Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

We have so much to be thankful for here at the Clay house. Yesterday we had a small gathering of friends. Jen cooked biscuits, pies, and a brined turkey that was to die for. I made what was possibly my best batch of stuffing ever. We all played Little Big Planet and ate until it hurt. Gabe wore his hair spiked up in a mohawk for the occasion. He was a show-stealer, of course.

All at once Gabe seems to be learning new tricks. Yesterday he supermaned himself right from his front to his back, without crying. It’s not the first time he has rolled over, but this time seemed deliberate: he was working hard to see what happened if he kept his hands and feet in the air, whereas on previous rolls, the weight of his head had accidentally toppled him over, frightening him in the process.

Gabe enthusiastically grabs anything within his reach with both hands, and herds it to his mouth. This includes toys that he hadn’t shown an interest in before, as well as the hands and hair of grown-ups, loose clothing, and anything else we allow within his reach. His hands try hard to be helpful when he is drinking from a bottle, which usually means they are in the way. And he has settled on a favorite hand-sucking position: both hands, overlapping slightly, palms-down, with all eight fingers crammed into his mouth. If he could get his thumbs in there too, I’m sure he would.

I have never been good at seeing the resemblance among my own family members, but finally I’ve looked at Gabe and seen how he fits into the family tree. Gabe looks like my sister! I can remember what she looked like at about five years old, round-faced and sucking her thumb. If I had memories of any other family members in their childhood, I bet I would be able to see a resemblance there, too.

His vocabulary of pre-speech sounds has grown enormously. His chattering still mostly consists of vowels, but the range of pitch, rhythm, and emotion now spans the gamut. Just right now, for instance, he is telling me all about how he was having fun on the floor, but he is rapidly getting tired of being there.

Okay, time for me to entertain the baby!