Garrett - ONE YEAR OLD!!!!

Diapers
Still in size 3’s.   Big brother was also in size 3 when he turned 1 year old.

Shoe Size
We went to stride rite to get fitted for shoes and he is size 3 wide.  Carter was 3 1/2 wide at this age.  Both my kids have wide feet.  UGH!!!  Wide feet shoes are so hard to find and tend to be more expensive.  Carter has now outgrown the wideness and can wear regular shoes.  At least Carter was wide too, so that all the shoes Garrett inherits from Carter are the right size.

Clothes
Still wearing 9 months and starting to wear a few 12 months.  A few of his 9 month shirts and onesies are a little too small, but most of the 12 month stuff is still too big.  Both my boys are a little on the small side.  Which is odd to think because Garrett used to be HUUUUUGGGGGEEEEEE!!!!!

Feeding/Solids
When we began the sippy cup a month ago, Garrett struggled with knowing that he had to lift the bottle up and tilt his head back in order to get the milk.  He doesn’t really have that problem anymore.  Though I will say he does prefer to drink from the bottle while laying down on the floor (he lets gravity do the work for him) or leaned back in the high chair.  We also jumped the gun and began whole milk.  He drinks it just fine.  We have already begun to see that Garrett prefers the same thing Carter did at this age-to have the milk heated up.  We transitioned to milk the way most pediatricians tell you to.  You gradually mix it in with formula.  If they normally drink 5oz formula, give them 4oz formula/1oz whole milk.  Gradually increasing the whole milk over the period of a couple of weeks and before you know it they’re on whole milk and don’t even realize they aren’t drinking formula anymore.  But that’s why he prefers it warm.  He never drank formula at room temp, he always preferred it to be heated up.  I would rather him not need the milk to be heated up but if he does-oh well.  Carter did the same thing and when he was close to 2 we stopped heating it up and he just drank it from the fridge.  Garrett will grow out of it too.  This is the best part of 2nd children…you learn not to sweat the small stuff.
Best eater ever.  He eats everything.  Literally.  He’s always taking bits and pieces of things me and Justin eat and he’s never not liked or spit out anything.  Kid loves food.  At this age, Carter still ate blended foods with very few adult food items.  Garrett is already ahead of the curve on that one.  We have some sweet potatoes that is blended with grilled chicken that we just haven’t used yet.  It’s in the freezer and we use one of those every now and again.  We have a couple of baby food packages left but I’ve been using them as snacks.  After we use what we have we won’t buy anymore.  Garrett truly prefers big people food.  At school he will usually have a yogurt or cheese quesadilla or peanut butter sandwich.  I’m going to start mixing up his foods at school a lot more.  He is also already eating the Gerber Graduate toddler meals.  Haven’t found one that he doesn’t like yet either.

Schedule
For the most part, he’s still doing a 4 hour schedule of feed, wake, sleep.  This means he takes 2 naps a day that last anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours each.  Sadly, he doesn’t have 2 naps quite as much as I would want.  On Sundays and the three days a week that he goes to school, he usually only has 1 long nap that’s about 2-3 hours long.  I don’t want that to become the norm because he still needs two naps at his age, but some things you just can’t avoid.  He usually wakes up for the day around 7:30-8am and his first nap is around 10:30.  He wakes from that around 12:30 or 1 and then takes another nap around 2:30 and sleeps till about 4-4:30 and then stays awake until bedtime around 7-7:30.

Sleep
Still the best little sleeper ever.  11-12 hours at night and two naps that are about 2 hours each, or 1 long nap that’s 3 hours.

Waketime
He does all kinds of things during waketime.  Sometimes he runs errands with me, sometimes we ride the golfcart, sometimes we sit outside or take walks around the neighborhood.  But most of the time he plays in his playroom with an insane amount and variety of toys.  He is not very interested in TV.  Carter use to LOVE watching Baby Einstein at this age.  Garrett will watch it but only in the car.  He’s shaping up to be just like Carter and only watch TV when strapped into a seat.  He loves walking with any and everything.  He isn’t 100% walking on his own yet, but he pushes things across a room as far as he can get them and then he will walk up to 10 steps if he needs to. 
At this age, Carter was walking completely unassisted (though falling a lot).  Garrett, just last week, began to try to walk.  He would hold onto something and steady himself and you could tell the wheels in his head were turning trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other.  Then he would take that first step and let go of whatever he was holding on to…but then he’d fall.  Just this week he has begun trying to walk all the time!!  He can’t get more than 8-10 steps or so without falling.  But he’s learning a lot about balance.  He used to couldn’t stand up on his own at all, but then he was able to stand by himself for several seconds.  Now he’s able to stand up and steady himself, then walk a few steps and stand still again to steady himself, and then walk a few more steps.  He really is starting to figure it all out! 

Mother’s Day Out
Nothing big to note here.  At least not with Garrett.  I did start subbing with their school this month.  My first day was October 9th.  I will never sub in the nursery because Garrett’s in there, but I’m used for any other class where a teacher has had to call in for whatever reason.  October 9th I was in the older two’s class and at the end of October I was in the toddler class several times (they range from 12-24 months).  Garrett absolutely refuses to take naps at school.  Apparently there’s just too much to play with.  Carter was the exact same way when he was in the nursery too.  Garrett’s teachers say he’s still the happiest baby in the class even without a nap.  So I guess that’s good!

Statistics
Garrett’s 12 month appointment was on October 30, 2015.  He weighed 20lbs, 14oz (50th percentile) and was 29 inches long (25th percentile).   His head is 18 inches (50rh percentile).  It’s crazy to me that Garrett weighed LESS at his 12 month appointment than Carter weighed at his.  Carter was a little over 21lbs.  I know it’s still close, but I’ve always thought of Garrett as my bigger baby.  The cheeks and the way he sticks out his belly is what throws me off!

Abilities
Still working on walking!  He can stand on his own for up to 20-30 seconds without falling which is impressive and can take as many as 10 steps without falling.  Garrett attempts walking ALL.THE.TIME.  He didn’t start trying to walk this much until this week, literally.  It’s like he turned one and then decided he was ready.  At 11 months, Carter had just said mama for the first time.  His brother has him beat on this one.  He was saying mama around 8 months.  As of now, Garrett has said mama, dada, car, papa, and ball.  He jabbers a TON but it isn’t always words.  We still go over colors in the bathtub just like I did with Carter at this age.  I think he’s tried to say blue and purple before but just can’t form the word yet.  We also read books a lot and sing the alphabet a lot and when we sing the ABC’s he babbles as if he is trying to sing a long with us.  He also does this when we sing patty cake.  I’m hoping these things are exposing him to words so that he can speak to us soon.

Teething
Still at 6 teeth right now.  He’s been a little whiney lately and chewing on his fingers a ton so I wondered if  I was about to see some white buds on his gum.  Then I went to his 12 month appointment and the doctor laid him in the perfect position to show me those white bumps that are his ONE YEAR MOLARS!!!  I though we were going to get a few more teeth before hitting the molar motherload, but apparently not.  Hopefully they’ll pop through soon and stop bothering him.

Discipline
When I tell him “no” the most is when he is getting on the fireplace, playing in Gizmo’s water bowl, standing up in the bathtub or trying to open cabinets and drawers.   I’m still only saying no and removing him to distract him.  We began timeouts at this age with Carter.  We used a pack n play in the corner and put him in the pack n play for a minute or two when he did something he wasn’t supposed to be doing.  With Garrett it’s more difficult.  Since we are trying to sell our house, there’s not really room for a pack n play anywhere, so I’m not sure where I can do timeouts.  I’ll have to think about it more.  Right now I just pick him up and put him in a different room.  He cries of course, but eventually he stops and just plays with something else.

**I must document this.  This kid has FINALLY begun to let me rock him at night!!!!  He refused for a whole year.  Finally I sat down with him one night and he fought me like the dickens.  But eventually he gave up and laid on me and fell asleep.  I tried it again the next night and he still fought, but he did significantly less fighting and fell asleep again.  By the third night he just laid right down on me and fell asleep!!!  I should say that as much as I love this, I still don’t want it to become a necessity for him, so I pick and choose when I rock him.  I don’t do it every night!**
Birthday Party
We had Garrett’s first birthday party at our house on October 23rd.  We decided to have it on a Friday night instead of a Saturday afternoon because of football.  This is an issue I’m going to run into his entire life because he was born during football season in the good ole south.  I may not mind future parties being held around a house where the parents can watch TV while the kids play, but not the first birthday party.  I love him too much for that.  I don’t want people huddled around a TV and not even paying any attention to him.  If you’re gonna do that then just don’t come, seriously.    Not to mention that our family is split in half with Alabama and Auburn fans and the tension would have been crazy and not what I want to remember when I think of my baby’s first birthday.  Anyway, so we had his party on a Friday night instead.  We had a great turnout and, of course, it was Halloween themed.  You can see the post on his party HERE.

Other Notable Things
Likes

• Sleeping
• Balls.  He loves to chase balls around the house.
• Cars.  He enjoys playing with Carter’s little hot wheels cars almost as much as Carter does.  In fact he has pretty much bypassed the whole Thomas the Train or Elmo stages of infancy and gone straight to cars.  Whatever big brother is playing with is where little brother wants to be!
• Washer and Dryer.  He loves to climb up and touch it and watch clothes spin around inside.
• He really likes it when you hold him upside down and blow on his tummy.  He loves it!
• Baths.  LOVES LOVES LOVES baths.  He also loves to attempt to stand up and touch the spout.  As well as pulling at the stopper.   I think he’s trying to figure out how it works.  What’s funny is when he tries to play with the stopper while the bath water is still running…which means his head gets soaked.  It definitely takes him by surprise!
• Right now he loves crawling into our master bathroom and going through the bottom drawer and pulling out everything he has in it.   That’s not annoying at all…
• Walking with his walker or anything he chooses to use as a walker, such as the end tables in the living room.
• His brother.  He seriously just loves watching Carter.  He studies every move he makes!
• Patty Cake monkey book.  We have a book that has a monkey puppet on the front and I put my fingers in it and I make the monkey clap.  He absolutely adores it!
• His momma.  Ask anyone who has been around him and they will tell you.  Garrett is a 100% bonafide momma’s boy!

Dislikes

• The new carseat.  He wasn’t a fan of being put in his infant carseat by any means, but he wasn’t a crier either and if he did cry, it didn’t last long.  He stopped as soon as you picked the carseat up.  Now that he’s out of the infant carseat and is now in the convertible carseat (still rear-facing, don’t worry) I get lots of tears and lots of him trying to rollover to not be buckled in.  It’s baffling and extremely frustrating. Momma intends to nip this in the bud STAT.
• Being kept awake for too long .
• Being held by someone when I am in his line of sight.  If he can see me, he wants me holding him.  No one else will do.
• When you take too long to feed him.  My garbage disposal needs his food fast!