Lately Dawson has really been getting more attached to Gabriel. Today I was looking at videos of Tyler, and Dawson came over to see. When the video was over he pointed to one of Gabriel, then another of Gabriel, then one of himself. I let him play on there a while and noticed he played just Gabriel and his stuff. Usually he just obsesses about Tyler's videos.
Gabriel loves watching what Dawson is doing. When he's on the computer, Gabriel will stand up by his chair and watch him. So I'll sit him on the chair by him and he loves it. Dawson doesn't mind either, which is a huge step for him. He even moves over to let Gabriel sit by him. It's so cute seeing them sitting together.
Gabriel even puts his arm around Dawson.
Dawson has learned how to tickle Gabriel and loves that he gets giggles in return.
Gabriel was so happy to be tickled and acknowledged by Dawson. He looks at Dawson with the cutest look on his face, it's obvious that he totally loves and idols his big brother.
All cuddled up. Usually Dawson would be pushing people away if they start leaning on him. He didn't seem to mind this time.
He even decided to be silly and play with him.
Dawson took this picture. I'm guessing it was yesterday when I heard him turn my camera on when I was in the bathroom. I didn't realize he took pictures until I uploaded them tonight. He's getting good! This is totally Gabriel's typical self. He always has his tongue out it seems.
This is the mess I've been trying to tackle the last few days. It was actally much worse, when I started I couldn't see carpet at all.
I moved the white organizer drawers into the playroom and that was very useful. I have his playdough, paint, crayons, markers and flashcards in there. It's nice because he can't reach them so he has to ask. The 3-drawer purple one has other little fine motor toys, stringing beads, lacing cards, little people and animals and other things I don't want Gabriel finding on his own.
In the closet I keep the puzzles, color and preschool books, games and books. Out of Gabriel's sight and he can't open the closet door yet. We lovingly refer to him as our little goat. He chews on everything that's paper or cardboard. Boxes, books, mail, anything. The other boys chewed on things too, but not this much! He would rather crawl around and find a box to chew on than play with his pile of baby teething toys. Go figure.
Dawson has been making some big improvements in the Self Help category. He can easily take off his shirt and pants. He sat on the potty yesterday. Today he made waffles, by himself. He took his stool, got them out of the freezer, took a couple out, put them in the toaster and pushed it down. We just had to get them out of the toaster for him. Wow! He'll also get the cereal and a bowl and help me pour it. Same with the milk, and he'll even insist on screwing the cap back on the milk jug. He gets it on good and tight too! He takes his shoes off by the door instead of running around the place with shoes on, and even puts them on the shelf in the closet where they belong. He occasionally needs a reminder to put them away, but he does pretty good. Yesterday we had some friends over so I asked him if he wanted to go let them in, since I can see the door from our apartment. He jumped up and said Yes, so he went downstairs to the door and held it open for them, then showed them the way back upstairs to our apartment. He loves getting company! He's also getting good at blowing bubbles. He couldn't figure out the blowing for quite a while. He would spit or suck the air in, but he finally got it now!
Gabriel is crawling around much faster and pulling up on everything. He's thinking about walking along furniture too. He'll take a little sideways step sometimes but is pretty nervous. The other night he was on the other end of the couch and I was calling him over to me. He looked like he really wanted to but was nervous and started fussing because he was hungry. So Dawson went over to him, wrapped his arms around him under his arms and helped Gabriel walk over here. Though it looked more like dragging him over. I don't think Dawson expected him to weigh as much as he does! He's about 21-22 pounds. He looked so excited to be helpful though. He did the same thing tonight and was just beaming with pride at being able to help Gabriel out. He doesn't do it much though, thankfully! I'm guessing Gabriel will be walking along furniture by the New Year.
I'm so relieved to report that Dawson's bedtime has gotten so much better! He fell asleep at 11pm the first night and has been getting to sleep faster and sooner every night since. This was his 3rd night doing the Melatonin suppliment and he was asleep by 10:20. I hope to bump back his bedtime until he gets to a better time. He wakes up happy and rested now too, no more waking him up groaning. I guess we'll see how it goes this week! I'm really wishing I would've started this sooner. Even though it's a natural suppliment, I was still nervous about giving it to him before. He wanted the music off though, so I left it off and he just fell asleep on his own. It's such a relief, both for my sanity and to make sure he gets a decent night of sleep.
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