Presidents' Day zoo trip

On Monday when Amos had the day off we decided to take G to the zoo, because he'd been so awesome on Saturday when we had to move some boxes to our new storage place. We asked Rali to join us, since she had the day off too, and it was supposed to be 57° and sunny out.

It was super crowded at the zoo, but Garrison loved it. He walked the entire time and loved the gorillas, the otters and all of the plants and paths. As he was walking he talked non-stop in his crazy Garrison language, "Dat, duck, dog, diggle...uh oh." We can't wait to go back on a non-crowded day.

makin' a break for it''

I am constantly amazed by what Garrison figures out on his own. A couple of days ago he picked up my keys and walked to the front door and took individual keys and tried to stick them into the door knob. I had noticed a couple of days prior that he had really paid close attention while I unlocked the front door when I was carrying him from the car. I guess he's looking for a way out!

first day of playschool

Garrison went to his first day of playschool on Friday. It was from 9:30-11:30 and there were 7 other kids in the group (all 18-36 months old). I went and stayed with him the whole time, because I didn't think he was quite ready to be left. He seemed to have a good time playing with the little grocery carts and listening to songs and having a snack. here's a picture of snack time. He'll go every Friday until like June. It's very exciting.

A quick update.

Since it's been so long I thought I should let everyone know what's been going on here.

For Christmas we went to AZ to see Grams & Pawpaw. We rented a minivan and drove straight through. Garrison and Miles were both great. We had a great time in AZ. Sam, Yvonne, Carina & Dalton came to visit and we ate great food, went to the zoo and had pizza and cake for Dalton's birthday. Garrison enjoyed swimming in the pool (i.e., splashing), which was super warm and lovely. We had a nice Christmas and mom outdid herself in the cooking department (as usual). I even bought some jeans that fit, and they were half price. Amazing. It was a nice trip, and even though everyone and their dog was driving through cali the same time we were coming home it was still an okay trip back. I loved the minivan. And thanks to everyone for the wonderful xmas gifts. We've had lots of fun playing with G's new toys and books, and I think it's time to get rid of some of the baby stuff, now to make room for all the bigger kid stuff.

Since we've been back we've been trying to play some rock and roll, because we're going to get rid of our practice space this month. The end of an era, but not the end of the band. Amos has some innovative and non-loud ways for us to play at our houses, so we can use the extra money for chocolate for garrison ;-)

We also joined the Children's Museum. We've been two times, which means we have already paid for our entire year. Cool. One time Garrison loved it and the second time he made us carry him everywhere (that wasn't as fun). I have to say, though, the water table at the Kids' museum in olympia was way cooler than the lame one they have here. The one here just looks kinda gross to me. We get to take guests with us, so next time anyone comes to visit, I'm sure you'll get dragged along to the museum. Also, as members we get one discounted visit to all the other PNW kids' museums, so I'm looking forward to trying out Portland's, Tacoma's, going back to Oly's, etc. Kids' museums are a blast.

Garrison has developed a serious interest in scribbling. He has a magnadoodle, an aquadoodle and crayons and likes them all.

Friday he starts toddler playschool at Cometa. It's a local Spanish immersion playschool, and he'll be going on Fridays for 2 hours! He won't be old enough to go there next year, but he will probably start big-kid playschool when he is 3 there if we like our Friday sessions. Next year they are also starting a French immersion program too, because the school (which was started 2 or 3 years ago) has become very popular.

Garrison's been to the doctor twice, once for a fever/throwing up and once for his 18 month check up at which we learned that he is slowing down on the weight gain (only was around 28 pounds), and is still about the 50th percentile for height. He looks more and more like a kid and less and less like a baby every day.

Well, I'm sure I'll think of more to say, we're looking forward to Puppy Bowl this weekend (Garrison still loves dogs more than just about anything.) Wish us luck at playschool!

g and e: the video

excuse the lack of editing at the end. just wanted to publish it fast! see how much fun they had?!

mghe meets efg

Friday night we got to see our friends, Kris, Amy & Eloise from Ohio. G and E are only 3 months apart, but Eloise has been walking for many more months than g. Anyway, K, A & E flew in from Ohio yesterday, to do some site-seeing. We were lucky enough to be able to have dinner together and hang out for a while in their sweet downtown hotel.

We ate a quick dinner at the Palace Kitchen, where they were super kind to us. They even made us a plate of carrots for the kiddos (that's service)! Garrison loved that you could see in the kitchen and he kept fussing to go watch the chefs at work. One of the chefs waved and garrison pointed back, as if to say "hey, dude, you rocked the potato fritters!"

After dinner we went back to the hotel and let the kids have some play time. At first it was mostly just walking back and forth in front of one another. Then eventually it seemed like they were playing together. G was really tickled by E and did a lot of giggling. It was so fun to see G interacting with another little person. This was really my first time seeing him play for a long sustained period with someone. It was just fascinating to watch how they interacted and how they made toys of everything. As we were leaving they walked us down to the lobby so we could get a picture by the xmas tree. (taken on Kris' camera, so I'll have to get copies before I post.) We let the kids just walk around the HUGE lobby. They just had a ball walking around. E would walk up behind G like she was sneaking, it was soooo cute. It was way too short a visit for the grown ups, but I think the kids really could have played all night. G, however was ready for bed when we got home and didn't even want a bedtime story.

I took lots of cute pictures and several cute videos, which I'll try to post this weekend. So, here are some pictures of G playing with his first friend. Thanks for coming out to visit, I wish we could see you more often, and I know G wishes he could play with Eloise every day. Hopefully we'll see you all again soon!

walking non-stop

so after my last post, the walking tapered a little bit. He got really into his push cart from ikea and he was "Hell on wheels," terrorizing the dog and running into feet. (ouch). He sped around the house like a crazy person. We had to take it away, because Miles just got no rest. Then he started to use his ride-on truck toy as push thing. That was almost as bad. When he tried to T-bone the dog it had to go away too. Since then he's been crawling a lot.

Then all of a sudden, this weekend he was on 2 feet all the time. Monday and today have been involved G doing circuits around the house and me following behind or sitting in a central location where I can see the action. Today he carried around two spoons and just walked. It was funny. We've been working on "happy feet" which is basically running in place. He's really good at it and it makes him giggle when you do it with him. He loves being chased and loves when you hide and jump out at him. He's kind of playing hide and seek with Amos these days, which involves G standing behind the arm of the couch and poking his head out on the side and laughing. He's really starting to get playing.

I'm not sure, but I think he might be working on his 2 year molars already. He's drooly drooly drooly.

Oh, and on the talking front. Taco is a new favorite word. I don't know if he knows what one is, but he sure likes sayin' it. Sometimes it comes out "kaco" though.

In a little over a week he'll be a year and a half!