Gideon!

"The Gidster" just had his first birthday recently, so I thought I'd turn to him next.

Here's part of a journal entry dated 1/11/14:

My days are full of Gideon Nikolas Cox, who was born on September 11, 2013 at 4:47 am.  He weighed 8 lbs, 14 oz and was 22 inches long.

 He is a delight to all of us.  We call him "Gidster Nugget," "Biddo," "Plumpkin," and a host of other endearments.  He smiles and laughs and babbles and drools and captivates the entire family.

 It is bliss to cuddle with him and play with him.  I savor it-knowing how very fleeting this time is.  My firstborn is about to turn sixteen. So I squeeze and kiss Gideon's dimpled little hands that look, for all of their chub, as if they were screwed into his wrists, and give him all the attention I can- knowing that in as quick as a wink he'll be a tall, handsome, grown-up man.

 Gabe, who likes to do freeform spoken word poetry, holds him, dances his arms around, and says things like,
Yo, my name is lil' Giddy
I may be itty-bitty
But I got rhymes like P.Diddy!

Today, 10/17/14, Gideon is every bit as endearing as ever, if more mischief- prone.  The moniker Gidzilla is now most apropos.  He took his first steps within a few days of his first birthday, but said his first word, hot, (still his favorite word) several months prior. He now says hot, hat, up, mama, dada, daddy, bite, doggie, duck, Hyrum, Heman (Helaman), dark, cold, hi, bye-bye, cheese, please, poo-poo, ball, apple (appoohh- at its cutest with a whistle at the end on inhalation) nana and no-no.  Gideon, we all adore you.  Thank you for coming to bind our family more closely. We so look forward to watching you become ever more Gideonish and making your better acquaintance!