Baby Gabe

These come courtesy of cousin Jon, who snapped a bunch of photos at the wedding.  Thx, Jon!

Lest you think this was a fluke, he got 3 prior attempts right before we recorded this one.

Baby Gabe was the perfect baby during our trip out to Boulder for Christine’s wedding.  He slept the whole way out and most of the way back.  While there, he ate everything — jellyfish, peking duck, roast pork, fish stew, italian sausage, etc.  He also slept well.  He carried this through for a few days after we returned.  Then he got a mysterious fever for a couple of days.  We assume it was teething related.  For a few days, he had great difficulty eating and sleeping and was generally very clingy, which is totally not what Baby Gabe is normally like.  It’s been a week, and now he’s getting back to a normal eating/sleeping schedule.  If it’s not a virus, it’s teething.  We just have to go with the flow just like he does.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take any pictures of Baby Gabe in his seersucker.  His mom was in the wedding party and needed the camera to take pictures up in the bridal suite before the ceremony.  These photos were taken by his Uncle Jeff.  We’re still hoping someone can get us a full photo of him in the suit.



We attended the annual Festival of Books on the UCLA campus last weekend, and we thought it would be a good place to have Gabriel run around.  It was for a while.  He met many new friends and a big, friendly Labrador Retriever.  Then he found some steps.  He spent the next 10 minutes walking up and down.  We guided him, of course.  Then we moved to flat ground.  He was fine on the steps so we figured we didn’t need to hold his hands anymore.  Wrong.  He leaned forward to look at something and then tumbled forward for a full faceplant on the concrete.  We heard a sickening thud and rushed over.  The picture shows the result — abrasions on his forehead and nose.  The amazing thing is that he cried for only about 30 seconds before calming down.  He cried again when we used a wet tissue to clear out the bits of gravel and blood, but in a few minutes, he was struggling to be let down so he could walk around more.  He’s tough and resilient.

Baby Gabe’s mobility has opened up a whole new world for him.  He can now run around in the neighborhood park, in malls, and at home.  He gets into everything, including old shipping boxes and cabinet drawers.  We just got magnetic locks for the drawers this week along with a cute lion backpack with a leash for a tail.  Some people think it’s weird to have your kid on a leash, but if your kid is anything like Baby Gabe, you’ll soon see the need for it.  He runs everywhere and doesn’t like to hold hands when walking.  His new-found independence and inquisitiveness has unfortunately affected his dinner.  It’s odd because he’s fine at breakfast and lunch.  But when dinner rolls around, he’s been very fussy and picky.  We hope it’s just a phase.  Otherwise, he’s been the same old Baby Gabe — pleasant, friendly, and happy.

For the first time, Baby Gabe beat his dad in a wrestling match, bringing his lifetime record to 1-54.  The victory was not without controversy.  After a powerbomb and elbow drop, Baby Gabe looked down for the count.  But just as his dad went for the pin, Baby Gabe thrust a thumb to the eye (blatantly illegal).  His dad rolled over to recover, and Baby Gabe took full advantage with a forearm smash to the throat (another illegal manuever) and a knee drop to the solar plexus.  He then pinned his dad 1-2-3.

What’s amazing about this video is not how well he’s walking but how playful he is when he’s got a bad cold (yes, he’s sick again… ).  We thought about taking him to his doctor until we found a website that played audio of various coughs.  We narrowed it down to croup or a wet cough, both of which are viral, so the doctor couldn’t have done anything anyway.  He’s feeling much better now, but at the time of the video, he was still battling the cough, a runny nose, congestion, and a fever.

He just took his first steps two days ago.  Now he’s running around everywhere.  He hasn’t quite gotten the concept of stopping yet.  He just runs into things and bounces off.