Backyard Fun

Gabriel can go down the slide without too much help.

A broom is still the best outside toy. ...

... And weeds and sticks.

Counting Carrots

"Let's see, 4 carrots plus 2 pieces of chicken plus 3 pieces of bread equals..."

Gabriel climbed into his chair with his calculator and asked to eat there this evening. He pressed the calculator buttons between bites. He has been communicating so much lately. He sings to himself, points and jabbers, and even yells in frustration. He also hands me books all day long and wants me to read to him (used to be just a bedtime routine).

Bath Time

We never really took any of those classic baby bath pictures. Here are two cute ones from last night. (That's my leg, as I use the toilet as a seat and straddle the bathtub next to the shower doors. )And a picture of Gabriel, just chillin'.

Bouncing

Yeah, I think he's grown a bit. Gabriel has been enjoying climbing into his old bouncy seat.

15 Months

Gabriel and I went to the park today, as we try to do every day. He loves being pulled higher and higher on the swings. He can climb the stairs and go down the slide by himself if he wants to. He doesn't quite have a sense of self-preservation because he leaps off the edges of the structures. Thank goodness for soft landings on woodchips. Gabriel understands so much of what we say. If I say "patty cake" casually in a conversation, he stops what he is doing to clap and say patty cake too. He does half the motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider and Patty Cake. He can say "kick" as we kick balls around. The other day he discovered walking backwards! He is growing up so fast.
Paul went up to Seattle to visit his brother and was gone for 4 1/2 days. We missed him tons! Today he came back to start his new job. Yay! As part of the perks, Paul came home from his first day at work with a cape for Gabriel. We promptly tried it out!
Then we played before bedtime. Gabriel can stack two blocks and is very proud of himself. He doesn't go any higher yet, but enjoys batting down Paul's higher stacks of blocks.

Soapbox

I feel strongly about something and would like to share it with you (this being our blog and all). If you just want pictures of our precious Gabriel, please scroll down and skip this.

I heard a great broadcast on Wednesday night about Yes on Prop 8. It moved me and they encouraged us to blog about it to spread the word. If you’re in California, please register to vote and then vote Yes on Prop 8. If you’re not in California, please pray for us.

Many churches have formed a coalition to support Yes on Prop 8. Here’s their website.

My Church put out a broadcast with persuasive arguments. I believe it is worth reading. Here are some of my favorite quotes and reasons for voting Yes.

“The focus of the Church’s involvement is specifically same-sex marriage and its consequences. The Church does not object to rights (already established in California) regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference.”

“Once a state government declares that same-sex unions are a civil right, those governments almost certainly will enforce a wide variety of other policies intended to ensure that there is no discrimination against same-sex couples. For example, advocates and government officials in certain states already are challenging the long-held right of religious adoption agencies to follow their religious beliefs and only place children in homes with both a mother and a father. As a result, Catholic Charities in Boston has stopped offering adoption services.”

Here’s a video that’s been circulating. It really affected me, especially as a parent.

“Those who favor homosexual marriage contend that “tolerance” demands that they be given the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. But this appeal for “tolerance” advocates a very different meaning … The Savior taught a much higher concept, that of love. “Love thy neighbor,” He admonished. Jesus loved the sinner even while decrying the sin, as evidenced in the case of the woman taken in adultery: treating her kindly, but exhorting her to “sin no more.” Tolerance as a gospel principle means love and forgiveness of one another, not “tolerating” transgression. In today’s secular world, the idea of tolerance has come to mean something entirely different. Instead of love, it has come to mean condone – acceptance of wrongful behavior as the price of friendship. Tolerance obviously requires a non-contentious manner of relating toward one another’s differences. But tolerance does not require abandoning one’s standards or one’s opinions on political or public policy choices.”

I post this with love in my heart. I love and respect all people for who they are. We are all given free agency to do with our life as we like. I support tradition marriage.

Now back to our regularly scheduled Gabriel.

Rain and Darkness

We had our first rain of the season on Saturday. Gabriel loves water and naturally wanted to be out in it. I let him. He couldn't get enough of standing and running in the rain and cried when I brought him back inside to get dry. (In the picture, his face is wet from rain, not tears.)

We found a small flashlight in Paul's toolbox. When I gave it to Gabriel and showed him how it worked, it became the new favorite toy! Paul put a blanket over the coffee table and Gabriel goes under there in the dark with his flashlight.

Reading Again

Gabriel still loves to read. He can climb onto the rocking chair and sit down all by himself (as he did here). Paul caught it on camera this time. I love that he is reading out loud to himself, even if it's only in whispers.

On the more active side, Gabriel has discovered the space under his table and likes to crawl under it with his toys. Lately he has been pushing his trucks (and the laundry basket) around the house.