Having a ball

Gabriel is always on the move. Climbing, playing, running---nearly nonstop. He will occasionally stop to eat, hydrate and play with blocks.

He also enjoys people watching. Our next door neighbors moved out this week and Gabriel spent most of the day watching the moving guys. Then proceeded to stalk the door for the new neighbors.

Lately he has enjoyed playing catch. He has a good arm and aims well. He has also enjoyed kicking around the balls.

While Louis and Leah hated the vacuum cleaner (and still are not big fans) Gabriel loves to help me vacuum. He will sometimes take his mower and pretend to vacuum too. 

Aoooww Says the Wolf

We got the cutest dress up props today. Louis picked out a dinosaur tail for himself and grey wolf tail for Gabriel.

Playing with the Dough

A couple times a week Louis sits and plays with dough for at least an hour. Sometimes longer. He loves it. Gabriel usually spends that time playing blocks or eating a snack or napping. He's never shown an interest in playing with it. Today he asked to sit in his high chair alongside Louis' and tried his hand at play dough. He loved it.

Having an artsy day

I count myself as lucky when it comes to my children and their love for all things arts and crafts. I wasn't sure if Gabriel at just a year or so would have any interest but today he spent nearly an hour alongside Louis while they painted and drew on the driveway.

Attempting to break into the garage, one of the more dangerous rooms in our house but of course it's Gabriel's fave one.

Obsessed with getting to this tomato

Not so happy about the leaves in his face

Gabriel Gets Messy

We did a bit of body painting out on the driveway today. Details of the activity are over on Louis's blog with his take on the activity.

Gabriel tends to hang back and wait to see what his siblings are doing before jumping into an activity. It doesn't take long for him to make it his own.

He's made up his mind and is going in.

All in. The squeals of laughter coming from him were great.

He wasn't too sure if he liked or hated the paint. He kept standing up to get out then going back in for more.

When he was done with the foil pan of paint he grabbed a shovel for the paint and painted on the drop cloth for a bit then went back to his water table.

More Sand

Sensory Play! with Homemade Moon Sand

Louis helped me put together a batch of moon sand/cloud dough and Gabriel investigated while Louis played.

Exersaucing

Gabriel in the exersaucer for the first time. He seemed to like it enough as long as I wasn't in view.

Bumbo Playtime

Gabriel loves to sit and the Bumbo seat definitely comes in handy. Doesn't keep him entertained for very long but that is okay by me. Short spurts of playtime work well for us. It is also a great way for Louis to be a part of playtime with Gabriel and feel like he's able to interact with him more. Louis is pretty attached to Leah's Bitty Baby. He's pretty much adopted her.

Louis at 4 months in the same Bumbo

Summer in Autumn

The Autumn weather has been unseasonably warm the past few days. We've tried to take advantage of this and spend as much time outside as possible. Louis loves to sit out in the driveway and draw with chalk or play with his toys. Today Gabriel spent the time sitting in his seat watching as Louis played. This was post bath time and I didn't brush Gabriel's hair down right after his bath so his hair dried sticking up.