This Little Piggy Wrapped Your Present!

Santa Bribes Tyler

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

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.

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

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?

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!

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tyler: "mmmm, tomatoes!"

Visit Green Resolutions for pictures of Tyler. Click here.

Armor, toddler-style

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?!

My poor floor...

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

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

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!

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'"

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!"

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

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

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!

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...

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

Tyler Tames the Roomba

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

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

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

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

Eating Grasshoppers

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

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

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)

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.

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?

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!

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

Sweetest Kiss

Tyler and Paw-Paw, his great-grandfather

A Sensory Child and His Napkin Issues

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?

Therapy Update & Food Chaining

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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.