Another name for Garrett

Anderson and his uncle Garrett get along pretty well. Anderson actually gets along with most everyone pretty well, but sometimes he just wants to be on Garrett's lap. Or there are night's like tonight, when he only wanted Garrett to spin him on around on a chair. (I tried, but the kid sobbed — tears, snot, everything — and then when we figured out Anderson wanted Garrett to do it, not me, all was perfectly fine.)

Anyway. Let's talk about names. Anderson has every right to be confused about his own name. He's called either Anders, Anderson or the Bones pretty much every third time someone says his name. "Bones" comes from his early months, when he was "Skinny Bones" and his late infant months when he then became "Chunky Bones." But, while he may not know how to say his name, he knows my name — "Emmm" — and he's good with "Mom!" or "Momma!" and "Dadaa" and every "Daedee" for his other aunt, Daedree. But he's struggled with "Garrett." It's a tricky word for a 21-month-old. (The photo is an older one; the Bones was about 16 months when I took it.)

But here's a story that will explain how we know that the kid knows exactly who Garrett is and his name.

Katie and Shawn have taught him to sign. He signs about 20 times the number of words he can verbalize. The other day I was watching him, and we were "reading" a book. I was pointing at things, saying their names, and he was signing. I had no idea if he had the signs right or not, so I said "good job" for each sign. The book was heavy on animals and food. He knew cat and horse and carrot and juice and a bunch more.

Fast forward to 30 minutes later. Shawn and Katie had gotten home, and Garrett was stopping by on his way home from work. We all heard him come in the side door, Anderson perked up and I said, "Who is it, Anderson?"

And he made the exact sign for "carrot" that he had just shown me when pointing to the actual long, orange vegetable.

It's too cute to even try to correct, and he looks confused when we all laugh. So naturally we try to get him to make the carrot sign as much as possible when Garrett's around. I love it. And it's given me a great costume idea for my husband the next time I can get him to dress up for Halloween.

Also, no one can stop saying, "Garrett the carrot."