Garrett: Eighteen Months!

Height/Weight: Thirty (almost thirty-one) inches and a mere 21 pounds, 8 ounces. If I thought William was a peanut at this age, that must make Garrett a sunflower seed. Granted, the boys had a nasty little stomach bug in June that caused Garrett to lose over a pound, so I'm actually really happy with the weight gain he had. And so is our pediatrician, which is obviously more important since I don't really know anything medical about kids.

Wearing: I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but he's still wearing twelve month clothing and size three diapers. We've finally been able to start mixing in some of his eighteen month stuff, though, and we'll be switching him up to size four diapers once we run out of size three, so soon enough he'll have a new wardrobe of clothes for Momma to choose from (although we just got a bunch of hand-me-downs from Darrell's sister so I'm excited to wear some of those twelve-month pieces before he outgrows them!).

Eating: Everything. Although because he's eighteen months going on thirteen, he's randomly started to refuse certain things just because he wants to exercise his opinion. And it seems like his pickiness is based solely on moodiness and attitude; he'll refuse something one night and gobble it up the next time we serve it. So that's fun. He even turned down blueberries the other day--a sure sign that he's just pushing buttons for the sake of pushing buttons and not because he actually doesn't like the food!

Sleep: I pretty much just need to get rid of this category, because it seems I always jinx myself whenever I start talking about his sleep. The good news is that he sleeps through the night probably 90% of the time--the bad news is that on the nights he does wake up, he wakes up screaming bloody murder and nothing seems to help. We know that he's a little too young for night terrors, plus he responds to us more than I typically associate with kids having night terrors, but man alive he gets worked up about something. He'll scream at us, push away from us, shake his head "no" in response to anything we offer to him, and then after five or ten minutes (aka an eternity), he'll take his pacifier and settle back down. It's weird--and pretty annoying. As far as napping goes, he pretty well rocks his one afternoon nap and Momma loves it. We've even gone out for lunch a few times and he's fallen asleep in the car on the way home but then transitions pretty seamlessly into his crib.

New Stuff: Well, hopefully we'll be done complaining about teething for awhile, because all four eye teeth have finally poked through. And they pretty much all came within a week--so that was fun. I know we still have his two-year molars to deal with, but I'm hoping we get a break and those don't come until closer to two years. In the weeks leading up to Garrett's eighteen-month appointment we made a concerted effort to count the number of words in his vocabulary because we knew it would be a question on his development form at the doctor's office. We counted enough words for him to "pass" that question and were feeling pretty happy with his communication, especially considering he had signs for probably half a dozen more words. And I was all set to list out and brag on the words in his vocabulary... And that night after his appointment he started repeated pretty much EVERYTHING we said. We were going to the pool so we told him we needed to get our flip flops on and he said "fip fop". I told the boys I was getting out cheese for their snack and he said "sees". He started pointing to his pajamas and saying "ball" and "fish". Needless to say, he's doing just fine on the communication front. A few other (mostly) fun things our little peanut is doing at eighteen months:
--Copying everything big brother does, and he is remarkably adept at following through with his efforts. If brother climbs it, he climbs it. If brother hits the ball, he hits the ball. If brother squeezes out his own toothpaste, he squeezes out his own toothpaste. If brother buckles his own car seat, he buckles his own car seat. If brother does interlocking puzzles instead of peg puzzles, he does interlocking puzzles. And I kid you not, we have a few four-piece puzzles that he can actually do. On his own.
--Obsessing over babies and dogs. While this isn't necessarily new, it's continued to get worse (and borderline problematic). He is All.Over. his cousin Jonathan whenever he is around and I'm actually afraid he might suffocate him one time. I almost can't take him to playgrounds anymore because not only am I terrified he's going to fall and hurt himself trying to climb up the ladders like William, but he will wander off after a dog or someone pushing a stroller. Keeping an eye on him is exhausting.
--Pinching his nose when we say "stinky" about his poopy diapers
--Becoming addicted to his pacifier and taggie. Not only did he make up sign language for them, but he also has to have them with him everywhere he goes. He isn't allowed to play while he has them, so sometimes he'll climb up on the couch with them to sit down for a few quick sucks (with his taggie pressed up to his ear) and then leave them there and go back to playing. It's pretty ridiculous. I'm not looking forward to the day the pacifier gets taken away for good.
--Sticking out his bottom lip when he pouts. It's about the cutest thing I've ever seen, which only makes it harder to follow through on punishing/scolding him. I fear that his spitfire personality and never-ending attitude are going to cause serious problems down the road since he's mastered the fine art of the pout at eighteen months.
--Blowing bubbles like a boss
--Practicing the art of being our sous chef. He can maneuver our kitchen chairs anywhere in the kitchen to get to what he wants, and his favorite activities are "washing" dishes and sampling cutting the vegetables. He also likes to play in the drawers with our large utensils, and loves having us tell him what they all are. Whisks are pretty much his favorite toy ever. After puppies and babies, of course.

It's been a whirlwind eighteen months and the little bugger definitely keeps us on our toes, but we love him (and the relationship he is forming with William) to pieces! And we even have a few pictures to prove that he isn't the completely forgotten about second child :-)

Meeting cousin Jonathan for the first time. His grin says "I'm going to torture you to pieces, but it's just because I love you that much"

Too impatient to wait for Mom to cut the avocado. See also moving the kitchen chairs around to get whatever he wants

What happens when William gets all done painting and I turn my back long enough to wash William's hands in the sink. Garrett is a quick little bugger

Loving on some animals at the zoo. Not pictured is the random grandma who kept pulling Garrett away from the openings because she thought he was getting too close. Clearly she didn't think I was doing my job adequately enough

Twining!

Helping to make Daddy's birthday cookies

Rare naptime cuddles

What's this Mom? Only the third sharpest instrument in this drawer? I better go back for the stainless steel pizza wheel or paring knife. Or maybe I'll just grab one of the skewers and see if I can poke someone's eye out

More animal loving at the fair

Doing our best to cheer the USA Women's Soccer team to a gold medal. Spoiler: It didn't work

Yes, that's raw onion. Yes, he's about to eat it. Yes, he will go back for more. And more. And more. Sometimes I swear he is not my child

Clearly there are only so many clever sayings they can come up with to put on boy's clothing. Jonathan's shirt is brand new; Garrett's is at least three years old.

Anything William can do I can do better--or at least match. Being "too small" for something is not in this kid's vocabulary