G'Day Mate!

Here's Gabe in his souvenir PJs and kangaroo backpack that he got from his Grandma and Grandpa Ross, who just returned from an adventure to New Zealand and the Down Under.  Gabe had his own adventure in his new gear. 

He got pretty tired pretty quick, so he abandoned his heavy pack and went to bed. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Yesterday, Gabe accomplished another "first": he did his first handstand!  Yep, a straight upside-down body, fully supported by his little arms.  He suspended for a minute in the air and then settled down into the standard headstand (also a first), from which he toppled onto the floor.  And cried.  Would you like to see the process leading up to the first handstand/headstand?  Thought so.

So, it was time for me to take the chicken out of the crockpot, shred it, and then return it to finish cooking.  And, I knew that it was going to take some heavy brain power to come up with an activity to keep Gabe busy enough for long enough for me to do it without him hanging on my legs and getting stepped on.  Light Bulb!  I pulled down the dishwasher door, removed the freshly cleaned sharp knives and let Gabe do his business.  Side note: if Gabe is in the other room and I open up the dishwasher to get something or to put something in, he recognizes the sound and books it into the kitchen to have a shot at playing with all the dishes.  Anyway, I stood right next to the dishwasher as I shredded and could see Gabe, rolling the bottom tray back and forth and grabbing forks and measuring spoon and banging them on the dishwasher door, out of the corner of my eye the whole time. 

I finally got the chicken back in the crockpot and looked down to find Gabe sitting on top of the dishwasher door!  I have no idea how he climbed up there as climbing was still not in his repertoire.  But, he was having the time of his life just playing with the dishes up close and personal. I ran to get my camera.

Here he is trying to lick the already clean plates clean.

And then, he decided it was time to come down, differently, of course, than how he climbed on. Here is the first step of his dismount.  There are no more pictures of the process because I was so curious as to how he was going to make it work that I quit snapping.

He reached over the edge of the dishwasher until both hands were touching the floor.  And then, he shimmied his body, while both grunting and screaming in frustration, until the weight of his body fell completely on his arms.  Like I said before, he was straight up for a little, until his arms gave out, and then his head took over. 

It looks like Gabe may be the next gymnast in the family.  Watch out Uncle Ryker!