Some things about Gavin

On Gavin's first birthday, I sat him on the potty and he went. It was a shock, it was interesting, and it was almost a year ago.

He still wears a diaper all the time. And he still has some moments: in the last two weeks, he's pooped in the tub twice. Once while I was there, and once while I was away, which led to this call:

Ring, Ring:

Me: Hello.
Autumn: Dad. Gavin pooped in the tub!
Me: Um, what?
Autumn: Gavin pooped in the tub. (Laughing). OH MY, HE'S POOPING AGAIN (Screams)
Me: What...?
Autumn: NOW HE'S PEEING IN THE BATHROOM!

And it sort of went on from there.

The point if this isn't to tell you about Gavin's bad potty habits. It's to tell you that when we stick him on the potty, he goes. And he's saying potty more and more in a way that really means he wants to go.

He'll be two in June. And there's a real good chance that before this summer is out, we'll be out of diapers. Sure, there's lots to do. Last night for instance, I stuck him on the potty, making sure to point down his gun. He said book, and pointed to the book, which I dutifully looked at, only to see pee on my pants. He was peeing, and it was coming out so fast that it went over the little boy guard on the potty seat.

But he loves it. Stick him on the seat, and I think it makes him feel like a big boy. Which means, I guess, that he's a big boy.

Gavin Loves Autumn

"Daddy, daddy, watch this. Watch"

Autumn says when I walk in the store. She grabs my hand and leads me to Gavin, who is sitting in the other room.

"Gavy, again" she commands to Gavin.

Gavin smiles and hits himself on the head.

"Gavy again."

Hit.

"Again"

Hit.

This can go on for hours. What Gavin is really responding to is Autumn's laugh. Making Autumn laugh makes his day.

He just loves her. Often, in the car, he'll just stare at her while we're driving. If she permits a little hand holding, then he's even happier.

As a guy with a big sister, I know the feeling. Growing up, my big sister was always the coolest person in the room. I'm glad that Gavin gets to experience it. I'm not sure if a doting brother is something that eventually gets on a big sister's nerves, but Autumn handles it relatively well. It will be fun watching her figure it all out over the years.

Autumn and Gavin connect on something

Some things to think about:

Gavin is currently in the nodding his head mode. Ask him if he's doing okay, and he'll nod.

Autumn thinks the word poopy is insanely funny. For example:

"What would you like for dinner Autumn?"

Smiles, "Poopy!"

That kind of thing. So, it was a stroke of genius, in my opinion, to combine the two things. Thus, Autumn will turn to Gavin and ask:

"Do you like to eat poopy?"

And Gavin will nod his head. Hilarity ensues.

"Does mommy like to eat poopy?"

Nod. Laugh. Repeat.

"Does Lucy like to eat poopy?"

Etc.

It's funny enough that anyone would laugh.

Let him cry it out

It seems so obvious, right. Baby cries, parent's ignore it, baby falls asleep, never cries again.

Parent's of older kids talk about it like it's that easy. "We let little Billy cry it out." They say it with a hint of all-knowing bias that ignores the fact that they are currently not letting little Billy cry it out now.

We are.

And it blows.

The first night was Sunday. And it didn't go well. Gavin began crying at around 2:00AM (somewhat on schedule). At around 2:15AM, Rhona went in. She couldn't take it anymore. She fed him. Put him back down when he fell asleep, and we attempted to re-fall asleep. This isn't easy. We're worked up because we've spent the last half an hour listening the anguish in the little boy. We don't want him to anguish. We want to go to him, hold him, and make it all better.

But we're letting him cry it out.

Back to Sunday. 5 minutes after he seemed to be asleep, he woke up. And puked all over the place. He spent the remainder of the night in our bed.

Monday. With ear plugs in, Rhona seemed a little more prepared for the whole thing. And when he cried at around 3:00AM, we let it go for 20 minutes, then Rhona went in.

But she didn't lift him up. She rubbed his shoulders and back, and stayed near. That was enough to get him to sleep.

Which brings us to Tuesday night. This is when it's beginning to come together. Because on this night, when the cries came, we stayed strong. They only lasted about 10 minutes, and he got homself back to sleep.

This is it. We're winning.

Family picnic

This is the first thing we saw when we got to the place where we planned the family picnic. A big, slow-moving, large-clawed dinosaur.

The picnic was at Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery, a totally cool place with incredible amounts of history. The 13th President of the US is buried here, and as I pointed out to Rhona, with 38 dead Presidents, having one is dead cool.

But back to the cute things that aren't crusty old or dead creatures. We also saw some baby geese, called goslings. Autumn was thrilled to see the little babies. And so was Rhona. She took a bunch of pictures of the little geese.

The actual picnic was great. Rhona threw together food for us all. We dropped a blanket on the grass, and dug in. Some dug in a little more than others. Especially Gavin.


But across the board, this gave us the chance to be outside as a family. To run around, laugh, see fun things, and take great pictures. Gavin liked being outside, but Autumn loved it. Maybe because she's becoming such a little girl.

Autumn bowling

Autumn went bowling. Part of me can't beleive that she went bowling before she went curling, but I'll live.

Anyway, here's the link to all the shots.

Next winter, curling.

Gavin shots

Here are some. Take a look.

Happy St .Patrick's Day

This is a gift from Julie. It's a little big for the little guy, but he's rockin' it anyway.


It's not as easy as it looks. Especially for an old guy like me at 7:00AM, before the coffee has really kicked in.


Then of course, Autumn had to get in the picture. She loves to get her picture taken.

Happy St. Patrick's day. Have a good one.

Romeo 1994-2009

From the moment he met me, I was sure he hated me. He was seven, and for all seven years of his life, it was him and Rhona. He was her Romeo. So you can imagine how that went.

Indeed, after we got married, he would hide around a corner, waiting for me to walk into the room. Then he would pounce. He was 14 lbs, but I know he thought he could take me.

He eventually did warm up to me. We played to together a lot, and eventually he would even come when I called (now, he would come whenever I call).

I used to tell him that cats all over the world would be embarrassed for him because he acted like a dog. What cat do you know that would come when you called? Play fetch? He would even pant like a dog after playing.

He liked to get his own way. The first night that we took possession of our new house, we brought him, of course. We didn't have a speck of furniture in it, but we wanted to sleep in it. Romeo ran around the house, then sat at the bottom of our sleeping bag and howled. Rhona suggested we go home, I suggested we stick him in the basement.

We went back to the old apartment and slept. He didn't sleep here till we got the bed here.

He thrived in the new house. We would run around our living room, chasing each other. He would sit on the window sills and watch the people. He would hang out in our courtyard. Him and I got really close. Each night, he would come and lay on my chest and stare at me. His head would be about two inches from my face -- a distance he picked. God forbid I try to get closer, he would run away.

Romeo gave you the space he wanted to give, not the space you wanted.

Those nights that he laid on my chest, he would size me up. He would look at me like he wished he was bigger and could just eat me.

The day we got Lucy was probably Romeo's second worst day (the first being the day we got me). Lucy was Romeo's size, but that would obviously change fast. Like me, Romeo put Lucy through some welcoming initiations. He would hide around a corner and pounce on Lucy when she walked by. Lucy got the point where she would run out of the room is Romeo ambled in. And you could hear Romeo from a mile away. He didn't get the sneak gene that cats get. If he got up in the middle of the night, you could hear the little rat, tat, tat of his paws on the wood floors.

To his credit, he never put either kid through an initiation. Not because he couldn't, because he knew there was a difference. Autumn was able to grab his tail, grab his fur, and he let her. To put that into perspective, in my early years with Romes, if I grabbed his tail he would turn on me in an instant.

Romeo was, and will always be the first pet I was responsible for. He was Rhona's cat, but he was my first pet that wasn't my parent's. He immediately became my cat, and eventually my friend. I remember one time that I took him to the vet.

He didn't like the vet.

They needed three handlers with gloves to examine him. He screamed and fought while they did their thing, and when they finished, one of the handlers asked me if I had something to carry him in. I told them no, and pick him up. Even all worked up, he relaxed in my arms.

We were buds. And we had a lot of fun together over these last 7 years, and I am grateful that he came as part of the package.

Romeo. Scromes. Little buddy. This is getting harder to write, but I just want to say that I'll never forget you. You were my little cat that acted like a little dog.

Thanks for all the fun. I'm thankful that the kids aren't really old enough to understand what is going on. I told Autumn that Romeo was really sick, and she kissed him. Earlier today, while I was sitting in the bed with Romeo, Lucy jumped up and gave him a kiss. A goodbye kiss.

As I write this, Rhona has taken Romeo to the vet, where they will ensure that he goes to sleep peacefully. He's 7 lbs, and the last month has been tough. His a little fighter, but the cancer in his is winning. His last meal was uncooked shrimp. His favorite, but you could tell is was hard to force down.

Romeo, you lived a good life. Had a good time. Now rest in peace little buddy. And we'll miss you like crazy.

My little buddy

Rhona calls him Mr. Man, Autumn calls him Gabby Gab, and I call him little buddy. Either way, he's gonna be the little dude for years I think. He's the youngest brother, and since I get fixed on Friday, he'll presumably always be the younger brother.

He's smiley, happy, and chatty these days. He also flipped over on his own on the weekend (that's a milestone moment.) That means he should be crawling before the month is out.

Anyway, I took this picture today. I like the look on his face.

the art of the swaddle

Rhona is about to swaddle B. Gavin. This comes on the heels of some other breaking news. As she changed his diaper, she noted that he had an erection.

He's a boy, afterall.

She pointed it out to me. Being a boy myself, it didn't seem that neat. In fact, I think it most likely wasn't his first. But it was the first one we saw.

Now he's swaddled. And smiling in his sleep.

Worst. Night. Ever

You don't expect a lot of sleep with a 2.2 year old and a 0.3 year old. In fact, you expect .5 less sleep than before.

But the 0.3 year old is usually to blame. Meet Autumn.

Last night, for whatever reason, she decided to not sleep from about 3:00AM on. Lately, when it's bed time, she says:

"Rub my back"

I have to rub her back for a little bit after stories, then I leave. Sometimes she cries a little, and when I go in an ask what's wrong she responds:

"Nothing"

She waits a beat, then says:

"Rub my back"

This is very new. They apparently rub her back at school for her afternoon nap. And thus, this activity has come home to roost, as they say. Last night, I rubbed her back. Which was a bad idea. Because at around 1:00AM, she woke up again with the same basic request.

Her: "Where's my binky?"
Me: "Right here."
Her: "Oh. Rub my back"

You could see that one coming a mile away. but I told her to close her eyes, go to sleep, and that I would see her in the morning. Unfortunately, I saw her again at 3:00AM. This time, she was really crying and wouldn't take no for answer.

Tired, I did what I thought was right at the time. I took her to our bed. When you're tired, it's hard to think rationally. I just wanted sleep. But as soon as she got in our bed, she realized B. Gavin was in the room, and thus announced that she wanted to "kiss 'im".

Now, you should know that when Autumn kisses B. Gavin, she kind of leans into him throwing her 23 pounds onto him, which is pretty significant for a little 13 pounder. Thus, he starts crying.

Anyway, the night ended with Autumn and Rhona sleeping in the spare bedroom whilst B. Gavin and I slept in the bed. And by slept I mean didn't.

Hence, worst night ever.

A weekend of firsts

We went to Brampton on the weekend and had some firsts:

1. B. Gavin's first trip to Canada. Felt some Canadian soil, breathed some Canadian air.
2. Autumn went under water. We didn't see it, but we heard about it from Aunt Tracey. Autumn is a courageous little girl, so it's no suprise. But still, she's going under.
3. We rode in a giant Strawberry. Me with a bit if a hangover, her with a big smile. We spun around in a strawberry ride at the carnival. At one point, she looks at me and says, "Daddy, we're in a strawberry". Spinning.
4. She rode a horse.
5. She touched a sheep, lamb, and goat at a petting zoo.

Not a bad weekend of firsts. And we managed to get Lucy, B. Gavster, Autumn and mom and dad in the car with no real problems.

Only, we forgot a camera. Someone took pictures. I'll try to share them.

The poop post

Look. Gavin is 8 weeks old today. Meaning I've gone a long time without talking about poop. But he's 13 lbs. He eats like it's a 100 metre dash (timely summer Olympic metaphor), and thus, he poops.

I can remember when Autumn had a night of pooping. And since this blog records history, you can remember too:

The first sign of trouble was the little grin on her face. She's smiling a lot these days, but this was different. I had her on the changing table, really poopy diaper off her and in my hands when all of a sudden, a stream of poop followed a quick fart. Recall please that I am alone. Rhona is out at a party. Anyway, while the stream went a good foot and a half, things were contained. I threw a cloth over it, re-armed myself with a diaper, and went back in. That's when I caught another little grin. Another quick fart, and, another stream of poop. This one with a much better arc than the first. Which was good, because I caught most of it with the diaper in my hand.

So, my daughter is lying on the changing table beside the first dirty diaper. Her feet are on a burp cloth that's covering the first pile of poop from the second explosion. In my left hand, is a poopy diaper that I just caught her third projectile poop. Things seemed under control. I tossed the diaper, grabbed her legs and watched in amazement as another stream of poop came shooting out of her butt. At this point, you could tell she was tired. This one shot meekly, which sounds okay until you realize that it most of it ended up on her back.

At this point, even the dog left the room.

That was on August 27, 2006. A little over the two month stage.

You should now know that almost every poop with Gavin ends up needing a uni-change. They aren't poops as much as small nuclear-like explosions that occur daily. Because he poops daily, and massively.

I remember back a few weeks when the wee-man was smaller. When we first brought him home, his poops were dainty little things. We changed the diaper every 3 hours, and on we went. And then changing Autumn's diaper seemed so drastic in comparison.

Things have changed. Autumn still has the kind of poop that has us wondering to 'our gosh', but Gavin can go like Autumn rarely did. And we're on edge. If he doesn't manage a poop one day, we know the next day that the clock is ticking down towards event-horizon.

Anyway. That's the poop story for a Friday. This is our life.

About last night

I should start by saying that life is getting better. A couple of night's ago, b-Gavin, baby Gavin, aka, the captain slept from 9:00PM until almost 3:00AM. For the math challenged among us, that's 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Lets pause for a moment and consider how truly awesome that is.

Okay, now back to last night. B-Gavs was up to his normal schedule. A feeding at 10:00, at 1:00AM. But that's the not the thing.

The thing was 5:00AM.

It started, of all places, with the dog. For reasons that only she could explain, she decided to get up. Since she sleeps under the bed, and is a 50lb dog, it's a loud performance when she gets her butt out from under the bed.

And this noise created the following chain-reaction: a wail from b-Gavin, since he was in the room.


The wail woke up Autumn, who began her own wail, in the note of C.


At 5:00AM. Meaning, there's no going back to sleep. Because at this point, Lucy decided to go down stairs and bark at the moon (or most likely a dog being walked by their person at 5:00 freakin' AM).

We tried to get back to sleep. Rub Autumn's belly. Rock b-Gavin. But the effort, and the time, means there's no chance at getting back to sleep.

This is the first chain reaction wake-up in the AM. It won't be the last. Chances are good that we'll have one at 3:00AM. Me thinks the kids are just practicing.

Next time, we'll talk about his poop. It's otherworldly.

Bonus shot:

Gavin and Autumn

Maybe we're just lucky.

At some point, the people told us, Autumn would ask us to send back Gavin. The thinking is simple: for the first two years of her life, we doted on her. Storytime at night. Walks and hugs for just her. Kisses, attention, our complete love, all hers. Exclusively.

And then along comes this dude (pictured with the dad-dude):


And next thing you know, it's sharing attention. It's sharing hugs, kisses, and everything. And yet, all we hear from her is

"I love baby Gavin. I wanna kiss 'im. I wanna touch 'im. I wanna hug 'im."

Pure love. Now, one day I might link to this post with a comment about how she asked to send him back. He is, right now, rather easy. He doesn't demand a lot of prolonged attention. Admittedly, he's up a bunch of times in the night, and we have to give him attention, but for the most part, we can devote a lot of time to Autumn.

Take this moment. Gavin is sleeping in the swing (still the greatest thing for new parents). Autumn is watching Mary Poppins for about the 60th time (she even acts out some parts).

I can run over there and act out certain parts with her (we do a mean step-in-time), but she doesn't need us.

Lets see how long that lasts.

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In the time of lack of sleep

Yes, it's true, we don't sleep much.

Our little Gavin is 5 weeks old today, and shows no real sign of sleeping soon. Autumn wakes up at some point in the night on a fairly regular basis and complains about something.

And Lucy.

Lucy has something going on that isn't fleas, but makes her scratch herself all the time. All friggin' night long. Scratch. Friggin' Scratch.

Oh, and to complete the list, Romeo the cat has decided to up his prolific output of pissing on everything. Perhaps this is the manner that he draws the line in the sand saying enough adding people and pets to this household that used to just be me and the woman that takes baths.

But, he's now taken to peeing on pillows on the bed.

As you can imagine, we're on edge. But, they tell me, this is normal. We don't get much sleep, pets react different to new people in their territory, we wake up on edge and sometimes get in each others grill over something as silly as how the dishwasher got unplugged.

But we're doing good. Really. We have a wonderful family. We have a nice little house in a nice little neighborhood. And, there are things like this on the Internet to give one perspective.

It's called Eat the Strawberry. What it means to me is "Hug my wife".

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Autumn's birthday presents

We got her two things that she loves. The first is because the kids next door all have scooters. Autumn is always saying, "I want to ride scooter."

So, we got her a little starter scooter. With a helmet.


The second is girlie. She loves dresses, and princesses, and wearing dresses and looking pretty. So we got her a little dress up dress. In it, she can look like a princess.

"I'm soooo pretty." She says. See for yourself.


Here are some bonus pictures.

A few good shots

Even though this picture seems to suggest that Autumn doesn't love holding Gavin, she does. She loves kissing him, and doing it all "by self".



He, of course, just wants to eat and poop. So he doesn't mind a little fun posing.