Height/Weight: At Garrett's well child visit, he weighed in at 19 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 28.5 inches. However, I'm pretty sure he's closer to 30 inches--we made a quick stop at the doctor a few weeks ago because we had to get updated stats for Garrett for his life insurance policy, and at that visit he was 29.5 inches. I'm quite certain he didn't shrink; he was just being way less cooperative at his well visit (although he took his shots like a champ and passed the rest of the check up with flying colors! Our pediatrician actually told Darrell and I that we are good parents and that he appreciates us, which is a little nugget I'm definitely going to hold on to for a long time).
Wearing: Still in size three diapers. He pushes the diaper to its limit with some of his poops, and very occasionally wakes up wet, so he'll probably stay in threes until either of those issues gets more pronounced. He is fully in 12 month clothing--and even some 12-18 month stuff. I definitely dropped the ball on getting his wardrobe updated; some of his 12 month stuff is already too small for him. Whoops.
Eating: Weaning came up at the well visit, and the doctor made the comment that while I certainly don't "have" to stop nursing any time soon, we need to make sure we limit his liquid diet so that he gets most of his nutrition from solid foods. Darrell and I just laughed (we also laughed about the hemoglobin/iron test that they had to do--if they'd watch this kid eat a ribeye they'd know his iron levels are just fine). I seriously don't think this kid knows what "full" means. There are nights where he'll eat as much for dinner as William--and if you know anything about William, you know that he is a good eater himself. I love that my boys are good eaters and I certainly hope the habits keep up, but heaven help me when these boys are teenagers.
Sleeping: This was the main focus of our conversation at Garrett's well visit, and sadly (but not surprisingly) we left without any definite answers or solutions. The assumption is that his middle of the night feeding is his "favorite", which is why every time he stirs before the feeding (which we usually try to do around 3 AM) he gets worked up about the anticipation of the feeding and subsequently becomes very hard to settle back down. There have been a handful of nights where he has slept continuously until waking up for the feeding, but those nights have been few and far between. And it doesn't help that he seems to be an incredibly light sleeper who struggles (seemingly constantly) with teething pain--all of that adds up to frequent stirrings, which means frequent occasions of wanting to nurse in the middle of the night, which means frequent scream sessions when he discovers that he isn't going to get what he wants. Needless to say, I'm pretty much ready to be done with nursing if for no other reason then to see if it will help him sleep through the night. Naps have also been a little more rough this month, and I think it's because he's at that awkward transition stage from two naps to one nap. Some days we are busy in the morning and he doesn't get his morning nap and goes down fine for his afternoon nap (and even takes a long one!), some days he doesn't want to go down for either nap, and some days he takes two solid naps without any issue. The guessing game is a headache some days, but I'm definitely aiming to have the boys napping together around 12:30/1:00 come summertime because that timing works really well with a lot of the summer activities we like to do.
Likes: Dogs. Dogs. And more dogs. We were outside playing the other day (yay for playing outside in February!) and someone went past our house walking their dog. Garrett immediately started walking down the driveway and turned to follow them on the sidewalk. At Christmas (sorry if I mentioned this already, but I don't think I have...) he was obsessed with Darrell's uncle's lab--who, admittedly, was pretty much the sweetest puppy ever. Seriously though--if we ever lost sight of Garrett while we were staying at their house, all we had to do was call the puppy over and it was pretty much a guarantee that Garrett would come toddling along behind her. Lately this love seems to be extending to all animals. Pretty much the only stories I can get him to sit still for are animal stories--even better if the story includes the animal noises (which--by the way--he has started bringing books to us to read him. So adorable. Even if he only sits still for the first two pages). And thanks to some of the mild February temperatures, I can also say that Garrett completely loves playing outside. Which is just what I need--another reason for him to throw a tantrum during the day because (shocking!) we have to come inside at some point.
Dislikes: Besides being told what to (or not to) do? Being fed, for one. The only way I can use a spoon to feed him is if he has finger foods on his tray as a distraction. Otherwise it is game over and he wants the spoon--and the bowl of whatever we are feeding him--and he will do it himself. He's surprisingly adept with a spoon for a one-year-old, but we still end up with quite a bit of a mess.
Firsts: Started Kindermusik! And despite the fact that he will dance and bounce to the music when I play the CD at home, he does no such thing at the class. Figures. He's completely mastered going up and down the stairs (yay for no more baby gate!), but unfortunately he thinks that he can use his "turn around on my belly and slide down" motion any time there is a step or drop off. Like at the park when he is ten feet off the ground on the playground structure and he shimmies over to one of the openings and tries to "slide" down. Pretty sure I'll be making at least one ER visit this summer--because he is already fast enough on his feet that if I'm not watching him like a hawk he can put some serious distance between us (and get into who knows what kind of trouble). He's started picking up on some of the sign language we've been using with him--and not surprisingly, his first sign was "eat". He's since gotten pretty good with "milk" and "more", but despite our best efforts he has not figured out "all done". Go figure. He is also up to five teeth, which--as I alluded to earlier--has been a pretty awful process. It seems like he gets every single one of the "typical" teething ailments--runny nose, pain/ear tugging, foul poops/diaper rash, fussiness/frequent waking, low-grade fever, drool, drool, and more drool--but never at the same time, so the agony of cutting one tooth is stretched out over what feels like weeks. And believe me, we were very insistent at the well visit that the pediatrician be very thorough to make sure there wasn't some other underlying issue, but alas, Garrett got a clean bill of health (and "perfect" ears, no less, which admittedly we were a little disappointed by because we were kind of hoping an ear infection would be the culprit for some of the problems we were having).
Some day, when I'm less sleep-deprived, I'm sure I'll look back and miss Garrett's infant stage, but right now I can't help but look ahead to what I'm hoping the toddler years will bring: sleeping through the night and increased communication, which (fingers crossed!) will result in his temperament mellowing out a little bit. And if not, well, then I guess I'd had better buy some stock in a coffee and wine company--and invest in some legitimate hair color to cover up all the grays that he will be causing.
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