Catching Up and Fairmont

Garrett has been getting a lot of use out of Bryant's motorcycle.  He loves it when Dad drives him around the neighborhood

And Bryant is happy tagging along on his bike.

Waving to mommy

Getting excited to go fast!

Isn't he a cute dolphin trainer?

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We went to play at Exploration Works and see lots of tarantulas and play in the water.

And Garrett loved the slide

And rocking horses

We decided to move Garrett into a big boy bed.  We haven't gotten rid of the crib yet, so the bed is taking up the whole floor.  Both boys were super excited that night and didn't go to be until 10:00!

The crazy sleeper...

Time for Garrett's 18 month and Bryant's 5  year well checks at the doctor's office.  The wait time always has the boys acting crazy!

At 18 months, Garrett was shorter than Travis and Bryant, but had them both in weight.  And his head circumference was the same as Bryant at that age.  Both boys were in the 90th percentiles in size for their age.  Garrett was 34" long (92%), 29 pounds 4 ounces (96%), and 50.5 cm head circumference (>99%).  At 5 years old, Bryant weighed 51 pounds (93%) and 46.75" tall (>99%).  His well check was really comprehensive with a hearing, vision, and school readiness testing.  Both boys passed with flying colors!

Bryant wants to put  his brother to bed every night, but usually ends up falling asleep first.

Thursday was a really exciting day...Bryant got to meet his kindergarten teacher, Ms. Davey.  He got really nervous before he met her and got really shy and quiet, but he took a picture with her before she left our house.  I've heard really good things about her, so I think he's going to have a fun year.  They even share the same birthday!

She brought him a book and he was so excited.

We got his school supplies the other day and he thought it was really fun to write his name on all his supplies and sharpen his pencils.  I think they have a lot of crafts planned for kindergarten because he needed two bottles of glue and twelve glue sticks!

Garrett is so full of expressions, but his favorite is his "wow" face.  Now whenever I have my camera out and call his name, he gives me this face:

Out to dinner on Friday night...wow!

Cherry chip ice cream for dessert...wow!

On Saturday, we went to Fairmont to meet up with my Aunt Sheri and Uncle Carl.  She brought presents for the boys and they loved their new clothes

And Garrett was so excited to get his own snuggle puppy because Bryant does not want to share his!

Garrett, what sound does an elephant make?

 More wow!

On our way to go swimming!  Unfortunately Bryant only had time for 2 trips down the water slide before someone had an accident in the pool and they had to clear out the pool to clean it.

So, we headed out to feed the animals.

And play in the park.

Garrett loves his slides!

Such a fun weekend...we always leave with full bellies and full hearts - thanks for having us Aunt Sheri and Uncle Carl!

Garrett is 18 Months (almost)!

First, some miscellaneous pictures...

It makes it so easy to get stuff done around the house when the boys play well together.  This only last about 5 minutes, but they were sure having fun!

While our San Diego family was here, my parents were in San Diego and they brought back this cute shirt for Bryant, which matches his white and orange sunglasses (that he wears on top of his hat like Dad).

Love my littles!

A couple posts ago, I talked about how much the boys liked to water our plants and garden.  The fruits of their labor are starting to pay off.  We picked about 15 peas the other day and got another bowl full today as well as our first strawberry!

Here's today's bowl full with Garrett waving.

Looking cool in his shades like his brother.

Almost a month ago, I was inducted into the Helena Sports Hall of Fame.  They had a big banquet and Bryant was so excited for it.  My parents took turns listening to the inductee's speeches and watching the boys because the boys really wanted to watch me get my award.  Bryant knew he wanted to go up with me and Garrett saw us walk up there and took off after us.  It was pretty cool to have the boys with me and be apart of it all.  I got a plaque and a big poster board with old pictures on it and Bryant immediately requested that he get to hang them in his room.

You can barely see Bryant's head while I gave the speech and Garrett was super tired so he was definitely the sour part of the sour patch kid as he tried to bite my fingertip off and knock the microphone over.  It was probably a good distraction though so that I could get through my speech!

Now, for the 18 month post...

Garrett's language seems to be exploding!  He repeats a lot of words and then will surprise me with a word I didn't know he knew.  His favorite is no, but some of his more frequent words are nack (snack), bakkie (it's like a combination of bottle and milkies), doggie (no matter what type of animal, he always says doggie).  side (outside), dowy (down or downstairs), belly, mama, dada, diggy (Bryant's nickname), hi, bye, and more.  He'll talk about shirts and socks when he gets dressed and when we walked outside, he pointed to a rock and said rock.  So there's a ton of words that I'm missing.  

He is a super active boy that only stops for nap time.  He is still feisty and bites, hits, and throws anything that he can get his hands on, but he is still the most lovable little boy.  He's quick to apologize and give you a little rub to say he's sorry, which usually isn't well received by his brother because he doesn't actually say "sorry".    He wants to do everything his brother does whether it's play t-ball, ride a bicycle, you name it - if Bryant does it, Garrett wants to do it too.

It's also kind of crazy when kids start following instructions.  For example, you can tell Garrett to grab his shoes and he'll do it.  It seems simple and I'm guessing parents of teenagers or maybe even 3 year olds would tell me that this stage is short lived.  But it shows me that he is less and less of a baby and turning more into a toddler.  

I can't believe I'm actually early in posting this, but I really can't believe that my baby is 1.5 years old!  He always keeps us on our toes and I wouldn't want it any other way.  Happy half birthday Garrett!

Bryant's Birthday Week (part 2) and Cousin Time

To finish off Bryant's birthday week, we went to the fair/rodeo in Helena Thursday night, then headed to Whitehall to hang out with his cousins and go to Frontier Days.  There's always so much going on around Bryant's birthday and it seemed extra busy (but extra fun) this year.  

First up at the fair - checking out the animals.  Garrett loved this part!  I think he liked the roosters the best because he kept signing "bird".

He was a little hard to keep entertained at the rodeo because it started at his bed time, so he managed to keep busy with the rodeo program.

And towards the end, we went to the top of the grandstands so the kids could just run around.

Garrett loved to look at all the lights from the top of the grandstand, so we definitely had to partake in the rides afterward.

Bryant stood in line all by himself!  Last year, we had to stand by him and if the line was too long, he wouldn't go on the ride...what a difference a year makes!

Our super cautious kid even rode the roller coaster...twice!  It really helped that before he got on it the first time, we ran into a friend of his from school and they rode it together.  He was all smiles!

Garrett was too little and too tired to do any rides, but he liked to wait for his brother at the bottom of the obstacle course.

And watch him on the roller coaster.  The boys are always such awesome little troopers at the fair.  We didn't leave until 11:00 pm and we didn't have any major meltdowns.  Bryant was so wired that he didn't even fall asleep on the half hour ride home!

On Friday night, Bryant had to show off his new motorcycle and ride it around Grandma and Grandpa's house in Whitehall.  When he wants to show off, his "trick" is standing up.

The next morning was the parade.  Bryant didn't want to get any candy because he spotted this dog costume miles away and did not want it to come near him.  Garrett on the other hand, loved everything about the parade and between him and his cousins they had a grocery sack full of goodies.  I love Olivia's high five to the dog in the background too:)

Candy in hand, waving to all the floats.

I love the chocolate dripping down his chin!

Madeline loved playing with Garrett and he was happy to go walking with her.

The next weekend, the boys got to have another day to play with their cousins before they headed home to San Diego.  That morning at breakfast, Garrett was showing how much he likes our Alexa.  He has a new favorite word ("no") that sounds so cute too.

We had so much fun playing at the park with cousins.  Can you believe this little cutie is going to be 1.5 years old on Friday?  Wow!

With Bryant starting kindergarten, I don't think we're going to be able to do our San Diego trip in October anymore, but it is always so fun seeing these cousins play together!