We have ourselves a Reader!

Gideon loves books. He loves flipping the pages while I read, he flipping the pages alone, he loves turning them over in his hands. He loves books we sing to, like "6 Little Ducks" and "the More We Get Together" and he loves the board books that are easier to turn pages. He also loves repetition. He can bring me one book and just keep reading it over and over until I can't stand to read it anymore. Ah, the joys of discovering the world of reading!

Happy Birthday, Cowboys!

                       

Today we had a surprise birthday party for Trevor and my younger brother, Matthew. I think Chelsea was the only one who remembered to take pictures, but we kidnapped the birthday boys and took them to Cabelas where we had them change into cowboy apparel and played a tag/mafia-ish game around the store using dart guns and rubber band guns. We also filled out a fun questionnaire about things we saw around  the storeThen we sampled their fudge and headed to my parents for a game of Steal the Flag with marshmallow guns, had some target practice (Matt was the winner of our tournament) and had BBQ sandwiches for lunch. Then we had cake and ice cream. Chelsea made this amazing peanut butter cup cake for Trevor!  She's pretty much an amazing baker.
               
                                         

Pictures, yeah!

 Ahh, pictures. I love pictures. They mean I don't have to write as much :)

We fed the ducks a couple of weeks ago. There were sooo many. They were fearless in coming right up to us if they knew we had food for them. Gideon was captivated by them. One of his favorite books is "6 little ducks". I don't think he connected the two, but it was cut nonetheless.

We Sharpied a pumpkin for Gideon's first jack-o-lantern. It's about all he had the patience for and made a fun FHE.

 Gideon is still a huge fan of being outside. Autumn leaves are one of his favorite things outside and grass is right behind leaves.

Below you can see our Halloween costumes. The thing on my head is the mailbox and I'm holding shovel and pail. Then Trevor is Steve and Gideon is Blue.  It was a blast.

Fall!

So, my camera still isn't working, so Trevor has most of our pics on his camera. He's kind of busy (when I say kind of, I mean enormously, monstrously busy) so I don't know when he'll be able to post pics of our Halloween costumes, etc. Anyway, this week he had an interview out in TX with Capital One. Then Thursday was Halloween and we dressed up like the Blue's Clues team: Gideon as Blue (cross-dressing, yikes!), Trevor was Steve, and I was the mailbox. We also carried a notebook, shovel, and pail as props. Ahh, the joys of Halloween. This weekend we're hoping to carve our pumpkin. We figure Gideon won't know that it was supposed to happen previous to the holiday, so we'll get away with festive faux pas while we can.

Gideon is in the full swing of teething. His top middle 4 teeth are all on their way, the outer two having already poked through. Poor kid is uncomfortable and its making him clingy and irritable. Good thing he's such a good natured kid most of the time.

Tooth #3

Tooth #3 is showing!  We (Trevor) actually noticed it on 10/8 the day of my last post, but I'd already edited in that tooth #2 was joining the party, so I thought I'd add it now.

The other day we were walking home from campus and there were a bunch of ducks in the stream beside the walking path. It was so fun to see them and hear them quacking (see Trevor's Google plus for photos, my camera isn't really working very well right now). It's been really beautiful weather recently and its nice to be able to enjoy it with Gideon. I guess when I was working I was too busy to take a look around or just go for a walk and now since I've been there I take special note when its nice. I also particularly enjoy Mondays and Fridays when my work was craziest and now I can just breathe and not have to worry about/dread them.

Gideon just had a doctor's appointment and he's 29 inches long and 19.8 lbs. According to BabyCenter, that puts him in the 50-75 percentile for height and the 25-50 percentile for weight. Doctor says he is really pleased how healthy Gideon is.

Gideon is a great eater and loves just about anything you give him, including mango, spinach artichoke dip, guacamole, wheat bread, etc. Trevor and I were just talking earlier today about how he eats much healthier than we do, probably because I'm more conscience of him. Bountiful Baskets (a basket full of random fruits/veggies every week) helps too because we get foods I don't usually buy and have to figure out what to do with them!

Trevor's Halloween Plots Foiled

Trevor's joked that if Gideon doesn't have any teeth by Halloween, we should have him be "Toothless," the dragon from "How to Train Your Dragon." Well, on Oct 1, Gideon foiled his plans. He now has one bottom tooth! As a result, he now sticks out his tongue a lot, feeling his way around his new acquisition. He no longer spit/sprays his food, but now he has a new gimmick. He holds his hands together and at random moments will bring them up over his head. Very cute until he has a full spoon of baby food right in front of his mouth. The result is a vertical line of baby food straight up his nose and sometimes into his hair. Or he has food in his hands when he does it and then that food is smeared all over his head. Ahhh, the joys of childhood. He has just learned how to wave, a nice addition to his handshake, high five, and clapping.

Trevor is busy as can be. He's flying out to Texas next week for a job interview and will miss 2 days of school. He's really excited for the interview, but missing school is hard when he's already so heavy laden. Gideon and I go on a walk pretty much every day now, and one of our favorites is walking to campus where we meet Trevor at the end of his day and walk him home. We also like to walk to the library, where we pick up books with lots of pictures because those are Gideon's favorites.

Afternoon update: I just noticed his second tooth just popped through, next to the first!

Living the Life

Gideon is having a great time exploring the world around him. At least some of the world. As we are still renting, we can't drill holes to childproof our kitchen traditionally, but with some minor changes, the effect is the same.

 He had a great time with berries the other day. After devouring them, he had the cutest berry beard.

 Playtime at the park was exciting and fun. He's a merry adventurer that loves to see and do new things. This September day was perfect, too, with a nice breeze through a warm, but not hot, day.  The leaves are just starting to fall, which gave him lots of things to look at on the grass.