Birthday Morning

On the morning of Garrett's birthday we (Andrea, Garrett and I) went to Build-A-Bear at Ontario Mills to create a stuffed animal commemorating the day. The first step is selecting the body type. As we walked down the aisle of examples we came to the cow and Garrett immediately said "Moo". We decided that Garrett was telling us that he wanted to build a cow.

After stuffing him we began looking for an outfit for him to wear. In this section we came across a stroller that is made to accommodate stuffed animals of this size. After dressing the cow in cowboy attire and selecting his name, Moobert was ready to ride in his stroller.

I posted a short video of Garrett pushing the stroller in Ontario Mills. From the main page you can find a video of Garrett drinking Milk from a cup for the first time. Anyone who has iTunes (or any other podcatcher, if that means anything to you) can subscribe to receive videos as soon as they are posted. On the right side of the page you will see a section called "Subscribe to this Podcast". There is a one-click link to subscribe in iTunes, or you can use the RSS Feed for any other program that provides podcast support.

Our Little Visitor

Wednesday night I came home from Martial Arts to find out that Andrea and Garrett had had a tiny visitor. While sitting on the couch, Andrea saw something come out of the kitchen and approach Katie's food. At first she thought she must be seeing things, but then realized that in fact there was a mouse eating Katie's oatmeal.

When I arrived, I started searching for our little visitor and found that our kitchen had a gap between the dishwasher and the cabinet. I tried to entice the critter out into the open, but twenty minutes of sitting quietly made no difference. So I began cleaning up to leave the issue for the morning, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a grey ball whizzing across the edge of the kitchen. It scampered from the corner near the dishwasher to the next corner, between the sink and cabinet. Then at the corner, it seemed to jump into the cabinet. After opening all of the cabinets, I grabbed a mirror and the mystery was solved. Apparently there is a small gap between the cabinet under the sink and the adjoining one. Unfortunately, the cabinet makers left a hole underneath, where our little friend found a nice hiding place.

So Thursday morning I made my way to Lowe's for a mouse-catching education. I selected a trap that allows catch-and-release, because it's not the mouse's fault that we don't want it in our kitchen. I set up the trap in the kitchen with a small piece of cheese (I know that's a cartoonish choice for bait).

It took until Saturday morning, but Audrey (we selected a name for her that suggests small and cute) finally made her appearance. One mile north of our house is a big open field where I released her. I hope she's made friends with some other mice and is happier than she was in our cabinet hole!

September Roundup

I wish I could report that the whole family is 100% healthy, but these darn colds have been dragging on for most of the month. However, Andrea and Garrett are both doing much better.

Garrett is exploring more than ever, he's quite comfortable walking along walls. He can even stand unassisted next to a support for short periods. Basically we're just waiting for him to let go and charge across the room unaided. My favorite new skill is that Garrett has learned to clap his hands. When our neighbor sings "If you're happy and you know it..." he stops whatever he is doing and begins clapping!

I (Tom) had a wonderful birthday month with celebrations over a week long period. Of course, we are gearing up for next month when our little monkey will turn one year old.

My biggest news of the month was the beginning of the IMS program. I shared the weekend with an amazing group of faculty & students. Spending an entire weekend concentrating on movement is such an invigorating experience. Even though I should have been tired on Sunday night, I felt absolutely charged.

This month also included the first rollout of software at my new job (I started in August). That meant that the first two weeks of September included more than 50 hours in the office. When you add in driving time, it left very little room for anything else, but I feel like an important part of this great team.

Andrea's class at Citrus College is experiencing student creep. The two sections of this class are allowing students to come to class in the opposite section and Andrea's class is growing each week. As I have always known, once students (or clients) get a sense of Andrea's teaching, they keep coming back!

Road to Recovery

I am sorry to report that both Andrea and Garrett have been ill this week. Last Saturday night Garrett had a lot of difficulty sleeping, and his temperature was elevated. Sunday was the worst with his temp around 101.5 all day. Fortunately by Sunday it was lower, but it has stayed in the 100 range this week, dipping but never staying down.

Andrea has been fighting a cold for quite a while, but putting so much energy into caring for Garrett at the sacrifice of sleep made it worse. The last few days Andrea has come home from class or teaching totally exhausted, achy and feverish. We're planning as quiet a weekend as possible to help her recover. Hopefully I'll have good news next week.

Getting Settled

I spent Thursday morning at Tutor Time with Garrett so he could get more used to being there. He enjoyed exploring the new environment, but he got upset anytime he thought I might be leaving. After Andrea's class she met us there and I headed to work. As I was leaving I noticed that the LCD in the Tutor Time entry was flashing pictures from Wednesday of Garrett on the playground.

Time for a Tutor?

So a super brief roundup for anyone who gets all their Garrett related info from this page: Garrett has crawled, then creeped, and is now able to pull himself up to standing on any piece of furniture or person he reaches. Garrett got the top two front teeth almost simltaneously, followed by the two bottom front teeth. It was only a few weeks later that te next two top teeth appeared. Garrett is still quite vocal, and is saying less actual words but more unique compund sounds than before. He loves baths and playing outside, especially riding in his jeep. He enjoys cheerios and fruit & vegetable puffs, but still likes milk best.

So today was Garrett's first day at Tutor Time, which is a brand new day care center that opened up close to our house. I think it was more traumatic for Andrea than for Garrett, but she did report he was upset when she left thee room. Fortunately he did not have to start out with a ful day there and hopefully as he gets accustomed to it, he will enjoy his time there.

Diverse Solutions Doing Well

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Birthday Bash

When Andrea put Garrett in bed next to me @ 8:45, she never imagined that he'd sleep for 2 hours. I woke up to him cooing at 10:45 feeling well rested, Andrea was in the middle of teaching as a sub for InnerWorks.

She came home and everyone had lunch before Andrea went to her CPR Certification and Garrett and I went to Jeanne's birthday party. Jeanne is the 1 year old daughter of Charlie and Marilee who both worked at ECT when I started there. Garrett enjoyed his first kids birthday and sat for the first time in the Bumbo chair that Marilee is loaning us, since Jeanne has outgrown it.

On the way home I talked to Andrea on the phone and found out that she was already home. We played with Garrett and prepared the house for our guests, Grandma and Aunt Betsy. They came to dinner and spent time with Garrett. We used this excuse to prepare the Costco chicken pot pie, which could have fed 8 people. We sent them home late and went to bed soon after. Overall, it was a very fun day.

Pop Quiz

This morning before we got out of bed, we had Garrett lying in between Garrett and I. Andrea said to him, "do you know the Daddy?" and he turned and looked at me. Then she said, "which one is the Momma?", and he turned back to her. Next she asked, "which one is Katie?", and he turned farther and pointed into the bed, like he was trying to point downstairs. Finally, she asked, "which one is Garrett?", and he pulled his arms in! I couldn't believe that he would be able to signal all four of us. We asked him about each parent a few more times to see if he could duplicate and he did keep turning to each of us on cue. However, on about the fourth tie he started to get antsy, as if to say he'd gotten tired of the game.

Tasty Fingers

Today was the first day that Garrett found two fingers to suck on in order to pacify himself. When I got home from Martial Arts, he was in his swing, with his two fingers in hos mouth and he was totally asleep. He was so beautiful, but it was impossible to capture how cute it was in a picture. It's one of those joys you get to experience as the parent that you cannot share, but trust me that it was adorable.

Worker Bee

Garrett came to work tonight. Andrea was going to a class and a meeting, preparing for the course she'll be teaching at Citrus next fall, and I was still at work trying to catchup on emails, so Andrea dropped him off to me at work just before 5.

A few people came by to see him after hearing some cooing. At first I was rocking the stroller with one hand and writing emails with the other, but I wasn't doing either very well, so I took back my hand to finish typing. Garrett started talking and I figured I would have to finish the rest from home, but after a minute, he quieted down and fell asleep.

I ended up staying at work for another hour while he slept, which let me finish a list of things I'd been meaning to take care of. The latest projection is that I'll be spending a week in China in mid to late March, doing training and troubleshooting. The whole thing depends on a test they will be running at the site next week. If it goes well, we'll set a date and make arrangements.

After finishing at work, we stopped at Target for diapers, then headed home and got their just before Andrea. Garrett woke up a few times, but kept going back to sleep. Once we got home he was wide awake and pretty full of energy all nght. For dinner we made ginger-lime chicken from a recipe Danielle provided.

Garrett and I played until bedtime. He wore me out, so I put him in his big swing and he jabbered for several minutes before falling asleep. I went to bed before Andrea, but she told me that Garrett only woke up slightly while getting ready for bed and slept in his bassinet until 5am.

Rolley Poley

When I got home from Martial Arts tonight, Andrea asked if I was ready for a surprise. She laid Garrett down on his tummy and he rolled his head around for a few seconds before lifting it up. Next he started looking over his shoulder, as if there was a toy directly above him that he wanted to see. He paused on his side as if preparing for the big finish, then suddenly rolled onto his back!

He's been scootching and rolling around for a while, but tonight he made his first roll. It happened while I was gone; Andrea actually missed his first roll too. She looked away for a couple seconds and suddenly he was on his back! She videoed him twice after that before I got home, so he did it four times tonight.

State of the Union

Since it is Tuesday, Andrea spent the evening teaching and taking Jazz, so Garrett and I were home with Katie. Tonight Garrett and I watched the State of the Union address. I took this opportunity to explain to Garrett several concepts: President, Congress (Senate and House), Supreme Court, Speaker of the House, Vice President (and role in the Senate), and State of the Union. He responded with an emphatic "booha... eeeeyaaa!".

I was interested when President Bush spoke about increased spending on Alternative Fuels, and I was definitely interested in his education initiatives, since Garrett will be a direct recipient of this. But as usual, the State of the Union address was mostly grand pronouncements and very little substance. After the first 15 minutes, Garrett was hungry, so he ate one bottle and burped, then ate a second bottle through most of the rest. About an hour into the speech, Garrett fell asleep, so I set him down in his carseat and tried to change the laundry. However, this woke him almost immediately, so I buckled him in and whisked him off to Trader Joes, which has become a Tuesday night tradition in the past few weeks. I decided to forgo the frontpack and shopped with his stroller. We ran through the store in less than half an hour, but I forgot a few things (hindsight is 20/20).

Andrea was home before us and Garrett had fallen asleep in the last 5 minutes of the drive home, so Andrea pumped while I started dinner. We watched Gilmore Girls while we ate, and now I'm going to finish up some work, while Garrett is asleep in his bassinet. Andrea wants to do some cleaning because Danielle is coming to watch Garrett tomorrow, but she's so tired that I don't think she'll be able to get much done. Depending on how long I am working, I plan to do some too, but the night has already gotten pretty late.

Strikes and Spares

Tonight we met the gang (Darci, Danielle, Justin, and Natalie) at Lucky Strike Bowling Alley at the Block in Orange. We had a great time bowling and visiting. The third game was our wild game, where people bowled in funny ways (left handed, granny style, backwards through the legs) and Andrea got the best score of the evening. She even scored her first strike of the night using her left hand. Overall we had a great time and we're looking forward to meeting again in February.

Garrett was very curious when we first arrived, then became very upset when he got hungry. Andrea was feeding him and still bowling her frames and after a little while he calmed down. I rocked him to sleep and he slept in his stroller for almost a whole game. After that he played a little while with different people, but was getting tired again as we were finishing up. He fell asleep on the carride home and woke up to eat when we arrived. Then we all got ready and headed to bed.

Martial Artist in the Making

Tonight Andrea brought Garrett to United Studios during the break between the two classes so that I could introduce (show off) Garrett to people. He met Sensei John and Sam in the entryway. Then we ducked into the office so he could meet Sensei Alan. Alan was showing Garrett how to make punching movements with his arms. Garrett decided to grab hold of a finger with each of his hands. Then he started pulling them in opposite directions, until Alan said "hey, that kinda hurts". I have to admit, I have never gotten a 3rd Degree Black Belt in a submission hold, and Garrett did it on his first visit!

Daddy Day Care, Week 2

Tonight I was home alone with Garrett for the second week of Andrea's new Pilates class in Rancho Cucamonga. About 10 minutes after Andrea left, Garrett told me that he was hungry and proceeded to down almost 4 ounces of milk in under one hour! This obviously wore him out because he fell asleep soon after. I saw Katie pacing around (her potty signal), so I set Garrett down in the Pack 'n Play and realized he was asleep! After letting Katie roam outside for a few minutes, I took advantage of Garrett's nap to start the bottle sterilizer and wash a few dishes. However, as soon as I started heading for the bathroom, Garrett woke up!

He was pretty happy playing until Andrea's mom called. I think he didn't like being ignored while I was talking, so he started to cry. Once I said goodbye, I played with him.

Andrea makes everything Grand...

This morning Garrett was super smiley. Andrea set him next to me in bed while she walked and fed Katie, then we all had breakfast together. Andrea was teaching at the Grand Opening of a performing arts studio, so she got ready and Garrett played on his playmat. Garrett first spit up on his pajama, then during a diaper change, he peed all over the changing pad, so he went in the bath too.

As Andrea was leaving, Garrett got super hungry. Andrea felt guilty leaving him, but needed to go so after a few minutes on the breast, I fed him a bottle. After that he fell asleep in my arms and I cuddled him for about an hour. He woke up with a wet diaper, but fell back asleep after he was changed, so I transferred him into his carseat and he slept for another hour, while I did some housework. Andrea saw a lot of babies at the opening and missed her little man. The moment Andrea walked through the door, he woke up (breast-dar sensors were flashing).

After a good feeding, we all went to Trader Joes together. Garrett slept through most of the shopping, but woke up as we were packing up the car. Once we got home, we rocked Garrett to sleep so we could put away the groceries and prepare for our guests.

Around 6:30 Mom and Aunt Betsy arrived to visit and see our Christmas Tree. Of course, Garrett continued sleeping for the first hour that they were there. We had dinner and everybody got to hold Garrett. Aunt Betsy made some funny faces and took some silly pictures of Garrett in his grandma's arms. Just after midnight, we sent them home and did some cleanup before bed. Garrett slept in his bassinet for two hours without interuption before waking for a night feeding.