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?