Free at Last!

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

18-Month Stats

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Introduction to Arts & Crafts Supplies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cousins

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

I think I married Spiderman.

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

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

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

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

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

Marathon Nap

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

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

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

The Newest Member of our Family

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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