Gideon

Hello fellow readers,

I thought I would make a post only about Gideon. It has been a while since I wrote about him but it is so hard to capture the moments on camera. Also, I just love to play with him by myself when there is time.

He has grown up so much over the past 9 months, since Seona has been born. He is more independent in his play. He can use speak with more than 3 words in a sentence. He loves to sing Veggie Tales songs all the time, especially the theme song. 

My favorite story happened right after Seona was born. I was nursing Seona and Gideon wanted me to play with his Lego animals, elephant, giraffe and bear. So he decided to play next to our bed and Seona's bassinet. Gideon wanted his animals to go to sleep so he put them in the bassinet. He was able to get bear and elephant out but giraffe was in the middle. His arms were too short to reach it. At this time, all he could say was help. I couldn't help so I told him to find papa for help. Gideon said help but he didn't know any other words to communicate why he needed help. So he attempted to push the bassinet out of the bedroom. The door frame was not wide enough for the bassinet. Then Gideon ran to bring papa to the bedroom while shouting help. So funny.

He has learned to climb out of his crib in the middle of the night. One night Gideon was staring at me while I was sleeping in my bed around midnight. He startled me. I brought him back to his room and put him back into his crib. I found out the next morning that he was playing with toys and stamping his hand with stamps. Now I am always listening for Gideon in the night. He can open doorknobs now.

I think he is telling us he is ready for a big boy bed. We have been reading him stories about big boy beds and praying that he will transition well. He likes to jump on the bed. He can recite "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" while he is jumping.

Playing with trains



Playing with stamps or just the stamp pad

 

Playing with pipecleaners (This reminds me of MacKenzie's toes!)

 

Tons of toys on his table



Stacking stamps



He loves cold pasta!

 

Playing outside with sticks and rocks

 

Playing with a container of lentils





Sibling fun already

 

23 months and 23 months and 1 week!

We have been enjoying the summer break as a family. It is so much fun hanging out with Gideon and Garrett without a schedule. We want to give Gideon as much attention now before baby girl arrives. She is still enjoying her time in the womb. I have no idea when she will make her debut.

Gideon turned 23 months the day after the fourth of July. I can't believe that he will be two years old soon. On the 4th of July, we had friends over to hang out and play board games. Here is Gideon entertaining his guests with the water table.





Matching hats!



Matching shirts!



Matching shoes!


We took Gideon to his first Caspar Babypants concert at the local library. Gideon enjoyed the music even though there were a lot of kids around and it was his nap time. He even got an autographed CD. Gideon enjoyed swimming at one of the few outdoor pools in Seattle. He liked the toys more than swimming. He was just content watching all the kids play and swim.



Happy 23 months with a haircut!



23 months and 1 week
Gideon is getting very wiggly. He knows what it means when I say, "It's time to take a picture." He climbs up on the couch next to the lion, but before I can get ready to take the shot, he is almost off the couch. He is wearing his Arizona Wildcats shirt with pride for Auntie Jaime! I found it at a Goodwill here and I have the exact same one too, but I don't know where it is right now.

22 months 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks!

Yes, I know that I am behind on Gideon's weekly post. It was a busy end of the year and also beginning of summer break. I had to clean out my classroom since I will be in a different position next year, math interventionist. It will be an exciting transition but I still had to clean out my classroom. I knew of this transition earlier but a pregnant lady can't be moving too many boxes no matter which trimester she's in!

Also, we had a couple of home repairs that needed to be done. The expansion tank on the water heater got a crack and needed to be replaced. We had to clean up the wet mess that it left on the floor at 6am in the morning! Then we found out that we had a crack in our heat exchanger of the furnace. We had to schedule some estimates before getting a new furnace. Garrett is waiting for the next repair. I'm glad that we can get it done during the summer and before baby girl comes. She'll be here this month! I can't believe I can say that!

Funny story: A couple of weeks ago, our daycare provider suggested that Gideon should wear a onesie tomorrow. I dressed him in a T-shirt and sweatpants. During nap time, Gideon took off his pants and diaper and left a poop in the pack and play. Sorry, Patty! The next day, I dressed Gideon in a onesie and pants. During naptime, Gideon took off his pants and his diaper. He pulled the diaper out of the onesie. While wearing the onesie still buttoned up, Gideon urinated. My mom says that he is ready for the potty but it has not happened again. Auntie Jaime just laughs every time I tell the story. Now it's on the blog!

Gideon loves to say letters and pretend to write the letters like us on his paper. Here is the "M" that he got correct. We are so proud. He has only done this twice.



Gideon hugging baby sister (really he is just hugging his mama!)



22 months and 1 week

This outfit is in in honor of baby girl name bracket. Can you guess what name he's representing? Also a shout-out to Miz H.!



22 months and 2 weeks

Also another shout out to Miz. H! It's a woot shirt that has elephants and giraffes being firefighters! Gideon did not want to take a photo. He showed me his foot!

 



22 months and 3 weeks

Gideon was holding two plastic balls that he likes to throw around the house. We tried to give him non-plastic balls to throw that don't make a lot of noise but he prefers these ones. He is pretending to eat them like a peach!

21 months and 4 weeks & 22 months!

Yes, we have been very busy lately. The end of the school year is coming quickly and there are a lot of deadlines to keep ahead of. I cannot wait until the end of the year and it can't come any sooner. I have been swamped with report cards and of course my students. Last week, one student could not hold it together to stay in my class for more than one hour each day. She would whistle, kick another student or exit the outside door without my permission. Friday was the best: she went home after ten minutes in my class. What did she do? She did not harm anybody in my class. She pretended to be a baby and stuck her hand in her mouth. Then she would wipe her wet hands onto any surface in the classroom. Gross! The custodian and principal disinfected the classroom right away. I wonder what this week will be.

21 months and 4 weeks

Garrett's lovely staff threw us a baby shower. Well, we just wanted to have a fun dinner with everyone at Pacific Island Grill. They came and enjoyed the food. Then we were showered with lovely girly outfits and accessories. Thank you so much!

The highlight of the evening: Gideon likes to give fist bumps and high fives to different people that he meets. There were two couples getting ready for the prom at the restaurant: a Caucasian girl in a blue dress and an Asian girl in a black sequin dress. Any guesses on whom Gideon would ask for a fist bump? Yup, Asian girl. Gideon was also in the picture of the girl pinning the boutonniere on her date. He was raising his fist for a fist bump.

Gideon also wore his Hawaii shirt that Auntie Jaime gave him to the restaurant. It was a hit!





22 months

I cannot believe that Gideon will be two years old in two months! Oh my! The time has flown by and he is growing up to be a big boy. Gideon likes to eat all dairy products. If all else fails, we can always get him to eat cheese or yogurt. He loves to eat "cup o noodles" noodles. I think he likes the saltiness. I know it's not the healthiest, but he asked for more so I gave him some more. He likes to eat corn off the cob. He would take a big bite.

He loves to play with his water table. He would play for hours if he could. He sometimes tries to climb into the water table. I think he thinks it is a portable bathtub since we put some of his bath toys in the water table.

Gideon loves saying the letters when he sees letters on people's shirts or on a box. He also loves to say the letter sounds. At daycare, they watch a video about letters and their sounds. My favorite is when he says "huh, huh" "H".

This past week my staff threw a lovely baby shower for Christine and I. The food was wonderful and the company even better. We were showered with cute girly outfits and baby necessities!

This week's photo: Look at his feet! They are huge! He just started wearing these shoes in February. I think it is almost time for the next size up. 

 

21 months and 3 weeks

Gideon had a hard week which means that I had a hard week. For some strange reason, he has not been eating his usual foods and being super mad during mealtime. Garrett thinks we have hit the terrible twos and that our calm and easygoing baby is becoming a toddler.

One morning, Gideon woke up at 330am from a nightmare or just because. We don't know exactly. I tried to put him down by rocking him back to sleep. He fell asleep on my shoulder but started to cry when I put him down. I asked Garrett to try to put him back to sleep. The same thing happened to Garrett too. So we had an early start to the day. I changed his clothes and started to get him breakfast. Something happened at breakfast and Gideon just started crying and kicking on his highchair. I took him out of his chair and he continued this tantrum on the kitchen floor. He calmed down and I tried to put him back in his chair but he started again. This went on for 20 minutes. Finally at 615am, he ate breakfast normally.

My parents came into town for the weekend. They drove up from California on Friday and arrived Friday at dinnertime. Then they will leave on Monday morning. We had a lot of fun playing, eating and watching movies!

We went to the Burien community center for the morning indoor play area. It was fun watching Gideon play with all the toys that we don't have room for in the house.



Then we took Gideon shopping at Carters. Yay, for Memorial day sales, up to 70 percent off! Gideon got a new hat to wear when it is sunny. (Garrett doesn't like it when I call it a sun hat!) This is Gideon playing at the lego table while I was looking around the store.



My parents brought up the water table that I bought for Gideon in California for his first birthday. I bought it for the friends to play with at Gideon's first birthday. Gideon loved playing with the water!



Weekly picture. He only stayed on the couch for one shot. Enjoy! Yes, he needs a haircut.

21 months and 2 weeks

Gideon had a great week playing and talking. He is trying his best to communicate with us with words. He loves his magnetic letters more and more. We can leave him playing with all of them for at least five minutes without our attention. We got new animal magnets (Thank you Auntie Ginger!). Gideon would put all the letters away in a yogurt container so that he would have more room on the refrigerator. =) He is making more letter sounds when he moves the letter, like "hah, hah, hah" for H.

Gideon gave me his first handmade Mother's day present. (Thank you Patty!) He made it at daycare. It's so beautiful. I can't stop looking at it.



With the good weather, Gideon would play on the deck while Garrett would do the yard work. We would play with water and sidewalk chalk. Here is Gideon's masterpiece. He would also crawl around to get the best angle for his drawings. We took the chalk inside for safekeeping, but Gideon found it. We heard him scratching something on the floor next to the fridge. Yes, Gideon was using the chalk on our kitchen floors. I guess it makes sense to a toddler that if you could do it outside you could do it inside too!





Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Wong for Gideon's amazing New Zealand T-shirt! He is giving his fake smile!

21 months and 1 week

Gideon loves stickers. Thank you to Uncle Dustin, he believes that all stickers belong on your face. He would take a sticker and put it on my cheek. Then he would take the sticker off my cheek and put it onto his cheek. He doesn't know about putting stickers on his clothes or other body parts yet. I placed those stickers on his shirt since I didn't want to wear them anymore. I took Gideon with me to get the tires inspected at Discount Tire. The employee said, "Don't worry about showing me the car. You can take care of your sticker boy!" Guess what was on Gideon's face? =)



I have a book that I brought here from my childhood home. It's an ABC book that was published during my elementary school years. Gideon loves reading the book. When we get to "L" is for lion, he always roars.



Garrett took some pictures of Gideon while he was eating. They are awesome. I love Gideon's facial expressions. He is becoming more of a toddler: expressing his needs through words/babble and playing with toys for longer periods of time.





Thank you to Auntie Maria for my awesome Ralph Lauren white khakis!

21 months!

 Happy cinco de mayo! It was also Gideon's 21st month birthday! I cannot believe how fast he has grown up and he is only three months away from being two. Gideon is playing with his magnetic letters more and more. He tries to say the letters and make words with the letters. He puts them in a row and says the word in his language. He loves playing with magnetic letters at friends' houses too.  His current favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham. He loves to respond to the questions like Would you eat them with a mouse? Gideon would say "No!" It is the new bedtime story favorite.

Gideon went to a friend's first birthday party. Happy Birthday Mercy! There was a bouncy house. Gideon loved going inside. At first, I thought he would be scared. Yes, pregnant mom took Gideon inside the bouncy house. After a few minutes, I realized that Garrett should be inside instead. I took Gideon out and he was screaming and crying to go back inside. Woohoo for cell phones! I called Garrett who was inside the house to come outside. Here is Gideon inside the bouncy house.



There was so much traffic coming home that we decided to make a pit stop at Matsu Sushi. Gideon is looking at the menu with Garrett.



Weekly picture: Gideon knows now that when the camera comes out he has to say "cheese." He usually stops the cute thing that he is doing in order to look at the camera. Oh no!

20 months and 3 weeks

Gideon is growing too fast. He loves to imitate sounds and play with the magnetic letters on the refrigerator. He loves meeting new people. We went to a girl's birthday party last weekend. I had to wake him up from his nap so that we could arrive in a timely manner. He was not happy when I woke him up. He was still grouchy when we arrived since he was still waking up. It wasn't until the host brought out all the "boy" toys that made sounds that Gideon felt social. In addition to being groggy when we arrived, he also has been super congested due to new teeth coming in and only eating dairy products for a few days. So he was coughing in the car from the phlegm in his throat that he threw up in the car seat. He had to borrow a pair of pants from the birthday girl.

This is Gideon with the birthday girl waiting for more guests at the front door.



Gideon's weekly photo. He is wanting to be more independent and in control of his choices. This was the best picture since he was so wiggly.

 

Gideon doesn't like anything sticky or messy on his hands/fingers. He shows me what he wants to be removed with a whining sound. You can add the audio from his facial expression. =)



This is a cute video of Gideon dancing and trying to do the worm.



This is a cute Father-son moment, Gideon feeding Garrett and Garrett feeding Gideon.