My 22 month old

Garrison is 22 months! Oh my goodness. Where has the time gone?

Every stage that he's been in is my favorite. There hasn't been a time in his life where I was longing for him to get to the next stage. At every milestone he amazes me and makes me so proud to be his mother. (not that he could do anything that wouldn't make me proud)

At 22 months he's starting to express himself way more than ever before. He makes me laugh with some of the things he comes up with, while at the same time making me so frustrated. I love that kid!

Garrison is starting to use some words. Here is a list of what he says: dad, mom (but doesn't say it very often), Aya for Aza, go-go or car-car for car, vroom when he plays with his cars, oof oof for dog, on, off (although on and off tend to sound the same), choo choo for train, oose for juice and if you get him in the right mood he can say book and other words if he concentrates on it.

He can also tell you where his head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, belly, hands, fingers, feet, toes and back are. He also knows where his arms and legs are, but sometimes gets confused.

Garrison loves to listen to music and dance. He has a move that we call the "chicken dance" which makes us laugh. It's hard to explain, but he flaps one arm while he does some kind of sideways hop thing. Maybe I can catch it on video sometime. Garrison also loves to drum. At church he loves watching Uncle Shane play the drums on stage. He takes the pens from the pews and pretends to drum with them.

Garrison also loves helping me bake. He's a great helper at putting the ingredients in the bowl and always wants to stir.

He's also becoming very independent and gets mad when we try to do things for him. He likes to brush his own teeth, eat on his own and sometimes gets mad when we dress him, put his coat and shoes on or wash his hair (he wants to put the shampoo in and scrub his head).

Garrison's favorite movies are Cars, anything Veggie Tales or Thomas the train. The kid can sometimes be obsessed.

He also has to have his duck when he goes to sleep and lately his favorite bedtime stories are "Old MacDonald", "Humpty Dumpty and friends" and "If you give a pig a pancake." Garrison has always been a good sleeper and lately he goes to bed between 7 and 8 and sleeps until 6 or 7. When he wakes up the first thing he does is yell for dad. I love it!

Garrison is also a big help when it comes to his brother Josiah. He loves trying to share things with him, but doesn't understand why he won't take them. When Josiah cries he likes to run over to him and either pet his head or pat his back and give him kisses. He's so cute to watch with Josiah. He's very caring and loving with him.

Garrison is very curious about life. He points at all kinds of things and asks us what it is by grunting. Sometimes he tries to say what it is and sometimes he doesn't. The other day he was standing on the couch leaning over the back looking outside. We live on a busy road and have vehicles going by all the time. Anytime a vehicle drove by he would say car, car, car, car, but then when a big semi would drive by he'd stop and stare. It was entertaining.

I'm so glad that God blessed me with him. I'm so proud to be his mom. I love you tons, Garrison!