Garrett

This post is going to be all about Garrett, my first born. Sometimes I feel like he is not as celebrated as Turner since he seems to hit all of his milestones a couple of weeks after Turner. I guess that's the downside to being a twin. Garrett is so adorable and there are some things that are just Garrett. Like if something can be made a mess of, Garrett will do it. Even if you don't think he can make a mess, he will find a way. He is the messiest kid I know and he loves it!! I think the reason Garrett has hit his milestones a couple of weeks after Turner is because Garrett isn't going to do something until he can do it pretty well. When he was 4 months old, the pediatrician was concerned that Garrett hadn't rolled over yet. She wanted him to go to physical therapy, but I said I wasn't concerned, knowing I knew a few pt's that might give me some advice. And of course, before the week was up, Garrett rolled over. And not just once, but several times. I remember he was in his crib and I caught him rolling over. I ran to get the video camera, put him on his belly, and he rolled over before I could press the record button. This happened 5 or 6 times before I was able to get it on video. It was the same way with walking. The weekend of their 1st birthday we went to Texas for my brother's wedding. The boys were the ring bearers so we had been pushing the walking thing pretty hard hoping they could walk down the aisle. Turner had been walking for a couple of weeks and could take a dozen steps or so pretty well. Garrett was a walking machine with his push toys, but didn't do any walking without a toy or some help. He was a madman with those push toys!! You needed to stay out of his way or he would yell at you!! Especially the furniture! Well, the wedding came and Garrett still wasn't walking, so both boys were carried down the aisle. Later, when we were hanging out at the hotel after the reception, Garrett decided since the pressure was off, it was time to walk. Did he walk a couple of steps from me to Craig?? No, he started walking across the room! No need for practice, he just wanted to go all out!

I've also really enjoyed Garrett's speech development. For the last year Garrett has been talking, but it is in another language. He has words for things, and sometimes we can figure them out, and sometimes we can't. An example is the word cookie. Garrett calls cookies kiecoos. He just mixes the syllables up. This is a pretty easy one. I was a bit worried after saying kiecoos for the past year, that he would be saying kiecoos when he was in junior high. Another word I've figured out is mangas. Any guesses?? That would be Gramma or Gramma's (like Gramma's house) He has several of the letters right, just mixed up a bit. He has a special word for grape, which I have yet to figure out. One of my favorite expressions of his is "Are you, Mommy?" He's not able to say "Where are you, Mommy?" He just gets out the are you part and I think it is totally adorable in his little baby voice. He does this for other things like trucks, Turner and Daddy, too. Garrett had really only been using 1 word phrases until about his birthday. Then it seemed like overnight he decided he could talk in sentences and then did so. Now he can put together 4 or 5 word sentences sometimes. I guess when he gets into school he won't read until he can read on a 5th grade level, or do math until he can count to 100. At least we will be prepared for that!

Garrett also gets tickled at the funniest things. One day Craig was reading him a book about the zoo. They were reading about pandas and the fact they eat bamboo. Garrett cracked up at the word bamboo. We kept saying it over and over and everytime he giggled and giggled. One weekend he stayed with my mom she had said something about bibbity, bobbity, boo, and again, he cracked up and thought it was the funniest word ever. Yesterday he had a shirt on it that had a high top sneaker on it that looked like it was from the '80's. I told him it was a high top shoe. He again thought it was the funniest thing and laughed everytime I said high top shoe. He even tried to say it, but it sounded more like ap-uh-too. He thought that was pretty funny too! If you ever need a smile, try saying something that will crack this kid up, because you can't help but smile when he gets tickled at something!

I remember the moment Garrett was born. I don't really remember him crying when he came out, I just remember the relief. I was relieved that he was okay, and I was relieved that I could breathe again!! I was amazed at how much easier it was with only one baby and couldn't believe they had another to go! The nurses wrapped him up and brought him to me to see while they worked on getting Turner out. It was love at first sight!! I had never seen a more beautiful baby in my life! Now when he giggles, I know that I have never heard a more beautiful sound in my life and he is still the cutest kid I've ever seen!

I think that's enough about Garrett for today. I just wanted to celebrate him and his Garrett-ness. Sometimes he drives me crazy, but I love him more than anything!! Next up will be Turner's turn. The other cutest kid I've ever seen!!