You Can't Fool Me!

I took Tyler to see a speech therapist yesterday. Mrs. Harriet is my friend Julie's mom, and she's a retired speech therapist who has training in helping children who have swallowing problems.

Tyler gags very easily, and when he does gag, he often throws up — not just a little bit but the entire contents of his stomach. He is 1 and he still eats mostly stage 2 foods and some stage 3 baby foods that are not very thick and don't have any pieces of pasta, rice, etc.

He's very hesitant about trying new foods, too, although he loves Cheerios, Gerber crackers and bites of my cereal bars.

So yesterday was a bad day for him (and me!). I made him take bites of textured baby foods so Mrs. Harriet could watch him gag. I fully expected him to throw up, but he didn't, although we could tell he was struggling to swallow.

After we finished with three or four bites, he refused to eat any more and he just sobbed in the highchair. So I tried to give him yogurt, which he loves, because I knew he was hungry. He wasn't interested in the yogurt so all he ate for lunch was oatmeal cookies and Cheerios (bless those General Mills people!).

His whole eating schedule was off and he was very suspicious when I put him in the highchair for the rest of the day.

We couldn't get him to eat last night, so we decided to give him yogurt (his favorite, remember) and more Cheerios for supper.

Because he'd already had some Cheerios, and because he refused yogurt earlier in the day, I told Brian to put half of the yogurt in a small tupperware container so we could save it if Tyler didn't want it.

Brian proceeded to feed Tyler out of the container that the yogurt comes in. Tyler was still suspicious, but he opened his mouth every time Brian said "yogurt."

Tyler finished off the first half of the yogurt and Brian grabbed the tupperware container with the rest of the yogurt.

Tyler didn't want anything to do with it. He would push the spoon away, even when Brian said, "yoguuuuurrrrrttttt."

I told Brian to pour it back in the original yogurt container. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he tried it. And Tyler promptly opened his mouth when he saw the spoon go into the yogurt container.

A New Discovery

Tyler has discovered his nose.

Not in the cute "Where's Tyler's nose? Where's Mama's nose?" way.

Oh, no. He's discovered his nose in the "hmmm, let's see if my finger will fit here" way.

Last week, Brian would pull his hand down and say "Get that finger out of your nose." Tyler would giggle and shove his finger right back up his nose.

On Monday, I took Tyler by to see my former co-workers. As we were leaving, the owners of the company were also leaving. We were saying goodbye in front of the building; I was pushing Tyler in the stroller. Jerry said, "Uh oh, he's found his nose." I look down and sure enough, his index finger is up his nose and he's smiling at Jerry.

You know, I could handle this. Actually, it is kind of funny to see him giggle with his finger up his nose.

My real issue comes with the fact that he prefers to explore his nose while he's eating. I try to save his nostrils from an onslaught of green beans and peaches and oatmeal. Tyler just giggles and puts his grimy, baby food-covered finger right back up his nose.

Dancing... No? No Dancing?

Remember the post from Thursday, where I said that it is hard to tell whether Tyler is dancing or telling me "no"?

Breakthrough.

I think this is bigger than his first step. Bigger than anything Tyler's done before.

He fell asleep in his crib.

I know lots of babies do this all the time. But Tyler does not. I'm not a big fan of letting him cry it out. A) I can't stand to hear him cry. B) When I first tried to let him cry it out around 5 months or so, he practically hyperventilated and I felt incredibly guilty and upset... and it took me a half hour to calm him down. C) When I tried to let him cry it out around 7 months or so, he vomited profusely and I felt incredibly guilty and upset. And it took me almost an hour to get him calmed down, to change him, to clean the floor and change his sheets. It took me another hour to stop crying. D) When I tried to let him cry it out around 9 months (when I was very sick), he got his chubby little leg stuck in between the crib slats and I felt incredibly guilty and upset. I don't remember how long I cried that day.

In short, every time I tried to do what the "experts" recommend, I was a bad mother. And I ended up sobbing.

So we stuck to giving him a bottle and rocking him to sleep, which has worked fairly well for us ... until now, when he's supposed to come off the bottle.

I've been decreasing the amount of powdered formula in his bottle this week: 3 scoops of formula in 8 oz instead of 4, then 2 scoops. This way, I can make sure that he isn't hungry when he's crying. On top of making him hyperventilate, throw up and hurt his leg, I don't want to feel guilty about starving him. (I did that when he was 2 days old and will never get over it. But that is another story.)

Wednesday, he wouldn't take a nap. I tried a bottle of diluted formula (twice). I tried rocking him (several times). I tried laying on the sofa and watching a Baby Einstein video (three times). I tried letting him cry it out (for 45 agonizing minutes). And he never laid down. [But he didn't hyperventilate or throw up, and I could tell by the change in his cry when he got his leg stuck.]

In short, I tried to get him to take a nap from 11:30 until 4:00. He fell asleep twice and each time, he woke up screaming 5 minutes later. At 4:00, I gave up. And he did fine. I guess he rested enough that he didn't need a nap. He went to bed at 8:00, and I was the only one who had a meltdown. So I resolved I'd never again spend a whole day trying to get him to take a nap.

Today, I tried a bottle of water without any formula. He wasn't thrilled and barely took any. Instead, he climbed all over me while I was rocking him, he threw the bottle in the floor and tried to look for it, and he bit me (several times). So I put him in the crib. I'd decided that I'll try to get him to take a nap for 30 minutes each day. If that doesn't work, I don't have a plan B. I'll let you know when I get there.

Luckily, I didn't need a plan B today. I'd waited until 1:00 and Tyler was fussy, so I was positive he was tired. I dropped him into the crib and walked out. His wail and the look on his face broke my heart. But his crying quickly turned to fussing and got quieter and quieter. When I didn't hear anything for 10 minutes, I snuck upstairs to find him asleep and pressed up against the side of the crib closest to the door. I closed the door ... and didn't hear from him until 2 hours later.

I thank God for answering my desperate prayer as I dropped Tyler into the crib. A) I couldn't take another day like Wednesday. B) I know Tyler needs to take this next step and learn to fall asleep on his own.

Adults Are So Confusing!

I think we're teaching Tyler too much all at once.

Example #1
At lunch, when I put my hand out and said, "Can Mama have some?," I wanted him to put a piece of carrot in my hand. He slapped my hand to "give me five."

Same thing when he fell down earlier and I reached out a hand to help him back up.

Example #2
I've been trying to teach him to shake his head "no." If I shake my head slowly and dramatically back and forth, he'll rock his head from side to side. (He moves the top of his head over and down each way rather than shaking his head side to side.) This is also the way he dances to a song played by his toy school bus....

So when I caught him playing with the trash can earlier, I said, "No, don't touch." He backed up and he either shook his head "no" ... or he danced at me.

Example #3
I've also been trying to teach Tyler the signs for "water" and "milk." The sign we do for "water" is to hold three fingers in a W shape just below your chin. He doesn't even attempt this one. I'm not sure if he knows he has a chin yet. The sign for "milk" is to make a motion with your hand like you're milking a cow. When I make this sign, Tyler gets a big grin on his face, stares intently at my hand, and waves bye-bye at me.

From Tyler's Perspective

Ooooh, Mama is going in that fun little room again. I can play with the wiggly thing. Oh, even better, there is the basket of stuff that unravels and falls apart!! And that open-closey thing is up. I can slam it down and make a loud noise! Oh, but first, what happens if I throw the stuff that unravels and falls apart in this hole? ... But Mama, I'm not finished with my experiment!

Did you get all that? Here is the translation key:
• the wiggly thing: the doorstop
• stuff that unravels and falls apart: toilet paper
• open-closey thing: the toilet lid

From Jaime's perspective:
I'm just glad I grabbed the toilet paper before he let go. It was soggy, but at least I didn't have to stick my hand in the toilet water. How could I not notice that the lid was up?!

Little Chef

I heard an odd noise coming from the kitchen, where Tyler had been banging cabinet doors (a familiar sound).

I peered into the kitchen to find the CHILD-PROOF cabinet door wide open and Tyler sitting on the floor banging a toy inside one of my best pots. (You know... the Teflon one that isn't supposed to get scratched!)

Luckily he was a good sport when I traded the good pot for an older one that he can bang to his heart's content. And believe me, he is banging it around. And. throwing. it. around.

My head hurts.

1-Year Stats

Ty had his 1-year checkup (and those yucky shots) this morning. And he's doing just fine.

It seems that the last few times we've gone to the doctor's office, someone (usually the nurse) has commented on what a big baby Tyler is. I was always surprised that he was fairly average when they did his measurements. They way they sounded, he was off the growth charts.

I had a retort planned for this visit. I was going to say, "Really? If I were 5'4" and 130 pounds, would you still think he looks huge?" I really think he just looks big because I'm so ridiculously tiny. But I didn't get the opportunity to say anything. I probably would've chickened out anyway.

Here are his measurements from all of his appointments. He's gained almost 16 pounds in a year and he's grown almost 10 inches!

1 year:
Weight: 22 lbs, 4 oz. (25th-50th percentile)
Height: 29.5 (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 47.3 cm (just over the 50th percentile)

9 months:
Weight: 20 lbs
Height: 28.5 inches
Head circumference: 45.8 cm

6 months:
Weight: 18 lbs, 10 oz
Height: 27 inches
Head circumference: 45 cm

4 months:
Weight: 15 lbs, 12 oz. (50-75th percentile.)
Height: 25.5 inches (50-75th percentile)
Head circumference: 42 cm (50 percentile)

2 months:
Weight: 11 lbs, 12 oz. (25-50 percentile)
Height: 22.5 inches (25-50 percentile)
Head circumference: 40 cm (75th percentile)

1 month:
Weight: 9 lbs, 5 oz
Height: 21 inches tall
Head circumference: 38 cm

Birth:
Weight 6 lbs, 9 oz
Length: 19.75 inches

Bedhead

Tyler had just woken up from a nap on the couch. He got very hot snuggled between me and the back of the sofa. When he woke up, he was covered in sweat and this was the resulting fashion statement.

Uh-oh

I knew it would happen. From the time Tyler first crawled through the "banister" thing that divides the living room from the breakfast area, I've been waiting on this to happen.

He got his head stuck between the spindles.

For those of you who haven't seen my house, the kitchen area is one step up from the living room. Most of Tyler was on the higher side, with his head and one arm on other side reaching down for a toy.

As I panicked and pictured firefighters having to use a saw to get him out, I realized that the spindles of the banister were narrower right above where Ty's head was. Meaning he stuck his head through then down. So I pushed his head up then back, and he was out. No firefighters... this time. If I'd known it wasn't a real emergency, I would've taken a picture.

The Evolution of the Indian Yell

I think Tyler's on the warpath! He just let out a scream-shriek-yell-thing that scared me to death. And then he smiled serenely at me when I jumped up to see what was wrong.

The Risks of Being a Daddy

Brian may not get up with Tyler in the middle of the night very often, but he does make sacrifices for our son.

Just tonight, I noticed that Brian has a scraped up knee. I thought he fell off his bike or something. No. It is carpet burn from when he was chasing Tyler around yesterday.

And Brian risked severe injury to himself to put Tyler to bed tonight. I mean he could've exploded while holding back a laugh. Luckily, I was downstairs and free to giggle as I heard Tyler doing his Indian yell and blowing raspberries while Brian tried to rock him to sleep!

A Great Workout... And No Tantrums

I don't know what Tyler wants. Here I am working on my laptop and he's playing in the living room just a few feet away. He has an ice cube in his baby-safe feeder because he was fussy and I assume this will help if he's teething.

He comes running up to me and starts climbing on my chair. He puts his empty feeder thing on the table and I get up to go get another ice cube. He immediately starts whining at me.

"Come on, let's get an ice cube." He follows me to the freezer, which I strategically shut just before he grabs the frozen peas.

He really starts whining now. And he's stomping his feet. I hand him the feeder with the ice cube, and he throws it at my feet. Is this the beginning of the "terrible 2's" and the temper tantrums?

I stomp my feet back at him.

He backs up and stomps his feet: left, right, left, right. Then he waits expectantly.

I stomp back at him. He giggles as he stomps again.

We take turns stomping around the kitchen for several minutes, both of us giggling. I feel like I've walked a mile. Maybe I shouldn't have stomped so exaggerated-ly!

Can I hope it will always be this easy — and this good for my legs — to avert a tantrum?!

Tradition

P9102667.JPG
Originally uploaded by Tyler Lackey

While we were at Grandma & Grandpa's house, Tyler was introduced to the piece of plywood, the one where my daddy charted my growth and my sister's growth. This sheet of plywood is at least 25 years old. The first marks are dated 1983, before I turned 5 and Jennifer wasn't yet 3. Our marks are somewhat sporadic through the 80s, until we grew taller than the plywood.

We marked Tyler at 29 inches, but as you can tell from the picture, he was not exactly standing straight or still for the process! I guess there were a lot of things that looked more interesting in Grandpa's workshop than a stupid piece of plywood!

But I hope that piece of plywood is around in 30 years so Great-grandpa can chart Tyler's kids and Tyler can compare the generations! We sure had fun last night! At 4.5, Travis is almost as tall as I was at 6 years old! (That isn't saying much!) And Carolyn is a little bitty thing! To see what they thought of the process, visit my flickr pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_lackey/

Oh, my corn!

We’re visiting with Tyler’s Aunt Jennifer and his cousins, Travis and Carolyn, this week at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Tyler is very much like Travis was at this age. Lots of fun and into everything. Watching Travis, now 4, gives me a glimpse of the fun to come in the next few years with Tyler. (Not that I’m rushing any of it!)

The funniest moment so far: Grandpa was tickling Travis’ leg. He didn’t say anything to Trav, he just started tickling his leg. Between giggles, Travis said, “Stop, Grandpa! You’re making my corn hurt!”

Is it just in the South that daddies and grandpas say, “Let me show you how a horse eats corn” and ‘chomp’ on a kid’s legs?!

What is he thinking?

One of the funniest things about being a stay-at-home mom is when you realize that you've been talking to someone all day and you haven't heard a single "real word" in return.

Honestly, sometimes I'm very surprised to realize that Tyler can't talk. Not because he's 1 and I think he should be talking, but because I feel like I have had conversations with him!

Is he so simplistic that I don't need words to know what he's thinking? Is he so expressive with his smiles, cries and funny expressions that I don't need to hear the words? Or... am I just transferring my own thoughts on his little person and I don't have any idea how he feels about the world around him?!

And when is it that I realize I haven't heard Tyler talk to me? When I am at a loss for words to transfer onto him. Like the other day when I took advantage of the still-sleepy state right after his nap and tried to cuddle with Tyler on the sofa.

He ran his hand up and down my thumb and then wrapped his fingers tightly around my thumb. He started yanking on my limp hand. When he made me hit myself on the leg, he giggled. When he made me hit myself on the forehead, he giggled. Lap, giggle, head, giggle. Lap, giggle, head, giggle. Lap, giggle, head, giggle. These are the moments that I wish Tyler could talk because I really don't understand. But... I giggled too!

One

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.

It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone

Tyler is 1 today. I barely remember September 5, 2006, and I don't really remember who I was before Tyler was born.

I do remember when I heard, "It's a boy," and I reached down to take a crying, slippery little boy from the doctor. And I couldn't believe he was finally here.

Watching Tyler grow from a newborn to a fun little boy with an independent attitude — its been an amazing year.

Some of my favorite moments:
• The first smile (I do remember it specifically)... and every smile since then.
• Every giggle, too. I kissed his neck first thing this morning and he giggled. It is the best way to start the day!
• When he gets excited, Tyler does this funny little thing where he squenches his eyes and makes a little "o" with his mouth and breathes in and out quickly. Brian and I talk about how much we miss it when we're away from him. It is sooo cute... in Tyler. (It wasn't so cute when I was making the face -- and the noise -- at Brian the exact moment our waiter delivered food to our table the other week!)
• When Ty first learned to pull up and he held on to our legs for dear life. Brian and I both loved this stage.
• When Ty first started holding out his arms asking to be picked up.
• Baby breath. I love when Tyler is sleepy and he snuggles into my shoulder and breathes sweet little kisses into my neck.


Some of Ty's favorite moments:
• When Daddy tosses him in the air. He complains very loudly when his daddy gets tired and quits.
• When Mama quits working every afternoon and chases him around the house. He giggles so much he can barely walk.
• When he first tried peaches. He smacked his lips to savor every last taste!
• Bath time. Say the word "bath" and he heads for the tub. We have to watch him, too. He'll throw a leg up on the side of the tub and try to climb in before we can even take his diaper off.
• Taking his little pull-toy puppy for a walk!

Indian Yell

Tyler has been "dancing" a lot the last few days. It started because we have this stuffed UGA dog that plays the "Go Georgia Bulldogs!" song; he started bouncing and "cheering" by waving his arms around when he heard that.

Now, sometimes he'll dance if we ask him to and sometimes he'll do it spontaneously, especially when Brian was listening to Dave Matthews CDs this weekend.

Well, I guess the house is too quiet when Mama is in charge.

I was in the kitchen a few minutes ago, and Tyler comes in and starts doing this Indian yell and dancing.

I don't know where the Indian yell came from but it was hilarious. Of course, by the time I got out the video camera, he'd forgotten to make any noise and he was just slapping his mouth. But at least you get to hear me sound like an idiot on the video!