We have been busy. It’s almost halfway into October and I’m just now sitting down to talk about August and September. It’s been good though. We’ve had family come and visit, we did a 4 day getaway, and we started remodeling the downstairs bedrooms. Add in the needs of an active toddler and all the regular stuff that comes with life… needless to say, life has been full.
Daper little guy.
So how is Gabriel? He won’t stop growing! I know it’s what kids are supposed to do but this kid is in the 90th percentile for height. He is still as happy and active as ever. Every day he is grasping new concepts and is suddenly doing things he hadn’t been before. His active nature has made him very secure on his feet. Running all over the place. Sometimes I think he enjoys the freedom of running around the Marine Reserve to the confinement the park can present. And that is fine. I want him connected to the earth. His arms are getting longer. He can now stand on the fireplace hearth and grab things off the mantle. le sigh
He is developing an interest in building. Specifically with his mega bloks. He can sit for a good 20 minutes putting them together and taking them apart. We are still working on structural integrity but I am sometimes amazed with what he comes up with. He has also been enjoying the wood peg/chunky puzzles. A good friend of ours recently gave us a whole storage bin full of these types of puzzles, including a couple of latch puzzles that have been a great way to change up his play.
Measuring.
One of the biggest changes in the last couple of months has been the transition to one nap. I know!!! He actually transitioned fairly easily but I think that was due to the fact that the couple months prior to the transition were all over the place. It was a stressful/exhausting period where I was reminded again and again that consistency is important! But you still have to let go and go with the flow of what happens that day. He reached a point where he was taking more one naps that two. That combined with crossing the 18 month line and our getaway basically forced our hand to officially go down to one nap. The first week was amazing because he was sleeping 3+ hours! Can’t say that he is doing that anymore. But it has certainly changed how we do things. Yes it gives us more flexibility but there are some whole new rules about needing to be home by a certain time because short naps in the car can completely ruin the day.
Out… for a moment.
Eating all the food
I didn’t think there was much to say about food and I really don’t have much to say about it but I was amazed at how many eating/food related pictures there were! He is still a great eater. Right now he mostly prefers vegetables, cheese (requested at every meal these days), fruit, and nut butters. He does eat meat but not a whole lot of it. He’s really digging shrimp though. The change in naps definitely changed his eating pattern a bit. I’ve seen his appetite decrease during mid day. Which turns out to be fine as he is eating really solid breakfast and dinners with minimal snacking. He knows how to let me know if he is hungry and is good at saying “no” when he is not.
Fruit inspector.
He has become accustomed to using a fork. He actually prefers to use a full size fork over a kid size. He has also been using a smaller coffee mug for his water cup with meals. Speaking of cups, he has such an interest in drinking whatever it is we are drinking. From kombucha, to sparkling water, to coffee, he is clamoring for our cup if he detects a difference between our beverages. It’s quite silly if you ask me. He used to greatly dislike sparkling water but will commandeer my bottle if I give him a drink. It’s never just a drink.
Family Visit
In August my parents, sister and niece drove up for a visit. My parents have visited several times before but this was my sister’s first trip up here. First time for all of them to see our home since buying. We did all kinds of adventuring from braving Pier 39 to the beauty of Devil’s slide and Montara beach. Gabe had so much fun with them. It is also amazing to see how much he clicks with my sister. He’s just completely chill with her. No questions asked. He was the same way with her earlier in the year when I went down to Southern California for a visit.
Fist bump with Poppy.
A weekend away
In September we headed to Apple Hill for our first real family getaway. Apple Hill is a place I heard about several years ago that is basically an area of Apple farmers (among many other things!) that have everything to do with fall: apples, all things apple foods, u-picks, kids activities, and what not. It isn’t terribly far away and seemed like a good way to make some memories. We had a great time and came home with about 30lbs of apples and some interesting apple finds. We were sooo overdue for a change in scenery. Will be sharing all the details of our trip in another post. I did though include a few pics from our adventure in this gallery just incase I never get around to writing the Apple Hill post. ;)
Fresh apple cider doughnut.
Remodeling
“Helping.”
As I mentioned to at the beginning of this post, we started working on the house!!! And we started with Gabe’s room. It really was the first room I had some cohesive ideas about so we thought that would be a great place to start. While a good chunk of his room is finished, the details and decorating is not. I plan to do a FULL write up on what we did with before and after shots at some point. It’s all been documented. For now if you want to see any of the progress you’ll have to find it on my Instagram account.
A much shorter post than usual but it’s all I have. Pictures make up for everything.
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