gabe has definitely improved his speech this month! he's added papa (my dad), por-por (he will mimic, but he won't actually say it unprompted), jie (short for gou-jie, chris' sister), blue, and mole to his verbage. and while he can't say "train", he will pump his arm for "choo-choo". and yesterday when i was counting the number of trains he has (3), he was trying to count along with his fingers! gabe likes to point at words on tshirts, and when chris spells out the word, gabe will start babbling along trying to imitate him.
while he communicates to us in his own way, it continues to surprise me how much gabe understands from us. he doesn't like it when an activity ends abruptly, so when we can, we'll give him a 5 minute countdown. but if he's not ready after the countdown, then we have a little 1:1 with him and explain how we're all done and it's time for something else. it's been a huge lesson in patience for all of us...watching gabe try to determine whether we REALLY mean what we're saying. his head lowers, his eyes dart from side to side, then ocasionally looks up at us. all the while, i've got my hands on my hips or across my chest, just waiting for him to come around and follow my instructions. sometimes during our little chats, i have to turn around and look away for a sec...it's hard to scold a toddler...he's just so cute when he pouts and i can't keep a straight face! bad mommy!
after a rough week of trying to get gabe to wear his helmet, we've finally had success with his trike. he still doesn't understand the concept of peddling, but he really enjoys going for a ride :-) hopefully we can still ride for a couple more months before it gets too cold (and dark) in the evenings!new toys! my parents and i stocked up over the summer with new food toys, dishes, shopping cart, chalkboard/whiteboard, books, stacking blocks, train sets...it's endless! it's great to see gabe playing on his own serving food or trying to put the train tracks together. with the new advancement in toys, comes great frustration. as soon as the tracks come apart, gabe starts screaming and yelling for someone to fix it. he also has issues with his shopping cart and maneuvering over uneven surfaces...usually it ends tipping over and he falls on top of it :P
gabe's been a really great helper, whether it's putting his toys and books away, "folding" laundry, helping set the table, baking muffins, and now he can help dry his own dishes!
we're seeing a lot more "dry diaper" days recently, and even more dry nights! occasionally, gabe will wake up in the night and want to go potty rather than wet his diaper. such a funny little guy! i'm excited and anxious about potty training over christmas. he still seems a little young to be trained 100%, but with all his dry diapers of late, he's telling us that he's ready to be a big boy! it actually comes at a good time, because his cloth diapers are getting a bit small for him, so i'd hate to spend another $300 for a supply of diapers, when we can move onto pull-ups or briefs within 3 months!
it's back to school time, so gabe's going to strong start. i've only taken him once to kitchener elementary when we had no plans, but my mom is going to take him this fall on a regular basis. it's great socialization for him to play with news toys, new kids, where they have a little bit of structure. it'll definitely help with the transition to preschool next year! and speaking of preschool, gabe's been on a waitlist since january, so hopefully we'll get into our #1 choice. we're also on the waitlist for our saturday music class which filled up faster than i could register! even if that doesn't work out, gabe will be taking "mom & me dance" with my parents, as well as a christmas craft session in december.
my boy is growing up so fast!
gabe & trevor playing, until trevor breaks out in song!
1 comment:
Gabe's so cute! Layla goes to Strong Start at Kitchener on Wednesday mornings. Maybe they'll see each other :)
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