Gavin's 4!

Gavin being the amazingly blessed boy he is happened to have his birthday month in the month of our move to Montgomery, AL.  We threw him a party in CO with his neighborhood friends. The Alderson's threw a party for him with all of the extended family and then the Cummins' side did the same.  After 3 birthday parties he was certainly what you would call "spoiled."  He rightly used his birthday money to buy an angry birds board game. He hasn't stopped playing it since! His favorite gift was a fishing pole and tackle box and he keeps asking us everyday if he can go fishing. 

We arrived at our new home on Thursday the 16th.  On the 17th of Feb, Gavin's actual birthday we received our household goods. It's a good thing we had celebrated already because it was a busy day! 

During a long 8 hour drive from Little Rock, AR I had the chance to reflect on the past year.  Gavin has learned how to write his first name. He often writes all the letters in capitals and sometimes flips the letters backwards but he's come so far.  He has never been fond of drawing but today he drew a picture of his family during our homeschool session.  I took a picture as I was very proud!  With my help in spelling he wrote the names of each of us: Mom, Gavin, Dad above each person in the picture.  It was such an accomplishment!  He can "read" one of his favorite books from memorization, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems.  He tries to read words by making the sounds, sometimes he just thinks of a word and says it very slowly enunciating the sounds of the letters.  He can count easily to 25 occasionally skipping a number here or there.

He is very independent. He still loves to play with airplanes and cars. He will sit in front of a tv all day if you let him.  He loves to ride his Strider bike and we can't wait to get him a new bike with pedals and see if he can ride with no training wheels. 

He again handled this move like a champ.  He doesn't like to be alone so he'll follow us through the house.  He's started helping with chores things like; hanging his clothes on hangers, matching socks, vacuuming the floor with our small vacuum etc.  He can also follow three short directive orders as long as he's paying attention and in the mood!

We are currently working on praying each night before bed, having him bathe himself, having him set the table, and practicing our manners including yes maam and no sir. We have enormous difficulty at mealtimes getting him to eat if it's not one of the foods he's interested in.  We are trying to be strict about ending the mealtime when he complains and making him wait until the next mealtime to eat.  We've also added no tv and no toys at mealtimes to try and avoid distractions.  It is a tough battle. 

He experienced his first bar of soap in the mouth the other day. He had been told repeatedly to not stick his tongue out at me. I gave him a fair warning that my Grandma used to do that to me when I was mouthy or said a bad word.  Well he is certainly good at testing his limits in the battle of wills. It wasn't 5 minutes after this conversation that he stuck his tongue out at me again. So with all my strength I fought him (and man he is strong) I got that bar of soap in there for about a second before he pulled my hand away.  I don't think he'll stick his tongue out again!

I hope and pray that Gavin learns to obey God and obey his parents in this coming year.  Year three was the toughest by far. I also hope and pray that Shannon will be around much more in the coming years at this assignment to teach him the ways of being a respectful, kind, and generous boy who grows up to be an honorable man.