babies

2008-08-28T15:43:00.003-05:00

Gavyn and Caleb swapped their younger siblings . Gavyn got to hold Lucy while Caleb got dibs on Bennett.

Silly Big Brother Gavyn

2008-08-28T15:35:00.001-05:00

Surrounded by loved ones

2008-08-28T15:33:00.002-05:00

2008-08-28T14:10:00.002-05:00

I was putting Gavyn down for a nap and I told him to have some silly dreams that he could tell me about later and he replied, "Like a dream about spiders with glasses who do flips [insert loud flipping and bonking noises] and then their glasses crash and break...and then they turn into marshmallows."
"The spiders turn into marshmallows?"
"No, their glasses break and then turn into marshmallows."
"Oh, okay. Well, that definitely sounds silly!"
I was just about to leave his room, satisfied that he was on the right track when I heard him calling me back.
"Yes?"
"Did you understand me?"
"Did I understand you and your silly dream about spiders who do flips and then break their glasses which turn into marshmallows? Yes, I did."
"Oh. Okay."
"Nightie night, Gavyn..."

Stuff Gav thinks about in the car

2008-08-14T12:04:00.002-05:00

We were driving to daycare, watching the rain drops splatter on the windshield and listening to Gavyn's requested song by the Beatles, "All Together Now." We had just been discussing the rain when Gavyn said, "They live really far away."
"What? The rain?"
"No, the Beatles."
"Oh, yeah, sure they probably do live far away."
"Why?"
"Why do the Beatles live far away?"
"Well, I guess that's just where they live...."
"In a yellow submarine?"
[grinning] "Uh, yeah, sweetie, I guess they live in a yellow submarine, huh?"
"Yes!" And then he added, "Under the water?"
"Yep, I'm sure they live in their submarine is under the water."
"With beds?"
"Beds? Um, sure, yeah, they probably have beds in their yellow submarine."
"And stairs?"
"Stairs??"
"No, chairs!" Gavyn retorted, "Chairs!"
"Oh, oh, yeah, okay, sure, yeah, they probably have chairs in their submarine. And probably even stairs...."
"And food?"
"Ah, you bet, Gavyn, I'm sure the Beatles have food and chairs and stairs--"
"And beds--"
"And yes, AND beds, in their yellow submarine."
There was a brief pause and then Gavyn stated, "Yes."
End of questioning. He spoke his words on the topic, "yes" with such finality that I sensed his satisfaction that he now intimately understood everything about the guys who live in the yellow submarine. Heck, except for living in a yellow submarine under the water, the Beatles aren't all they different from us, after all, right?

Yes.

The newest baby on the block

2008-08-06T13:55:00.002-05:00

Baby Bennett arrived at 12:03 PM Tuesday, August 5th weighing in a 7lb 9oz and measuring a whopping 20 1/2 inches long. Baby and Mommy are healthy and doing great! Here's some evidence of the big event. Stay tuned while we figure out how to include baby Bennett and Gavyn into one blog....

Gavyn's way of relating to his newborn baby brother

2008-08-06T13:49:00.003-05:00

Evidence that Gavyn is all ready for the arrival of his baby brother (we put the baby seat in Gav's room and Gavyn crawled out of his bed one night and we found him sleeping in the baby seat, soon to be occupied by his baby brother).

Gavyn recently told us that "his baby" (in his belly) is no longer there. After baby Bennett was born he explained that 'his baby' had flown away.

Crazy Pancakes

2008-08-06T13:35:00.002-05:00

Gavyn wanted something different on his pancakes so I found...FOOD COLORING!! Hey, it's edible and fun...exactly what breakfast should be! I couldn't resist the excitment...

The Young Contemplative

2008-06-09T12:12:00.002-05:00

During breakfast this morning, Gavyn finished eating, set his fork on his plate and then stared in the direction of the window for a few peaceful moments. Then, he resumed his usual frenetic noisy table activity, playing with his fork and slurping at his sippy cup of juice. It occurred to me that I sometimes underestimate his developing ability to think and this mental reminder inspired me to ask him, "Gavyn, I lost you for a second there while you were looking outside--what were you thinking about?"

Guess what he said. Yep, he had a thought that he's never shared before. He said, "I was just thinking about the neighbors coming over sometime for a sleepover." (these are the neighbors who just moved in recently with 2 boys). I said, "That's an interesting thought" and then he asked me why (hey kid, you're the one with the thought), so I responded with another question, "What kind of sleepover were you thinking about?" "Thinking about sleeping in our tent." I then shifted the focus on discussing where the tent was since I didn't want to respond to his idea yet and then eventually the topic was dropped.

For all of his energy I'm realizing it's important to catch him in his reflective moments, because it'd be easy to let that part of him go unnoticed and then later suggest to him that he's too active and doesn't do enough on his own (when he actually does, it just takes patience to catch it).

Lion 'n Crocodile Limericks

2008-05-13T22:03:00.004-05:00

5/4/08 Gavyn sang some gibberish to the tune of 'Veggie Tales' theme song and he wanted me to sing after him ("Daddy, can YOU sing that?"). So, I started to try to imitate his gibberish words and each time he seemed impressed with my ability and would say, "Good job, Daddy" or "That's good, Dad!" At one point he said a Kuala Bear was going to eat him in its mouth (role playing with stuffed animal) and he said he was going to "break it and hit it." I told him we could "make it giggle or make it smile, but let's not hit it." "Why?" "Because it's not nice to hit and hitting hurts, so can we try to make it laugh?" Then, he said, "Daddy, look." I looked up and he was pulling the sides of his mouth with a finger hooked inside each side and trying to make an especially silly face. I laughted (sleepily) and told him that's exactly what I was talking about. Then, he said something about there being a crocodile in the room and he was jumped onto the bed, scared. So, I asked him if we could talk and joke with the crocodile? I told him that if it was Henry, the crocodile, then I know he'd like a few laughs. Gavyn immediately retorted, "But the crocodile and the 2 lions died." So, I told him we could have them come back anyway. And he said, "And say a poem?" "Uh, sure a poem would be fine." So, now I was on spot for some crocodile poetry. And after a few stabs at it, this is what Henry the crocodile is purported as saying:

I like to eat Mac 'n Cheese in the water
But when it's cold I have to hollar
But then I want more
So, I go up on shore
And warm it up to make it hotter

Note: I could not for my life come up with a second stanza and was thinking aloud, "what rhymes with

'water' and Gavyn said 'hollar...use hollar,'" and so I did!

Here is the poem that REx O'B, the Lion, is credited with conjuring up:
I am a real scaredy lion
making people like me--I'm tryin'
I dream about flyin'
And eggs I'll be fryin'
And when I'm sad I start cryin'

Note: Gavyn was not bothered by the illogic of this, but he couldn't understand why Rex would be crying after trying to fry up eggs. And he wanted to cheer up Rex.

2008-05-04T12:13:00.003-05:00

5/2/08
Lots of giggles from Gav this morning. I made him a cup of juice (grape) and I asked him what kind of juice it was and he said "orange juice," but he admitted that it was purple colored (when I asked him what flavor it was, he said "Daddy, what's flavor?'"). So, I went through a list of fruits and veggies with different colors and then ended with carrots and asked him what color carrots are. He said purple, so I used a silly witchlike voice and brought in a bag of carrots and asked again. This time he said "orange." Then, I brought in a succession of other items from the fridge and asked him to tell me what color it was and each time I asked if it was purple and each time it wasn't. I hammed it up and pretended to be faint, or outraged, or flighty, or dictatorial, or aghast at super stinky smells (i.e. sour cream). He giggled at every pretense and character. Very fun! He was also pretty wired after that and I almost felt guilty turning him over to Tena for the day, but he was starting to calm down before they left. But not before he helped Dorothy the Dinosaur and Albert the Zebra sing a Wiggles song about making dough.

2008-04-27T10:16:00.006-05:00

Gavyn was at the table eating breakfast and he yelled out to me in the kitchen, "Daddy, come here and look." I rushed into the dining room and saw that he was looking down at himself. He had a muffin remnant in his hand so I assumed that he had littered his pants with crumbs and was now marveling at a pile of crumbs. "Daddy, look my belly's moving." Oh, that again. Have I mentioned that Gavyn thinks he's pregnant, too, just like Mommy? My face took on a enormous grin and looked at his belly and said , "Oh, it's moving, is it?" He glanced up and with an imploring serious look and he begged me, "Daddy, can you touch it?" I couldn't resist the moment, so I reached down and gently cupped his belly with my hand while holding my breath, statuesque. He held his breath, too. We were like two cartoons characters racing along a cliff together and then realizing in a suspended moment that the ground has given way to nothing but air and we look at each other with expectant but petrified stares. The suspense around Gavyn's belly was undeniably real--the storyline a complete Gavyn-conjured farce, beyond hilarious.

"You're right, it IS moving!" I proclaimed with the diagnostic finality of a sonographer and the wonderment of a fellow three year old. Gavyn looked up and finally broke character, chuckling to himself with a just demure hint of looking flattered. Then, he causally stated, as if almost to himself, "Yes, it is." I gave him a smothering kiss on his head to mark then end of our momentary lapse of reality and laughed myself back into the kitchen. And he shoved the last piece of muffin into his smiling mouth.

2008-04-13T12:06:00.005-05:00

One morning as I was getting dressed I discovered, much to my delight, that Gavyn had chosen the exact same shirt that I had on. At the moment of discovered Gavyn was in the process of lobbying to wear a pair of light blue basketball warm-up pants and Tena was unpersuaded that his shirt and pants were anywhere near an acceptable match for the rest of the world. So, unbeknownst to him, he reluctantly chose a pair of jeans which was exactly what I had on. Oh, the synchronicity!

I had been watching the dispute from around the corner of Gav's door and when I saw that he was putting on jeans I not only had a huge grin, but I also had a thought. I called out from the hallyway, "Gavyn, don't forget to bring baby [his travel-everywhere teddybear]," as I slipped into our bedroom and retrieved the duplicate teddybear which we had acquired as a back-up to 'baby' during times when baby was "getting a bath" in the washing machine. When I pounced on Gavyn in the hallway he immediately exploded into giggles as I showed off my replica outfit and my 'baby!' After Mommy joined in the gales of laughter I had the Schacherian thought, "This would make a great picture." The rest is history....

Parenting Challenge: Missed opportunity for empathy

2008-04-04T10:36:00.005-05:00

I haven't really been doing any reflections on this blog about parenting challenges, but it seems that it might be a nice outlet for such reflections, especially since parenting encompasses the thrills and the chills of parenting. So, here's a thought about story time last night.

I've been reflecting on my story time reading to Gavyn last night. In general, I think I'm showing more patience with him and being more tolerant of his dilly dallying and distractedness--while still being clear about expectations; this is partly because I'm figuring out how to repeat expectations with each repetition involving a different way of getting his attention. This saves using the 'strong voice' until a last resort (using the timer has been a godsend as a way to be clear without coercing him into compliance).

Nonetheless, I was thinking about about my irritation with Gavyn when we were reading a book about kids' profiles from around the world (a beginning attempt to introduce the kind of world we live in and its people/countries/etc to him, now that we've focused so much on animals and, of course, fantasy/fiction stories). We were reading about two kids, one from Botswana and one from Ethiopia, and both had pictures of the jungle on their profile pages (along with pictures of their families, school, the kids at play, the kids doing chores, homework, etc.) and I told him that the jungle is where lions and tigers and giraffes live. He asked why and I explained that that is where these animals live . He asked why again and I explained that these pictures show where they live, but there weren't any lions/tigers in the pictures, they just showed the types of areas where these animals live. He asked why again ("Why lions and tigers live here" and pointed to the pictures on both pages for a third time). I was testy and replied, "Gavyn, I've told you twice. What did I tell you?" "I dunno" he replied seriously. I paused for a bit feeling myself getting irritated. "Gavyn, I told you ," I said poking adamantly at both pictures, "that lions and tiger only live here in the jungle, because these are pictures of Africa." "But why." I paused again realizing how angry I was becoming. I calmed down and thought that maybe I should offer a parallel, "Gavyn, do you know how we have raccoons and squirrels here where we live?" "Yes." "Well, do you think raccoons and squirrels live in Africa?" "No." "You're right," I brightened and continued, "and so tigers and lions are like our raccoons and squirrels, they live here and lions and tigers live there." "Why?" "Because those animals live in a place called Africa which is very far from here. We would have to drive in a car for days and days and days and then we'd have to get into a boat and ride through a lot of water before we ever got to Africa. It's a long ways away and those animals can't get here and our animals can't get there." Finally, he was silent and seemed satisfied with this. With a sigh of relief we continued the story and then got ready for songs and bedtime.

As I reflect on my anger with Gavyn I am beginning to realize that my anger is prompted by my own shame. I get irritated that he isn't conceptualizing or remembering things as quickly as I might prefer for him ("why can't he learn as quickly as I WANT him to?!"). But the more I think about what happened the more I feel intrigued at how I 'go angry' as if Gavyn is somehow at fault for not understanding or figuring it out. And yet, Gavyn wouldn't be asking if there wasn't some gap in his understanding. There was no hint of just 'playing me,' he was genuinely confused or curious (logically, this makes sense because he can't even conceptualize a place like Africa since he's only ever been as far away as Iowa or Wisconsin). If I understand shame the way that Georg Hegel described it (shame is anger about a reality that should not be), then it makes sense that this was a shame response from me (my unconscious & illogical hope that Gavyn might never struggles to learn since I might wish that he would grasp everything without a struggle). What I'm beginning to understand is that, although his struggle to comprehend is normal for a child, as a parent I'm inclined to not see it from his viewpoint--from my viewpoint I tend to feel sad about his struggle or even like a failure somehow as a parent, BECAUSE I can't MAKE HIM comprehend. This sense of failure makes me feel vulnerable--a hard feeling to accept--because this is one way I can't change my child's reality. So, instead of staying with this vulnerable feeling--which could actually help me EMPATHIZE with Gavyn (which might inspire him to try harder and actually INCREASE his chances of learning), I have a shame response and actually direct my anger or irritation towards Gavyn himself, as though HE's somehow responsible for my sense of failure (which might cause him to feel anxious next time I seem irritated and then he'd be less inclined to satisfy this gap in his comprehension, like "because Daddy is to irritated now...better stop asking why and just shut down my curiosity"). And yet the irony is that it's really MY shame which causes me to avoid feeling vulnerable (and relate to his vulnerabilities in his learning process), and instead feel anger that I can't prevent him from struggling and towards that as blame towards him (e.g. "he's making me feel anger" which isn't true). Obviously, I haven't failed, but shame causes me to judge myself this way. I SHOULD be able to prevent him from feeling pain; shame is anger about the reality that this is outside of my control.

So, how do I begin to tolerate feeling out of control (vulnerable) so that I can catch my tendency to switch from feeling vulnerable to feeling anger which I put on him somehow, especially since he would benefit from my empathy with his vulnerable. At the very least, I could own the anger or irritation as my own and not of his doing, so that he can have the assurance that his struggles are just a natural part of growing up and worth working through together.

Hard lessons to notice about parenting...

Grammatical Gavyn

2008-03-31T10:54:00.005-05:00

This post will be dedicated to the continuing emergence of Gavyn's developing language skills. It's fascinating to hear him learning to rearrange sentence structure to make sense of himself. It's challenging to give him the space and time to fumble around with combining old words in new structures or sometimes new words in old structures.

This morning, after Gavyn dressed himself with sandals that he was sure would be appropriate for the snowy day outside, Tena told me, "Gavyn has his sandals on backwards." "What, Mommy?" "They are backwards." Gavyn responded: "No, them are not!"

Grandma was reading an interactive story and having Gavyn repeat after her and when she came to the sentence, "Why don't you..." Gavyn's version of this sentence started with "Why you don't..."

4/2/08 Gavyn dropped some bathtub cups (each is a little smaller and fits inside the bigger ones) and he couldn't remember what they were called, so he asked, "What these are?" I said, "You should ask Mommy 'What are these?'" and he said, "Mommy says these be cups."

4/7/08 I had to work late tonight at the library (an anomaly for me) and when Gavyn went to bed he wanted to talk to me via cell phone to ask, "Daddy, why you have to work very, very, very...a long time?" I explained it as best I could and we chit chatted about how he scratched his eye, the puzzle he's going to return to Grandma Jensen, whether I would be in my bed in the morning and then he said goodbye and asked, "Is it okay I push the button?" I think he was referring to the cell phone, because after I said "yes, goodnight sweetie," the phone disconnected (and the planet was still in one piece).

Snow White?

2008-03-18T11:16:00.002-05:00

It snowed heaps of white blankets over the whole town last night and this morning, on the way to school, Gavyn looks out the window of the car and says, "There's milk in the sky!" Through laughter I validated his observation of everything from rooftops to cars to bushes to branches to streets to anything else visible was covered in whiteness, as white as milk, right? "But Gavyn, you know, that's actually snow, not milk." "Why?" the ever curious inquisitor asked. "Well, because the snow is covering everything because it's very wet and when it's wet--almost as wet as milk--it sticks to everything!"

2008-01-19T17:14:00.000-06:00

Gavyn shows off his potential for a big time baseball contract (but Grandma tags him out!)

2008-01-19T16:57:00.000-06:00

The Forgotten Truck Man

2007-12-21T12:52:00.000-06:00

Driving on the highway this morning, Gavyn spied a mini-front end loader on a tailer behind a moderate sized truck. He cried out, "A bulldozer!" and pleaded with me: "you hurry up there?" So, we slowly caught up to the truck and his cargo. As we passed Gavyn "oohh" and asked, "What that?" I reiterated that it was a front end loader with a little scoop in front and a big scoop in back and that, yes, it could act as a bulldozer, but that it was capable of digging holes, too. As we passed the driver Gavyn looked into the window and asked me, "What his name?" I said it was the guy who drives the truck, to which he replied, "Oh. I-I-I... I don't remember his name."

It was at this point that I acknowledged that, indeed, he was probably a "complete stranger." In fact, I admitted to Gavyn that everyone around us on the highway was probably a stranger, too. Though it wasn't because anyone was particularly mean or obnoxious, but we just haven't had a chance to meet everyone.

As I explained this I was struck with how blended everyone is in the mind of a 2 1/2 year old. To him it would be perfectly normal that we would, or should, know everyone we come into contact with. It's interesting to understand his cognitive development. Jean Piaget, the Swiss Developmental Psychologist, would classify Gavyn in the Preoperational Stage (usually 2-4 years) which makes sense because he is just beginning to make distinctions between objects and people, i.e. strangers and friends. It makes sense, too, because he still is trying to make distinctions between numbers and the objects that they are symbolically connected to. He can sometimes count things and assign a different number to each "thing" and, at other times, several "things" can be pointed at with only one number assigned to those things.

So, he is beginning to make some impressive connections. Not only does he recognize what he remembers as a "bulldozer," (shows he can hold a mental representation in his mind), but he is now adding to that concept the idea that there is a person driving the truck pulling the bulldozer and he is associating the two, wondering if he remembers the truck driver, too, because he certainly remembers the bulldozer! In this case, he just doesn't remember "that guy." But I wouldn't be surprised if, in the future, he starts approaching truck drivers around town to ask for a ride on their bulldozers, just so he can remember their names next time!

2007-12-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

During the day yesterday, Gavyn recounted key events in his day for Tena starting with what happened when he woke up that morning. Gavyn explained it this way to her:

(After having described that he woke up in bed), "I said to myself, I'm awake!"

[Not only does he have imaginary friends and pets, but now he's talking to himself!!!]

Imaginary hairball?

2007-12-06T10:06:00.000-06:00

While getting ready this morning Gavyn was holding and petting his new imaginary kitty named, "Frosty." He particularly likes to tickle Frosty. Sometime he offers to let us hold Frosty and orders us to tickle her, too. Well, this morning Gav offered some invisible food in his hand to Tena--which was a little out of the imaginary narrative, but oh well--so she took the food and began to eat it. That's when a look of abject horror crossed Gav's face and he looked like he was about to burst into tears. When Tena asked him what was wrong Gav haltingly blurted out that Tena had just eaten Frosty the Kitty. Oh, the horror. So, Tena thought quickly and decided to regurgitate Frosty back into her hand and then, for good measure, began to tickle Frosty and exclaimed that Frosty was happy again. Gav apparently calmed down and appeared to accept this resolution to his imaginary nightmare, but Tena was aware that this had been a close call.

Lesson: be careful of eating imaginary food offered by a 2 1/2 year old, it might just turn out to be a kitten.

2007-12-02T14:21:00.000-06:00

After lunch today Gavyn said with an excited exclamation, "I have idea!" Tena and I were surprised at his initiative and both responded simultaneously, "What?!"
"I-I-I-I go take a nap."
And so we started clearing off the dishes from lunch and a few minutes later he yawned and said, "I really tired."
Music to our ears! (Only it took another hour before he was actually in bed sleeping). But hey, he's starting to think about his nap instead of us. That's huge!

2007-12-01T17:32:00.000-06:00

Gavyn was having snack at the table after his nap and he got an imaginary phone call. "Who's calling, Gavyn?" "No, it's Nelly." "Okay, Nelly, who're you talking to?" "My arm" he said, showing me how we was speaking into his upper shoulder and that his head was tilted convincingly against his arm.

He told the caller that he was eating gold fish crackers and that racoons are outside and that it was getting darker outside. He looked at me for confirmation and I agreed that it was getting darker. Then, he handed the phone to me. I pretended I was Captain Featherstone (Wiggles) and handed it back. He refused the phone and told me it was Dr. Suess on the phone. So, I checked with the caller and he confirmed this. We chatted about books 'n stuff and then I handed it back to Gav. He said, "No, no, it's Wiggles. It's Wiggles." I wasn't about to point out the changing personalities of our caller, so I agreed with Gav and asked him to talk to the Wiggles. At that point the imaginary phone disappeared and he turned his attention to the Wiggles action figures in front of us.

Just another phone call with Gavyn...I mean Nelly.

2007-11-23T13:42:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and Tena and I had arrived early at her parents so that we could stay overnite and be available to maximize our Thanksgiving together. So, it wasn't really that surprising that Gavyn--ironically--would wake up before the crack of dawn (5:45am), ("uh, Gavyn, soon you'll learn that on vacation one tends to sleep in, NOT wake up earlier than normal!"), so we were a little disappointed with him since W'ama & Grandpa had offered to watch Gav in the morning so that we could sleep in (a total luxury whenever we have relatives or friends offer). We accepted with the hope that our son wouldn't take advantage of their generosity and get up in the dead of night ready to party, like he has before with Grandpa. Anyway, they were already up and chasing the little critter around (evidenced with the pitter patter of little footsteps heard on the floor above). The morning rule that we forgot to inform G'pa and W'ama was that he needs to stay in bed at least until 6:30; so Tena went upstairs in hopes of convincing Gavyn to at least go back to bed until his regular rising hour and give our gracious hosts the remaining 45 minutes left on Gavyn's biological clock. Since letting W'ama and Grandpa put him back to sleep might arouse his eagerness to wake up with new playmates around, Tena made the attempt to lure him back to Zzzsville. Turns out she was successful because he was still tired and actually wanted to lie back down. [Now get this] When she offered to read him a story he turned to her from under his blanket while hugging his teddy bear ("baby") and said to Tena, "Don't worry, Mommy, me tired, me go to sleep."

The irony is that the night before--and later that afternoon for naptime--our attempts to put Gavyn to sleep were met with near continuous escapes from his Pack 'n Play and repeated efforts at putting him back to bed. But, apparently in the mornings, we should "not worry," because he really IS susceptible to being hypnotized to sleep! We'd better remind him of that next time he's caffeine-awake and the birds are still sound asleep.

Gavyn: Boogie DJ & Air Ukulele Jamming

2007-10-25T22:40:00.000-05:00

We got a new music machine that plays funky background tunes and makes silly melodies when the drawing board is scribbled upon. Unfortunately, Gavyn gets so into his groove that he forgets to show off the scribbling feature of his new toy. But, hey, he's a busy DJ and he's got an air Ukulele to play! It's foot stompin' fun...

Little Bunny Foo Foo

2007-10-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

2007-10-18T11:33:00.000-05:00

Aunt Tracy's trying...

2007-10-07T11:31:00.001-05:00

... to make me jealous while I'm at home studying...
But does Gavyn really look like he's enjoying himself?!? He's practically buried inside his life jacket. (Must be praying to get off and come home to Daddy!)

See?! Don't they just look miserable cruising along the water!?!

Aunt Tracy's trying to make me jealous...

2007-10-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

But he does he look like he's enjoying himself???!!

2007-08-10T23:09:00.001-05:00

Kilroy, I mean Gavyn was here...and he was wearin' Sweet Martha's Cookies...on his head!

(Below) Gavyn takes a break from his photo shoot at the park (or so he thinks)...

2007-08-10T23:07:00.001-05:00

Gavyn calls this a train. It look like 3 bottles of fingers paints to me, but what do I know?

Pals: Gavyn & Caleb pretending like they're not jumping in Caleb's crib

2007-08-10T23:04:00.001-05:00

Recent pix

2007-06-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

No Move!

2007-06-07T09:43:00.000-05:00

This morning Gavyn pulled up his blue IKEA stool and used it to climb up onto Daddy's swivel chair in my study. He has never been able to conquer this feat, but today was the first day that it occurred to him to pull out the stool. Once he had pulled himself up and was able to stand up against the back of the chair he cried out gleefully, "Me did it."

He turned around and sat down on the chair and my improvised back support (a piece of flat wood that has a towel taped to it, not exactly ergonomically validated) kept falling on him. This back support is annoying even for me. It sort of rests against the back of the chair as long as it's leaning backwards, but when sitting it inevitably falls forward. Well, Gavyn was put off by this! So, he half-turned and pushed it back. It wasn't repositioned, so of course it fall back on him once he turned away. Again, he turned and pushed it back more forcefully which altered it position somewhat and declared petulantly, "No Move!" He pulled his hands back tentatively. The back support remained dutifully in place and Gavyn turned away to begin his desk assault for any vulnerable object within reach.

Happy Birthday to 2 year old Gavyn!

2007-02-05T21:25:00.000-06:00

2007-01-22T23:13:00.000-06:00

2007-01-03T09:39:00.000-06:00

Gavyn sees his shadow and what's left of the Holidazzle Parade! Gavyn 'n Mommy with Baby and Jake the Dog.

2006-12-22T08:02:00.000-06:00

March of the Penguins...

2006-11-15T16:07:00.000-06:00

You should see him wearing my shoes!

2006-11-15T16:05:00.000-06:00

Hold on tight!

2006-11-15T16:03:00.000-06:00

Lil' Pumpkinhead shows his refined side

2006-11-15T16:00:00.000-06:00

A wagon built for three

2006-10-01T16:42:00.000-05:00

The Don

2006-09-18T23:19:00.000-05:00

Gavyn dons Mama's bathrobe

Zildane's eventual replacement

2006-09-13T09:17:00.000-05:00

Animals & grandparents at the State Fair!

2006-08-30T21:27:00.000-05:00

Uncle Randy waves Pinocchio's hand

2006-08-30T21:20:00.000-05:00

Gavyn Builds a Deck

2006-08-20T00:26:00.000-05:00

Boys of the Round Table: The Grandpas school Gavyn on deck building (Gav drinks it all in)

2006-07-15T17:56:00.000-05:00

2006-06-20T08:59:00.000-05:00

Buried Alive by IOWANS?!!

2006-05-29T21:59:00.000-05:00

Gavyn's first chance to drive a BUS!!

2006-05-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

Gavyn: Look out, Mister! I can't reach the brakes yet!!

Gavyn's version of reading on the can...

2006-05-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

New Word

2006-05-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

Gavyn added another word to his growing lexicon: Bu Bah. This is the term he used to describe blowing "bubbles." I wasn't sure, though, if he was really intending to reference one of Green Bay's premier tight ends, Bubba Franks?!

It ain't easy bein' cheesy!

2006-04-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

2006-04-19T15:37:00.000-05:00

Easter Egg Festivities with Caleb!! Both boys showed a penchant for discolored fingers and spilled dye. The egg baptism of choice seemed to be a rather brief dip in the dye with longer submersions only prompted by the Egg Supervision Staff: Sharon, Tena & Gregg (all of whom spent a greater part of the activity wiping up the bountiful color spills).

The last picture demonstrates Caleb's goodwill in ushering Gavyn from the egg chamber into the play area for more eggcitement.
Stay tuned for next year's installment of the annual: Tales of Egg-o-mania.

2006-04-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

Aspiring two-fanged drummer...has pots 'n spatulas...will travel.

2006-04-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

A day at daycare: Gavyn impersonates a baby giraffe in the bouncy thing.

Ammo for later: he unloads the clothes hamper

2006-03-19T22:37:00.000-06:00

Gavyn takes a moment to chew his toy before resuming the chase around the chair.

2006-03-19T22:35:00.000-06:00

Remember that scene from the Christmas Story?

2006-03-19T22:31:00.000-06:00

Peek-A-Boo! (oh wait, I forgot something...)

2006-02-25T13:11:00.000-06:00

2006-02-18T21:30:00.000-06:00

First Hair Cut... And Boy Did He Need It!!!

2006-02-18T21:25:00.000-06:00

Cheesy grin: This started about a week ago when Tena visited her sister and family in Des Moines, IA. Apparently, Gavyn has begun to figure out that people love him and especially when he's doing something outrageously cute. So, he's begun to smile an extreme-overbaked-show off-full-faced smile. The funny part is that when his facial muscles release all of that scrunching he dramatically returns to a blank look as if to say, "How was that one, guys?"

2006-02-18T21:22:00.000-06:00

New Dance: Gavyn's developed a new dance when he's happy--he stomps his feet and sways back and forth without going anywhere. Guess what? He does the same thing when he's upset and voicing his displeasure at something, only instead of a cheesy grin on his face, there is a bellowing of supreme frustration. Ironic how the same moves can communicate two totally different feelings!

The Ultimate LEGO Cake!!

2006-02-07T23:07:00.000-06:00

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

2006-02-07T22:52:00.000-06:00

The LEGO birthday cake was a huge hit!

Nap Wake Up Ritual.

2006-01-31T01:55:00.000-06:00

1. Wake up and sit dumbstuck in crib; use sad face to implore pity from anyone passing by.

2. Reverse course and get hyper-excited...also, secretly scrounge around for your Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card.

3. Point at anything in the room and hope someone picks you up and carries you over to it; hence, crib freedom.

4. Repeat after next nap, and the next, and the next....

What?! Of course I can feed myself!

2006-01-07T12:04:00.000-06:00

Christmas with the Jensens!

2006-01-06T09:14:00.000-06:00

Daddy, what is that white stuff out there??

2005-12-30T11:46:00.000-06:00

"...and we were pih-low fighting"

2005-12-16T13:05:00.000-06:00

Today Gavyn and I had a pillow fight. Daddy won. Handily. Actually, it was rather one-sided, truth be told. But Gav took it so well, that Daddy offered him and pillow and, upon G's refusal, Daddy used G's pillow, too. Gavyn eventually found himself giggling in the middle of a pillow sandwich.

Good thing Daddy put that shelf up with toggle bolts, huh?!

2005-12-16T13:03:00.000-06:00

2005-12-12T09:30:00.000-06:00

New Developments:
He's learning how to wave & clap!! This just started. About three weeks ago--after weeks (months?) of prodding he gave his first little wave...we practically gave him an Oscar we were so excited. Then, about a week ago, he did a little clap. Now, he will clap spontaneously, and sometimes after we clap first (key development for little guy). The latest thing is holding his baby cell phone (which has four lively ring tones) in one hand and then clapping "at it" with his other hand. The result is an orchestral cacaphony of happy ring tones.
Oh, and along with waving he has learned to open & close his fingers on his hand. This comes from a song at BabyFunTime called "Open, Shut them" and he's learned to imitate us opening and shutting our hands. He's a regular traffic cop!
This is truly thrilling because it means that he is beginning to distinguish between himself and others; he is not me, he has his own body and he can imitate my body/behaviors. This developmental stuff is really fascinating watch in progress.

Thanksgiving w/ the Jensens

2005-12-10T20:25:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving w/ the Schachers

2005-12-10T20:24:00.000-06:00

2005-12-01T12:26:00.000-06:00

Read-a-rific

2005-11-14T23:04:00.000-06:00

As we have learned from our Saturday morning baby sing-a-long time with Sara Waters (babytime fun), "kids who read, succeed." Sooo...we're starting this kid out early with some complex and engaging literature: Eor and the gang.

(Are we re-creating this kid in our image or what?!)

Lotsa Posts Today (see below)

2005-11-06T13:23:00.000-06:00

Daddy's got toy-fatigue. Yeah, now that he's walking (see post below), he goes through toys like I go through memory on my jump drive! So, we have practically reached the quota of fun for every toy in the whole house. And that makes it even harder to sell him on playing with the same toy again and again. Hence, Daddy's got toy-fatigue.
Another Daddy-thing is Gavyn's recent and obvious strong attachment to Mommy. Unless it's just Gav and Dad for the day, it's all-things-Mom for this tike. I was a little alarmed at first, until I read that this is a developmental thing and precedes stranger anxiety. He's figuring out who's going to take care of him and right now, he's figured out that Mommy's on the list. Dad's chopped liver. But not to worry, kids often develop a similar affection for Dad's around one year (+ or -), so my times coming. In the mean, would you like some onion with that chopped liver, Daddy?