Toddling

Well, it's official. My sweet little baby boy has become a curious toddler. He's walking so much now. I know that I'm still getting used to it, because when I call Tyler and ask him to come to me, I'm still surprised when I see him walking! He's learned how to get up on his feet without having to pull himself up on something, and if he falls down...well, he'd rather try and get up on his feet again instead of crawl (which is what he used to do only a week ago!).

Here's a video of Tyler walking across our kitchen:


Tyler is so much his own person now, it's remarkable to watch him. I could just sit with him and watch him play for hours. Tyler is really good at stacking blocks now, and can put LEGO blocks together and take them apart! He absolutely loves the just-for-baby volleyball that Mike and I bought him several months ago. He can pick it up and throw it, all while standing :) Tyler also loves playing cards, mostly he likes to spread them all around on the floor, but sometimes he'll try to put them back in their case and help clean up :)

1 Year Old

Happy Birthday, sweet Tyler! You are 1 year old today! You have had a busy year, and by your birthday, you have become more confident at walking, taking 4 - 5 steps at a time! You would rather eat chopped broccoli on your own than have Mommy feed you macaroni and cheese, and you have almost stopped drinking from a bottle (except for once or twice a day, around naptime/bedtime).

You weigh 24 pounds and are 30 inches tall! You love opening and closing drawers, doors, and containers. You love playing with the Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars that Daddy gets you, and you are very good at putting cars on the racetrack! You can recognize shapes and put the correct shape in the shape-sorting bucket, but your favorite thing to do has got to be knocking down towers and stacks and messing up things that are in order :)

Daddy and I cannot believe how much you've grown in just one year, and constantly marvel at how independent you are. It seems not so long ago that you were a sweet little guy who loved to be swaddled in blankets by your daddy. We remember so clearly what it was like to bring you home for the first time, the first bath we gave you, the first time you slept by yourself in your own room, and so many other firsts!

Tyler, you make Daddy and Mommy so happy and we love you so much! Happy first birthday!

First Steps

You read the post title right...Tyler took his first steps last night! At first he was standing next to our living room chair (holding onto it), then he turned around and saw a toy that was a few feet away. He let go of the chair and took a step towards it, all on his own!! I think he got a bit excited (probably because I was laughing and clapping for him once I saw what he was doing), and promptly plopped down on all fours and crawled to the toy :)

Once Mike came home, I told him what happened, and we made this video: (drumroll please...oh, and you'll have to pardon my squealing with glee!)

Quickies

Just wanted to post a few quick pics & a movie :)

I caught Mike and Tyler asleep on the couch the other night...my two boys are the cutest!!















And here is a cute video of Tyler "running" around the house, with Daddy's help...but Tyler's taking all the steps himself!

10 Months Old

Happy 10 month birthday, sweet baby Tyler! It is so hard to believe that you are almost a year old, and yet we (your Mommy and Daddy) are constantly amazed by all that you have learned and accomplished in such a short time. We love how you still snuggle with us, we love your hugs and your gorgeous smiles, we love watching you play and learn, and we feel so lucky to be such a big part of your life. This month, you got dressed up for your first Halloween (as a cow), you had turkey, corn and green beans on your first Thanksgiving, you learned how to walk with a walker, you started clapping your hands, you learned how to wave "hi" and "bye", you learned how to catch and throw a ball, and you began standing for several seconds without holding on to anything! You are such a busy little guy, always going from one toy to another or crawling around the house and following Mommy or Daddy. You love being outside, you love our cats (Gumby and Freddy), and you love feeding yourself!

We are so excited about spending your first Christmas with you. You are the greatest gift we could have ever asked for. We love you, son!

Always,

Mommy and Daddy

Sports Prodigy

Not to be a typical bragging parent but...we have the most coordinated kid EVER! :) Tyler is going to be some kind of sports star, we just know it! He can catch a ball that's rolled or lightly bounced to him and then bounce it back! I don't think I could do that until I was 10 years old, let alone do it at 10 months! Here he is in the kitchen with Mike:



Mike was also playing with Tyler last night in our office. Mike had a spindle of CDs that he opened and spread out on the floor. Tyler picked up the CDs one at a time by putting his index finger in the center hole and put each CD back in the round spindle cover. It was so methodical and purposeful, and each time he put one CD in the cover, he would look up at Mike as if to say, "Check it out! Did you see what I just did?"

Last night was a big night for our T-man! He was playing with one of the kitchen drawers (standing) and pulled out a box of Ziploc bags. I think he was so engrossed with the box and what was IN the drawer that he didn't realize he had pulled the box out and also let go of the drawer at the same time. When Tyler looked down and realized that he was standing all on his own, I think he got a little scared so he plopped down on his bottom :)

It's amazing how the littlest things mean so much.

Almost walking

Tyler first took a few steps with his walker (the kind that he pushes in front of him) the first week of November, and now he's gotten really good at pushing the walker! He's been cruising around the furniture, and getting more adventerous each day, for a couple of weeks now. I think he'll be walking soon!
Check out his first steps with the walker:


And his more confident steps this morning:

Maymont Park - November 4, 2006

We took Tyler to Maymont Park to enjoy the gorgeous fall colors. We showed him the Italian and Japanese gardens, and he had a blast playing in the grass!




























Tyler loves being up high on our shoulders...he kept laughing and giggling at Mike!




























Mike and Tyler had a great time playing in the grass, too:




























Then we found this beautiful waterfall, in the Japanese gardens:










































While we were walking, Tyler fell asleep in the stroller, so Mike and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery together:

More catching up!

Halloween was a blast in our neighborhood! We found Tyler the cutest little cow costume and Mike and I dressed up as farmers for the evening! Tyler looked so adorable as a little calf, I wished that he could wear that costume all the time...though HE probably wouldn't think it was such a great idea :)

Tyler's beautiful hair has grown out again! I hope that if we ever have a girl, she will be lucky enough to have the great hair that Tyler has :) Anyway, once again, we cut Ty's hair while he was asleep. This time, I think we did a better job!

Here's a before picture:

And after the haircut, jammin' out on the keyboards:

Since he was so cute, I had to get a kiss!

Catch-up

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post. It's amazing how much can happen in such a short time! I actually wrote my last post from my father-in-law's computer while we were all in the Outer Banks. We were there last month for Mike's cousin's wedding...a fun beach wedding and an outdoor reception :) The previous weekend, we went to my cousin's wedding. She and a friend of mine from college met at my wedding and now they're married! Ahh, the circle of love ;)

Tyler has gotten so good at pulling himself up to stand (on anything he can!) and things that we didn't consider within his reach before are well within his reach now! He will stand next to our kitchen cabinets and has figured out how to open them. He pulled himself up under the kitchen table and can reach the tabletop, then proceeded to hang on and swing. It's also quite remarkable how fast babies can crawl! I try to chase him while on my hands and knees, and I am always surprised at how easily he gets away :)



Here's a picture of Tyler, all dressed up, at my cousin's wedding:


















After my cousin's wedding, we went to a pumpkin patch. We went on a hayride and picked a pumpkin. Tyler was enthralled with the tractor and its tires. He didn't even mind the dust and hay very much :)

Not Quite Babyproofed

Over the course of one weekend, Tyler progressed from slowly crawling to pulling himself up to stand. He didn't give his parents any time to babyproof! Now everything is fair game...the TV, the cat... :) Tyler pulled himself up for the first time by himself using a plastic storage bin one night, and he's been finding things to pull himeslf up on ever since. It's so sweet because he can now follow us around the house and he'll pull himself up using the storm door and smile at our other cat (outside), Freddy.

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Our little guy is on the move! It was a quick progression...Tyler learned how to pull himself to kneeling from a sitting position last week. Then he learned how to get himself to a sitting position from lying on the floor just 3 days ago, and yesterday he took his first real crawling "step." Today, October 1, 2006, Tyler can officially crawl. He saw his daddy in the bathroom and crawled across the living room, into the hallway towards the bathroom. It's just so amazing to watch as Tyler learns how to do all these things! He'll be pulling himself up to standing before we know it...and the toddler years will be upon us. It really does go by fast...it just kills me to be away from him during his "baby" time. I know it doesn't last long, and I wish that I could just watch him and be with him all the time.



We think that Tyler tried to say the word "ball" last week, too. We were sitting on the floor and Tyler and I were rolling a ball back and forth between us. I would say, "Tyler's ball," and roll the ball to him. Then I would say, "Mommy's ball," and he would try to roll it back to me. We had been playing that for about 10 minutes or so (I must have said the word ball a hundred times!), and he said,"aall, aall." It seemed like he wanted to say "ball"!! That's how we saw it, at least :)

New Achievements!

It seems like every time I have a chance to sit down and write a little bit about Tyler and what he’s learning, he goes and figures out something new and I’m already behind! Right now, he is on the brink of really crawling…don’t get me wrong, he can get to a toy (or a camera or remote control) on the floor if he wants to, but his main mode of transportation is rolling back and forth from one side to the other on his tummy and wiggling to get to his destination. And then, he can’t figure out how to sit himself back up once he’s laying on the ground. I think that will come soon, too, but for now, he whines until one of us rights him!

I just recently started letting Tyler try to use a spoon during his feedings, and now he will only eat if he can hold a spoon in his hand. Mostly, he holds it upside down and often nearly gags himself with the spoon (either end), but he knows that the spoon is used to get food. He is also working more on his “pincer” grasp, but grabbing a bunch of food with his fist still works best for him.

Mike and I brought Tyler to his first college football game last weekend. We traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia to watch Virginia Tech shut out Duke. Not a terribly exciting game, but it’s nice to travel all that way and be able to cheer for so many touchdowns! Tyler actually fell asleep during halftime and stayed asleep through most of the 3rd quarter! I just plugged his ears when the fans began cheering and he slept on my lap.I think both Mike and I discovered how much we miss the mountains. We lived in Blacksburg for 5 years after we met and left because we thought we wanted to live closer to a big city. Well, you know the old saying "You don't know what you've got until it's gone"? I think that's us right now. We had a nice, relaxing life in Blacksburg, and I think a small town would be a great place to raise kids...who knows, we may find our way back there yet! With views like this, how could we not?

One of the things I have found hardest to balance, since having Tyler, is being a mom and being a wife. In my opinion, the first year of life is one of the most important for a child. They learn so many things, and they change so much between birth and their first birthday. I don’t want to miss any of it. I want to revel in the fact that I can rock Tyler to sleep every night. I want to enjoy holding him and allow him to feel secure, loved, safe, and comfortable. I know that one day, maybe sooner than I want, he won’t want to snuggle with me anymore and he won’t smile every time he sees me. I don’t know exactly how Mike feels during all this, but I do know that our time together often has to wait until Tyler has been put in bed. Unfortunately, Mike and I are usually both ready for bed by then, too!

Scoot

Even though we traumatized Tyler by bringing him to a large community pool (many screaming kids, vast ocean of chlorinated water), he still loves his bath! He especially loves watching the water go down the drain. We usually keep him in the bathtub and let him splash around while the tub drains. Lately, he's been scooting across the tub to get to the drain and plug it back up! It's the funniest thing to watch him, and he does it pretty easily because he's already wet and slippery :)

Well, since he's learned how to do the"butt scoot" in the tub, he's applied it to out-of-tub movements! Tyler and I were sitting on the floor last night and I had given him his volleyball. Usually he just likes to hug it and try to eat it. But this time I asked him if I could have the ball, and then I rolled it back to him on the floor. He was so excited that he "caught" it, he tried to push it back to me. We got into a whole game "catch" and he learned about taking turns :) Anyway, as Tyler got into the game, he would scoot a little closer to me each time it was my turn to have the ball!

Today, he is home with Mike. They're having a boy's day in, since we're getting remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto, and it's been raining for the past 2 days.

Sweet Smile

So, Tyler absolutely LOVES our cat, Gumby. Every time Tyler sees him, he gets a big happy smile on his face. If Ty is on the floor, he'll try to lunge toward Gumby; if he's in his high chair, he'll completely forget that he's eating and look all around for the cat! Usually, Gumby runs away from him :) Well, yesterday morning, I had Tyler on my lap and we were sitting on the couch in the living room. Gumby sauntered up and rubbed against my leg and also against Tyler's foot. Tyler was ecstatic! He smiled and giggled at Gumby...and then (this is my favorite part) my still smiling little man looked at me with his wide eyes and eyebrows raised, as if to say, "Did you see that, Mommy?"

OH how my heart melted! His smile will always melt me, but he actually turned and wanted to see if I saw what he saw! How awesome is that?

6 Month Check-Up

Actually, Tyler will be seven months old tomorrow, but we went to the pediatrician on the 14th for his 6-month check-up. They gave him 3 shots (DTP, Hib, and PCV), and advised us on how to continue feeding Ty solids and introducing new foods. Here are his stats:

Weight - 19 lbs. 13 oz.
Length - 26.75 inches
Head Circumference - 16.5 inches

So, he's still in the 90th percentile for weight, and around the 60th percentile for length. But he's been in those percentiles each visit, which is good and means he's growing steadily. His next appointment isn't until he's 9 months old...I can't believe he'll be that old soon!

So much has been happening lately, Tyler has been learning so much in just the past few weeks! He can now easily sit up by himself and play for a while without falling over :) He can roll over easily from his tummy to his back and to his tummy again, in both directions! That's the way he uses to get around the most: he'll be sitting and see something he wants that's out of his reach, but he'll gently fall to one side and start rolling and wiggling to get it! He's beginning to make crawling motions, so it may not be long until he's crawling. BUT, Ty can also stand by himself for a few seconds at a time, so maybe he'll just start walking instead!

Tyler's first two teeth also popped out in the past couple of weeks. He used to like to gnaw on our fingers (better than any of his teething toys!) and I started feeling something sharper against my finger. He woke up crying a couple of nights in a row, but wasn't hungry and was easily consoled when we picked him up and rocked him. The next day, we noticed that his bottom two front teeth had clearly broken through! Now it looks like they are about a third of the way out. Poor little guy! Teething must be so painful to babies! :(

Tyler also got too big for his infant bathtub, and we have retired it and just give him a bath in the regular bathtub. He loves watching the water come out of the faucet, splashing around, eating his bath toys, and then watching the water go down the drain. I hope he always loves bathtime!

Not Enough

Tyler's daycare provider told me that once he achieved his first milestone, he would learn something new every two weeks. I think she's pretty right on! It's been two weeks since my last post, and Tyler has since learned how to sit up very well and roll over from his tummy to his back. That actually just happened this afternoon! Mike and I think that he'll be crawling really soon. Once he got pretty good at sitting, he began noticing everything else around him. Now, Tyler rolls to his tummy from a sitting position and rolls onto his back then to his tummy until he gets where he wants to go. He can only roll to the right, though :) And Ty can't sit up from a lying down position, yet...but it looks like we'll need to babyproof the house sooner than we thought!

Last week, we also switched from a baby carrier carseat to a convertible infant/toddler carseat. I think Tyler likes it better because he sits up a little more and he has more room to wiggle :) It's a little big for our car, but we're also hoping to get a minivan soon. Yes, seriously...we're going to get a minivan! We like the Toyota Sienna, Nissan Quest, Chrysler Town & Country, and Mazda MPV. Anyone love or hate any of those vehicles?

Drinking

I swear I could just watch Tyler all day as he learns and grows. It really is amazing how much babies learn in such a short time! He is so aware of his surroundings and is learning that he can interact with his environment.

I was holding Tyler in my lap the other day, and I picked up my glass of water and took a sip. It was harder than before because Tyler was now trying to reach for it himself, so I had to contort my body a bit and take a drink facing away from Tyler so I wouldn't spill water all over us. After I took a sip, Tyler continued reaching for the glass so I let him touch it and feel the condensation and coolness of the glass. After a minute or two of that, he put both hands on each side of the rim and brought the glass to his mouth to try and drink from it! I tilted the glass up and let some water flow into his mouth (which then dribbled down his chin onto his clothes), but Tyler LOVED it! The next day, I got him the First Sipster. I filled it with water and let Tyler try it out when we went to watch Mike run a 5k race on Monday afternoon. Tyler loved holding the cup himself and chewing on the spout, and most of the water ended up on his onesie, but he may have actually drank some from the sippy cup :)

It's all happening so fast...

Our little guy is growing so fast! It seems like every time I update my weblog with Tyler's newest achievement, he learns how to do something else!

On July 3rd, we took Tyler to the beach for the first time. He always enjoys experiencing new things, but I think the waves at the beach were a bit much for him, although he liked getting wet because it was so hot out.

Just last week, Tyler also started sitting up by himself for an extended time! I think he was so engrossed in his toys that he didn't really realize what he was doing. Mike set him in his Boppy pillow and Tyler just sat there and played with his toy. If he fell back a little, he would catch himself. If he fell back all the way, he would work his little ab muscles and try to right himself again. Sometimes it worked, but he never whined for help when he couldn't get back up. Now, Tyler can sit for a pretty good amount of time without the Boppy!

Also, if you notice in the above picture, Tyler's hair is getting pretty long. Can you guess where this is going? Yes, we did it. As much as I didn't want to do it, it had to be done. Many of you know that Tyler was blessed with a full head of hair at birth, most of which kept growing and growing! His hair was crazy and unruly at first, but as it got longer, it weighed itself down to his head so that only his cowlicks stood up (and eventually those hairs got so long that they sort of fanned down in a mini wave).

Anyway, the longer it got, the more we had to comb Tyler's hair to the side. He had been losing some hair from the back and sides of his head, so it looked like we were attempting a comb-over to hide the balding spots. At first, we were, but now those are sort of growing back in. The hair on top of his head was now reaching past his eyebrows and into Tyler's eyes. So, after much debating over the past few days, Mike and I…...okay, MIKE decided that we had better get it over with and cut Tyler's hair. We ended up cutting his hair while he was asleep (how horrible is that? What if YOU woke up and suddenly your hair was gone??). So, it's cut now, and it looks fine, but Tyler looks older than 5 1/2 months. We saved all the hair in a little ziplock bag. I can't believe we cut his hair before his first birthday!

He Rolled Over!

Today, July 2, 2006, Tyler rolled over from his back to his tummy! Of course, I missed it (we're visiting Mike's family and he and I were out with his brother and his wife running a few errands while the grandparents were watching the kids), but Tyler arched his back turned to the side and kicked his leg over his body! He figured out how to get his arm out from underneath him, too! Now, when we lay him on his back, he inevitably turns over on his tummy. What a great milestone, and how wonderful that we can see him experience the beginnings of it! Since Tyler doesn't really like being on his tummy, it's really funny to watch him flip from his back to his tummy and realize that he doesn't want to be facing the floor! Usually there's something to encourage him to flip over, like a toy or a person near his head, but once he actually flips over he doesn't want to be there :)