Sweet Gabe

Well, I am back from a week in Cedar City, spending time with Gabe while Joanna and Cory were in the Caribbean on a cruise. What fun we had! He is at such a cute age and has such a sweet, fun personality. It is amazing to me how their little personalities develop at such a young age. Gabe already has such a cute sense of humor and loves to tease. He is so social and everywhere we went he was constantly waving at people and yelling at them to try to get their attention. He loves to sing and gets the cutest little look on his face when he does. His current favorites are action songs like Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He's doing great with the walking and seems to get a little better with his balance every day. He loved Trick-or-Treating (we went to the Trunk or Treat party at the church, a special trick-or-treat storytime at the library, and to a few neighbors homes for trick-or-treating). "We" carved a jack-o-lantern (nothing like Jed's) and put it out for Halloween, and then he and I sat out (him in his monkey costume) on the porch, with the pumpkin to greet the trick-or-treaters as they came. That way we didn't have to fight the dogs each time we opened the door. Gabe would see people coming down the street and would wave his hand frantically in the air and yell at them, as if to say, "Hey! Come to our house! We have candy!". What a cutie! We read lots of stories, sang lots of songs, played on the swings outside and went for walks. Fun stuff!

What a joy it is to be a grandparent. I am so much more relaxed with the grandkids than I was when our own children were little. I am sure that part of that this week was due to the fact that my whole focus was on Gabe. I didn't have a lot of other pressures or things that needed to be done. I feel bad that Scott wasn't able to be a part of all the fun. He is so great with the grandkids, and I know they adore him. We are looking forward to the holidays, when we will be seeing all of our kids and both of our beautiful grandchildren. Ahh...the sweet life!