A boy and his dog

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Things have been INSANE, with the holiday season around the corner and Garrett growing by leaps and bounds, there hasn't been much time for anything involving sitting down. No pictures this update either . . .next time, I promise!

Garrett is just amazing these days. He is following directions consistently! It just happened, all of a sudden. He will pick things up when I ask him to, and bring them to me. He will come when I call and sit down when I ask. He is talking alot, although most of it is still in his own language. We got the Discovery toys Mainstreet Playhouse, and he loves sitting in it and playing all sorts of fun games. He and Aspen are so funny these days--they are interacting and playing together just the way I had always hopped they would. Garrett will take Aspen's toy, and run around with a big grin on his face while Aspen chases him around. He will throw the toy and squeal with delight when Aspen runs after it. Then Aspen will stand in front of him, butt wagging, squeaking the toy, daring him to try it again. The whole scene plays out over and over, it is hilarious. They both like to get in the playhouse and go out the window--silly boys! They are just the best of friends and I love it. Aspen is so good with him

Garrett has been up to a lot lately, playing outside as much as possible. It has been raining alot lately, and his idea of a really good time is playing in the rain. I finally found him a cute rain jacket, so now I won't feel as guilty when I take him out and let him have a blast!

We have gone to the doctor since my last update too--Garrett was 24lbs and 30 inches. He is finally on the growth charts. Not that I was ever worried. He continues to be eat like a bottomless pit--cottage cheese, fruits galore, and the old favorite broccoli. BOTTOMLESS PIT! I wish we could have a garden, it would make our grocery bill sooo much cheaper. At least he is a healthy eater!

His 6th tooth (4th tooth on the top) is erupting, but he is doing well with it. Chewing on everything and sticking to colder foods. We are going to be switching him to a toddler bed soon, if we ever figure out how to convert his bed. He has been falling alseep on the floor alot, so we are hoping if he has a bed he can get in to, he will just go lay down. He can get on to all of our furniture with little to no assistance now. Such a big boy!

Not much else to update on. I did agility with Haylee at the end of September, she did well enough. Earned some legs toward her titles and a few ribbons. Discovery Toys has been crazy, work work has been in a lull that is ending. Brad and I haven't seen much of each other lately, we are looking forward to having some alone time SOON!

That's it for now. Hugs and kisses from Garrett and the puppies.

How many hands?

Garrett is walking around right now with an apple slice in one hand, a sippy of milk in the other, and a lady finger sticking out of his mouth . . .Aspen is following him around waiting to see how he is going to manage a switch!!

Playing is sprinklers

So, this morning I was loading up the car with my monstrous quantity of Discovery Toys stuff (show at RSMAS after work) and the neighbors vacant house had its sprinklers on . . . You can guess that Garrett decided it would be great to play in them.
It was too cute and too fun to make him stop, so I stopped what I was doing and just let him have a good time. I am going to be late to work now, but oh well .. . it is well worth it for the time he had!! I am also posting a video of this on YouTube . . . go check it out!

Awesome Weekend

We had an awesome weekend in Orlando this past weekend. It's late and I still need to upload pictures, but my friend April sent me some of hers. She is a WAHM friend from my birth board on babycenter, and we got to hang out for the first time on our trip this weekend. April, her hubby Casey and their daughter Lolly, who is a few weeks older than Garrett, came over for lunch on Saturday and we went to Sea World on Sunday (April's older daughter, Kristen joined us on Sunday--Garrett adored her!). They have such similar personalities, it was hilarious to see them together. Lolly is "danger baby" because she is so mischievous! Here are just a few "teaser" pics!

The Continued Mis-adventures of Garrett

This kid is so full of it today!!!

This afternoon, after our playdate, he got stuck behind the aquarium (because he climbed behind it). And then I had to lock him in my bedroom (with me) because he kept running to the office (where Xander sleeps) and letting himself in the room. At this very moment, he is alternating between playing with Brad's tripod and taking the lid off of/replacing it on a washed out cottege cheese container.

Pictures are from the playdate today--we had a puppet show. :-)

We are headed to Orlando for the weekend, should be fun. Meeting up with one of my May 2006 buddies from Babycenter.

That's it for now. I must go on a treasure hunt for Xander's sippy cup, which has been MIA since this morning. With these two, I may not find it for months.

Oh, and now Garrett is pulling his Fisher price crawl through aquarium thing in circles through the kitchen, upside down, at a run . . .

Wild child

So far today, Garrett's mischief has included (but not been limited to): turning on the water in the bath tub while I was taking a shower, trying to climb in said bathtub while I was taking a shower (thankfully he can't do it yet!!), opening the door to the office (which means he can now open every door in the house, not just the front door), and trying to climb UNDER the baby gate so he could go play with Aspen, who was on the other side, while going "Bubba, Bubba, Bubbbbbbaaaa" the whole time . . .

Yeah, it's only 9:30!!!!!

Labor Day weekend and more

We had a pretty nice long weekend . . . we took Garrett to the beach on Saturday and had a blast. He has soo much fun playing in the sand. He'll wade out in the water and then fall face first, which rarely bothers him. This time he walked up and down the beach, holding my hand, along the surf line . . . checking out the scenery I guess. He found a little boy a few months younger than him to play with. And then he eats, and eats and eats. When he was finished with his cottage cheese, he put the lid back on. :-)

I worked all day Sunday and came home to Smoked Ribs and homemade chocolate ice cream . . . yummy, but VERY bad for my diet!!

On Monday, we helped my cousin, who is doing her post doc at UM, move some stuff into her cute little place--it was nice to see her and we sweated off the aforementioned ice cream and then some. Garrett just hung out in the backpack, which he is almost getting too big for, while we carried stuff in.

We spent the afternoon working in the yard and then Garrett and I went to a party at a friend's house. It was fun, but going anywhere that isn't babyproofed has taken on a nightmarish quality that only a mother can understand. It makes me never want to go anywhere again. And Garrett, being Garrett, did weird things I don't think a lot of babies would do. Like turning off the TV and turning on the radio. He does this at home too . . . he will hardly sit still to watch TV, but if he is board will turn on the radio and boogie for a while. It's hilarious. His other bizarre behavior, which he undoubtedly gets from your's truly, is sticking his hands in a glass for ice. Fine if it is my glass, not so fine if it is someone else's!!!

I realized his 15 month birthday came and went without me even realizing . . . the months don't seem like such a big deal now that he is over a year. He is growing by leaps and bounds, and getting to be more and more of a clever stinker every day. He can now match all of the balls in his hammer away boat to the proper color. He points at the fish on his wall and in the fish tank and proclaims "Ishie!!" He even did that to the turtles at our hosts house on Monday. His vocabulary is slowly increasing . . . now it is "ice", "shoes," "socks," "oes" (toes), "uck" (duck), bye, hi, mmmmmm, uhhuh, cheese . . . and of course, the staples, momma, dada, bubba and Haylee. He is becoming less descriminate in those last words. Lately any male doing what daddy does has become dada. Including my neighbor mowing his lawn and our host grilling outside on Monday . . . silly boy!! All dogs are bubba (not sure what that says about Princess Haylee!!). He will also hand his sippy to us when he is done with it.

Oh, and we FINALLY weaned. . . I am so happy to be done!! Garrett went a month nursing once every 3 days, something I didn't even think was possible. He finally decided enough was enough and shook his head at me. It's funny because many moms say "oh, it is so bittersweet," but I was just glad to be done. 15 months is a long time to nurse, I know a lot do it longer, but I am SO GLAD it is over!! My appetite has finally returned to normal, meaning I only eat 1/10th as much as Garrett does. His appetite, and his temper, are bigger than ever however . . . he is pretty funny when he doesn't get his way, its hard not to laugh at him when he throws a tantrum. He will also flail his hands and hit. . . as soon as you say no hitting, he makes a little coo and throws his arms around the offended party (usually myself or Aspen), and gives kisses. He's a real hoot!

Today, he got a shirt of mine out of the laundry and managed to put it on himself--arms through the arm holes and head through the head hole--of course, by the time I got the camera, he had taken it part way off and was running around holding it up so he wouldn't trip. This is the stage he was at in the picture. What you can't tell is that he is nakey baby underneath because he didn't want his diaper put back on!!

He has been sleeping through the night consistently for about 2-3 weeks now. Usually 12-13 hours--it's great! Naps are getting worse again, mostly because we are always running around somewhere or another.

In other news, I get my Discovery Toys "New Products" kit tomorrow--it has some of the fun new toys for the fall season in it--I am psyched!! Among the fun stuff is a new Do, Re, Me and You CD, which is always a big hit since the kiddo likes music so much!!!

Okay, now that I have written a book, I am going to bed. Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Labor Day!!

Playdate at the Mall today . . .

I took Garrett and Xander to the mall play area today with our playgroup. They had a great time. When we last went (just a few weeks ago), Garrett didn't want to climb any of the fun stuff they had there . . . today he climbed up the big purple dinosaur, went through both of the tunnels, and stood on top of the flowers. He had a great time, but I almost had a heart attack when he kept climbing that darn dinosaur! (It's the purple thing he and Xander are sitting on--that particular shot was staged!) The very last pic is from yesterday when I took the boys to Jungle Jimbos (again)!

Viscaya Museum and Gardens (8.26)

Viscaya is a beautiful mansion on Biscayne Bay that was built for a member of the Deering family . . . the house is (unfortunately you can't take pictures from the inside), and the view of the bay is nice too. Garrett enjoyed it well enough--I had to carry him through the house (not as easy as it once was). His favorite part was a display of old Ford cars . . . gee, wonder which side of the family he gets THAT from!!??

Fun with HATS! (8.25)

As I think I have previously posted, Garrett loves running around taking his hat off of his head, trying to put it back on , and then bringing it back to me to put on . . . He is so silly!

Fun with Daddy! (8.24)

The men in my life don't seem to like shirts . . . :-)

Hat Game

Garrett has started loving hats. He will bring me one of his hats, I will put it on his head and he will run around with it for a while. Then he will take it off, try to put it back on, and then will bring it back to me to put it on his head. He is just a goofball!

Noses

Today Garrett opened up the wipe container and got a wipe out. He then proceeded to use it to wipe his boogery nose!! Imagine that . ..

He is getting more and more grown up. He asks to be put in his chair to eat (by pointing and pushing the chair out), emphatically shakes his head NO when you ask if he wants a nap, and will point to whatever he wants. The food of the week is grapes, he is eating them by the pound. He also loves to fish ice out of your glass and eat it.

Still haven't downloaded pictures--work has been insane these past few weeks. Ready for a long weekend (even though I will probably work most, if not all of it), followed by a trip to Orlando the following weekend . . .

ChuckECheese

Took the boys to ChuckECheese today. Forgot my camera, luckily our organizer is always armed with hers :-). I have pictures from Sunday to upload too, but haven't had the time to do that yet.

Tired boys!

I've been taking Aspen and Garrett roller blading a couple of days a week lately. A neighbor in our community gave us her old jogging stroller, and so far we have made great use of it. Both Aspen and Garrett must have been super exhausted. Garrett hardly ever falls asleep on the go anymore, he just watches things, but he was up too early this morning and needed a nap. And I had to practically drag Aspen the last bit back to the car. But all in all, we had a great time!

Biscuits for breakfast!

Aspen taught Garrett a trick

Garrett has learned to open the front door. I am sure he picked it up from watching Aspen do it. The only difference is that Garrett will at least SHUT it behind him . . . those two boys are going to get into all sorts of mischief together in the years to come, I can see it already!!!

Jungle Jimbos

Took Garrett and Xander to Jungle Jimbos (www.junglejimbos.com) with our new homestead playgroup today. They both had a ton of fun . . . Garrett ran all over the place, carrying crayons and chalk. He loves sitting in chairs that are his size, we need to get him some furniture! In the first picture, he was giving the crayons away, and loving it--see the smile??

My Gym (more picture overload!!)

Took Garrett to My Gym last Monday. He had a great time being a goofball--He danced to the music, even on the trampoline, discovered that he likes walking on a balance beam, and ran continuously up and down a ramp (much to my disconcertation!)

Washing the car

More pictures from today (8-18). Brad was washing my car (pretty much for the first time since Garrett was born !! :-) ) and Garrett came out to help. I had to take a ton of pictures, he was having WAY too much fun playing in the spray from the hose and splashing around. And, because it was there, he had to play with the broom too!