7.28

{well...hello there tooth #8}

7.22

{peek a boo}

7.21

{10 months}

I'm just happy to be here!

Processing

Sometimes in the rush of appointments, therapy, and exercises at home it is easy to miss the progress Gabe is making.  The time is spent thinking and learning about they next step, the next need, and the next milestone.  Last week our family took a break. A week off appointments, therapy, and the extra exercises outside of Gabe's daily care routines. A perfect chance for Gabe to sleep, eat, and play on his internal schedule rather than his calendar schedule.  Interestingly,  during the week of rest he was able to process all that he is learning and snap together some new connections.

It appears this week he figured out a few fun things (or maybe we just slowed down enough to notice):

~Gabe discovered how to purposely move his fingers to wave.  He waves at us when we say "Hi" or "Bye" and when we aren't talking to him he waves to himself.

~He started shaking his head for "No!"   Specifically, he shakes at us when we say, "Gabe, are you ready to sleep." We are working on "Yes" too, but when we do that he just looks at us and smiles.

~Gabe finds a way to get where he wants to go by rolling, pivoting, and scooting...backward.  This week he began pushing up to all 4s and rocking, but hasn't quite figure out how to get his momentum going forward.

~We are borrowing balance bars from CLC for the summer and nothing pleases Gabe more than holding the bars while sitting on his stool and then pulling up to standing. {video to come}

~The week wasn't without a runny nose and a little extra drool - tooth #7 is just below the surface.

Guess we need to head out on vacation more often...

7.16

{phew}

How beautiful is it to do nothing and then rest afterward

~spanish proverb

7.15

{golden}

After a week in the summer sun, Gabe's strawberry blond is looking a lot more like his big blond brothers.

7.4

{happy 4th of July}

Gabe was a little worried about why today's walk required a decorated stroller, but once we got going he happily smiled as he paraded.

7.3

{his first beach visit. thank goodness he loved it}