Guard 10-11 months

I can't believe how fast Guard is growing.  His personality has really taken off and he is a little person now, not so much a baby.  Guard can be very serious.  In fact he keeps his emotions so close that we call him "Poker Face Fowler".  (We also call Gavin that, but because that kid has his emotions all over his face.)  Guard is quite calm and content.  He isn't super smiley in public, but is always smiling at home.  He has just entered his stranger anxiety phase.  He isn't a screamer, but if someone is holding him who he doesn't know, he won't look at them.  He looks everywhere but their face.  It cracks me up.

 

Some of his favorites include:

books, books and books - Hungry Caterpillar and Poke-A-Dot are his favorites

crawling - he has started stepping, but crawling is still his favorite mode of transportation.  He especially loves to crawl and climb around Kate's gym class in all the open space and over all the mats.

Coal - I think she is his favorite.  Guard and Coal fight over the tennis balls and Guard has developed quite an arm throwing the ball for Coal. 

outside - He stands by the window and points and grunts and cries.  As soon as someone opens the door, he takes off and is over the threshold faster than you can blink.  (He crawls at lighting speed!)  While outside, he explores.  He doesn't mind crawling on concrete or grass (his poor little legs and knees are so scratched up) and he really like finding a stick and digging in the dirt.

his mom - I love the fact that he is a momma's boy.  I love it when he reaches for me and snuggles into my neck.  He gives me slobber kisses and it melts my heart.

silverware - This kids is obsessed with silverware.  He can hear me open the dishwasher anywhere in the house and within seconds he is there (remember the lighting speed crawling?).  He doesn't have a security blanket or stuffed animal, he carries around a spoon all day.  A spoon.  He sleeps with it.  Really, if we try to take it away, he screams.

food - For how skinny he is, he eats quite a bit.  His favorites are yogurt, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.  He devours anything chocolate, especially Nutella and ice cream.  Oddly enough, he isn't hating his bottle as much as he used to, although he does like his sippy cups.  He has four teeth, but he still has a difficult time biting because his teeth don't match up.  He has his two middle teeth on the bottom and two fangs on top.  I'm hoping those two top middle teeth come in soon.

As you can see from the pictures, Guard is still the wiggliest baby I have ever been around.  Oh, this kid is never still!  He is becoming quite difficult in church and we rarely make it through the Sacrament before we have to take him out.
He is right in the middle of his destructive phase.  Nothing is safe.  Finally the kids are learning to close their doors (even Gavin and Enoch as Guard can now go down the stairs).  He pulls everything off shelves, emptys the Tupperware cabinet in no time flat and can clear out a bookshelf in seconds.  If it is at Guard's level, it's not safe.

We love our squirmy, happy, smart and curious little guy!  What a blessing he is to us.

AFV

Enoch wants me to send this clip into American's Funniest Home Videos.  The kids love that show.
I haven't done it yet, but we will see.

Burning Rubber

On our way down to BYU for saxophone lessons, the van started bumping around as we past Target.  I immediately knew we have a flat tire.  I slowly changed lanes until I reached the exit and we pulled off into a park-and-ride.  Luckily for us, there was a decent place to park and it wasn't too hard to to get off the freeway.
Yeah, our tire looked bad.

 

If I was by myself, I would have started crying and panicking.  Again, luckily, Gavin was there.  He had the owner's manual out to the tire-changing page before I even put the car in park.  He immediately got out and started the process while I called his sax teacher and Greg.  Again luckily, Greg was just on his way out of work and was able to get to us in about 10 minutes.

We had the car jacked up (Gavin loved that.   He kept saying, "It's all jacked up!) when Greg got there.  Between Greg and Gavin they were able to loosen the lug nuts and change the tire with our spare - which was looking quite deflated.

 

Luckily, Guard slept through the entire ordeal.

 We drove the van over to Les Schwab and bought a new tire and a new spare.  While they were installing our new tire, we walked over to Costco for dinner.  The kids thought it was a rather fun evening.  

For a stinky situation, we were lucky.

The next day, I went out to the garage to put something away and I found the van jacked up.   I was so mad at Enoch until he told me, "I need to practice.  What if Gavin isn't there and I need to change the tire for you.  I want to make sure I know how."  That is very sweet.  I'm sure that wasn't his only motivation, but I'll believe him.