Sensory Therapy is Delicious!

So, Tyler and I are working on his therapy. This is a picture of my favorite. Can you tell what is in the bowl? Orange Jello and whipped cream. Yummy!

Orange-flavored Cheerios were not so yummy. I had to bury Cheerios in the Jello and beg Tyler to feed them to me so that he would stick his hand in the Jello. But we had fun!

We also played in a rice box. I filled a fairly large tupperware bowl with rice and buried some items, like a small bath toy, some cotton balls, and some plastic bottle tops. (Please note that I mean caps to his bottles, not something small enough for him to swallow!)

We took advantage of the great weather and played outside with the rice box. Good thing as Tyler really just wanted to throw the rice.

I cleaned up as much of it as I could. How much uncooked rice does it take to kill a bird? (I've heard they eat a lot and it swells in their stomachs and kills them. That is why people don't use rice after weddings anymore. Is this true?) We have beautiful red birds on our back deck all the time. I am very concerned about them.

Speaking of ingesting uncooked rice, Tyler ate a few pieces. He loved chewing on them, crunching them between his front teeth. Really, it is hard to believe he doesn't know how to use his tongue if he can keep a tiny rice kernel in between those tiny front teeth. How much rice do you think would be harmful to an adorable bird-killing toddler?

He ate the rice and yet made no attempt to taste the Jello or the whipped cream (even though I sampled them extensively). However, that wasn't the purpose of the exercise. We were only playing with the textures in our hands. I wasn't trying to get him to eat anything.

The tongue exercises, on the other hand, are not going well. He's supposed to chew on a carrot to learn how to use his tongue and teeth. He only wants to throw the carrot. He refuses to put it near his mouth. And if I put it in my mouth, he tries to shove it down my throat!

But he's learned two new words. (As in, he recognizes the words and comes running. He can't say them yet.) "Chocolate." And "Vitamin." He loves both.

And we ordered pizza tonight. I took some of Brian's pepperoni, dried it off and toasted it in the toaster. Tyler LOVED it. Seriously, he gobbled it up. Brian has no pepperoni on his leftover piece of pizza.

I can't believe I fed my child pieces of pepperoni, but the nutritionist suggested it. She also suggested we add a teaspoon of sugar to his food twice a day, a teaspoon of olive oil to his food three times a day, a tablespoon of dry milk powder three times a day, a tablespoon of half and half once a day, a tablespoon of polycose powder four times a day. She also gave us some suggestions to make sure he's getting enough iron and recommended we keep giving him Carnation Instant Breakfast. If we can get him to eat an extra 300 calories/day, he should gain a half a pound each month.

And now, want to see what the monster was up to while I was taking pictures of Jello? Please note where his hands and feet are in this picture. So far he's only made it up two steps, but you can tell he wants to keep climbing.

The Dreaded Feeding Evaluation

It wasn't so bad... really.

Remember how we met with my friend's mom, who is a retired speech therapist, a few months ago? She offered us some advice regarding Tyler's eating problem and encouraged us to get therapy for him.

Well, that time Tyler cried and cried and REFUSED to eat for the rest of the day, so I was really dreading today.

But I guess because he's older, he handled things a little better this time, which kind of makes me glad that we put it off for a couple of months.

Anyway, we went to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. They had a cancellation and were able to get us in 3 weeks earlier than we expected!

We met with Shahnoor, a young therapist. (I think she's of Indian descent, if you're wondering about her name, but she obviously grew up here in the U.S.)

Tyler played with some toys while Shahnoor asked me questions about his eating habits and health history. Then we got him to sit in a tiny little chair with a tray. I sat in a child's chair in front of him, and Shahnoor sat on the floor in front of him.

We tried to feed Tyler all the things he won't eat: banana, cantaloupe, Stage 3 baby food with chunks in it, peas & carrots.

I think I had an unrealistic hope that he would magically eat a pea while we were there, and that I would look ridiculous but we would realize that all of his problems had been solved.

This did not happen.

He would not eat the banana. He did not like the banana to touch his hand. He would not even hand me a piece of the banana.

He would not eat the peas and carrots. However, he did feed me a couple of peas.

He gagged on the Stage 3 baby food with chunks in it, and he threw up a little. Shahnor cleaned up after him. She was so sweet and patient with him.

He refused to touch the cantaloupe, until I put it in the mesh baby safe feeder. Even then, he really just wanted to throw it in the floor.

He did eat a little of the Stage 2 baby food, and he ate some Cheerios. He ate some dried banana and some dried strawberries. He gobbled down the dried blueberries, his favorite.

The whole time, he was throwing things in the floor, and Shahnoor would put it back on the tray and say, "No, Tyler, it has to stay on the tray." She would put the toys or food back on the tray, and she would try to catch it if he tried to throw it back off the tray.

Of course, I've always let him throw food, because he's so occupied by the throwing that I can sneak food into him. But Brian HATES it when Tyler throws food. He lets him so that we are "consistent" with Tyler, but it bothers hims.

Anyway, the diagnosis:

1) Tyler does not use his tongue properly to push food to his gums where he can chew it. Instead, he uses a sucking motion and tries to mash food with his tongue against the top of his mouth. This is called "delayed oral motor skills," or something along those lines.

2) Tyler has sensory integration issues. He doesn't even like the way the banana feels in his hand so there is no way he's going to put it in his mouth. We have to help him learn to accept the feel of certain foods in his hand so he will be more willing to eat them.

(There is a continuum of sensory integration issues. Some kids with sensory integration issues are very sensitive. Others are less sensitive than "average" kids. This could explain Tyler's high tolerance for pain and why he doesn't cry often when he falls down. Also the different senses are affected. Some kids hate loud noises. Some hate bright lights. Some have much worse "feel" issues than Tyler -- to the point where they can't stand the tags in shirts or won't wear new clothes because they feel scratchy.)

3) Tyler has "learned food aversions" due to the gagging episodes in the past. This will make it harder to get him to try new foods even as we improve his ability to eat other foods and accept different textures.

So we have homework:
1) put some of the pureed baby foods into the sides of Tyler's mouth and run the spoon along the side of his tongue.

2) Let Tyler chew on a full-size carrot. Not so that he eats any but so that he improves jaw strength and learns to move his tongue properly.

3) When Tyler is eating his dried fruits, we are to eat some with him watching and we have to use very exaggerated chewing motions with our mouths open so he sees food on the sides of our mouths.

4) We have a whole page of sensory integration exercises, like playing in a bowl of rice.

5) We are also supposed to stop letting Tyler throw food and toys in the floor while he eats. This will put us back in control of the feedings and will make it harder for Tyler to refuse foods in the future b/c he will know it isn't acceptable to throw it in the floor.


So Brian is very excited that food-throwing is one of the things we have to work on. I see the therapist's point. HOWEVER, this morning, I have not been able to get Tyler to eat even a half of a jar of baby food because I keep having to take away the toys because he only wants to throw them. And I think that telling him "no" is making the problem even worse actually. I swear he had a look of defiance as he threw things in two different directions at the same time this morning. He was mocking me: "Catch this!" Chunk. Chunk.

He is supposed to gain weight by Jan. 7 (our follow-up visit with the pediatrician), and I feel like we're regressing already! Aren't you supposed to take two steps forward before you take a step backward?

Barking Dogs and Ferocious, Flirty Little Girl

There are so many cute stories from the last few days that I don't know where to start.

On Saturday, we were invited to dinner with some family friends. They have two full-size poodles, which Tyler LOVED. He hardly stopped doing the "puppy" sign all night long. Denise said he probably would have done a sign for "horse" if he knew one — because the dogs are so big. They must be three times Tyler's size.

Bilbo took exception to Tyler's rolling, music-playing turtle and barked at it when Tyler would push it. At one point, Tyler crawled into basket, sat down in the basket and pushed turtle back and forth just beside the basket. Bilbo stood over him, barking at the turtle and jumping back (scared) if the turtle touched him.

Tyler was un-fazed by the barking but he did cringe a little when Bilbo's ears tickled his face!

The next day, however, Tyler was terrified of 17-month-old Keira (a human little girl his size). Eager to welcome a playmate to her house, she ran over to hug Tyler, who clung to his daddy for dear life! (The kids did end up playing together... or taking turns stealing toys from each other.)

Today, I was in the floor playing with Tyler, who invented a game. Here are the rules:

First, Tyler makes Mama think he's playing "spin Mama."
Then he runs behind Mama and pulls out a hair.
Then he runs around in front of Mama and hands the hair to her.

I was gullible enough to lose three hairs before I stood up so he couldn't reach any more.

In other news, we have an appointment tomorrow morning for Tyler's evaluation with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The evaluation will decide what sort of treatment he needs to deal with his texture/food issues. I'll keep you all posted...

French Toast Croutons, Anyone?

This morning I made French toast, with the futile hope that Tyler would eat some. I'm really trying to get some protein in him and French toast has eggs...

He refused to eat it. Piece by piece, he threw it in the floor and he wouldn't let me put any in his mouth.

So I put another piece in the oven at 170 degrees for an hour.

And then I left it sitting out until it cooled.

By this time, he was ready to eat again and I hoped the French toast was sufficiently crunchy.

He let me put one piece in his mouth! Yay! He chewed for the longest time and finally put another piece in his own mouth.

He threw all the pieces in various directions. His favorite was to see if he could throw it across the table. I kept giving them back to him and he kept throwing them. But he was having fun throwing them. This was different from the this-is-so-mushy-and-gross-I-can't-stand-to-have-it-on-my-tray throws.

Yes, I fed my child off the floor. I'm sorry, but I was limited on the amount of crunchy toast I had and I really wanted him to learn to eat it. All the experts say to let a picky child play with food. And how does Tyler play? He throws things. He might even eat a banana if I let him throw it down the stairs.

He loves to throw books and shoes down the stairs. Laundry baskets, too. He's figured out how to turn a laundry basket upside down to empty it and he runs to the top of the stairs and heaves it over the baby gate.

Anyway, about the French toast. Tyler insisted on having something to play with while he was eating. (He always has to be distracted in order to eat.) So he forgot to chew sometimes and it took him 30 minutes to eat 3 "croutons" of French toast. But he ate the second and third ones on his own! Success!

We then moved on to the staples: baby food and dried fruits and Cheerios. In all, it took him about an hour to eat. Between the two of us, Brian and I feed Tyler 5 times per day. Then we have to clean up the floor. I'd say we spend at least 5 hours a day on Tyler's meals.

Last night, we were even giving Tyler a milkshake while he was in the bathtub. Here's the conversation that went with that one:

Brian: How many kids do you think get milkshakes right before bedtime? In the bathtub, no less!

Jaime: We're awesome parents, aren't we?

Brian: Too bad he doesn't know it!

And Tyler was frantically doing the sign for "milk" and grunting so he could have more milkshake.

From the Mother of a Picky Eater to the Mother of a Picky Eater

Mama,

I am so sorry for what I put you through.

I don't remember what I was like when I was a baby, but I've heard you say before that I refused to eat bananas even though the baby food I liked best was banana.

I now understand your frustration.

(I still don't like bananas, even though I let Tyler feed them to me in the hopes he'll stick some in his mouth!)

At the doctor's suggestion, I was giving Tyler chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast in his milk this morning, and I remembered all the mornings you cajoled me to eat something before school: instant breakfast, milkshake, anything?

I remembered how you said, "At least you're getting calcium," when we'd eat ice cream even though we hadn't eaten much supper.

I remembered how a mother of a high school friend approached you, concerned I was anorexic when I refused an afternoon snack. I had told her I wasn't hungry. In truth, I just didn't like what she was serving.

I remembered how people said we were spoiled because you would fix two or three dinners so everyone would eat. We were spoiled, but probably no one realized how desperate you were to get your kids to eat.

I remembered that you packed my lunch every day before school. How many PB&J sandwiches do you think you made over the years? I only ever ate PB&J or turkey, when I got older.

I'm starting to understand, and I'm so sorry for putting you through that!

I just hope I can be as patient and creative while feeding Tyler over the next 18 years as you were. Surely, I'll be empathetic, seeing as how he gets his pickiness from me!

I love you!

15-Month Check-up and Never-ending Dr. Seuss

Tyler went for his 15-month check-up this morning.

In the last 3 months, he has grown almost 2 inches and is now 31 1/4 inches tall. His head circumference is 48.8 cm.

However, he LOST 4 ounces and now weighs only 22 pounds. We're going to see a nutritionist and a specialist who can help him learn to eat mushy foods.

He is in the 75th percentile for head circumference, the 50th percentile for height, and the 25th percentile for weight.

(To see his previous stats, click here.)

On the way to the doctor's office, Tyler got a little fussy. After several renditions of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," I tried to think of something else to "sing" to him. I ran through the alphabet song a few times and still needed something else.

One of his favorite books right now is a Dr. Seuss book, and so I tried to remember bits of it. Believe it or not, I have memorized the whole book from

"Big A, little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's alligator. A, a, A"

all the way to

"Big Z, little z, what begins with Z? A Zizzer-zazzer-zuzz, as you can plainly see."

And now, after reciting it at least 7 times, I can't get it out of my head!!!

"Don't Chew on the Door!"

Isn't it funny the things you say as a parent?

More Signs

Tyler has learned several new signs since my last update.

He now sticks his tongue out for "frog." (I'm not sure he knows what a frog is, but he sure is cute sticking his little tongue out. Sometimes he gets carried away and walks around for several minutes — tongue in, out, in, out...)
He wiggles his fingers for "caterpillar." (He's supposed to wiggle one, but I guess that is hard when you're 14 months old!)
He points up and kind of moves his hand in a circle for "fan."
He points out and shakes his whole arm adamantly for "down." (He uses this when he wants to get down from the high chair, get out of the bath, and once when he climbed on a shelf and got stuck!)
He pats his head for "hat."
Of course, when I tried to teach him to pant for "hot," he patted his head for "hat." :)

He is also trying to say "diaper." If he learns to say "diaper" before he says "Mama," I might put him up for auction.

Losing the Baby-Proofing Battle

My parents recently told me that they can no longer use their baby gates because Tyler climbs right up them!

My grandmother attempted to baby-proof her kitchen cabinets in anticipation of our visit on Sunday. She took some thick drapery "thread" and tied all the cabinet doors together. But Tyler is taller than she realized. When he couldn't open the ones right in front of him, he reached up and opened the ones just above his head!

This morning, Tyler figured out the child-proof cabinet doors in my bathroom. At first, I thought it was a fluke, so I pushed the door closed and I watched him pull it open a little, stick his finger and and push down on the baby-proof catch. He thought this was really neat and proceeded to practice opening the door about 20 times before he started pulling things out of the cabinets.

Have any of you used the magnetic cabinet door locks? I'm thinking about buying some.

A couple of hours later, I caught him chewing on the twine that Brian used to "Tyler-proof" the pantry. (Meaning Tyler took the loop of twine off the pantry doors and used it as a teether.) Luckily, he was too busy slobbering on the twine to investigate the pantry. He made quite a mess last week!

Shock & Awe

PB232792.JPG
Originally uploaded by Tyler Lackey

Tyler was in awe of the slides at the playground. He loved them! Our easy-going little guy even pitched a fit when we left because he wanted to keep sliding.

One problem: sliding on a cold day results in some serious static electricity. It didn't seem to bother Tyler but Brian and I got tired of being shocked!

For more pictures of Tyler at the playground, visit our flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_lackey/

Blueberries and Kisses

Tyler was so cute today that we got out the video camera twice!

First, he can almost say "blueberry" -- but he was doing better before we got out the camera. I decided to share the video anyway because he's so cute covered in blueberries!

Also, Tyler learned to imitate the sound of a kiss by smacking his tongue against the top of his mouth. I imagine we're in for some pretty sloppy, wet kisses before too long!

Miscellaneous Updates

Play Kitchen Poll: The results were 50/50 as to whether you think we should buy Tyler a play kitchen for Christmas. To those of you that voted "no," I hope you feel guilty when you see how much fun Tyler has with a play kitchen! (That is, IF I can talk Brian into buying one...)

Language Update: This morning, Tyler was watching a Baby Einstein video that has a section showing different fruits. I told him what each fruit was when it popped up on the screen.

ME: Apple

TYLER: aaa-TAH!

ME: Banana

TYLER: nanana

ME: Peach

Tyler did the sign for "pig"!

Mischief Update: Brian gets frustrated that we have toys all over the floor. (I don't blame him. It is frustrating to trip and stub your toes all the time.) Anyway, in an attempt to manage all the toys, I put a laundry basket in the dining room (which we use as a play room). It has been in there for a couple of weeks and worked rather well. Yesterday, Tyler decided he'd rather play with the makeshift toy box rather than with the toys. He's always liked playing with the empty laundry baskets so I didn't think much of his carrying it around. Until I caught him standing on the upside-down laundry basket helping himself to everything on my kitchen counter.

Language Update

Tyler learned a new sign yesterday. He pushes on his nose for "pig."

He kept touching his nose yesterday, so I taught him "Tyler's nose" and "Mama's nose." Then I started pushing my nose up and saying, "Oink, oink, oink. Piiiigggg." When he started pushing on his nose, I ran to find his toy pig.

(Note: Tyler flattens his nose instead of pushing it up like a pig nose. And sometimes he gets confused and sticks his finger up his nose!)

He started throwing the toy pig under a table and then frantically pushing on his nose so I would go get the pig. This morning, when I picked up the toy, I asked, "What is this?" He promptly flattened his little nose to tell me "pig."

I started thinking of all the things he can "say" now:

He waves his arm back and forth for "all done."
He claps his hands for "more" or "give me."
He also holds his hand out for "give me."
He waves for "bye-bye" and "night, night."
He waves sideways for "milk."
He slaps his leg for "puppy."
He wiggles his fingers for "spider" -- he doesn't even know what a spider is, he just knows that Mama signs the Itsy-bitsy spider song!
When I ask "Are you hungry?", he scratches his tummy and runs to the pantry.

He actually says "nana" for banana.
He says "aaaa-TAH" for apple.
He says "dada" for Daddy (and for Mama, too!)
He tries to say "yogurt." I can't begin to spell his pronunciation. But he also runs to the fridge and holds out his hand when I ask if he wants some yogurt!
I think he may be trying to say "graham cracker," but that one is really indecipherable.

We're working on teaching him signs for bath, water, and drink. And I keep trying to teach him animal songs. But when I "moooo" or "eeeh eeh eeh, ooh ooh ooh" at him, he only smiles!

What a Welcome!

So, Brian and I left Tyler with my parents for the weekend. We needed some time to ourselves and we decided to celebrate our 5-year anniversary a couple of weeks early.

Until this weekend, the longest I'd been away from Ty was about 20 hours. That was the only night I'd spent away from him until this weekend. And I cried that time. I only agreed to it because we were having trouble unpacking in our new home with Tyler's "help."

Needless to say, I was very hesitant about this idea of a whole weekend away. (We had a great time and Tyler had a great time, but that is all beside the point.)

We dropped Ty off around 4 Friday afternoon and we got back to my parents' house around 11 Sunday morning. I couldn't wait to kiss him and hug him. I missed his smile, his giggle, the feel of his smooth cheeks and the way he smells.

When we walked in the front door at my parents' house, we accidentally woke Tyler up. He was asleep in my mom's lap. Well, he immediately squirmed down and ran for us. I dropped my keys and knelt down to scoop him up.

He pushed my arms out of the way and ran to his daddy.

Yes, really.

The cup is still half full...

While I was in Tyler's bathroom (flushing the contents of his dirty diaper, if you really want to know), he took the opportunity to run to Mama & Daddy's bedroom. He loves our room, mostly because there are all kinds of things he shouldn't touch: our shoes, the cable plug in the wall, all kinds of DSL cords and wires, trash cans, etc.

And sometimes, there is the glass of water that I have on the bedside table.

By the time I followed him to the bedroom, that cup of water (plastic -- thanks to Brian) was in the floor. But Tyler hadn't spilled a drop!!!! All he did was drop a small bottle of lotion into it. Can you believe that?!

"I Wanna Be Nekkid!"

Tyler is rather active these days. (That is a huge understatement, but I don't have the energy to explain how active he is.)

After his bath last night, I decided to grease him up with lotion while he was standing on the floor and thus minimize the time I have to pin him on the changing table.

It worked pretty well because he was preoccupied with opening and closing the dresser drawers.

Once I finished with the lotion, I said, "Okay, now we have to put this diaper on your bottom!"

It amazes me what he understands... and how he "responds."

Normally, I say this when he's on the changing table and he lifts his little legs like he's trying to help me postion the diaper under him. (I still have to be fast, but at least I think he's trying to help for a second!)

Last night, though, he took off running and tried to hide in the corner. When I walked toward him, laughing, he ran his still-naked little butt to the other corner. I chased him back and forth across the room a few times, both of us giggling. He's so much fun!

Not a Fan of Halloween Candy

This afternoon, I was talking to Jennifer on the phone and I followed Tyler into the front room and tossed a ball to him a few times. He soon grew bored of that and ran out of the room. He didn't come right back like he usually does, so after a second, I went to check on him.

I found him sitting cross-legged on top of the kitchen table. He was reaching into the bowl of Halloween candy and throwing Smarties and Reese's on the floor one at the time.

Yes, I'm vowing to do better about pushing the chairs under the table so he can't climb up there. Yes, I know he could get hurt. Yes, I know I probably shouldn't share this story with all the grandparents. But worry aside, it was kinda funny.

P.S. I'm sort of rethinking my desire to have a Christmas tree this year. Can you imagine how those stories are going to read?

Tyler is going to be an only child.

Tyler invented a new game this morning:



He also got his finger stuck in the deadbolt thing on the front door. You know, the thing that pushes down into the floor. He pushed his finger down in that thing about 10 times and whined for me to come help him get it out each time. (I think he just wanted attention, poor baby.)

He ALSO climbed on top of the kitchen table. One minute, he had pulled up on to the chair on his belly. The next, he's sitting on the table next to my laptop!

Traveling Trick-or-Treaters

The plan was to take our little monkey around to meet our neighbors, even though he's too little for the Halloween candy. We haven't met many people in the neighborhood since we moved here in late July, and Halloween seems like the perfect time to go knocking on doors.

We got Tyler all dressed up in his monkey suit, complete with a banana on his head. I've been trying to teach him to make monkey noises for two weeks, but when I "ooh, ooh, ooh, eeh, eeh eeh" at him, he just smiles. His second word, however, is "nana" for "banana," one of his favorite foods!

We walked down to the dead end on our street and not a single porch light was on. We did find welcoming lights at the house across the street and the house next door to us, so we met two couples. All of the other houses were dark.

As a young mother, I needed someone to admire my little monkey on his first Halloween! So we packed up and visited our friends Chad and Ashely, who live about 5 miles away.

Tyler had a great time throwing tupperware around their kitchen, banging their cabinet doors (Chad was not impressed with this trick!) and generally looking for something to get into!

We stayed so long that we ended up feeding Tyler at their house and he fell asleep on the way home. He snored as I carried him into the house; he slept on the changing table while I changed his diaper. And he didn't wake up when I moved him to the crib!

He Takes After His Daddy!

This morning, I was moving a load of jeans from the washing machine to the dryer.

Tyler was playing with the empty laundry baskets.

Suddenly he ran over, stooped down beside me, and then he ran off quickly.

I chased him down to see what treasure he was trying to hide from me. Know what he'd found? A wet $1 bill.

His daddy is going to be so proud!

Who is Sleeping Beside Me?

Tyler got the second of his two flu shots yesterday evening. Brian also got his flu shot yesterday and he kept talking about how his arm hurt. So we gave Ty some Motrin without waiting to see if he would need it.

Well the Motrin wore off around 1 a.m. Tyler started crying, so I went in to check on him. He fell asleep as soon as I started rubbing his back, but he started crying again about 15 minutes later.

I remembered the flu shot so I got some more Motrin for him. I decided to sleep in the guest bed with him for a little while so I could comfort him until the Motrin kicked in.

He promptly rolled to the other side of the bed, away from me, and leaning against the mesh rail that we bought to keep him from falling off the bed. He fell right to sleep. So much for needing comfort.

Even with the mesh rail, I still have a fear that Tyler will wake up and try to crawl off the bed, so I slept with my hand on his leg so that I would wake up if he moved.

I didn't wake up until after 5, and I decided to take him back to his bed then. He was sound asleep and didn't even whimper when I dropped him in the crib.

I snuggled back down in my bed and fell sound asleep.

I guess Brian woke up before his alarm went off. At any rate, I didn't hear the alarm. I woke up to someone crawling -- or falling -- out of bed. Of course, I thought I was in the guest room and that Tyler was crawling out of bed. I went from sound sleep to frantically scrambling and grabbing for Tyler, who was still safely asleep in his crib.

Tough

I'm at the kitchen table, working away.

Tyler is alternately playing in the living room or in here trying to crawl up in my lap. A few minutes ago, he started sort of crawling up on the kitchen chairs.
He would pull up so that the was laying across the seat on his tummy and then he would push backward and land on his feet.

Until he pushed forward and landed on his face.

He sat up really quickly, like, "Maybe Mama won't notice."

(Of course, I'd already pushed my seat back and was reaching for him.)

He looked up at me sheepishly, like, "Am I in trouble?"

After he realized he was not in trouble, he sort of half-whined and came over so that I would pick him up. He never cried. And almost as soon as I picked him up, he wanted down to go play.

Sucker.

I am so tired of telling Tyler not to play with the trash can.

It is just the right height for him. He loves to put things on top of it so he can knock them off. And he likes to rock it because it makes a lot of noise.

He really plays with it when I'm trying to work because he knows it'll get my attention.

In the last 30 minutes, I've told him 10 times not to play with it and tried to steer him to an acceptable form of play. I can't bring myself to spank him because he's really not feeling good today. (Besides, it doesn't seem to faze him when I do pop him.)

Anyway, fed up with it all, I dumped him in his pack n' play (playpen) a few minutes ago. As I was doing it, I thought, "This is a bad idea." You see, I have to put him in the pack n' play when I'm doing interviews, so I had already decided that I can't use it for punishment and a safekeeping area. I don't want him to think he's in trouble every time I have to make a work call.

But in the frustration of the moment, I forgot about that decision.

So instead of walking off, I sat down and stared at him. "Don't touch the trash can," I said. "Do you understand?"

He stared back at me solemnly.

Then he grinned and ducked down behind the side of the pack n' play. He jumped back up and grinned again. I laughed and said "peep-eye."

This is what I do when he's strapped in his high chair and I'm cleaning up the food he's dropped. I jump up and say "peep-eye" from different places. (I don't know why my family says "peep-eye" instead of "peekaboo" but that is what I heard as a child and that is what pops out of my mouth when I'm playing with Tyler!)

Now he was in charge of the game and he ducked down several times and I played along with the "peep-eye" bit.

Some punishment, huh?

A Child Who Entertains Himself

Want to know where he learned this trick? Here's a movie from May. (Make sure the sound is on — the giggle is the best part!)

Tyler-ese

Most of you know that I'm trying to teach Tyler a few useful signs so we can communicate until he can talk.

He knows "all done," and "milk." He waves for "bye-bye" and "night-night." I've been trying to teach him "water," "hungry," "Cheerios," "more," and "puppy."

I'm not always consistent about doing the signs... and apparently Tyler doesn't always interpret them correctly.

"More" is tough to do because it requires both hands, so I can't do it when one hand has the spoon and the other is holding a jar of baby food. But I do the sign a lot when I'm giving him Cheerios.

I'm pretty sure he thinks "more" = "Cheerios" even though I've tried to teach him a sign for "Cheerios."

Yesterday, when I was feeding him pears and he kept doing the sign for "more" (basically clapping his hands together). I was so excited, I kept saying, "That's right, mmmooorrre pears!" and holding the spoon up to his mouth. But he wasn't really into the pears. That is when I realized he was looking around for the box of Cheerios.

Now I don't know whether to change the sign. Should I start saying "Cheerios" and doing the sign previously intended for "more"? and come up with a new sign for "more"?! Or should I try to use the the "more" sign in more situations to help him understand?!

In the meantime, he's eating lots of Cheerios! If I don't pay attention when he first claps his hands together, he squeals and claps his hands fairly emphatically for a 1-year-old. It is really funny when his hands don't quite line up!

Mischief by the Hour

I lost a makeup brush to the toilet this morning around 8:30 this morning.

Shortly after 9:00, Tyler threw away 5 perfectly good contacts -- a whole package of the daily wear contacts for my right eye.

Tyler gave me a break during the 10’o’clock hour. Or maybe he was plotting for the rest of the day.

Around 11:30, I was rushing around to pack a diaper bag and get ready to go to lunch with a friend, and I caught Tyler at the top of the stairs. I guess I didn’t latch the gate good behind me when I came down. (Although I wouldn’t put it past him to climb over the gate!)

My friend Ashley met us here at noon, and we went to J. Christopher’s for lunch. I’d fed Tyler a little bit before we left but I took a bunch of Cheerios for him to munch on while we ate.

At 12:20, he stood up in his high chair.

At 12:30, he practically crawled up on the table.

I put his shoes on him so that it would be harder for him to get his feet up in the high chair.

I fed him Cheerios one at the time because if I gave him Cheerios to feed himself, he would throw them in the floor. It embarrasses me to leave a handful of Cheerios in the floor when we leave a restaurant. Just ask Brian — I always ask him to tip a little extra since the waiters and staff have to clean up after Tyler.

I gave Tyler sips of milk. I pulled things on the table out of his reach. I handed him a plastic spoon to chew on. I handed him the top to a baby food container and handed it to him again when he threw it down. In short, I did everything but eat and visit with my friend.

I guess we pushed lunch too close to his naptime.

Anyway, I finally ended up holding Tyler and, when Ashley finished eating, she held him while I ate quickly.

While Ashley got her stuff together to leave, I held Tyler and let him chew on the top to his Cheerios container. I handed Tyler and the container of Cheerios to Ashley so she could entertain him while I gathered the miscellaneous spoons and plastic things Tyler had chewed on.

While I was looking for my keys in the baby bag, I heard the container of Cheerios hit the floor.

“OH, noooooooo.” I looked straight at Ashley. I didn’t want to see the floor.

Yep, for some reason, I had packed a particularly large container of Cheerios and Tyler had only eaten a quarter of them. The rest were all over the floor. I cannot stress this enough. ALL OVER THE FLOOR.

I get embarrassed when we leave 10 in the floor. This was more like 1,000. I couldn’t walk without grinding them up.

(Luckily the J. Christopher’s people were very nice, but I’m so embarrassed I can never go back there. It’s a shame because I love that place.)

Tyler fell asleep in the car on the way home and he’s upstairs napping now — or maybe he’s plotting for the 5’o’clock hour. I’m very concerned about what he has planned for the evening.

Pot Holder Poll

Last week, I asked the question, "If you dropped a pot holder on the floor and your child picked it up, would you let him play with it for a while?"

4 of you said "yes" and one of you said "no."

For those of you that said "yes," I have another question for you: Would you be surprised to realize that your child had chewed the tag in half and was proceeding to eat it?

Yes, after I let him play with the pot holder for a while, Tyler walked up to me and dropped it on the floor, but he was chewing on something. I fished half of the tag (like a tag inside clothing that has washing instructions on it) out of his mouth!

Seriously, the kid can get in trouble with anything!

"You have to be faster, Mama"

The last week or so, Tyler has taken to crawling up in my lap while I'm trying to work.

I usually push my computer back so he can't grab it or I slide the chair back so he can't reach anything on the table.

This morning, I wasn't paying attention. He threw a cup of milk on the floor. I don't mean he knocked it over. He picked it up, swung his arm around and THREW it in the floor.

The Sound of Trouble

What does trouble sound like? When you're the mom of a 1-year-old, it sounds like paper being torn.

Tyler eats paper. We found this out when we moved and we kept finding him chewing on pieces of cardboard that he'd pulled off our moving boxes.

A few days ago, he tore a flap off his new "lift-the-flap" book and chewed it to pieces.

My grandmother has a small Downy bottle that all of the great-grandkids have played with. Seriously, it has been around for at least 6 or 7 years. And it looked brand new until this weekend, when Tyler managed to pull of a little bit of the label so he could eat it. (He's the 4th great-grandchild and the first to lose Downy bottle privileges.)

Anyway, I try to keep paper out of his reach. But it seems like he is always finding a new source that I haven't thought of.

Today, I'm working in the kitchen and he's safely in the living room, in plain sight, playing with his Spiderman riding toy. He's honking the horn and making the Spiderman voice say, "New suit, new attitude."

After a few minutes, I become aware that the toy is silent but I hear paper tearing.

I look up from the computer to see Tyler with a big piece of the sticker that he's pulled off of the Spiderman toy. He's shaking his hands vigorously, trying to throw the paper off.

I go in there to help him, and he manages to stick the sticker on me.

I realize that the whole sticker on the seat needs to come off, so to keep Tyler occupied while I took care of that, I put the sticker on the back of his hand. He's smart enough to realize he has to scrape his hand on something to get the sticker off, but he's not coordinated enough to scrape the BACK of his hand on something, so he keeps scraping his palm on the floor and the sticker stays put.

I wasn't laughing or anything....

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!