Simplifying God

I had a very sweet moment with Garrison this morning. Let me give you some background on a couple of things. Discipline: I try to keep it simple with basic statements like, "no touch", "that's a no-no", "that's bad", or "that's not nice". If/When he gets in trouble I keep it simple too, with a "you disobeyed". Other background info, teaching him about God: I've been intimidated on how to really do this other than he knows we hold hands when praying before dinner and will say amen. Recently I have begun to read the book, Shepherding a Child's Heart. The author talks about the importance of not focusing on the behavior of the child, but the heart of the issue. If the heart is good, the behavior will be good. blah blah blah....How does that work with a 2 year old? Maybe it will explain, I haven't got that far into it yet. But it has made me realize that I need to make more of an effort to explain God and His love for us to Garrison. Which brings me to this morning. When I was pregnant, a very dear woman that mentored me in Atlanta sent me a children,s rhyming Bible. It is the most clever rhyming book I've read (much better that a Wocket in my Pocket!). I truly love to read it, it is so clever. So we have started in the morning, after breakfast, sitting on the couch and reading a story or two and then "talking" about it. I talk, he blabbers. This morning we read about Adam and Eve and the Clever Snake. I was thankful it was a story that I could easily put on his level. "God told Eve, no touch!" He looks at me with his wide eyes. "But Eve disobeyed, she did a no-no", "ohhh" he says. I then went on to explain that we all have to trust and obey God. He loves us and knows what is best, and if we disobey then there are consequences, it doesn't mean that He doesn't love us or will leave us. "ohhhhh" he says again.

Mr. Happy Pants

Garrison likes bathtime. The bubbles, the weird water stuff, repeatedly choking himself by sucking on a soaked washcloth. All fun times. But he really likes to get all lotioned up afterward. But really, who wouldn't? Top that off with a hair styling and it's pretty much like going to a spa.







Garrison also likes to read. He's really good at flipping the page. Sometimes he's bored with the content and flips quickly or skips pages, but he's just helping us by letting us know what he's interested in. It's really considerate.






He lets us know when he thinks something is funny, or even surprising. He's a pretty cool cat.

First Christmas

Well, the G-man has successfully made it through his first Christmas. How good did he make out, you ask? Let's just say we went to Ikea to buy more bins and shelving and hanging holders. By the third Christmas (ours, Marshall's, Smith's) he was getting the gist of ripping paper off packages. He enjoyed the paper more than the box inside of it. And we're thinking he really enjoyed all of his gifts because he developed a "holy moly this is awesome" look over the holidays - tight lips, O-shaped mouth with wide eyes and eyebrows raised. He even went further to actually whistle while making the "holy moly" look. Quite impresive for a 10 month old. (No, we don't think he did it on purpose. But he is a genius.) So, here are some shots from the last couple weeks.


Our first walk out in the snow.


Christmas morning (the 23rd) at our house.


With cousin Delaina at the Marshall Cristmas.


At the Marshall Christmas.


Cousin Ethan showing some love at the Smith Christmas.


Garrison working the sly grin.


Playing inside the expandable tube Pop and Nona got for him. (It stays at their house.)


G-man posing with his great grandfather on the Smith side.


The very frequent "holy moly" look


Winston didn't appreciate Rachael trying to lay on his floor without including him.

Bathtime carnage

Things got a little out of hand. Don't watch if you have a weak stomach.

The joy of Fall

A few weeks ago, we all went out to enjoy the nice fall day.
He didn't seem so excited at first.



But he did enjoy himself










Back home in the warm apartment




I'm not sure what he was cracking up at, but it sure was funny!



For Halloween Nana and Papa sent Garrison a box of candy (he was told to share with us if he wanted), so Garrison had his first taste of the wonderful goodness of sugar.



And then, like all of us, he wanted more.



Now I know, he shouldn't have candy like this until he's 12 or something, but we couldn't resist. And he didn't have any teeth at this time. (he has two teeth now)

The Crawler

Garrison has definitely mastered the skill of crawling. That didn't take long....














So Garrison is very attached to his pacifier. We only use it during naps and at bedtime, but he likes it very much. He also enjoys throwing things on the floor. This is not a good combination. So lately he's been throwing his pacifier on the floor and then crying because he can't go back to sleep without it. Yesterday I had enough. I decided, well if he's going to keep throwing it out, then he's not going to get it anymore. The age of the pacifier is over. So I put him down for a nap...and he cried...and cried...and screamed...and shrilled...and cried...and screamed....You get the point. This went on for 15-20 minutes, which is my cut off point. So I went in and gave it to him. He was asleep within 30 seconds. The age of the pacifier is continuing strong. But last night after we put him to bed, he threw it out again. UGH!!! So this was my solution, we'll see if it works.

Fun with bubbles

Here are some photos of bath time. The fun just never stops!













Here's the fun hat that Nana bought him in Wisconsin. Just like his dad, wearing interesting hats.





He has a thing for our shoes. He love shoes strings! Now he has his own pair of sneakers, so he can play with his own shoe strings.



This has nothing to do with Garrison, but it's a beautiful shot of our view