Ace n' Lace

The little things I want to remember about Garret

Garret is getting so big so fast!! I really just can't believe it. He is his own little person, learning new things so quickly and coming up with such unique and clever things. I'm pretty crazy about this fella and love learning new things right along side him.

Here are a few of the funny things Garret has said lately:

"Mom, I prayed for the sun to come out and it did! (this is nothing short of a miracle here in Ithaca) I'll pray for it every day...but not every day that Jesus is busy.
"I've got Spring Fever...that means I'm excited for spring."
"Mom, I drank the TIRE thing! (Mom's reply-"That sounds uncomfortable.") "NO! It just means I drank a lot." Translation--He drank the ENTIRE thing.
"When is it ok to clap for yourself?"...clearly not wanting to come off arrogant:-)
In response to our neighbor asking how Garret's day was after we babysat all day-- "Not very good. The babies were everywhere. And my mom kept making me share and I just needed some space."
"Mom I like it when you call dad Ace. I think it is pretty sweet."
"Sweet dreams Reidy. Hope though the buggies bite." --Sorry about that Reid.

Garret is really into making deals lately and goes around all day proposing ideas to me and then saying, "So, is that a deal?"
Garret is so good at understanding EVERYTHING Reid says. Sometimes I have to ask Garret what Reid is asking for. They have cute little conversations but they also can be quite feisty with each other. For example Ace and I were in our room one morning and heard this conversation happening in the other room.---"Reidy can I pick the next show? ("No") Reid you never let me pick. ("No") Reid, want me to punch you in the eye ball?"---at least he asked first.
Garret is GREAT at writing his first name! He still needs prompts for his last name and can usually write the numbers 1-11 with very few prompts.
Garret is still a HUGE Daddy's boy! He reminds me daily that his Dad is his best pal...and usually throws me on the end there too, but really I can tell where his heart is.
Garret loves swimming, playing in the snow, playing video games...ESPECIALLY with his Dad. Garret loves running and most activities outside.

Ace and I feel so blessed to be Garret's parents. He is such a great kid and we adore watching him grow and develop. Love you Gar-Bear!

The little things I want to remember about Reid

Sweet Reid loves for his Mama to hold him. "Hold you" is heard at least a dozen times a day. It wouldn't be that hard if Reid wasn't getting just so heavy. If I can't hold him, sitting next to him or with him on my lap will usually do the trick.
When Reid gets really mad or frustrated and feels like his yelling "No thank you," shouting or crying isn't being noticed, then he will point his chubby little pointer finger and make shooting sounds at the person who is causing him the emotional outburst. You know you've crossed the line when you are getting shot at.
Reid really loves putting on hats, shoes, capes, sunglasses, and really anything he can get his hands on. It cracks me up because he will put on some crazy conductor's hat, or some Crocs and wear them for hours if I'd let him.
This little boy has a best friend and his name is Carter. Reid asks to go to "Carter's house" as soon as he wakes up and it is usually one of the last things he says before we start getting ready for bed. He loves Carter but they do get in a bit of trouble together. Butt paste caked into their hair and all over Carter's room was just the latest incident.
Reid's favorite shows are Iron Giant, Justin Time, Curious George and something with Mickey Mouse. We generally watch pieces of Iron Giant multiple times a day.
Reid LOVES juice, and I'm always trying to water it down, but I really need to just cut him off... at least for a bit. But I'm afraid this will lead to me getting "shot" a whole lot.
Reid is crazy about his "papi" (paci) and "baby" (blankey). He knows he can't take either of them out of the house, but he has both of them while we are home almost constantly. Weening of the paci might truly be a nightmare with this little guy.
Reid is sleeping in Garret's bed now with Garret. This leads to some pretty adorable pictures, but he is also getting in a horrible habit of just having to have someone to sleep by. Garret wanted to sleep in the living room alone the other night (bless his heart for allowing us to throw a toddler into bed with him). Reid took forever to go to sleep. I laid by him and he still kept talking about Garret. Hopefully we haven't created a monster.
Reid really loves books with tractors and Curious George. One week we got Curious George Makes Pancakes from the library, and we read this book almost every night for two weeks.
Reid sits in timeout really well and comes out saying "All done" when he has decided to change his mood. He understands context really well and will say "Thank you" and "You're welcome" without prompts regularly. He can count to three (probably because he hears me doing this ALL DAY LONG to either him or his brother). He doesn't really know any of his colors except sometimes he gets blue and red.
Reid does not like being cold! Whenever we head outside, he grabs the front of his hood and pulls it over his face and then curls into a ball on my chest. It is pretty hard carrying him this way because his little bottom sticks out and throws our balance slightly off, but he will have it no other way.
Reid is so hard to read books with because he just wants to talk throughout the entire book, asking questions, making statements, or even just repeating what you have read. He even does this at story time, usually just the repeating part. It is actually pretty adorable but makes it really hard to get a book read in under 30 min.
He has the best scowl and is pretty bossy... especially to Sydney (who he usually just calls "Baby").
Reid still hums a bit when he is sleepy. If he has his paci and his blanket he will hum away until he finally decides to quite down and sleep.

This little guy just has so much sass and personality. We can't help but love him like crazy, as he literally makes us go crazy:-)

Baby Reid Turns 2

Okay so "Baby Reid" really isn't much of a baby anymore (ignore the pacifier in his hand).

He is turning into such a silly little guy.

He is still emotionally charged and has to take "breaks" in his room during fits just to calm down,

but he really has all of us wrapped around his little finger...especially his daddy.

Reid's birthday fell on a Monday, which happens to be Ace's busiest day this semester, by far.

So on Sunday we celebrated Reid!

We opened presents and then invited some family friends over for cake, ice cream and other yummy desserts.

We usually just do family stuff for birthdays but friends have definitely stepped in for us as we've been far away, and we feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Sadly, we did not get a single picture of Reid blowing out his candles, or the party crowd, but they really did exist.

Reid blew-out the first candle himself and after several blows on the second one Garret asked if he needed help and Reid said "Yeah." (Garret was so excited!)

It was so fun watching his super happy, smiley face as everyone sang happy birthday to him. He loves being around people!

He is pretty content to sit on my lap, most of the time.

Reid's actual birthday was pretty uneventful.

As I mentioned before Ace was gone ALL day and it was snowing ALL day so we were inside ALL day. Get the picture:-)?

Luckily, some of Reid's friends came to play and so we tried to make the most of the day.

We ate snacks!

Played silly games.

Which included Reid rolling off the couch over and over to get a laugh out of Carter.

One to many roles and Reid is still limping:-)

The things we do to get a laugh out of our friends.

Played trains and cars with some friends.

And we even built a fort!

Thank you Reid for being a part of our family.

Thank you for adding some silly to your sass.

Thank you for holding my finger so tightly when we walk.

Thank you for helping me choose to laugh instead of scream.

Thank you for always saying "Thank you."

Thank you for being my sweet baby Reid!

Garret turns 4!

Garret, the happiest most easy going kid turned 4!

I love this picture of him.

It kind of represents a lot of who he is; just full of life and wind swept hair...gosh I love that hair.

As he gets older he is reminding me so much more of Ace, with an edge of sass that Ace doesn't really have (maybe that's where I come in)

I'm learning more and more that Garret is a pretty independent, introverted spirit

(again much like Ace)

For his big day we bowled, ate at McD's for lunch, tired to swim in G'ma's pool and had a Pizza Party with family and friends.

It was very different from birthdays in the past but I am coming to learn very quickly that not all change is bad.

I love these two pictures! This is how Garret sends good vibes to his ball cruising down the lane towards the pens...and then there is Reid's way.

Garret loves swimming and he is completely fearless in the water.

He is taking swim lessons right now at the local Y for the month of January and he is crazy about it

Almost immediately after we leave the pool he begins his count down "how many sleeps until my swim lessons Mom?"

So naturally we had to try to swim in G'ma's pool nearly everyday during Christmas break. We gave it our all on his birthday, but still we only waded in it.