Untitled and Open-Ended

This Pronunciation Trivia is cracking me up!

2009-05-07T20:05:00.002-04:00

First, upon further review, I think "guacamole" sounds more like "dat-da-wall-e" when Tyler says it.

Can you guess these? Don't feel bad if you can't. The ones I remember are the ones he pronounces the worst.

Please guess, because it does make me laugh. But even if you don't, I want these for when I print this blog into a baby book of sorts!

co-ah
cum'ah co-ah
pow
prubble
huhnuh
hainey
booh-ah

On a side note, I just asked Tyler to say #5 above. He obliged, but he had a mouth full of croutons, so I requested, "Say it again." He replied, "Anen" (aka "again.") Smart aleck.

Tyler trivia + answer

2009-05-05T20:12:00.003-04:00

Okay, guys, I'm not posting an answer to yesterday's trivia until at least one person guesses.

Here's today's trivia. What is Tyler saying if you hear this:

"wa wa wole-y" (This is one word.)

Because there's no chance anyone will ever guess this, the answer is in the comments.

Tyler trivia

2009-05-04T14:15:00.002-04:00

I love that Tyler is learning to say so much, and I think his pronunciation is adorable.

Can you figure out what he's saying:

"itty eez kuh-grrr tah"

If you've already heard this one, don't ruin it for everyone else. If you want to guess, leave a comment. Check back tomorrow for the correct answer!

Things the Mother of a Potty-Training Child Should Be Prepared to Say

2009-02-18T10:14:00.002-05:00

Sweetie, why don't you go pee-pee in the potty?
I'll give you a [piece of candy] if you pee-pee in the potty.
Don't pee on the sofa, okay?
No, don't pee on your train track.
No, don't pee on your train.
No, don't pee in the dog's food.
No! Don't pee on the dog!!!!!

And do you know what a potty-training toddler learns to say when he pees all over the floor? "OOOOOOOH NOOOOOOO!"

Tyler's New Best Friend

2009-02-13T21:55:00.003-05:00

Dakota here tried to adopt my cousin's family. Unfortunately for her, their dog objected.

So Tyler suggested she adopt us. He's pretty persuasive, isn't he?

Fortunately for Tyler, she seems to like us.

Fortunately for me, she seems to have unlimited patience for the hugs and antics of a 2-year-old.

A line of kisses

2009-01-28T16:00:00.002-05:00

I walked into the kitchen last night to find a row of unwrapped Hershey kisses. Probably 12. And someone had bitten off the very top of each.

I wish I had the self-restraint of a two-year-old.

Toddler Sci-Fi

2009-01-15T09:54:00.002-05:00

So, last night, I decided to brush Tyler's teeth before we went to his room for the diaper, pajamas routine.

Once again, he was fighting me, so I decided to give him a "choice." Per the suggestion of Tyler's Grandma Denise and Tyler's OT, I shouldn't say, "Do you want to brush your teeth?", I should say, "Do you want to brush your top teeth or your bottom teeth?"

So I tried it.

"Tyler, top teeth or bottom teeth?"

He got very excited and reached for the toothbrush saying "gongun" (bottom). I let him have the toothbrush. And guess where he tried to put it. Yep, he tried to brush his *bottom* teeth. I'll have to put the diaper on first from now on@

The ABCs of dental hygiene.

2009-01-13T09:52:00.000-05:00

Tyler does not care to have his teeth brushed. At least not by me. I don't know if it is a sensory thing or if he's just contrary.

At any rate, Brian and I have always said the ABCs as we brush Tyler's teeth. I just feel like it gives him a better understanding of when the torture will be over. And I thought he might learn something.

The educational aspect seems to be working. As I brushed my teeth yesterday morning, he said (sort of) "Mama, A, B, C, D" in a sing-song voice that exactly matches the alphabet song.

mmmmm... Marshmallows!

2009-01-12T16:47:00.002-05:00

So, Tyler yelled, "Eat!" and ran to the pantry. Instead of pulling out dried bananas (his current favorite), he grabbed a bag of small marshmallows. I think this is one of those foods that the experts recommend waiting a while on (choking hazard), but if my son wants to try any new food, who am I to tell him "no"? So I gave him one for each hand and proceeded to eat a few myself. After several minutes of licking marshmallows (and feeding a few licked ones to me), he ate one. And asked for more. I think he ate five or six total. Tyler ate marshmallows!! I'm ecstatic.

But it makes me wish Paw-Paw were still here. He loved giving all the kids marshmallows, and every time we visited, he wanted so badly to spoil Tyler with treats.

This Little Piggy Wrapped Your Present!

2008-12-23T23:56:00.001-05:00

Santa Bribes Tyler

2008-12-18T10:42:00.004-05:00

Tyler met Santa on Sunday. Brian's cousins Casey and Kay hosted a "Meet Santa" party, and his cousin Regina — a talented photographer — brought all of her gear to capture the special moments.

Tyler has no idea about Santa. He was running circles in the hallway while the other kids were lined up in front of Santa and chattering 90 miles an hour. But then Tyler discovered Santa has stickers. And he was very interested in the stickers. It took four attempts, including one that ended with Tyler laying in the floor screeching at Santa, and three stickers, but we finally got some Santa pictures.

Santa, Regina, and even the other kids were very patient, and it was a special day for me!

B-b-b-b-b-stutter

2008-12-10T22:22:00.002-05:00

Tyler was reading Don't Wake the Puppies (a Clifford, the Big Red Dog, book) to me tonight. This is kind of how his version of the story goes:

Tyler (point at bird): DIRD!

Jaime: B-b-b-b-b-BIRD!

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b DIRD!

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b dutheee! (puppy)

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b Clifford! (I can't even begin to spell his mispronunciation for Clifford, but it starts with a "D" too.)

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b hot dog!

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b qwrl! (squirrel)

Tyler ate grapes.

2008-12-07T20:42:00.001-05:00

A lot of grapes. He asked for more. I cried. Do you understand how huge this is?

Grapes are wet. They are squishy. These were kind of cold. Tyler doesn't like any of these characteristics. But he likes grapes. Praise God for helping my little boy.

More kisses for Paw-Paw

2008-12-06T18:39:00.002-05:00

You know, I started this blog with two people in mind. My Grandma (my mama's mama) and my Paw-Paw (my daddy's daddy). They both enjoyed the Internet and a blog seemed like the perfect way to share Tyler with them since I didn't talk to them via phone very often.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled that my parents, my sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, a few friends, and probably some people I don't know read about my precious son and his antics. I love when readers leave a comment (thank you, Jodi!) or tell me they enjoyed a certain story (thank you, Grandma!).

But every time I've considered blogging in the last two weeks, I've felt this huge sense of loss. You see, my Paw-Paw died on November 21. And I feel like I've lost half of my audience. He never left a comment. I don't even think he realized he could, but it took him so long to type that he probably wouldn't have bothered anyway. But I know he was reading about his little buddy.

Even as we deal with our grief, my precious little boy is showing me so much about losing our Paw-Paw. Every time we get in the car, he says, "Nanny. Paw-Paw." (Because we visited so often while Paw-Paw was sick, Tyler began to associate car rides with going to their house.) Then he tells me, "Paw-Paw heaven." And he blows kisses toward the sky.

And sometimes I cry. And sometimes I smile. But I always encourage him to keep kissing Paw-Paw. And I hope Paw-Paw can see all these kisses.

As for me, I'll keep writing. For you guys. And for me. I love looking back through old entries, realizing how much Tyler has changed or laughing at something I would've forgotten if I hadn't blogged about it for Grandma and Paw-Paw.

And I'll keep loving my Paw-Paw and knowing how proud he would be if he could see his little buddy.

Mothers: Do you remember?

2008-11-29T20:18:00.001-05:00

My submission for the Mother Letter project:

Dear Mother,

Do you remember the first time you breathed in that sweet baby breath? Do you remember how your back ached because you forgot to settle comfortably in the chair before you fed your little one and you wouldn’t move because your comfort had become a secondary consideration? Do you remember the first time you slept 5 hours straight — and the panic you felt as you rushed to check on your little one?

Do you remember the first time you felt your heart contract with love for your child? I do. My Tyler was 2 months old, and he’d just woken up from a nap. He smiled his first “real” smile at me, for me. And I fell ever so much deeper in love.

Do you remember the first time you heard “Mama”? I was “Babu” for a few weeks, but it sounded just as sweet!

Do you remember the first time you heard “I love you”? My Tyler is 2 years old, and he said “Wub Mama” for the first time yesterday. Of course, he also “wubs” his trains! And he "ugs" (hugs) the trains before he "ugs" me! But that is okay, as long as he keeps asking me to "ug" him.

Aren’t they wonderful, delightful creatures? May our hearts always contract with love at their smiles. May we always delight in their hugs and kisses. May our love — and theirs — continue to grow.

It is so amazing to realize that as much as we love these young children, we barely know the people they will become. Think of all the memories we have to look forward to!

Blessings,
Jaime

Puppies, Skeletons and Monkeys, OH MY!

2008-10-31T21:37:00.003-04:00

Lessons learned: Always try hand-me-down Halloween costumes on weeks before Halloween!

Apparently, Travis was a little shorter when he wore the puppy costume.

Luckily we had a Plan B.

Back in the car, our little skeleton was very proud of his night's earnings.
Half a pumpkin of candy and only two houses.

And just for fun, remember the cute little monkey from last Halloween?
Can you believe how much they change in a year?

Toddlers do not belong in the kitchen.

2008-10-12T14:31:00.003-04:00

I'm nursing a sore throat and decided to treat myself to a cup of hot chocolate. Nevermind it is 75 degrees and I'm running all the fans in the house.

I heat the milk, stir in the packet of chocolate and go look for marshmallows in the pantry. Of course, Tyler climbed up on a chair and stuck his finger in the hot drink. At least he's learning about "hot" without actually hurting himself, right?

I got sidetracked and let the drink cool down more than I intended. I finished it off rather quickly since it wasn't very hot. It wasn't until the last couple of swallows that I noticed a definite peppermint flavor. Now, this is a ceramic coffee mug, not plastic, but I still began to wonder if the mug had absorbed some of the flavor from my mom's peppermint tea or something.

It wasn't until I rinsed the cup out that I realized the glob of chocolate at the bottom was NOT undissolved hot chocolate mix but a Junior Mint that Tyler had tossed into the cup.

Cursing you hippie moms!

2008-10-11T16:32:00.002-04:00

Yes, Melissa, I mean you.

We have the house to ourselves, Tyler and I. So he's been naked for about 2 hours. It really does help with the potty-training.

But no one has ever told me what to do when the naked 2-year-old falls asleep on the sofa immediately after drinking a cup of apple juice!!!

Want to place bets on whether he wakes up when I get the diaper? How long to you think I have until he's good and asleep?

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

2008-09-15T22:59:00.002-04:00

Marshmallow Elephants!
(If you've seen Tyler make an elephant noise, you know why. Precious!)

They don't always like each other, but they love each other!

10 p.m. on a Monday night

2008-09-08T21:59:00.003-04:00

Jennifer goes upstairs to get ready for bed.

Over the baby monitor, Brian and I hear Jennifer dropping something or throwing something.

I am thinking awful thoughts about my sister being so loud when she knows Tyler is not sound asleep yet.

Then we hear Jennifer: "Jaime, you have a naked little boy up here."

Apparently all that crashing around was Tyler opening his bedroom door... After he'd stripped off his pajamas and left his diaper laying in the middle of the floor. Luckily Jennifer was concerned about all the noise and went to check on Tyler, whom she found walking down the hall. Naked. With two stuffed puppies.

Help 100 Children with Your Mouse

2008-08-27T15:04:00.002-04:00

Reece's Rainbow, a ministry that assists with adoptions for children with Down Syndrome, is in the running for an American Express grant. (I read about it on 5 Minutes for Special Needs.)

Click here to nominate the ministry to receive a grant that would help 100 children. No catches. Just nominate before Sept. 1.

'67 Shelby Raffle

2008-08-21T09:26:00.002-04:00

My good friend Jodi and her husband are raffling off their '67 Shelby to benefit The Wooden Cross Ministries.

Jodi's church is "drawing up plans to build a Ministry Village. The first structure going up is the Hope House where the main focus will be families: counseling, budgeting, foster care, as well as a child advocacy center, of which there is none on the east side of Atlanta."

Visit www.youcouldhelp.com to purchase your $25 raffle ticket.

Happy Early Birthday

2008-08-18T08:09:00.001-04:00

Grandma & Grandpa bought Tyler a climbing jungle gym for his birthday. He loves it! Brian and I love that we can sit down and enjoy the backyard without running circles keeping up with Tyler!

See the Gatorade bottle? His favorite thing is to roll bottles down the slide!

He also likes to go down the slide on his belly. He wants to go face first, but I won't let him!

First Baseball Game

2008-08-17T16:53:00.005-04:00

Before the game, we went to the kiddie section, and Tyler did not want to part with this ball. Instead of throwing it at the moving target like the other kids, he took it to the top of the slide and threw it down!

Here is Tyler leading the way to the top of the slide, Mama in tow.

And good thing. That was a big slide. Tyler wasn't too sure about it once he got to the top! But after Mama brought him down, he wanted "more! more!"

This looks like he had a great time, sitting in the stands, watching the game, doesn't it?

Truth is, he lasted as long as the candy did. Two innings into the game, Mama and Daddy took turns chasing him around the stadium for two innings each. Six innings into the game, we called it quits... just as the home team hit a double in a game we were losing 3-0.

Grandpa had fun, too.

Less than 15 minutes later...

Making the Sofa More Comfortable

2008-08-15T15:12:00.001-04:00

After moving all the sofa cushions onto the floor — repeatedly — Tyler was exhausted.

Tyler: "mmmm, tomatoes!"

2008-08-06T12:25:00.001-04:00

Visit Green Resolutions for pictures of Tyler. Click here.

Armor, toddler-style

2008-08-04T10:00:00.002-04:00

Tyler got in trouble yesterday while I was at the grocery store.

Brian popped his leg for something, probably throwing something down the stairs.

Tyler ran into the laundry room and tried to put on two pair of denim shorts, as if that would protect his leg! The problem is that he isn't coordinated enough to pull the pants up over his diaper, and he had them on upside down anyway!

Do you want a kiss or not?!

2008-08-02T10:40:00.002-04:00

My poor floor...

2008-07-31T15:44:00.003-04:00

I've lost count of how many times I've mopped the floor recently. And I've only done it half as much as I should have.

This was what the table looked like at the end of my breakfast the other day. Well, his breakfast, too. He dumped the Froot Loops on the table before I even got started.

You can't see how much milk was in the floor.

Tyler fed me some Cheerios. When I was done eating, he proceeded to drink milk from the spoon. Despite the fact that he would turn the spoon vertical on the way to his mouth, I let him try to his heart's content. He'd scoop, tell me "gulk" (his pronunciation for milk) and lick the spoon. The milk had lots of sugar in it so he loved it.

I was hopeful he'd start to eat other stuff, like yogurt, off a spoon if he enjoyed playing with the milk. No luck so far.

He's also dumped sweet tea in the floor several times.

Today was the worst, though. I'll be mopping again shortly. First, he threw a box of Nestle Nesquik in the floor. Powdered chocolate everywhere. Then he threw a bowl of yogurt in the floor. Luckily he'd already dumped most of the yogurt on the table. And then there was the accident when he was running around naked. It could've been worse, if you know what I mean, but he was standing right outside the bathroom, for goodness sake!

Two Ink Pens = New Game

2008-07-29T15:40:00.002-04:00

I always have 2 extra ink pens beside me when I do an interview. I've gone through 4 ink pens in one interview before, but these are pretty new, so I feel comfortable having two backups.

The problem is when I forget to put them up after the interview. We have a few stray blue marks on our red sofa. I also have a newly decorated Tupperware container.

But the funniest Tyler-pen episode occurred a few minutes ago. One of the pens rolled under the door to the basement.

Tyler says, "Uh-oh!" And sticking his little finger under the door, "Stu!" (meaning "stuck!")

So I used the other pen to flick the first pen out. It came rolling toward him and he just chuckled.

He pushed it back under the door and tried to rescue it with the second pen. This continued for 10 minutes: me pulling the pen out and him rolling it under the door to try to get it himself.

Maybe I should just give away the hundreds of toys all over the floor around us. In fact, he had to push two toys out of the way to play with the pens under the door!

Wordle

2008-07-28T19:07:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Recovering Procrastinator, I discovered Wordle.

When I entered the URL from this blog, the site pulled text from the last few posts and created this word cloud:

Right in the middle, you see "Tyler loves climbing." How perfect is that?!

Die, Die, Die!

2008-07-27T14:55:00.002-04:00

This morning, Tyler knocked over a glass of tea. I moved him off the chair, away from the counter and began mopping up the floor with a towel.

He grabbed a potholder off the counter and began swiping at the spilled tea, singing, "Die, die, die!"

(His daddy sings, "dry, dry, dry, dry, dry" every night when toweling Tyler off after bath time!)

To the Tune of "Free Fallin'"

2008-07-26T20:54:00.002-04:00

It is Tyler's bath time, and I just heard Brian singing (and Tyler kind of humming) to the tune of Free Fallin':

Tyler's a good boy.
He loves his mama.
Loves Clifford
And Grandma, too.

There was more, but I didn't catch it all. So much fun to hear the things Brian comes up with to entertain Tyler! I wish I were as creative.

"If I can't see you, you can't spank me!"

2008-07-26T16:39:00.003-04:00

This morning, Tyler started climbing the stairs again.

(As in the outside of the stairs**. He can't get past the baby gate, so he holds on to the banister railing and climbs as high as he can on the outside of the railing. The attraction is that he carries a toy up with him and then throws the toy down the stairs. I don't understand it. Do you?)

In my sternest voice, I said, "DO. NOT. CLIMB. THOSE. STAIRS."

He quickly stepped down and grinned at me. He then closed his eyes so tightly his whole face was wrinkled up and he started climbing again. Yes, with his eyes closed.

I stomped my foot. His eyes flew open and he jumped back down off the step.

--
** Apparently he's been climbing like this since December. Click here and scroll down to see the picture from the first time I caught him doing it.

Mean, Messy and Melt Your Heart

2008-07-23T17:49:00.007-04:00

This is Trav's mean look!

Don't be fooled by the angelic looks. Herein lies a great temper and a mean streak.
Tyler is scared of her!

Carolyn loves shoes and hats!

Jenn dared Travis to kiss his sister.

His comment immediately after this picture: "Disgusting."
(Wish you could hear his pronunciation!)

Jennifer's bathtub is now permanently a lovely shade of red.
(Just kidding, but it took a lot to clean that ring around the tub!)

Tyler LOVES Honey. He chases her around, calling, "Nunny! Nunny! Nunny!"

Overshadowed by an Older Cousin

2008-07-20T19:36:00.002-04:00

We're visiting my sister and her kids. Tyler's cousin Travis is hilarious. I've posted a few of the most memorable comments at Of Kids and Dogs. I can't wait 'til Tyler is saying things like this!

Don't get me wrong -- Travis' little sister Carolyn and Tyler are both precious and so funny, but there's something about the unexpected comments from a 5-year-old that are exactly what blogging is all about.

Here's one conversation with Travis.

Me: Let's rest a few minutes. I'm tired. Aren't you?

Travis: No, I'm not tired.

Me: Well, you're young. I'm old.

Travis: Yes, you're old. And you're tired because God is going to take you.

Me: What?!

Travis: Yes, I'll miss you.

Me: You'll miss me if God takes me?

Travis: Yes, because you'll be in Heaven. That's what happens when people get really old, like 100.

How old does he think I am? I assured him that I won't be 100 for a really long time. And then he started talking about the Earth collapsing. He was quite cheerful about it, so I didn't attempt to reassure him. I think he might have been upset if I'd ruined his little fantasy of people living in outer space after the Earth collapses.

Love the Slide!

2008-07-18T22:52:00.002-04:00

Christy sent me this picture from Sarah's birthday party. He had so much fun on the slides!

You've got to be kidding me...

2008-07-17T15:47:00.001-04:00

I posted about Tyler's new haircut on my other blog. Click here.

Tyler Tames the Roomba

2008-07-13T16:58:00.002-04:00

Maniacal toddler giggling indicates trouble for the robots.

According to the perpetrator's mother, she was upstairs starting a load of laundry when the trouble began.

Mrs. Jaime X came downstairs to find that Tyler, 22 months, had trapped the family's Roomba in a hula hoop. The Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner that is vital to Mrs. X's sanity, was patiently and thoroughly cleaning a circle of the living room floor while waiting to be rescued.

Upon relieving the toddler of his purple and gold hula hoop, Mrs. X reports, he began a tantrum only to become distracted by a laundry basket, always a favorite toy for the toddler. Dumping a clean load of clothes on the dirty kitchen floor, Tyler began alternately wearing and throwing the laundry basket.

As Mrs. X was blogging an incident report, she caught site of a very lively laundry basket that appeared to be moving about the living room on its own power. Because the Roomba was prevented from cleaning under the sofa with its odd and uncomfortable-looking new hat, Mrs. X was forced to confiscate the laundry basket as well.

Sadly, Tyler resorted to chasing the Roomba around the living room empty-handed, and only giggling when the Roomba reached a corner and turned to "chase" the toddler.

In previous incidents, Tyler has been known to move one of the Roomba's control towers just long enough for the Roomba to move into a corner. If it was funny to see a Roomba trapped in a hula hoop, you should've seen it trapped in a corner where it didn't even have room to turn around!

I Foresee Broken Bones

2008-07-12T13:39:00.002-04:00

Not that I wish any injury on my precious child, but I think I might need to start preparing. I might need a refresher CPR class, maybe EMT certification... or even a specialization in orthopedics.

Tyler's cousin Sarah had her 4th birthday party at Monkey Joe's, which has large inflatable jump-arounds and slides.

My little daredevil (just 22 months old) had a blast. He turned his nose up at the play area for toddlers — ages 3 and under. He went straight for the slides.

We started on a medium-sized slide, and when he got too comfortable and started trying tricks that almost landed him on his head, I let him move to the BBIIIIIIGGGG slides with the older kids, ages 6 and 7. He had so much fun.

He would slide feet first on his belly and lay at the bottom giggling. Then he would run over to me, yelling and signing "more, more!"

I forgot my camera, but when I get pictures from other people, I will post them.

On the Other Side of the Babygate

2008-07-11T16:01:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I put a pair of big boy underwear on Tyler right after he went to the potty.

We went into his playroom, where I often fold laundry while dodging flying toys and serving as a jungle gym.

After I'd folded one towel, twice, he started to take off his underwear. I scolded, twice, "No, Tyler, if you take it off, I'll have to put a diaper on you."

He pulled his underwear back up and grinned at me.

He then ran out of the playroom, shut the babygate and locked me in the playroom.

He grinned at me again, and he pulled his underwear off.

Lil' Slugger

2008-07-09T20:36:00.003-04:00

He's growing up so fast!! For more pictures from our weekend at the lake, click here.

Eating Grasshoppers

2008-07-07T15:32:00.002-04:00

What wold you say if I asked you to eat a grasshopper?

I just saw this post on the Food Chaining blog. The writer references this story: "Everything is a Grasshopper."

This is the best explanation I've seen to illustrate how Tyler can be scared of trying new foods.

(If you are a family member that babysits Tyler or if you are a person that has even thought about blaming me and Brian for Tyler's feeding problems, please read the grasshopper story. It will really help you understand Tyler and what we're going through.)

What if I put the grasshopper in front of you and told you that you have to eat it in 5 seconds? (Assume that I have some authority over you.)

What if you saw me eat a grasshopper? I dip it in chocolate or mix it in crackers or something. I obviously enjoy it and I offer you some of my prized grasshopper. You notice that it makes a crunchy sound like your favorite chips. You may touch it or even smell it. Eventually, you might be curious enough to taste it? Maybe? (Me neither.)

Anyway, if I made you eat the grasshopper, how would you feel the next time I called you to say dinner is ready?

I admit that I have had a few instances where I pushed Tyler, even tricked him to get something in his mouth. And he always regressed. He's what the grasshopper-lady calls a "cautious eater." He has to be comfortable with food before he tries it. And he has to be comfortable with meal time and the table setting. And he has to trust those of us that are feeding him.

It kind of breaks my heart to realize how difficult eating is for him.

But he ate a pop tart this morning. You should've seen him trying to say "pop tart." I told him that it had blueberry jelly in it. And he pointed at the middle and told me all about the bbbbbbb jelly.

2008 Olympic Diving Team

2008-07-05T08:21:00.007-04:00

We're spending the holiday weekend at our friends' lakehouse. They're out of town and graciously offered to let us borrow their place.

Let me describe our digs: The 3-bedroom, 2-bath main house has a screened porch and overlooks the pool and the lake. There is a boathouse, a dock, a nice little yard perfect for chasing Tyler. There is also a separate 2-bedroom guest apartment over the detached garage. Seriously, life doesn't get much better.

When we first got here, Brian fell asleep. (He had gotten up very early and run the Peachtree. Besides, that is the kind of place this is: it just induces naps!)

He woke up about 6 or so, and we decided to take Tyler swimming in the pool. Tyler and I were out by the pool while Brian lit the grill.

And Tyler is so headed for the 2008 Olympic diving team.

As soon as he found the diving board, he climbed up on it. (Actually, he was very careful, and he didn't walk out to the part over the water.)

He'd already knocked his ball into the water. (A lightweight ball about the size of a soccer ball.) He was so cute, carefully laying down perpendicular to the pool and batting at the ball when it was at the edge. Then carefully moving down, laying down again and batting it back in the other direction.

Y'all, he was so careful that I got comfortable and I looked away for a split second.

And Tyler executed his less-than-perfect first dive into the deep end.

Can I just tell you how scary it is to see little legs disappearing into the water? I splashed in right behind him and grabbed a little leg as I was swimming back up. As we surfaced, he was crying, not coughing (which means he didn't try to breathe under water).

As you nominate me for Worst Mother of the Year, please know that I was within arm's length. I was right there.

He was probably underwater for 5 seconds, maybe even less. And he's such a spunky little kid. His daddy was walking out to the pool about the time I jumped in. Tyler held on to the edge of the pool until his daddy lifted him out. He calmed down very quickly, and after a few minutes of running around, Tyler let his daddy carry him into the pool. He played in the pool for about half an hour and loved it.

Since Tyler wasn't hurt and he isn't terrified of the water, it may have been the best thing to happen all weekend: go ahead and get the tumble into the pool over with so Tyler knows the limits at the beginning of the vacation. But it sure was scary to see him disappear into the water — and I keep seeing it over and over.

(Editor's note to her father: Daddy, I always thought you were mean to make us wear lifejackets on the dock at the lake until we were teenagers. Now, I understand! I mean, the pool is scary enough and the water is clear so I never lost sight of Tyler.)

Jail Break

2008-07-02T14:39:00.003-04:00

Tyler has a great playroom. He even has his own TV in the playroom to keep him out of trouble when I'm in the shower or interviewing someone. Lots of great toys. Plenty of room to run around. And he has a toddler-sized comfy armchair...

which he is using to climb over the tallest baby gate on the market:

Yep, this is what greeted me when I got out of the shower this morning.

The frustrating thing is that I purposely removed all toys that he might try to stand on! We may have to move the armchair out of the playroom. But Brian says the gate will adjust a couple of inches taller, so we'll try that first.

Another DAY (sigh)

2008-07-01T13:21:00.003-04:00

I'm still so busy with work this week. Odd since work is technically slow. I won't go into that.

I will go into the fact that my toddler finds trouble everywhere. Even in the totally baby-proof playroom where he is supposed to be totally safe for a few unsupervised minutes.

"Stu," he calls from the playroom. "Stu."

I recognize his pronunciation for "stuck." It sounds very urgent.

He sometimes gets his feet stuck in the very tall baby gate.

I run up the stairs, calling, "Mama's coming. Mama's coming."

He's not stuck. No, he's standing beside the gate holding a small red ball. Crying.

No hands or feet are stuck in the gate.

But wait, he's not holding the ball. It is stuck on his finger. He's very adamant now, "stu!" and crying.

This was a solid plastic ball with no holes in it, like the kind in the ball pits at restaurant playgrounds. We bought them because they were lightweight and all one piece, so he couldn't hurt himself.

Maybe he bit a hole in the ball and stuck his finger in there? Maybe that particular ball was slightly deformed and he picked at it until there was a hole almost big enough for his finger? I don't know.

But I do know his poor little finger was a little purple and had a deep indention. And I do know that I'll be packing up the colorful little balls until he's old enough for a ball pit.

What a Day.

2008-06-30T17:23:00.003-04:00

I had a lot of work to do today, so Tyler was kind of left to his own devices for longer than usual. He was right with me, so of course, he was closely supervised. Right.

Let me tell you about the child and his own devices.

One cup of milk, left on the couch to leak. Not on one cushion. Not on two. No, on THREE cushions. He's very talented. So I had to take time out of my work day to dab at sofa cushions with water and vinegar solution. Does anyone know how long the lovely aroma of vinegar will linger?

Two ink pens. I don't know how long he had them or where he found them, but when he showed up offering them to me proudly, his little knees were covered with blue lines. I haven't found any scribbles on the walls or the sofa cushions. At least, not yet.

But at least my patience is paying off. A few weeks ago, I rearranged the kitchen to make a cabinet for Tyler's food. In this cabinet is a variety of mostly healthy foods — some he likes and some I would like him to try.

I have child-locks on the doors because I don't want him to get in there without supervision. But when he pulls on the doors, I usually open them to let him in the cabinet. I count to 10 silently or inhale deeply as he pulls all the foods out. I've even stood back and let him dump a half a box of cereal in the floor, hoping he would be inspired to taste it.

He hasn't been inspired. Until today. Today, he pulled out a box of his daddy's Oatmeal Crisp. I opened the bag and pulled out a few pieces. Tyler inspected it and popped it in his mouth. And he reached for more. He had several bites! I kept telling him the name of the cereal so he'll be more likely to recognize it tomorrow or the next day.

After he was done, I dutifully stacked up the boxes of cereal, crackers and dried veggies that had landed in the floor. And I returned to my Hershey bar. Tyler was also interested in that, so I handed him a small piece and said, "chocolate." He studied it very seriously. I was afraid it would melt and I would have to wash the still-damp sofa cushions again! But he popped it in his mouth.

He's a big fan of Hersheys. He quickly ran back to the Hershey bar. After I wrestled it away from him, I offered him another small piece.

And I quickly ate the rest. It was nap time, he didn't need any more chocolate! But I did, after such a busy day!

What Did I Expect?

2008-06-28T16:46:00.002-04:00

This morning, I put some Froot Loops on Tyler's little table.

I ran outside for a second and when I came back in, there was only one broken Froot Loop on the table. (He doesn't eat the broken ones.)

He didn't have time to eat them all.

There were none in the floor. (He normally tips the table to dump them in the floor when he's done eating.)

He was sitting on the sofa, reaching his arm all the way down into the big blue bucket in his lap, pulling out a handful of Froot Loops and shoving them into his mouth.

I have been trying to teach Tyler to eat from a bowl for a while. I usually give up pretty quickly. If I put his food in a bowl, he either turns the bowl upside down to dump it on the table or he pulls it out one piece at the time and puts it on the table.

So I was very proud that he was using his bucket as a bowl!

And when I walked back through the living room a few minutes later, there were Froot Loops all over the floor.

Three New Foods in One Day!

2008-06-25T10:27:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was huge for us. Tyler tried three new foods in one day.

I posted about the Food Chaining book a few days ago. At first I focused on the basics:

I stopped asking Tyler to eat foods. I just put it in front of him and let him eat if he wants.
When the meal is over, I clean off the table. No more leaving cereal sitting on the table in case he gets hungry.
I've been working hard at sticking to a schedule for meals. This is soooooo hard for me.

Well, yesterday, I decided it was time to start introducing new foods. You're supposed to start slow, but I got carried away.

In the morning, I put a few soy nuts on the table with his peas and corn. I made sure that he saw them come out of the same type of packaging as all of his dried fruits and veggies. He popped one into his mouth with little hesitation and chewed it up. He then spit it out. But that is okay. He spit out peanut butter crackers a dozen times before he decided he liked them.

At the next meal, I got out the dried blackberries. He loved them even more than he loves blueberries! (I tried one and I think the texture is just weird, but whatever works!)

And later in the day, I decided to try Froot Loops. Keep in mind that this child wouldn't eat the darker Cheerios from the multi-grain Cheerios a few months ago. He picked out the ones that looked like the original Cheerios. And he still won't eat the broken Cheerios.

Anyway, I've resisted giving him these sugary cereals in the past because I worried that he would stop eating the healthy ones. But the Food Chaining book really stresses that you need to try foods that your child will like -- things that are similar to what he already eats and that will taste good to him. You should set the child up for success so you can praise him for trying foods and so that he learns trying foods is fun.

He didn't try the Froot Loops until I walked away from the table. He licked one, and the sugar hooked him! He didn't like the powdery residue on his fingers, but it wasn't enough to make him stop eating them. He also likes naming the colors. I wish I could spell his pronunciation for "yellow"!

This morning, Tyler found the little box of Apple Jacks cereal and opened it so I offered him a few, and he liked them too!

Now, these foods are the same texture as the foods he's been eating. In the past, I was so focused on introducing the new textures that this wouldn't seem like a big deal. But now, I'm just focused on the fact that Tyler tried four new foods with little hesitation (and no prodding) and he liked three of the four foods!

Puppy Love

2008-06-22T10:25:00.003-04:00

Sweetest Kiss

2008-06-16T19:29:00.002-04:00

Tyler and Paw-Paw, his great-grandfather

A Sensory Child and His Napkin Issues

2008-06-12T16:10:00.003-04:00

My child often won't eat when his fingers are dirty. He doesn't like puddings, mashed potatoes, or anything else that might stick to his fingers. He likes the taste and texture of Cheetos but strongly protests the orange stuff that sticks to his fingers.

Early in therapy, we were encouraged to keep a napkin beside him at the table so he can wipe his hands off.

My child often throws napkins on the floor.

Early in therapy, I got tired of picking up napkins.

I started encouraging him to wipe his hands on his shirt.

Yes, you may laugh in 5 years when I scold him for using his shirt instead of a napkin.

But I think he'll outgrow the bad habit on his own: On Tuesday, he threw a salt shaker while we were at a restaurant. He got upset when he put his hand in the spilled salt and it stuck to him. I instructed, "Brush it off on your shirt." ... He promptly wiped his hand on his daddy's shirt.

Where's the Party?

2008-06-11T09:17:00.003-04:00

Therapy Update & Food Chaining

2008-06-10T15:35:00.013-04:00

This morning, we had our first therapy session in about a month. We canceled several appointments because Tyler wasn't even eating accepted foods for while. I'm pretty sure it is related to teething. He is cutting his last four molars, and he's had a rough time eating.

Tyler was starving before we were called out of the waiting room, so Stephanie suggested I just go straight to a food he would eat so we could talk about his progress (or lack thereof). Here is the update:

Tyler has taken one bite of watermelon this month, but he was running around the yard with it on the fork, which doesn't seem safe to me, so we haven't tried this on a regular basis. He asked for some of his daddy's Cheetos at Subway a week or so ago. He liked the taste and texture but objected to the orange stuff on his fingers. He put crushed ice in his mouth once. (He liked it and ate several pieces that time but none since.) He tasted banana pudding at my grandparents' house. But he was watching "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and his daddy kept sneaking tastes onto his lips. When he got too big a taste, he gagged. (It was by no means a large or even medium-sized bite. Stephanie and I think the gagging is related to a learned aversion to bananas because he used to gag on the texture of bananas when I first started transitioning him to solids. I feel so guilty.) Last night, he touched a popsicle to his mouth a couple of times. We were playing with the popsicle in the bathtub. The water was orange when he got out so I rinsed him off again to make sure he wouldn't attract ants in the middle of the night!

After I ran through all of these items so she would see that we really are trying(!!), Stephanie asked me if I'd heard of "food chaining." I had not. She explained that these therapists have just published a book that shows how you can help a child go from a currently accepted food through a series of similar foods.

Here is an example of a food chain from the Food Chaining blog.

We did this with Tyler, going from potato chips to fries to sweet potato fries. And I introduced a certain kind of cracker so I could later introduce the same cracker with peanut butter because I knew the pre-made sandwich crackers are pretty dry and I thought Tyler would be more willing to accept that. But I've been so focused on getting him to eat totally different textures, like watermelon. I like the idea of seeing a larger spectrum of foods rather than trying to introduce a wide variety with no baby steps.

I also appreciate the focus that the blog seems to have on language. When Tyler learns the word for a food (he recognizes a word, not pronounces it), it seems to help him remember it the next time we offer it.

And I think Stephanie may have encouraged this in a way that didn't sink in until I read the "Food Chaining" blog.

Anyway, I'm off to buy the book as soon as naptime is over. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, would you like to know what my 21-month-old son will eat?

fresh fruits: Granny Smith apples
dried fruits: blueberries, strawberries, cherries, pineapple, banana, mango, apple
cooked veggies: fries (must be fried, not baked), Chick-fil-A waffle fries, sweet potato fries, chips, veggie chips. (Can these be counted as veggies or should they be sweets?!)
dried veggies: corn, peas
meats: bacon, pepperoni (if cooked until crunchy). he ate chicken nuggets until this latest bout of teething; hopefully he'll start eating them again soon.
bread/cereals: muffins, Cheerios, cereal bars (Special K are his favorite), one brand of pre-made garlic bread, all kinds of crackers (the Kashi Mediterranean Bruschetta cracker are high in calories, so I'm excited he's started eating those!), and peanut butter crackers
sweets: smarties, skittles, sometimes he will eat a taste of brownie, there are several cookies he's eaten at one time or another, but he gets them so rarely that he may refuse it the next time it is offered.
drinks: all kinds of juices, milk, milkshakes, we add blueberry and strawberry yogurt squeezers to his milk, and he begs for a straw to share our sweet tea sometimes

Actually, now that I've typed the list out, I'm feeling pretty good about things.

And Tyler liked all kinds of baby foods, even the ones with spinach, so I'm hopeful that as we work on his sensory integration/texture issues, taste issues won't be a problem.

Six-Thirty Rule

2008-06-06T15:47:00.003-04:00

I used to have a rule: nobody gets up before daylight.

That was before I saw the beginnings of daybreak at 5:30 this morning.

Did you catch that? I was up at 5:30. The first 5:30 of the day. As in a.m.

I was woken up by the sweetest "bmabma." (That is how Tyler says "mama.") I tried to get him to lay down again and he asked for a "dddddd" (drink).

After the drink, I tried to get him to lay down with me. He did, but no sleep... for either of us.

I have a new rule. Nobody gets up before 6:30. But unfortunately, Tyler thinks all numbers are "zzzzz" (zero).

Mysterious Accessory to Kitchen Aid Mixer

2008-06-05T12:36:00.003-04:00

Do you know what this is? It came with my Kitchen Aid mixer that I got for Christmas. When I first opened the mixer box in January, I spent a couple of hours going through the manual and even looking online to see if I could figure out what it is. I googled things like "mesh square Kitchen Aid."

I even called my mom who has a Kitchen Aid mixer and who gave me this one as a Christmas gift. I thought I remembered her having one of these when she first got her mixer, although I hadn't seen it in a while. She didn't remember what I was talking about.

I hesitantly decided it was meant to keep the beaters from scraping up the bowl when they are stored in it. I dutifully stored the mysterious square in my mixing bowl, under the beaters just in case. Plus, I figured I'd have it in the future if I came up with a better explanation.

I have a better explanation. Are you ready for this?

Today, I found another square exactly like this one in Tyler's game designed to help kids with sensory issues. My sister gave to Tyler at Christmas, but he tried to eat all the pieces so I put it up for a while.

I wish I had a video...

2008-06-03T14:31:00.002-04:00

Tyler just fell asleep on the sofa. While this would not normally be an entertaining process, the child was sitting upright on this particular occasion and it was hilarious.

His head would bob forward as his eyes closed. He started falling forward so he leaned backward. His head touched the sofa and he sat upright. You'd have thought his eyelids weighed 5 lbs each. He tried to lay down, but that just made him mad as he realized he was giving in, and he started crying. So he crawled into my lap and fell instantly asleep.

Weight Check

2008-06-03T10:00:00.002-04:00

We got to Tyler's therapy appointment this morning and found out that his therapist had just called in and would not be able to make it. But the lady at the front desk took us to a scale so we could check Ty's weight. He weighs 25.2 lbs! I was so worried because he doesn't seem to be eating much. He's gained about a pound in the last 2.5 months. So now I can stop worrying about how much he's eating and focus on getting him to try new foods.

He really likes watermelon juice. He was licking it off his fingers yesterday even though he refused to put watermelon in his mouth. And today, he drank the watermelon juice from a straw but he still wouldn't put the fruit in his mouth. Please pray that he gets over this fear and starts enjoying new foods!

Lil' Gardener

2008-06-01T22:35:00.003-04:00

Brian and I finished planting our garden this evening.
Tomatoes, basil, rosemary, squash, zucchini and pepper.
We had a great little helper. Can you see how dirty he is?

"My own shovel!"

"Let's plant something here!"

"Uh-oh!"

"Hear that airplane?"

Baby Birds

2008-06-01T22:16:00.004-04:00

Tyler and I discovered a bird's nest about 5 days ago. The Mama Bluejay was sitting in it, yelling at us. Three days ago, we went to check on it and saw three baby birds. At least I did. I'm pretty sure Tyler was looking above where I pointed!

We finally remembered to take pictures today:

This afternoon, while we were planting azaleas, one of the baby birds was hopping across the yard. We checked the nest and only one baby was in the nest — and it was perched on the edge like it was ready to leave.

Even when they sleep, Mama doesn't...

2008-05-31T09:25:00.002-04:00

Moms expect to be up all night the first few months after baby is born. For those of us who have trouble with the cry-it-out thing, we start thinking, "He'll have to sleep all night/by himself eventually."

And then they start doing a great job. Tyler still needs help getting to sleep, but for a whole week, he's slept by himself all night in the crib.

And then, he climbed out of the crib, so we had to change to a toddler bed. Another sleepless night for this mom.

Tyler actually did great. He woke up once last night. He was screaming — he sounded terrified. I don't know if it was a bad dream or if he was upset that the rail was missing. I just climbed into the toddler bed with him. He wrapped those little arms tightly around my neck and fell back to sleep within minutes. I trekked back to my bed.

But the rest of the night, I heard every bump. (I had the monitor turned up so I could hear if he fell out of the bed!) Once, I was sure he'd fallen onto the pillow we placed by the bed, so I went to check on him. He was sound asleep in the bed.

Now that he's sleeping so well, I just need to learn to sleep through the night again!

We knew it was coming...

2008-05-30T07:49:00.003-04:00

Brian found an empty crib when he went it to get Tyler this morning.

I heard Tyler start moving around, but he didn't call me this morning like he has been doing. We thought maybe he was taking care of business when we heard him grunting, so we gave him just a minute. Seriously — no more than 60 seconds.

Brian said he opened the door, saw the empty crib and Tyler bolted out the door before he realized what was going on!

Who has the energy to scale something three-fourths their height at 6:30 in the morning?!

Luckily the rail has arrived to convert the crib to a toddler bed. I will be picking that up asap. (But if we can't even keep him in the crib, I'm concerned about how the toddler bed is going to go!)

First Swim of the Summer

2008-05-28T09:21:00.004-04:00

For more of our Memorial Day pictures, click here.

Three Days, Several Showers, Two Baths, and a Clothes Hanger...

2008-05-18T13:29:00.008-04:00

Friday morning I sent the following e-mail to Tyler's grandparents, his great-grandparents and my sister:

Subject: looking for a giggle?

I'm pretty sure Tyler flushed the top to his Daddy's shaving cream down the toilet this morning.

He was playing with the lid. He flushed the toilet and said "bye-bye." Now I can't find the lid.

And the toilet isn't flushing quite right.

Wish us luck.

Three days — and two trips to Home Depot — later, it isn't so funny.

We had our toilet in the front yard, y'all! We were trying to flush the lid out with a garden hose. And two neighbors drove by! Humiliating.

I almost got my hand stuck inside a toilet. More than once! Mortifying.

We tried everything from a wet vac (hoping to suck the lid out) to a garden hose (hoping to flush it out with some water pressure). And yes, we tried the more obvious plunger and plumber's snake early in the process. Nothing worked. If I'd realized what a tight fit it was for the lid to flush down in there, I wouldn't have joked about the situation in the first place.

Finally, a clothes hanger did the trick. Brian ceremoniously stomped the offending object in our yard. I suggested we immediately buy toilet locks. Brian's reply? "No s***."

Two hours later, Brian finally had our bathroom back in order and we have a toilet that flushes. My hero.

And now, we're off to buy some toilet lid locks and an industrial size can of shaving cream with a lid so large it won't even fit in the toilet bowl.

I'll probably need several more showers before I feel clean.

First Band-aid

2008-05-14T09:01:00.002-04:00

I'm not really sure how, but Tyler took a chunk of skin off his toe yesterday. He took a tumble as I was getting him dressed. He may have dropped a toy on his foot. Or maybe he had a blister that I hadn't noticed and the skin came off.

Either way, he doesn't normally cry, even when he skins his knees, so when he started howling, I started looking for a reason. It didn't take me long to find it. There was blood all over his little foot. I cleaned him up and went looking for the Band-aids. I'd stocked up on Snoopy and Nemo Band-aids at the grocery store after he came home from the lake all scraped up.

So I wrapped Snoopy around his toe. He wasn't happy about it, so I put another Band-aid around the same toe on the other foot. I figured if he tried to take one off, he would focus on the one that didn't hurt.

And I turned on Clifford, the Big Red Dog to distract him. It worked. But as soon as Clifford was over, he was pulling at the band-aids, so I took them off.

I thought Snoopy was supposed to make it feel better! At what age do they start coveting band-aids for imagined boo-boos? My son won't even tolerate them to keep the blood off my carpet and sofa!

Punishment Before the Crime

2008-05-12T21:09:00.001-04:00

Tyler has taken to spanking himself.

At first, it was just after I popped his leg. For example:

Tyler opens cabinet under sink at my grandparents’ house.

ME: Tyler, don’t touch. Close it. No! (I help him close the cabinet door.)

Tyler opens the cabinet door again.

ME: NO! Don’t touch. Close it. (I help him close the cabinet door.)

Tyler opens the cabinet door again.

ME: NO! Mama said, ‘don’t touch.’ (I pull his jeans off and swat his little leg a few times.)

Tyler stares at the closed door and slaps his own leg. He runs into the other room, still slapping his leg.

Second example: The other day, he threw something down the stairs and spanked himself when I scolded him.

Last night, he randomly slapped his while standing in the living room. I laughed and told Brian, “He’s been doing that — spanking himself right after I’ve spanked him.” Tyler then went over to the chair, grabbed a pillow and threw it over the baby gate: something he KNOWS he isn’t supposed to do.

Pop Quiz

2008-05-07T16:30:00.001-04:00

Question: How much water can a whole roll of toilet paper hold?

Hint: When you pull it out of the toilet bowl, there isn't much water left in the toilet.

Learning English

2008-05-07T11:08:00.007-04:00

I've always heard English is the hardest language to learn.

I had a friend who taught English as a second language through the Berlitz school. In a conversation meant to teach our language, he asked one pupil, "What would you do if your boss fired you?" His student was confused as to why his employer would light him on fire.

We also have "lead" (as in "lead the horse to water"), "lead" (as in "sharpen the lead in your pencil") and "led" (as in "he led the team to victory"). And then there is "affect" and "effect"; "complimentary" and "complementary"; as well as "to," "two," and "too."

I am an English major and these things have always been fairly easy for me, but now that Tyler is starting to talk, I'm seeing how confusing things can be.

For example, we have "anah" (which means "another") and "unuh" (which means "hungry"). They are pronounced exactly the same. Usually Tyler will scratch his chest along with "unuh" -- he was supposed to rub his tummy for "hungry," but whatever works, right?

We also have varying forms of raspberries. There is a very distinct slobbery raspberry that means "squirrel." He will occasionally pronounce "girl" with the same raspberry. A significantly different raspberry means, "I spilled water." [This started because he pushed the water button on the fridge and drenched himself. I did that mean little 'I'm-not-laughing-at-you-but-I-am' raspberry noise that I didn't know anyone did after high school. And he adopted it as a word. He "pwshhh"es when he pushes the button on the fridge, when he knocks over my cup of water, or when his water or juice leaks out the straw of his cup.]

Here are the other 'words' Tyler knows at 20 months (though I doubt many people would recognize them as words):
• Roomba (our robot vacuum) - mmmmmba
• duck - duh
• blue or blueberry - bbbb (with a slight raspberry motion of the lips)
• drink - dddd (with a slight roll of the tongue)
• shoe - dddd or duh (but different from 'drink'. there is no tongue rolling. and different from 'duck.' 'shoe' is more emphatic.)
• sock - sssssss
• water - wawa
• watermelon - wama
• hot - pants like a dog
• up - uh
• down - dn
• upstairs - uhhstahs
• downstairs - dnstahs
• outside - ahtside
• potty - puhpuh
• puppy - dtdt or mffmfff (woof, woof) (he will occasionally roar at a picture of a lion or bear)
• moon -mn
• purple - ppl
• TV - t--d-- (- indicates a rolling of the tongue)
• more - bah (with clapping of the hands)
• all done - ahh don (along with emphatic waving of the hand)
• no, no, no, no, no - nananananana
• don't touch - dah tah
• apple - ah-TAH
• banana - nana
• bye-bye - bye-bye
• cracker - caca, maybe?
• and he still pushes on his nose for "pig"

And here are the names, though the pronunciations may be a little iffy:
• Mama - he manages to pronounce this with a b or two. But if you ask him to say "m&m," he very clearly says "mama"
• Dada
• Paw-Paw
• Nanny
• Pa
• Grandma - again, i think there is a b or two. maybe "baampa"
• Grandpa - or "baapa"

Have 12 Hands, Will Travel

2008-04-28T13:49:00.002-04:00

You know, it is hard enough to keep Tyler out of trouble in my fully baby-proofed house. This weekend, some friends invited us to visit their lake house. There were 4 adults and 3 kids, ages 7, 4 and 19 months. Sound like good odds, don't they?

Tyler kicked my butt.

He had no fear of the pool. He'd walk right down the steps into the cold water. He seemed to know his limits and recognize that he couldn't just step off the edge into the water of the pool or off the dock, but he still falls a lot, so we couldn't trust him not to tumble in. After all, he didn't hesitate to get close to the edge.

He wanted to throw everything into the pool. Drink bottles, plastic furniture, clothes, shoes, everything.

The child is bruised and scraped up from head to toe. Skinned knee, small sores on his feet, scrape on his toe, bruises on his forehead, scab from where I removed splinter from his hand.

And the guest house. First, Tyler threw up chocolate Pediasure all over the light blue carpet. Brian trekked to Wal-Mart for carpet cleaner. It took an entire bottle of Spot Shot to clean the carpet. But that was an accident. I don't blame Tyler for that one. However, the next time I travel, I'm taking cabinet locks. I was standing right beside Tyler brushing my teeth and didn't realized he'd gotten Comet powder cleaner out of the cabinet... and dumped it in the floor. The carpet. You can't use water to clean carpet sprinkled with a powder that contains bleach. I did the best I could with the vacuum. Fifteen minutes later, he was dumping a whole box of snacks in the floor. (We're not talking individually wrapped snacks. We're talking the toddler equivalent of Cheetos.) Back to the vacuum.

On the other hand, our friends' kids were really sweet to Tyler — very patient and eager to share their toys. And our friends seemed to enjoy watching his antics. The lake was beautiful, the weather was really nice, the food was excellent and the company was great.

We had a great time, even though I came home from a "relaxing" trip to the lake with a headache and very tense shoulders. I'm telling you, the kid stresses me out!

But the best part was that Tyler tried two new foods. He ate grilled cheese (really just the crust of a very thin wheat bread and not much cheese, but still!) and he LOVED watermelon. The trick was to give him a big piece with a good edge. Put it on a fork and let him hold the fork and bite off the watermelon. That way he doesn't object to touching it with his hands.

Landscaping with Daddy

2008-04-24T16:47:00.005-04:00

My grandmother gave us some hosta about a week ago, and we planted them one evening last week. Brian was digging holes and I was going behind him packing dirt around the plants. Tyler was rolling a water bottle around the driveway. After about five plants, Tyler pushed his stroller right up behind us and plopped into the seat like he was supervising! I ran to grab the camera but found he'd decided to take a more active role:

"Here, Daddy, let me show you how..."

Belly and Bottom

2008-04-09T13:58:00.004-04:00

When I first started this blog in September, I thought it might be too early. After all, I wanted the blog to be about Tyler and he was just turning 1 then. I really wanted to have a place to share the funny stories. He wasn't talking yet, so how much "material" would I have? Well, this is post #107, so I guess he's funnier than I thought or I'm boring you guys to tears!

Over the last few months, I've been amazed as Tyler's personality develops. He is hilarious, even though he barely talks.

For example, we finally got a full-length mirror in our bedroom. I wish Brian had the video camera in hand when Tyler first saw the mirror. Brian says he walked forward and backward, checking out the mirror. And then he started pulling up his t-shirt to check out his belly! Up and down with the t-shirt, up and down.

And yesterday, we were learning body parts. Tyler knows a lot: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, head, bellybutton, hands, fingers, knees, feet, toes. Eyes are the funniest — Tyler will point at one eye and you go on to "Where's your mouth?" Oh, but wait, you forgot the other eye. Tyler goes "anah!" (aka "another") and pokes his finger in the other eye! Well, yesterday, I decided we should learn "bottom" since we're playing with the potty-training. I said, "Where's your bottom?" He looked very confused, so I patted one side of his little diapered butt. Tyler said, "Anah!" and patted the other cheek!

Baby-proof, Schmaybe-proof

2008-04-08T16:23:00.002-04:00

Tyler walked up to me this morning carrying an outlet cover. You know, the plastic things you plug into the outlets so kids can't stick fingers, paper, toys, whatever, into the outlets.

And he was carrying the outlet faceplate cover. You know, the thing that keeps kids from sticking their little fingers in beside the outlet and grabbing hot wires.

If that isn't bad enough, I can't find the screw that is supposed to hold the faceplate in place. I have several theories. 1) There never was a screw and we just didn't realize that paint was barely holding the faceplate in place. 2) Tyler threw the screw in the vent right beside the outlet. 3) I need to borrow my uncle's metal detector to see if it beeps when I hold it next to Tyler's stomach. Anyone out there want to share comforting stories about children swallowing objects not meant to be swallowed?

I knew I was a mom...

2008-04-08T16:20:00.003-04:00

My friend Jodi has this great list called "I knew I was a Mom when..." on her blog. I might have to start one:

I knew I was a mom when...
1. I found a LEGO in my freezer.

Too Messy for Kisses

2008-04-06T17:20:00.003-04:00

You know how messy children get when they are learning to feed themselves? When my sister and her kids were here last month, we got to witness 1-year-old Carolyn covered in yogurt on more than one occasion and we practically dared each other to kiss her. She only got kisses on top of her head. (And only if it wasn't covered in yogurt yet!)

For example, my sister just sent this picture of Carolyn who attempted to feed herself yesterday. I wonder how much she actually ate?

Tyler, of course, doesn't like to get messy because of his sensory issues. We've been trying harder to get him to feed himself because he's becoming more resistant to being fed.

So yesterday afternoon, when he was telling me he was hungry, but he wasn't eating what I offered, I got out some chocolate Jell-O pudding and three spoons — one for each of Tyler's hands and one for me. He licked the Jell-O off a spoon a few times, and then started offering it to me. Then he dumped the Jell-O on the tray (and his belly) and looked at it with disdain.

I decided to smear globs of Jell-O on my lips and ask for kisses. You'd think he was the adult and I was the child. He neatly turned my head and carefully kissed my clean cheek, avoiding all contact with the messy Jell-O! I wonder what he'd think of Carolyn here?!

OPMS

2008-04-05T22:47:00.006-04:00

So, Tyler went for his OPMS on Monday. My mom went with me to the hospital, and thank goodness. She chased him while I consulted with the nurse before and after the procedure.

The OPMS is a basically a video X-ray of the child swallowing. For a full description, click here.

We were greeted by a therapist who said that based on Tyler's history she really doubted this test would show anything and she just wanted to let us know because she hates to expose children to radiation unnecessarily. After going back and forth with her I was almost convinced that this test was unnecessary, but I was scared not to do the test because what if there is something really wrong and this test would show us why Tyler is terrified of food. Maybe something hurts him when he swallows. Maybe ... Well, maybe lots of things.

But the therapist was right. Ty only ate two of the three foods mixed with barium. He ate the puree (yogurt), refused the solid (we tried cereal bars and graham crackers), and he drank the milk. Based on what he did swallow, everything appears fine, anatomically speaking.

I am glad. I really am glad that there isn't something wrong. But there is something wrong, you know. My 18-month-old will only eat the following "normal" foods:

apple
chicken nuggets
fries (regular and sweet potato - fried, not baked)
bacon
crackers
muffins
dried fruits & veggies
garlic bread
cereal bars

So yes, I am relieved the test didn't reveal something that requires surgery. And I do believe that he has sensory integration issues. And I do believe those issues cause problems at the table. But his therapist doesn't think that the sensory issues cause the gagging and throwing up.

So all we can figure is that his chewing skills are still emerging. When he doesn't chew well, then it likely causes him to gag. He's always gagged so easily that throwing up just comes easily as well. (That is what the therapist who conducted the OPMS suggested, and it does kind of make sense.)

So we will proceed with the occupational therapy. He is making progress. And it is easier to get him to try new foods.

However, since the OPMS, we've had a very difficult time spoon-feeding him. I don't know if the OPMS was somewhat traumatic. Actually, it was. Who am I kidding? He was crying and saying "nown, nown, nown" (meaning "down") and I was telling him, "You HAVE to take a bite." and putting food to his lips. It was dark in the room, too. I should've expected that and practiced eating in the dark, but I don't know that it would've helped. And we were all trying to distract him. I'm sure it was overwhelming.

But the therapist was awesome. She was very understanding, patient, supportive and encouraging. She and Tyler's OT have both told me that feeding patients do get better. They work through their issues. It may take a year or so, but he'll learn to eat enough to be healthy and he'll get on with his life. He may never be an adventurous eater, but he'll be healthy.

As I was saying, we've had trouble spoon-feeding Tyler. He's teething. Maybe that is it. In the past, when I've pushed Tyler too much, I've had to regain his trust. Maybe that is it. Or maybe he's reached the stage of toddler independence and he just doesn't want Mama to feed him. So we've been trying to teach him to use a spoon. Friday night, we gave him a cup of yogurt and a spoon. He licked the empty spoon a lot, and chewed on it, too. He put a yogurt-covered spoon in his mouth a few times but he was very unsure about it. He started dipping his finger in the yogurt and licking it clean. This was serious progress, y'all. He had yogurt on his hands for about 20 minutes. He usually freaks out when he gets baby food on his hands and won't take a bite until we wipe his hands clean. He even had it in his eyebrows!

Some things are just too personal to blog...

2008-04-03T22:56:00.002-04:00

But I don't care! Tyler peed in the potty tonight!

He looked at me like I was crazy. (I was jumping up and down while clapping and squealing.) And he pointed at the bathtub very emphatically to let me know he was ready to move on with the evening.

(If you want to know my secret weapon: someone gave Tyler little turtle bath toys that squirt water. I was showing him how the turtle can pee in the potty. The turtle was kinda peeing on Tyler, so that might've had something to do with it. Whatever works...)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-02T16:26:00.002-04:00

A Picture Story Titled "Tyler's Version"

2008-04-01T14:46:00.006-04:00

Would you look at this mess?!

I'll just have to clean it up.

This is kinda fun!

Apparently sweeping them off the step doesn't get rid of them...

So I'll have to throw them away one at a time. "Bye-bye, Cheerio!"

If you're interested in my version, this was the third time in a week that I've left an open box of Cheerios out and Tyler has dumped them in the floor. Brian left out a box of Goldfish crackers that met the same fate. Last night — in the time it took me to grab the camera so I could blog about what a half a box of Cheerios looks like — Tyler grabbed the broom and scattered them everywhere. I even found some in the guest bath this morning, and I bet some went under the basement door, too.

New Playroom

2008-04-01T14:37:00.004-04:00

Sorry I haven't added any stories in a while. We've been really busy making Tyler an official playroom.

Before: The room had been the catch-all room since we moved in July.

After:

Apparently Tyler prefers the messy look. He redecorated in less than 20 minutes:

But he approves of the armchair:

Free at Last!

2008-03-24T12:44:00.001-04:00

So, I was on the phone conducting a very important interview. I heard the pitter patter of little feet. Apparently, the pack n play can no longer contain Tyler. Any suggestions?

18-Month Stats

2008-03-17T11:51:00.002-04:00

Tyler went for his 18-month check up this morning. He got two shots and tomorrow we're going to have blood drawn for some tests just to rule out some more things that could be affecting his eating. (The doctor was planning to do a test for anemia anyway. We're also checking his thyroid and liver. There is a family history of thyroid and liver problems, but I'm not really sure how these would cause Tyler's eating problems.)

He weighs 24 pounds. (25-50th percentile)
He is 32 inches tall. (50-75th percentile)
His head circumference is 49 cm. (75th percentile)

Here are the numbers from his previous appointments:
15 months:
Weight: 22 pounds (25th percentile)
Height: 31 1/4 inches tall (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 48.8 cm (75th percentile)

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

An Introduction to Arts & Crafts Supplies

2008-03-14T10:45:00.008-04:00

I'm chicken. Brian is in Italy for a week, so I invited myself and Tyler to stay with my parents. My sister was in town for a few days, so I would've come down anyway. But I'm not going home 'til Brian comes back. I simply can't keep up with Tyler by myself. I need reinforcements.

My parents were home while my sister was in town, but they went to work today. And trouble struck this morning.

I was sitting in the floor of the office this morning with my laptop, trying to quickly submit two articles that were due today. I was up until midnight finishing them last night and I just needed 10 minutes to submit them in between the "No, Tyler"s and the "Don't touch"es.

Well, I missed a beat. Suddenly I smelled something unusual. It reminded me of glue.

Tyler was walking around nonchalantly. At least he wasn't eating whatever I smelled.

But I was practically sitting in a puddle of Mod Podge. "What is Mod Podge?" you ask. It is a type of glue used in craft projects. All you need to know is the bottle says, "Once Mod Podge dries, it cannot be removed."

And I read this right after I mopped up the wood floor with dry towels. (Because with an 18-month-old running around, you clean up the floor before you read the directions on how best to clean up the floor!) Gasp!! I frantically mopped up the floor with wet towels, and called my mama. She suggested the Swiffer Wet Jet so I tried that for good measure.

For those of you who are concerned that we've worn out the welcome at Grandma & Grandpa's - all seems to be fine with the floor.

For those of you who are laughing - I'm dropping Tyler off at your house the next time Brian goes out of town!!

Cousins

2008-03-13T19:07:00.002-04:00

My sister and her kids were here for a visit. Click here to see pictures from the first part of the visit.

I think I married Spiderman.

2008-03-07T21:35:00.002-05:00

Yes, I think Brian must be Spiderman. That is the only explanation for Tyler's climbing prowess. Or maybe Brian isn't as far along the evolutionary chart as I thought. Maybe I married a chimpanzee disguised as a 6-foot-tall human?

A few days ago, I caught Tyler on the other side of the gate in front of our fireplace. I assumed at the time that rearranging the furniture was a mistake and I'd put our red chair too close to the gate. However, I caught Tyler climbing up the gate today. His was using his toes to grip the vertical metal bars that make up the gate! His feet were more than halfway up the gate and he was still going.

And today, when Tyler refused to take a nap, he kept pointing at his crib. And he'd lay down in the crib as long as I read to him. But if I stopped reading (or reciting books from memory), he'd run back and forth in the crib and then try to climb out. He is capable of throwing one little foot over the top of the rail and hoisting himself up by using his elbows on top of the rail. I put an end to the experiment very quickly. I don't want him to realize that he can indeed climb out of the crib because he is not ready for a toddler bed.

And just now, I caught Tyler climbing my dishwasher. His hands were pulling up on the handle, and he was running his little feet up toward his hands and then just hanging there.

It must be his daddy's genes. I'm sure I never did such a thing.

Marathon Nap

2008-03-06T16:46:00.002-05:00

Tyler woke up really early this morning, thanks to a leaky diaper. And he didn't get back to sleep.

So I expected him to take a pretty long nap. He went down very easily at 12:30. It is now 4:47 and he's still asleep. That is going on 4.5 hours, y'all.

Thank goodness for baby monitors. I keep hearing him sigh and turn over, so I'm not too worried yet. (But I do think he might be sick. He's been refusing to eat. He even spit out brownie at lunch. My son has never refused chocolate.)

The Newest Member of our Family

2008-03-05T10:44:00.003-05:00

You know the women's magazines that write those stories about how it is a bad sign if your husband gives you a vacuum cleaner for your birthday? They are so wrong! The right vacuum cleaner can be so romantic.

Brian just gave me an iRobot Roomba! It is a robot vacuum cleaner. I just push a button and it vacuums the whole room — while I'm writing a story or feeding Tyler. It even cleans under the sofas, beds and end tables. And really, how often do we do that?!

The best part is that Brian is so excited about our new gadget that he's been picking up toys and vacuuming the whole house (while watching TV).

The second best part was introducing Tyler to the Roomba. Last night, we cleaned the kitchen floor. We sat Roomba in the middle of the floor and Brian pushed the "clean" button. It started circling around the floor making its little "zoom" noise.

Tyler was frantically doing the "all done" sign to ask us to turn that thing off.

We reassured him that it was fine, and when he realized we really weren't going to turn it off, he started throwing toys at it.

After about 10 minutes, he began to accept the Roomba, but he did look concerned when it moved in his direction. He began trying to say "Roomba." It sounded more like "mama."

In order to feed him dinner, I had to move his highchair so that he could watch the Roomba. And this morning, he chased it around the living room watching anxiously for it to reappear every time it went under the sofa.

Hiding from the Paparazzi

2008-03-04T22:35:00.004-05:00

I was brushing my teeth this morning, when in walked Mr. Cool:

For more pictures of our little heart throb, click here.

Cooking Made Interesting

2008-03-04T12:59:00.005-05:00

I usually let Tyler help me bake muffins.

Translation: Tyler stands in a chair right beside me, he opens the nearest drawer, which is full of clothes pins. He then tries to throw the clothes pins in the muffin batter.

Yesterday evening, I opened the muffin box and set it on the counter. He pulled it off the counter and dumped out the bag of mix and the metal tin of blueberries. He was having so much fun chasing around the little metal tin that I decided to try to get everything else ready without his help.

Once he realized what I was up to, he marched over to the table, pulled a chair from the breakfast area all the way around the counter and pushed it up right next to me. He climbed in it, ready to help. (While I'm a little nervous to realize he could get to anything in the kitchen, I was secretly proud that he handled the situation himself instead of whining and trying to climb up my legs. He's only 18 months old this week.)

I pushed his chair into his normal corner and began guarding the muffin batter from the onslaught of clothes pins.

Then he dismantled my toaster. Actually, he just pulled out the crumb tray and started stacking the clothes pins on it.

Then he started throwing clothes pins in the toaster oven. It took me a few minutes to realize what he was doing and to think about the potential consequences. I know. I deserve the "Worst Mother of the Year Award."

And now you know why my toaster oven will be unplugged unless I'm using it: because Tyler isn't to be trusted around it and I'm too slow to realize it.

I'm pleased to say we made 24 muffins and some brownies.

And make that two "Worst Mother" awards. I am not pleased to say that while I was taking brownies out of the oven, Tyler climbed in another chair to get something off the counter and he tipped the chair over. How do you teach them "only when I'm here with you"?

He was fine, but I'm guessing that was the source of the bruise I saw on his leg this morning. I'm thinking about buying a toddler stool. Or at least a really sturdy chair. Mine do tend to flip over rather easily.

My Kisses

2008-03-01T20:38:00.003-05:00

We play the "MY kisses" game with Tyler quite often these days. When he's kissing his daddy, I say, "No, don't you give Daddy all my kisses!" As Tyler giggles and gives his daddy more kisses, I squeal: "Nooooo! Those are MY kisses!"

Brian does the same thing. When Tyler kisses me, Brian says, "My turn! Come kiss Daddy! You better come kiss Daddy!"

Tonight, Tyler gave me lots of kisses and then got down out of my lap. He ran back to the sofa to give me more kisses. Brian asked for kisses and Tyler took off running in the other direction.

Brian called after him, "You better come back here and give me kisses!"

Tyler stopped, with his hand on the wall for balance. He looked back at his daddy. And then he turned and kissed the wall!

I Am My Parents

2008-03-01T15:00:00.002-05:00

As a stay-at-home mom, I'm used to hearing giggles, the patter of little feet and crashing toys. These sounds reassure me that my little punkin is healthy, happy and safe.

When Brian — a very responsible, loving, wonderful father — takes Tyler somewhere without me, I know he's safe.

Don't I?

Yes, I really do. But still, I hate to hear the phone ring when they are out. Especially when I see Brian's number on the caller ID. Until I hear a calm "hey" from the other end of the phone, I'm sure they've been in a car accident.

I laughed at myself just now as I hung up the phone (after a very calm phone call with Brian, who took Tyler shopping).

And then I realized it will get worse. Tyler will turn 16 and he'll be driving the car by himself!

And what about the trips he'll make after his first fender bender (or totaled car, as was the case in my personal story)?

My poor parents. Poor me.

Strategy

2008-02-29T15:48:00.002-05:00

While Tyler was napping, I fixed four chicken nuggets.

He was in a great mood when he got up, and he was running around the living room having a grand time.

I nonchalantly walked into the kitchen and picked up one of the nuggets. I sat on the step between the kitchen and the living room and started eating it, without saying anything to him. He ran up to me and reached for it. I pushed him back a little and ate two bites. Only then did I offer him a little piece. He shoved it in his mouth, chewed for a second and demanded more! Together we ate two, and I'm sure he ate at least as much as I did!

This sounds easy, doesn't it? So what are these feeding problems I'm complaining about?

Keep in mind we've been playing with chicken nuggets for two weeks. Tyler has kissed them, and they've kissed him. He's never seemed to dislike the feel of them but he's never put even the smallest bit in his mouth.

But I have a new strategy:

When introducing a food for the first few times, Tyler will be in his highchair. (Otherwise, he just runs off.)
We will try to do a short "therapy" with a familiar food right after nap every day. In the past, I've always tried to plan therapy between meals. The timing is tough. If he's actually hungry (first thing in the morning), he just cries and gets frustrated. If it is too soon after he's eaten, then he just throws the therapy food because he isn't hungry. But if we do therapy at mealtime when he is reasonably hungry, then it reinforces the frustration and negative feelings he associates with feeding.
During this short therapy, I will sit in the floor to eat the food, and I will not push him to take it. (We seem to have more success when he believes it is his idea to eat a food. Just like a man.)

Seems simple, doesn't it? Wish me luck!

By the way, Tyler ate half a piece of garlic toast last night! (Again, he crawled up in my lap and reached for it. He thinks it was all his idea.)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-02-27T11:51:00.004-05:00

Pretty Purple

2008-02-27T11:40:00.002-05:00

I just found Tyler standing on the white carpet in my front living room (really his playroom), holding his Harvest Surprise grape-vegetable juice upside down and waving it around. He was watching the juice drip out of the straw and admiring the pretty purple pattern he was creating.

Let's Celebrate!

2008-02-26T18:27:00.001-05:00

The floor strategy appears to be working. Tyler just ate two blueberries. Fresh, not dried.

Taking Therapy to a New Level

2008-02-26T13:27:00.003-05:00

This last week, I've noticed that Tyler will eat his foods better when he's not strapped in his high chair. For example, he wouldn't eat apple for a while after I tried giving him a pear, but I got in the floor with him one day while I was eating apple, and he started eating it again with very little coaxing. Now he comes running if I ask him if he wants some apple. And he'll eat a piece and come back for more when it is gone.

Same thing with the little beans inside green beans. (He still won't eat the hull part.) Last Tuesday, he ate finally ate them late in the evening and then nothing for several days. Sunday night, after thinking about the apple thing, I got in the floor with him and he ate the first one immediately and asked for more. He ate about 12 before he got bored with it and ran off. (Which is, of course, the problem with not having him strapped into a high chair.) Yesterday I put him in the high chair, and he squished the green beans, kissed them and threw them in the floor. But he wouldn't eat them.

And he begged for a Junior Mint yesterday afternoon when I was sitting on the sofa eating them. (Of course, he wouldn't take one I'd bitten in half because he didn't like the mint inside touching his hands, but he ate a whole one without thinking twice about it.)

He's also started eating rice and french fries when he was either crawling around in the floor while Brian and I ate or crawling up in our laps.

So I voiced my concern that Tyler has negative associations for the highchair to Stephanie, Tyler's therapist. This morning, she took us to a playroom rather than a kitchen so Tyler she could see how Tyler plays with food when he isn't strapped into a high chair.

At first, he was too interested in the toys to pay attention to the food, so we had to put them up. We did get him to eat a couple of pieces of apple and three of the little green bean "seeds" (but not the hull). He played with the chicken nuggets but wouldn't eat them, and he didn't even touch the corn (which he ate last week).

Stephanie indicated that we should continue to have structured meal times so Tyler doesn't learn to graze all day, but she said we can start doing his therapy in more of a play atmosphere — in the floor rather than having to strap him into a chair. So I'm hoping that this is less stressful for both of us and more productive, too. But cleanup just got harder!!

Asleep yet?

2008-02-23T21:22:00.003-05:00

It was just me and Tyler in the car on the way home tonight. And it was after dark. Once he got quiet, I kept trying to peer in the rearview mirror to see if he'd fallen asleep. I knew he was still wide awake when a fire engine passed us going in the opposite direction and then from my backseat I heard a ghostly little siren imitation!

Adventures in Reading

2008-02-22T09:04:00.003-05:00

Tyler is slowly learning to communicate, and it is so much fun to get glimpses of how he sees the world and to giggle at his "mastery" of the English language!

One day Tyler pointed at a crescent moon in his story book and said "nana!" (as in "banana").

Another day, I pointed at a picture of a child in Tyler's book and said, "See that little girl?" He promptly said "squirrel"!

Two New Foods in One Day!

2008-02-19T20:44:00.002-05:00

Tyler's OT suggested we give up on the peas & carrots and the scrambled egg since Tyler is not showing any progress with these foods.

The new foods we are introducing: chicken nuggets (the processed kind), green beans and firm fruits like pears, cantaloupe and watermelon.

At the first attempt he ate two small bites of pear, but then he was upset to realize it wasn't an apple and we haven't had a lot of luck since.

He doesn't seem to dislike the texture of the nuggets: he'll hold them, kiss them, and play with them. But he hasn't tried to eat them yet. He did the same with the green beans at therapy this morning. He'd kiss them, make them kiss his nose, he'd hold them, feed them to me, etc. But he wouldn't actually put it in his mouth.

This afternoon, we were playing with green beans and I was playing with the little seed things inside them. Now, I do not like green beans. So every time I put one in my mouth, it is an active act of love. Well, I was putting the seeds in my mouth and shooting it back out with great sound effects. Tyler loved this and would stuff them back in my mouth so I could spit them at him again.

Yes, I realized what a picture this must paint.

Just so happens his daddy comes home to witness the fun. His daddy suggests, "Why don't you put it in Tyler's mouth?" AND TYLER DID. Just like that. Stephanie and I had spent an hour trying for that same result and Brian barely had to make a suggestion. I swear.

Anyway, Ty loved it. He asked for more, so there I was dissecting green beans to find the seeds.

And this evening, Brian got Tyler to eat a few bites of roll (which he does occasionally) and then suggested he try a kernel of corn. Tyler loved the corn. (Del Monte's Summer Crisp, if you're interested.) He kept asking for more. I'm sure he ate at least 12 pieces.

The Tonsil Theory

2008-02-18T17:14:00.003-05:00

Tyler's occupational therapist has been concerned all along about the way he throws up when he gags. He's gotten much better, and we know what foods will trigger the gag reflex and we avoid those.

But when he has a sore throat, he can't handle any solids and even some thick liquids make him throw up.

So I started thinking that perhaps his tonsils are affecting his swallowing. I looked online and found references to cases where enlarged tonsils do indeed cause children to gag and throw up solids. I asked Tyler's OT if she was familiar with this and she said that she had a patient whose eating improved once his tonsils were taken out. She suggested we talk to Tyler's pediatrician about a referral to an ear, nose & throat specialist (ENT).

So I called Ty's pediatrician, and they had an opening this afternoon. We went to the office, so I could hold him down while she looked down his throat. She said his tonsils are a little large, but not touching and therefore shouldn't cause the problems that we're trying to solve. (She added that is quite normal for children his age to have large tonsils. And she said it is normal for children to gag and throw up when they have sore throats.)

I wanted to cry. I don't know if I'm relieved he doesn't need surgery or upset that we still don't know what is wrong with him.

The pediatrician offered to send us to an ENT to have a OPMS (swallow study) done, and I told her that we have one scheduled through the gastrointestinal specialist for the end of March.

The good news is that Ty weighs 23 lbs, 15 oz. He's gained 15 ounces (almost a pound) since January 7, when we had his last weight check. The doctor was thrilled.

And now, a bath.

2008-02-16T20:41:00.002-05:00

Our little piggy ate us out of house and home tonight. At the last feeding of the evening, he consumed some baby food and a dozen handfuls of Cheerios and then he downed his juice. I asked if he was all done and he did the signs for "all done" and "down."

He then ran to the gate at the bottom of the stairs, looked back at me and said, "uuh-stas." (That's Tyler-ese for "upstairs.") And he did the sign for "bath."

I guess he's ready to go to bed, huh?

Or maybe he just loves his bath. At any rate, it is so much fun to see him initiate "conversation."