Garrett is 2 1/2

Diapers

Garrett still wears a size 5 diaper.  I doubt he'll go into a 6 because we're going to start potty training this summer.  He gets out of school mid-May and then he will go to a summer program at our church for 3 weeks in June.  So my plan is to spend July potty training.  Hopefully we'll be diaper free by the time school starts again!!

Shoe Size

I really need to go get his shoes sized again because I have no clue what his official size is, but he's still wearing size 7's.  Now that it's hot again in Alabama (Spring never comes here anymore) we need to be buying some summer shoes like crocs so once we do that we'll know what size he is.  My guess is that we'll be buying 8's.

Clothes

He's officially in 2t clothes now.  Poor kid never really gets to have new clothes because he wears all the things Carter passed down to him.  But he doesn't care at all.  I've bought him a handful of new shirts but pretty much everything else is from Carter.  He can still fit into 18 month shorts, depending on the brand.  Lots of 2t or 24 month shorts are too long on him.  This is the same problem I had with Carter.  My short legged boys!

**I should explain this picture.  Garrett got a hold of my booklet of stamps and I guess he assumed they were stickers.  So he took them all off the booklet one by one and put them on himself.  It was hilarious!**

Sleep



He still takes one nap every day.  Usually we make our way upstairs around 1pm, but lately it's been closer to 1:30 or 2pm.  I've noticed that he's not quite tired at 1pm and ends up playing in the bed for a while before falling asleep.  He has a blanket in the bed along with about 10-15 stuffed animals (just like big bro).  He is still in his crib but I can see the toddler bed transition coming soon because he's tried crawling out of the crib a few times.  At nighttime, we always change diaper, brush teeth, read 2 or 3 books, then we pray and sing a couple of songs.  He's starting to sing a long with us which is always fun to watch.  He's fairly good about following along with the ABC song, Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine, and a few others.  When we pray I'll say "ok it's time to pray" and he'll put his little hands together.  I say "Thank you God for..." and then Garrett lists off the things he is thankful for.  And they're pretty much the exact same every night "Daddy, Car Car, Mommy, Ger-key (that's how he says his name), dog (he doesn't feel it's important to know the dog's name apparently), Chase (his Paw Patrol night light), camera (his video camera), and Jesus."  I know...he prays for some weird stuff.

About a month ago we went through a rough bedtime and naptime phase where he just refused to go to bed.  He kicked and scream and fought it every single time.  And eventually we just put him in the bed and left and let him cry it out but we'd end up going back in there probably 2 or 3 times before he finally was ok with us being gone.  Thankfully this stage is over and didn't last too long.   

 

 

 

 Feeding

He loves everything.  Seriously.  He ate steak and broccoli from Justin's plate the other day.  He really is pretty adventurous with his foods as long as it doesn't look shady.  Shady as in....I can guarantee he'd never eat anything like sushi.  But other than that, he's pretty open to new foods.  His favorites include yogurt, sandwiches (or anything with bread-which is the OPPOSITE of his brother), green beans, macaroni and cheese and chicken.  The only thing I can always count on that will be a struggle to get him to eat is spaghetti.  He'll eat it, but it takes him forever and he won't eat all of it. 

He loves eating in mommy's car too.  Poor thing is so used to that!  Monday's is Carter's practice for tee-ball, so they have to eat in mommy's car on the way.  Tuesday and Wednesday are church ministries so they have to eat in mommy's car on the way to church on those days too.  Usually I make something here and then they take it in mommy's car.  Rarely do we get fast food but when we do, he prefers Chick-fil-A and also likes the chicken nuggets from Wendy's and McDonald's.  Both kids also love Zaxby's too.  He's definitely more of a carb lover than his brother is.  One time I asked him to go find a snack in the pantry and he came back with an entire loaf of bread in his hand.  He literally will eat a slice of bread as a snack if I let him.  I've let him a few times but I try to limit the bread.

Mother's Day Out

 

He still loves Hunter Street!  He gets to see his cousin Charlotte when their two classes go outside and play together or go to music together.  He has a friend in his class that's also the son of good friends of ours.  They have made so many cute and fun artwork masterpieces!  He just had his Easter egg hunt at school and loved that too.  I think he likes music the most because every time we walk by the music room on the way out of the church after I've picked him up, he always wants to run into the music room.  His last day at Hunter Street will be May 10th which also happens to be the day Carter GRADUATES from pre-school.  Yes, there's a graduation ceremony and everything.  Garrett will go to the Summer Fun program at our church in June so he'll still have social and playtime with kids a lot in June.  In August he will start back at Hunter Street in the 2 year old room and he will go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  This year he was only going 2 days a week (Monday and Wednesday) so we're adding an extra day next year for him.  When he's 3 and 4 I want him going 4 days a week to prepare for Elementary School where you go 5 days a week.   

 

 

Abilities

Kiddo is talking all the time.  I remember about half a year ago I was all worried that he wasn't talking very much but he sure has made up for it since then.  He is VERY good at recognizing letters of the alphabet.  He points out the letters on my tshirts when I wear things that have writing on them.  He also sings the alphabet with us at bedtime.  It's not perfect, but you can tell he knows where the letters are in the song.  We need to work on counting more.  He's got 1-3, but then he struggles with 4-7, but then he's got 8-10.  So it's the middle part he struggles with that we're working on.  I've been slacking on the numbers because I've been focusing on letters.  He knows all his main colors and can even point out shapes already.

He loves taking walks around the neighborhood, riding his toy cars outside and even inside too.  He has a toy Mercedes that's inside and Carter has a tricycle and they chase each other in circles around the house.  It gets annoying at times, but they love it and you can tell by their facial expressions.  He still plays with cars during his free time. He and Carter both just lay in the floor with a hot wheel in each hand and drive them on the floor.  He could do this all day.  He still loves bath time.  It's probably his favorite time.  Sadly, the busyness of our lives cause him to only have a few baths a week.  We have a pretty set schedule right now too.  He goes to school Monday, goes to the YMCA with me Tuesday while big brother is at school, then we all go to church Tuesday night while I do a running ministry.  Wednesday he goes to school again and Wednesday night we all go to church again for Bible study.  Thursday we go to the YMCA again and then Friday we usually hang out at home or run errands with him and big brother (neither are in school on Friday).  So you can see that there's not a lot of free time for baths in there!  Don't worry, he's not the stinky kid.  He gets bathed plenty!

 

**This was classic!  I yelled out "ok kids, time for nap!  Let's head upstairs."  And when Garrett didn't meet me at the steps, I went to find him and this was how I found him.  Hiding behind a backpack because he didn't want to take a nap. Ha!!!


Statistics

When he turned 2 years old back in October 2016, he was in about the 15th percentile for height, 60th percentile for weight and I honestly can't remember the head circumference percentile.  He weighed 28lbs, 12oz and was 33 inches long.  Now technically, he may be taller than that....there was a TON of squirming on that table.  Regardless, Garrett's always been short.  Shorter than even Carter was at his age.  Garrett is done with his vaccinations until he's 3 so we don't see the pediatrician again and get legit measurements until then.  But at 2 1/2 years old, I have weighed him at XXlbs and measured him at roughly XX inches tall. 

 

**I'm not sure I'll ever tire of seeing them hold hands walking through parking lots and crowded stores**

Teething

 

We have all of our teeth!!!!  Yaaaaaayyyy!!!!  We haven't visited a dentist yet and I don't plan to until he turns 3.  That's how old Carter was when he went for the first time and it went well.  Right now I don't think Garrett is brave enough to let them brush his teeth or take x-rays.  Garrett seems to be more timid than Carter was at this age so he may even not go to a dentist until he's closer to 4.  I'll just see how I feel about it and whether I think it will be a wasted trip.  Because honestly, there's no point in going to a dentist if the kid won't lay down and allow a stranger to put their hands in his mouth. 

 Other Noteworthy Things:

 

• He loves baseball apparently.  He really likes watching it on TV and he likes watching Carter play teeball. 
• He has FINALLY begun to say "Love you" to me and Justin.  He took forever to talk but once he began talking, he'd repeat everything you told him to say EXCEPT "I love you".  I have no idea why these were the only words he wouldn't say.  But he finally started saying them last week.
• He likes watching racecars, but he thought that being there was a little loud.  I don't blame him.  We took him to Barber Motorsports for the Indy race and he curled up on Justin's shoulder the whole time because it was so loud and we didn't have headphones for him.  We went down to the racecar garages and looked at all the garages with cars in them.  He thought that was REALLY cool and ever since then, every car he has must be in a "garage".  Even if that garage is really just some books stacked in such a way to create a fake garage.  He also likes watching races on tv too.
• He and Carter have "car shows" frequently in our house.  Which  means they take EVERY SINGLE HOT WHEEL we have in our house and line them up on the bed or in the floor for a car show. 
• He's recently gotten to where he cries when we drop him off at places.  The exception to this is school.  He doesn't cry when I take him to school.  He will whine a little bit but he never cries.  However he has been crying when I drop him off in the nursery at church or when I go to the YMCA and take him to learn n play.  He's never done this before.  He's always happily gone wherever we take him.  Not sure why he's doing it now but hopefully it doesn't last long.
• Loves his brother.  I mean, LOVES his brother.  He does everything Carter does and if Carter isn't with him he is constantly asking about him.  We require a hug and kiss from brother before every nap and bedtime.  He loves holding his hand and he loves wrestling with him and playing with him.  He LOVES his brother.
• Lest you think he's perfect, he is also two.  And we are in the refusal stage.  Many times when I ask him to do something he always flat out says "no".   When he does this, he gets one chance to take it back and do what I asked otherwise he goes to timeout.  He knows full well that he doesn't get to leave timeout until he apologizes and then does what I asked.  Regardless, he's not good at obeying the first time but we're working on it.
• His hair grows INSANELY fast.  Y'all, I'm cutting this kids hair about 3 times a month!!!  His hair is so thick and grows so dang fast and I can't keep up with it!  Carter's hair is nothing like that and we get his cut about once a month or so.  But Garrett would have hair to his chest if we only got one haircut a month.  It's the weirdest thing ever!!!

Carter is 5!!!

Can you believe this kid is 5?!?!  Because I can't!!!!  My mind can't wrap around the fact that he'll be in Kindergarten in 7 short months.  Where did the time go??

Shoe Size

Carter is comfortably wearing a size 11 shoe now.  I think he went through a big growth spurt, foot wise, about a month ago because I bought him a pair of shoes that he's only worn probably 3 or 4 times before he outgrew them!! 

Clothes

He is wearing mostly 5T clothes.  A lot of his jeans are still 4T though.  Just depends on the brand.  We're about to transition in most clothing stores though.  He's still in the toddler section but within the year, my guess is we'll cross the aisle into the kids section where there's no longer "t" sizes.  I'm sure it will be super easy to buy matching clothes for the boys once that happens.  Sarcasm.

Eating

Favorite foods at this age definitely include hot dogs, yogurt, granola bars, gummy packs, and ham.  He still loves to eat out at Mexican restaurants and he also loves Chick-fil-a.  He eats pizza (this has been a struggle for him over the last year), but it's definitely not a favorite.  He requires me to cut it up for him to eat it though.  He won't eat a slice the way adults and big kids do.  He still refuses anything related to a hamburger or cheeseburger.  We even try to make it a little easier by making cheeseburger quesadillas (just a cheese quesadilla with some hamburger meat sprinkled in there).  You'd think I'd stolen his favorite teddy bear and put it in a shredder.  He cries his eyes out when we have that for dinner and a timeout is usually involved.  Other than the cheeseburger thing, there's not a ton of foods he completely refuses.  He'll usually at least try one bite of something before telling us he doesn't like it.  Carter is really good about cleaning his plate too.  Whatever food he is given, he knows he has to clean his plate and he does.  He is still on the slow side when it comes to eating.  He's a social butterfly so he tends to talk and talk and talk and before he realizes it, meal time is over and he isn't finished.  He'll get a little upset because he knows he needs to finish but doesn't understand that in order to finish, he's gotta quit yapping!!

Sleep

Naps at this age are hit or miss.  I would say he takes, on average, about 2 to 3 naps a week.  When he does nap, it lasts anywhere from 1-1.5 hours.  He rarely takes a nap that's more than 2 hours.  On the days he doesn't nap, he knows that he has to go to bed early.  Even when he doesn't actually fall asleep during naptime, he always goes into his room for at least an hour and a half of quiet time.  He may just toss and turn and talk to his animals, but he is required to stay in his room with the light off.  Bedtime on days that we have a nap is 7:30-7:45.  No nap days-bedtime is at 7pm.  All of this is of course assuming we don't have anything we're attending.  If there's a church event or something special we're going to, bedtimes tend to be later. 

Preschool

Carter switched preschools this year.  He was attending our church preschool last year and he really loved it!  But we wanted something closer to our home.  So this year, he started school at Hunter Street in Hoover.  I was so nervous for him on his first day.  Not knowing any students or any teachers is tough.  At our church, he knew everyone, even the teachers that weren't his, because we were members there.  The building was familiar, the hallways were familiar, and he knew where everything was.  At Hunter Street, it was all so new to him.  But he had absolutely zero adjustment issues.  He loves all his friends in his class.  He's never been on yellow or red (teachers there put kids on green, yellow, or red depending on their behavior that day) and his teacher loves him and says he's a joy.  At Hunter Street, they learn two bible verses a month.  We were already doing one per week in our house, so we just decided to do the two per month that Hunter Street was doing.  It made it easier for Carter!  He's up to 20 bible verses that he's memorized!!  I'm so proud of him.  I asked him the other day which one was his favorite and he said Philippians 1:21 which says "To live is Christ, to die is gain".  That's a pretty good one to be a favorite!!

Statistics

At his five year appointment, his blood pressure was 98/62 and his heart rate was 99.  He was 38lbs (35th percentile) and 41.5 inches tall (25th percentile).   He's on the small side for sure, but he's healthy and growing just as he should.  Doc guesses he'll be at full height at about 5'8 or 5'9. 

Other Abilities/Random Things to Note

• He is reading like crazy!!!  I haven't even taught him certain words and yet he knows how to pronounce them.  I can't wait to get his reading level tested in Kindergarten.  It will be interesting to see where he is on the reading scale.  He's also starting to pick up on math.  He told me this morning, for instance, that 6 plus 6 was 12 and that if he had 4 hands, then he'd have 20 fingers.  So he's starting to pick up on that kind of stuff too.
• Still loves cars to the moon and back.  He can tell you every single hot wheel he's got.  Buying him Hot Wheels at Walmart or Toys R' Us is a challenge because he already has most of them.  But he doesn't care.  When he gets a new hot wheel car it's like Christmas morning to him.
• LOVES Christmas.  Just like his momma.  When we got out the Christmas tree ornaments he FLIPPED. OUT.  He got so excited seeing them all, especially the ones he made in school or church in previous years.  He loves the ones with pictures of him or his brother on them.  And he really enjoyed helping me hang them.  He'd pick on out to hang and give it to me and then he'd tell me where on the tree to put it. He loves Christmas lights and frequently makes us drive around the neighborhood just looking at lights.
• He still doesn't really watch tv much.  That's a good thing, I know.  He's just not too interested.  I'm trying to get him to be interested in movies.  He's only seen one movie in a theater (minions in 3d).  Justin and I are planning to take him to see Secret Life of Pets in the dollar theater this weekend.  We'll see if he makes it the whole way through.  He made it about 45 minutes of Minions in 3D but I really think he didn't like that one because he didn't like wearing the glasses.  He kept complaining about them.  I also think he'll like the topic of this movie better because he LOVES animals. 
• Carter loves to pick out his own clothes.  Most of the time they match, but every now and again, I have to go change the shirt he picks out. 
• He played a sport for the first time this year!!!  He was on the Hunter Street Upwards Soccer team league.  It took some time for him to figure out the game.  I think he loved all the running back and forth, but he wasn't competitive at all.  He didn't like trying to steal the ball from the other team because he said that was "mean".  I don't see sports in Carter's future at this point, but we'll see what the future holds.  I'm not saying he won't be good at them.  He'll be good at whatever he puts his mind to.  I just don't think his personality is that of a sports guy.  He opted out of basketball but has said he wants to do baseball so we'll sign him up for the same Upwards league in the spring to do baseball.  He is enrolled in a class at school that meets once a week called "Playball".  They go in the gym when school is over for about 45 minutes and they work on all sports related skills (dribbling, throwing, rolling, running bases, Frisbee, etc).  He loves that class!  He got his evaluation back this week and he was in the green for all skills, meaning that he wasn't struggling to pick up on any of the skills.  I'll be interested to see if he likes baseball.  I hope he does.  Part of me kind of always wanted to be a baseball momma.  We'll see!
• He remembers EVERYING.  And I mean…EVERYTHING.  We can’t promise him something and not follow through because he will totally call us out on it.  He also repeats absolutely everything he hears so if you come around my child and curse, be prepared to see the bad side of this momma!!  **I actually wrote this bullet point in his 3 year post but left it in his 4 year post and I’m leaving it here because it is STILL true**
• Sadly we don't play outside much right now because it's so cold.  I'm hoping we may have a couple of warm days over Christmas break where we can go on walks outside.  Both boys love to walk around the circle we live on.  It's almost a mile long circle so I'm shocked they like doing it.  They just both love being outside. 
• He has seven trillion stuffed animals on his bed.  It's ridiculous!!! 
• And yes, he still loves and adores all things related to Buicks!

I love this kid to the moon and back y'all.  There are days where he makes me want to pull my hair out, but I just can't fathom my life without this precious blessing.  He made me a momma and for that, I will forever be indebted to him.  Happy Birthday Carterman!

Garrett Turns 2

Diapers
He's still in size 5's and I don't forsee ever outgrowing these prior to potty training.  Potty training isn't even on the horizon though.  I'm shooting for summer when school is out and I can focus on his training.

Shoe Size

He still wears his size 7 shoes we got him a while back.  I have bought him two new pairs of shoes and made them both 8s, but those are more like church shoes.  He seems to fit just fine in the 7s so I'll wait till closer to Christmas and have him resized then.

Clothes

I'm beginning to put up all the 18 month clothes and get out the 2t stuff.  There's a handful of 18 month clothes he can still wear so I have those in his closet.  The weather is killing me though because he's about outgrown several pairs of shorts but I don't want to buy more shorts when it's about to be time for pants!  All the 2t clothes I have are pants because Carter wore those in the winter.  I need cooler weather to hurry up!!

Sleep



The kid still loves his sleep.  He still takes one nap a day from about 1:30-4:30 or 5.  Yes, his nap is sometimes 3.5 hours.  He goes to bed at 7:30 every night but he doesn't always fall asleep at 7:30.  He loves to play with the music mobile attached to his crib and it keeps him from going to bed.  But he's always asleep by 8-8:30 at the latest.  Usually those nights he doesn't fall asleep until 8:30 is the days he naps till 5.  Poor thing just isn't tired yet!  He wakes up everyday around 7-7:30.  What is interesting about Garrett is that he LOVES to be rocked.  Carter wasn't a fan of rocking and Garrett wasn't a fan of it until he was over a year old.  But it is certainly a requirement now.  You read him his books and then he says "rock" and points to the chair in the room.  So we rock him for a few minutes before going to bed.  He also loves when you sing to him.  And not just any song...he has a favorite.  And it's Row Row Row Your Boat.  We have to sing that dang song like 12 times before he lets you sing something else.  He even does thing where if you attempt to sing something else, he'll interrupt your song and say "row row row row row row...." until you stop singing that song and start singing his song.  It's hilarious. 

 

 

Feeding

Interestingly enough, his 21 month post talked about how much he loves pizza.  Well he basically refused pizza for months.  Just yesterday he ate a few pieces for the first time in forever so hopefully he's opened his taste buds back up.  We went through a phase that I kinda think we're still coming out of.  He got to where he refused certain foods or would eat 2 or 3 bites then say he's done.  I got to the point where I did the whole "eat what you have because you're not getting anything else and if you don't finish what you're given, you'll eat the leftovers tomorrow".  Mama don't play y'all.  I'm tired of wasting food.  It didn't take long for him to figure it out so he seems to be back on eating all of his food.

 

 Mother's Day Out

 

Garrett loves his new school!  His first day led to tears for about 10 seconds and then he was done.  His teachers love him and always talk about how easy he is.  He goes 2 days a week this year and he's in the older toddler room.  Next year he'll be in the 2 year old room and I'm hoping for him to go 3 or 4 days next year.  The days he goes to school he goes from 9am-1pm.  Next year will be tough because big brother will be in elementary school and getting out at 2:45.  That hardly leaves enough time for baby brother to have a nap before we pick up big brother.  We'll see how the naps are once that happens.  While at school, Garrett has reading time, music time, play on the playground, play in a playroom and all kinds of other stuff.  He's pretty entertained!

 

 

Abilities

He is beginning to talk A LOT!  He still doesn't talk in full coherent sentences, but he's beginning to string together 3-4 word sentences.  Like "mama car right there" or "daddy cup" or "bye bye dog" or "over here".  We're still working on colors.  The only colors I've ever heard him say is "purpa" (purple), "boo" (blue) and "geeeen" (green).  For some reason he just doesn't repeat after me when I try to teach colors.  He does count after me, but only number 3.  So I'll say "one" and he'll say "two", then I say "two" and he says "teeee", but we haven't gotten further than that.  We have some sight word DVDs that go over colors, letters, shapes and numbers so I try to get him to watch those while we're in the car driving, but sometimes it's boring for big bro so we have to switch up what we watch.  He knows all his body parts though which is great.  He doesn't repeat after me when I say them, but he points to them when I say them.

He loves taking walks around the neighborhood, riding his toy cars outside and even inside too.  He has a toy Mercedes that's inside and Carter has a tricycle and they chase each other in circles around the house.  It gets annoying at times, but they love it and you can tell by their facial expressions.  He still plays with cars during his free time. He and Carter both just lay in the floor with a hot wheel in each hand and drive them on the floor.  He could do this all day.  He still loves bath time.  It's probably his favorite time.  Sadly, the busyness of our lives cause him to only have a few baths a week.  We have a pretty set schedule right now too.  He goes to school Monday, goes to the YMCA with me Tuesday while big brother is at school, then we all go to church Tuesday night while I do a running ministry.  Wednesday he goes to school again and Wednesday night we all go to church again for Bible study.  Thursday we go to the YMCA again and then Friday we usually hang out at home or run errands with him and big brother (neither are in school on Friday).  So you can see that there's not a lot of free time for baths in there!  Don't worry, he's not the stinky kid.  He gets bathed plenty!

**Yeah this happened once.  Luckily he hasn't tried to crawl out of the crib again since then.  Carter did this one time and then fell out and he was too scared to ever try to crawl out again.  Garrett just gave up once he got to this point.  He could life himself up a little bit, but he hasn't exceled at climbing yet so I think we're safe for a little bit.  But my guess is that a toddler crib isn't too far off!**

Statistics

His appointment was November 8th and y'all...have mercy.  He was TERRIFIED.  You know it's bad when at the end of the appointment it's time for shots so the nurse comes in with a friend to help "hold the baby down".  Ugh.  So embarrassing.  Carter never had issues at his doctor appointments.  He didn't like shots, don't get me wrong.  But he didn't cry the ENTIRE. APPOINTMENT.   Garrett did.  The entire appointment.  He even hid behind the trashcan when the doctor came in.  Ugh.  Luckily we don't have to do that for another year so maybe he won't be so skeptical of strangers then.  But as of 2 years old, he's in about the 15th percentile for height, 60th percentile for weight and I honestly can't remember the head circumference percentile.  He weighed 28lbs, 12oz and was 33 inches long.  Now technically, he may be taller than that....there was a TON of squirming on that table.  Regardless, Garrett's always been short.  Shorter than even Carter was at his age.  Garrett is done with his vaccinations so he only got one shot, the flu shot.  As soon as he walked out the door of the room we were in, he stopped crying.  He smiled and said bye to everyone as he left.  I was like "Really kid??  You just threw the world's biggest fit and now you're completely fine?!?!".

 

 

**This is what these two kids do all day.  They lay on the floor and play with cars together.  Seriously.**

Teething

 

Still has all but those 2nd year molars.  Maybe they will come soon.  Still have no plans to take him to the dentist until he's at least 3.

 

 

Isn't he the cutest thing ever!?!?!  Well that's about it!  Next post on G-Money will be his 2 1/2 year post!  You'll notice I'm struggling to get these done on time.  Garrett turned 2 on October 27th and I'm just now posting this on December 16th.  In my defense, I'd written out everything in October/November, but just didn't add the pictures.  Obviously it's not close to Carter's birthday (December 28) so I'm working on his 5 year post as I do Garrett's 2 year post so Carter's 5 year post will be next up!  Maybe one day I'll get caught up!!