A Good Diaper is a Clean Diaper

As you may remember, Gavin made a bold move a while back switching from disposable diapers to cloth diapers. Many products were trialed and evaluated. Only a few met his demanding standards.

To show his loyal support to one of the diaper finalists and to receive a free diaper, Gavin sent in a "diaper in action" picture, or DIA -- not to be confused with Denver International Airport.

You can see Gavin's commercial web debut at Precious Dignity. (scroll down the page)

Exploring the Unknown

For quite a while, Gavin's sphere of influence was limited not by his stamina when it came to rolling or soldier crawling, but by non-physical boundaries. This was fortunate for us...Gavin would not cross the threshold of open doorway between his room and the hallway, nor would he venture from the living room into the kitchen due to the change in flooring materials from carpet to hardwood. It was almost supernatural, like some spell was holding him back.

Well, sometime in the past couple weeks, the spell was broken. While playing with him in his room one afternoon, he suddenly lost interest in his toys and made a break for the door. I assumed that he was on his way to shut the door (because he cannot leave any open door stay open these days). Much to my surprise, he ignored the offensively open door and continued right over what had been an impassable barrier. Once though, he looked over his shoulder and issued a triumphant giggle. Guess it's time to buy baby-gates.

His bold exploration continues. The DGZ (De-Gavinized Zone) on the first floor has also been dismissed. Gavin has discovered the elusive route to the front door and you can see him surveying his next conquest, The Deck.

New Skill = Less Public Appearances

Gavin recently acquired a new skill: nose-picking. While I'm all for learning new things, this nose-picking falls into the category of "things-Gavin-never-really-needed-to-know-or-discover".

We are in the process of renegotiating his scheduled public appearances while the exploration of his nasal caverns plays out. Not surprisingly, the PNPF, or preferred nose-picking finger, is also the PPF, or preferred pointing finger. So if you find yourself in the "line of fire" just beware of where that finger has been!

Blackraspberry Wins!

Gavin received his first taste of ice cream this afternoon. As Daddy was sitting in front of him, Daddy's ice cream, blackraspberry, was the first flavor that Gavin tried. He made faces, let the ice cream dribble out of his mouth, rubbed it all over his face, and, of course, signed for more.

He also tried the other flavors on hand, chocolate (Mommy) and mint-chocolate-chip (Grammy). However, Gavin quickly decided these ice creams were not for him. He's a chip off Daddy's block apparently.

At first, he was spoon fed his first few tastes, but once he selected his favorite flavor, Gavin went for it all in true ice cream licking fashion!

More of Gavin's Favorite Pastime

We finished off our Fourth of July holiday weekend with a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.

All our hikes with Gavin have been local, within twenty minutes of the house, and have been short affairs, less than two miles. None of these hikes required meals or naps. Today, we thought we would push the boundaries outward and upward by taking our longest hike to date. We were successful! Gavin loved every minute of the just-shy-of-three-miles hike that included a picnic lunch above the roaring Glacier Creek. As for his nap, cozily wrapped in Mom's fleece, he promptly dozed off in the car as we left the park and slept soundly on the return trip home.

With a little more planning and organization, we hope to be able to complete some five mile or more hikes that take us to some of the best vistas Colorado has to offer.

Happy Fourth of July!

This is what our new hometown Fourth of July looks like. A small community parade in our backyard. Gavin mostly liked the parade except for the loud horns from the firetrucks. He was decked out in as much red, white, and blue that he could get his hands on!

We hope everyone had a great Fourth of July celebration!