Archive for February 14th, 2004

December 2003/January 2004

Saturday, February 14th, 2004

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The terrible twos have hit! Gareth has gotten quite adept at throwing temper tantrums and at fighting to get his own way! :) Sharing is not high on Gareth’s priority list these days either, so we have some funny times when Keegan comes over. The boys like to fight over toys, space in the bathtub, and they even fight over Travis! :) <%popup(20040214-unhappy sharing.jpg|640|308|Hey! Get this kid out of my tub! )%> | <%popup(20040214-trav and boys.jpg|640|448|Trav and the Boys)%>

When Gareth does get into a grumpy mood, one sure fire trick is to get him into the bathtub. Now that he has a new bath chair and can sit up in the water, he will stay in the tub for as long as we let him! <%popup(20040214-happy tub.jpg|700|396|Bathtub Fun)%>

Gareth is also enjoying giving his night nurses a hard time. He wriggles around at night and loves to hang off of the bed while sleeping. Every time he even gets a toe off of the bed, the nurses drag him back onto the bed the whole way (which just makes Gareth wriggle off more!) We snapped this picture one night–he was very comfy sleeping half in and half out of the bed! <%popup(20040214-sleeping.jpg|640|468|How can he be comfortable?!)%>

Other than being a “terrible two” at times, Gareth is having a great winter. He has stayed very healthy so far. He is making great progress with his speech–he now has 175 pictures in his picture book! The speech therapist from PSU comes out once a week and teaches him a ton of new words. She has been such an asset! Our smart cookie now knows all of his colors and knows the basic shapes; he is also learning a ton of other concepts. Gareth is doing more physically–he rolls like crazy now and he is trying his hardest to crawl (he can actually get up on his knees and inch along, he just can’t pick up his gut.) He is still walking around in his walker lots during the day. And, he’s just as cute as ever! <%popup(20040214-cute.jpg|640|478|Sound asleep)%>

Christmas 2003

Saturday, February 14th, 2004

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Gareth was really into Christmas this year! He smiled every time we saw Santa or read about Santa or just talked about Santa. Gareth was mesmerized when he finally got to meet old Saint Nick (and Mrs. Claus, too!) <%popup(20040214-santa.jpg|640|517|Awestruck)%> On Christmas morning, Gareth was just too excited to sleep. He was up at 5 am and wouldn’t go back to sleep. We finally woke Travis up at 7 to open presents. Gareth was into the whole present thing this year (good thing, because he got more than a few gifts!!) He tore into every present and he was thrilled to see what was inside (well, except for when it came to clothes.) Books, Little People sets, a train set, and ANYTHING Sesame Street were the big hits. <%popup(20040214-elmo.jpg|580|544|Gareth's new friend, Elmo)%> | <%popup(20040214-singers.jpg|640|459|Crooning with Daddy)%>

This was our first “real” Christmas. Gareth’s first Christmas was spent in the NICU and last year we were snowed in for most of the day. This year we finally got to visit with each part of our family. <%popup(20040214-tickles from nana.jpg|640|518|Tickles from Nana)%> | <%popup(20040214-grandma j.jpg|640|546|Grandma's Boy)%> | <%popup(20040214-pappy.jpg|580|554|Hanging out with Pappy )%> | <%popup(20040214-Grammy.jpg|640|456|Playing with Grammy)%>

It was a wonderful Christmas for us all!

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