My First Birthday Party

in Tyler's own words


I knew something was up at breakfast time when Mommy blew up hundreds of balloons while I ate my bagel and banana. Daddy helped her put the balloons all over the house, and even put a few outside. When Grandpa Ron showed up, I didn't think much of it. He visits a lot. I flashed him my usual smile, he gave me the usual tickle, and then Grandma Roberts came over with Aunt Kristin and Great Grandma Roberts. I decided to fuss and become clingy to Mommy since I couldn't really figure out what was going on but didn't like all the attention I was getting. I did notice a pile of presents lining up on the coffee table, just my height. But instead of getting into the presents and getting yelled at, I kept on fussing and even crying because I didn't really know what was going on. The crying made my nose start to run which made Mommy wipe it with one of those dreaded tissues which made me cry more.

Cousins Andrew and Steven came over next with Great Aunt Lynne and Great Uncle Larry. Finally some kids closer to my height! I was no longer interested in Mommy holding me. But noticed Daddy kept following me around like he thought I was going to get in trouble or something. He was watching me through the video camera. He does that a lot. Steven and Andrew liked my rock 'n' roll trike. I liked watching them on it. Then a group of pretty girls came over. Emma, Chloe and Abby along with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Price. Abby was born a couple weeks before me so we obviously had a lot in common. She hasn't quite mastered walking but she gets around in a way I've never seen anybody move. She keeps one hand and one knee on the ground, while the other leg is walking. I told her she was really close and should just try standing up. She told me she goes really fast this way. Mommy said she moves around like a gorilla but I still haven't been to the zoo so I don't know if she's right. It did make everyone laugh when she moved all over the house. I was so busy playing with all these fun kids, I forgot all about Mommy for a while. Mack and his daddy showed up next. It was good to see Mack again. We all went outside to play. I snacked on some chicken nuggets and drank a whole bunch of water while visiting with Grandma. Mack showed me how to play in the dog's water bowl for fun. The dogs were going crazy but behaving very well. We have this new dog visiting us. Mommy says not to get attached because she's going to find his real home. He's shorter than me so every time I see him, I crack up. Conor came over with his parents. He was in a really good mood because he had just woken up from a nap. We gave each other a good laugh when we looked at each other. Me and all my friends blew bubbles and played outside for a long time. It was heaven.

We went inside to open all those presents that were on the coffee table. I sat in my rocking chair and all my friends sat around me. There was too much going on for me to pay attention to opening presents. Why should I open presents when I have a bunch of friends all around me? I liked it when Mommy put the bows on my head. All of a sudden, these new toys and books kept showing up. What a neat thing! Every time I looked up, there was something new Mommy was trying to hand me. I saw a lot of flashing lights go off which made me see spots so sometimes I let my friends take the presents to play with. All of a sudden, Conor was surrounded by a bouquet of balloons and he squeaked and squealed as he hit and hit them. They made his hair stand up. It was funny. Daddy watched it all through the video camera. It must help him see better looking through that thing.

Next, we went to the park across the street. My friends had a blast on the play structures. I've never seen so many people at the park before. That's because we snuck in through the fence since it isn't open yet. I'm really glad we did it. After we played a while, I sat in Aunt Kristin's lap and Grandma put a big round cake right in front of me. Everyone kept telling me to do something with it but I don't know what they wanted me to do. The cake had pretty blue swirls on it so I grabbed one. But it stuck to my hand so I tried to shake it off. Well, it came off but must have landed on Aunt Kristin because someone was wiping her face off. I didn't particularly like the way that blue thing stuck to my hand, but it wasn't terrible so I tried again. This time I put my whole hand in it. It was covered in blue and white frosting. Everyone yelled at me to eat it. I put my hand to my mouth to taste. Hey it was pretty good. Suddenly I got really thirsty so I took a big drink from my cup, which got lots of that frosting on it. Mommy asked me to wave so I did. I think frosting makes Aunt Kristin wiggle because she was wiggling around a lot while I sat on her lap waving my hands full of frosting. I must have made a pretty big mess because nobody wanted to hold me close. Mommy carried me across the street and straight into the bath tub while Aunt Kristin cleaned up. Grandma helped scrub all the blue stuff off me and before I knew it, I was dressed in new clothes and back across the street playing with my friends again. I don't think they even noticed I was gone.

Well this was definitely a great day. A bunch of friends. My adoring family. Presents and cake! I felt like the luckiest boy on the planet. And the sleepiest. After we waved goodbye to everyone, Mommy made me a big dinner and gave me my second bath of the day. I fell sound asleep. Being one is a lot of fun!

Tyler is allergy free and has an excellent white blood cell count. Allergy blood levels between 1-100 are considered normal. Anything over 100 is likely an allergy. Very allergic people (like me) have blood levels in the 3,000-8,000 range. Tyler's level was 8. Dr. Leong said this means he has an extremely mild allergy to something but it likely wasn't any of the things we specified he test for, including dog, cat, pollen, wheat, peas (thank goodness for that), milk, rice, bananas, melons, many species of grass and trees, and a lot more I can't remember. This is great news. That, plus the fact that Tyler has recently had an ear infection and a cold without either of those turning into the bad cough he had from November to February was reassuring enough to the polmonologist to not require further testing. He explained that if he does begin coughing again, I need to use the Flovent or the Albuterol, depending on the severity of the cough, and if either of those appear to work (which they haven't in the past), then we need to bring him back in to look into the possibility of Tyler having asthma. But for now, we are home free!

Every morning on our way to daycare, Tyler & I share a breakfast snack. This morning it was a fruit filled chewy granola bar. Usually I break off a piece for him, and he asks for 'more' when he's ready. This morning we were running late and he was acting really hungry so I gave him half the granola bar. He didn't want to take it at first, which should have been my first clue. As I was driving I thought about how much safer it is this way, instead of me turning around to reach back and give him 'more' every few minutes. Safer, maybe, but when he started asking for 'more' way before he could have possibly finished it, I realized it was not the best idea. I turned around to find the fruit filling all over the place. He had squeezed the granola bar so hard the filling was in between his fingers, on his *white* shirt, and all over his pants. What was I thinking?! Luckily he didn't start wiping it in his hair like he usually does. We got to daycare too late for breakfast so I was glad he got at least a little snack, but I had to wipe down his pants, shirt hands and face full of this mess. Later, when I got into work, I looked down to see the fruit filling had rubbed from him to my own shirt when I carried him in to daycare. I don't even want to think about what a sticky mess his carseat is right now. I'll tackle that on my lunch break. I keep noticing how other parents have a rule about kids not eating in the car. Now I know why.

We heard the closest thing to a sentence come out of Tyler's mouth. He was going between Mommy & Daddy with his book, saying the usual 'Book?' and after saying that about five times, he looked at Daddy and said 'Dada book?' Now that's a sentence, right? It's missing a few words in the middle, like will you read a..., but we knew what he meant. That was very neat.

The infatuation with Chili's leash continues. I had to hide it because Tyler kept trying to reach up on the shelf and pulling mail and keys down. But he found Chili's collar which was just as good for him. Poor doggy heard his collar and thought he was going for a walk. But Tyler took that collar and wore it around his own neck.

He took a 2 & a half hour nap at daycare yesterday! Let's hope that keeps up.

We took Tyler out to dinner at Chili's the other night. This was our first dinner out in a long, long time so we didn't know what to expect with our little toddler. Lucky for us, he was in a great mood. He waved to everybody in the restaurant...the hostess, the people waiting to be seated, the servers, everyone! At the table, we let him color with the crayons and were amazed that he could hold a cracker in one hand, a crayon in the other, and color and eat from the appropriate hand. After a few crackers, he did try eating the crayon so we quickly moved on to another snack. We ordered him a kids dinner of chicken strips. He ate them all. Mommy & Daddy ate his fries. He drank all his milk without throwing his cup once. At home, that cup hits the floor at least five times each meal. Overall it was a great dinner and he was a total delight. He sure does captivate people around him. He looks at them until they look back at him, then he starts flirting, playing peek a boo or waving while tilting his head to his shoulder. He is a real charmer these days.

Tyler's 13 Month Old Stats:
28 pounds, 3 ounces
32-3/4 inches long
18-1/2 inch head circumference

His rapid weight gain in his first 9 months has definitely tapered off, as he was peaking at over 29 pounds in December. His head size continues to be off the charts, which explains why he hates sweatshirts and non-buttoning, over the head shirts. For the first time since he was born, the doctor said his weight is right in line with his height. In the past he's been on the heavy side, but they kept telling us this would balance out once he started walking and being more active. They were right. He got the Chicken Pox and MMR (measles mumps & rubella) vaccines. One shot in each arm. Tough guy took it like a man. Thursday we go to the polmonologist for a follow up to all the blood work he had done. We'll find out if he has the same allergies as mommy. Let's hope not.

I took Tyler with me for a quick errand on our way home last night. He fell asleep in the car and I figured I could keep him asleep by laying him down in the shopping cart and using my jacket as a pillow. But I realized he was too long for the dinky sized shopping carts they had at this store. That was a first, other than the clothes he outgrows, he hasn't been too long for much of anything yet. I woke him up trying to stuff him into it anyway. So he ended up riding around the store in the front of the cart. His new word is "cracker" and it is very cute when he says it. So far he's only said it when I ask him if he wants a cracker, but soon enough he'll be able to tell me he wants a cracker instead of crying and trying to open the pantry door. He's not picky about what kind of cracker. On the way out the door at daycare, we pick up a package of the basic crackers restaurants serve with soup. He likes those. Graham crackers and rice cakes (we call those crackers, too), and goldfish all make him happy.

He began running now too. This morning Shawn had to get him out of his crib while I was getting ready because he was crying. He's come down with a runny nose and isn't feeling great. Yes, I took him to daycare anyway but we have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. While I was in the bathroom getting ready for work, I see this little head go running by. Tyler was chasing Chili down the hallway. Running. I may be rethinking that leash thing soon here. He really likes Chili's retractable leash, it's probably Tyler's favorite toy to play with this week. He reaches it off the shelf by standing on his tippy toes, pulls the whole thing down, grabs onto the hook part and walks around the house with the handle following behind him. He thinks this is so fun. We attached the hook to his pants yesterday and he thought that was great to walk around with his hands free and the leash still following behind him. So I think he would be a good candidate for one of those toddler leashes. But I could never do that in public, my mother would kill me.

What a busy Sunday Tyler had. We drove to the Phillips' house in Petaluma where Tyler and Mack played together for a few hours. We were a little nervous about these two because the last time they were together, Mack, who is 9 months older than Tyler, beat up Tyler pretty well, hitting and throwing stuff at him. So, we were happy to see that was just a phase and Mack is not the aggressor we once thought he was.

Later, we went to a Kings game at Arco Arena. Tyler went to many games while he was in the womb, but has only been to a handful since. We were paranoid about the noise hurting his hearing when he was younger, and now that he's older, we found it hard to enjoy the games when he's squirming in your lap so we've watched most games on TV. He did great the first two quarters. He watched the game, watched all the people, and clapped shortly after everyone else clapped. It was very fun. By halftime he was restless so we went walking along the concourse. He's a very fast walker which made me have visions of putting a leash on him. I would never do that, but the thought did cross my mind. By the fourth quarter, he was ready for bed and kept trying to relax and fall asleep. Between the lady next to me who wouldn't stop playing with him, and the crowd breaking out into cheers, whenever he'd start to doze off he got rudely awoken. Luckily it was a fast and fairly early game. We kept him up about 45 minutes past his 7:30 bedtime which isn't terrible. This morning I had to wake him up for daycare though. Why can't he ever sleep in on a weekend??

It is always so heartwarming to pick up Tyler from daycare. 5:30 is a busy time with lots of parents coming and going. He usually looks up when the door opens, which makes me wonder if he gets disappointed every time it opens and it isn't me. But when he sees me, he drops everything and crawls over to me. He rarely crawls at home anymore, and daycare says he usually walks around. I think he goes for the crawl to get me because it's his fastest mode of travel. Yesterday, I walked in right behind another parent so he didn't see me. His teacher was in the rocking chair with two infants in her arms and Tyler and Alana standing in front of her. I heard Tyler say 'more? more?' so I mimicked him. He looked over at me, smiled, then looked back at Miss Falon. 'More? more?' he said again and she reached into a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and gave him a piece of that sugar coated cereal. So, it appears that he likes that cereal more than he likes me. It's a good cereal. We have some in the cupboard, for Shawn. But I wouldn't think of giving it to Tyler. I give him Kix and Cheerios but he rarely eats the Cheerios. I figured he wasn't much of a cereal kid. Turns out he is if it's sugar coated. I will say this, because of the cinnamon flavoring, he smelled really good the rest of the evening.

We went to Target to pick up a birthday present for Kaitlin's third birthday. They had bouncy rubber balls that lots of kids were playing with in the aisle. Tyler kept saying "ball" over & over so I brought one to him. He liked hitting it and tried kissing it and didn't mind when we left that aisle without the ball. I don't know what age they start throwing fits if they don't get something they want, but I told myself this may be the last time I can get away with such good behavior. So I turned around and got him the ball just because he's so sweet. Maybe that's how the behavior starts, with the expectation that they get something. Anyway, he was very happy which makes me happy.

Tyler came home from daycare last night with blue hands. They made kites and I figured his would be full of color since his hands were. But, his kite only had one squiggle from his finger. The rest of the color was droplets of paint which his teachers clearly put on the kite to fill in the white space. At home I scrubbed using soap & warm water but couldn't get all the paint off. So he played in the living room while I cooked dinner and Tyler figured out how to get the paint off himself by sucking on his fingers and turning his mouth blue. I was livid. I'm sure this was non-toxic paint but you never know. We went back to the sink to soak those hands, scrubbed them with the scrub brush and still couldn't get it all off. But now the color was more of a diluted green. So he ate dinner (baked potato, chicken nuggets & peas, of course) with green hands. The rest of it came off in the bath, except I still couldn't get it out from under two fingernails.

This morning when I took him in I was ready to complain but Carina's parents were already telling their story about how much they had to soak and scrub her to get it off. It was a new kind of paint and apparently doesn't react the same as the old kind, which they mix with 50% soap to make it. You can mix soap with paint?? Hey that's good to know if I ever get brave enough to try a finger painting project at home. Ms. Tricia assured me it was non-toxic and expressed surprise that Tyler even got any paint on his hands (they painted with their afternoon teachers) because she said the last time they painted, Tyler had fun watching his friends, but wouldn't get his hands near the paint. So, I guess he's making slow progress in the art department. At least now he's getting his hands in the paint but not putting much paint on the paper. Maybe he's more of a thinker than a do-er. Maybe he's like me, he watches and analyzes the situation from afar before jumping in to take action. Or maybe he just doesn't like to stick his hands in wet paint & I'm reading way too much into this.

Tyler is going to have a little brother!! He hasn't heard the news yet, and probably won't care. I read somewhere that telling a toddler (one old enough to understand what you're saying) that they are going to have a brother or sister to play with is similar to your husband telling you he's bringing home another wife to keep you company. While that analogy is extreme, it explains the less-than-enthusiastic responses most of my friends got when they told their older child they'd be getting a brother or sister. For now, that is not an issue since Tyler wouldn't understand us. We have 20 more weeks to figure out how to explain it to him.

Tyler is learning not to hit and the dog is his learning prop. Luckily for us, this will be resolved by the time the baby is born so he shouldn't go around hitting the baby. Unlucky for Chili though, who just lays there and takes the beating. I think Chili secretly enjoys it because it means I come over and show Tyler how to pet "gentle" and we give him lots of attention which any dog would love.

So I just posted a bunch of reviews for baby gear on the various websites I shop. Don't buy this high chair if you have a big baby, do buy this stroller even though it's very expensive, buy two of the vibrating bouncy seats because they are a blessing to have in different rooms of the house. We've begun piling all of Tyler's outgrown gear in a corner of the dining room and he is taking a renewed interest in these things. It's funny to see him walk and tower over the swing that he used to sleep in so cozily. It's probably too early but I'm a freak about getting him really ready for when the new baby comes. So I want him to be uninterested in these things by the time his little brother or sister (we find out tomorrow!!) is born. Which reminds me, he is officially off the bottle. It's been over a week since he had his last one. This weekend he found one in the one kitchen drawer he's allowed to play in and he just waved it around like it was a rattle. We're going to begin looking at big boy beds to see if he'll be ready for that instead of buying a second crib. I read that the earlier you change their habits, the less resistance you'll get. So if he's fine with napping on a cot at daycare, he may be ready for a bed at home by the time the new baby needs the crib.

We were laying in bed waking up on Sunday morning and Tyler discovered Mommy's belly button since I'm still squeezing into non-maternity pajamas. He was pretty interested in my belly button but didn't really seem to care about the fact that Daddy has one too. He ate an entire can of Chef Boyardee Raviolis yesterday. As much as he liked them, I don't think I'll be buying them again anytime soon because they made such a mess on his clothes, hands, face, highchair & even a little in his hair. Bright orange sauce everywhere. Luckily he was wearing an orange shirt. Which gives me an idea...rather than bringing three shirts to daycare every day, I should just find out what they're eating and dress him in the appropriate color.

Tyler surprised us all by climbing up onto the coffee table Friday night. He seems fairly responsive to our requests to sit down, though. Last night he kept standing in his rocking chair, but when we asked him to sit on his bottom he would. I still see a stuntman in this kid. He's always pushing the limits and doesn't seem to mind pain too much.

He woke up Saturday with a crusty and weeping right eye so we got him into his pediatrician, thanks to Kaiser's awesome weekend hours. I immediately thought of pink eye, it's contagious and Tyler's exposed to so many germs at daycare. But the doctor said pink eye would be more symptomatic of redness in his eyeball, his were white as snow. He looked in his ears and asked me if he's been tugging at his ears lately. No. If he's been fussy lately? No. Turns out he had an ear infection and sometimes that can cause an eye infection on the same side. Maybe he doesn't feel pain. So we have now gone to the doctor 15 times since the end of November. That's almost one doctor visit a week. He's back on antibiotics to treat the ear & eye infection. When Tyler waved goodbye, Dr. Zubach said he has a "sweet wave." He does, even with an ear infection.

Tyler added a new word to his vocabulary this week: Book. He says it often and always in the form of a question. 'Book?' Which to me means will you read me a book? So we've been reading many books to him this week. Last night he got a pile of books out. He'd bring one over to me, 'Book?' and assume the position of sitting in my lap to be read to. Half way through the book, he'd go get another one. 'Book?' So I'd start the new book. This lasted through four or five books. I tried explaining he needs to sit through the whole book, but how can you deny this little sponge of a kid each time he says the word and hands you a book?

He got a new DVD which Shawn thought might mellow him out from the book parade to get ready for bedtime. Sesame Street's Kid's Favorite Songs was a good buy because Tyler is very into music and he loves Elmo. However, this proved to not be a good DVD for mellowing out. He was dancing around the coffee table making noises I've never heard before. And when Elmo came on, he was banging on the TV set trying to pet him like he pets Chili. I had to cut the movie short and go with the old standby for making Tyler sleepy...the bath. As soon as he hits the water he starts yawning, no matter how wide awake he is. He often falls asleep in the baby tub, which he outgrew several months ago but we continue to cram him into it since it does the trick night after night. This weekend I'm going to work on getting pictures posted on here, but my only chance will likely be during Tyler's naptime so this may or may not happen since he isn't the greatest napper.

To test positive for cystic fibrosis, you need a chloride count of 60 or higher in your sweat. Tyler's count was 17 so he definitely doesn't have it. No surprise there, but again we're just going through the motions to figure out what he does have. He's been doing great since we ended the antibiotics for pneumonia six days ago. But last night while I was on the phone, Tyler went into a tizzy because all he wanted was attention from Mommy. Shawn tried everything but Tyler cried so hard for so long that the wheezing started up again. I had to cut my conversation short but it wasn't the first time. We're nervous his allergy test will come back showing allergies to dogs. He loves his dog. But we've already decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if Chili had to become an outdoor dog.

Daycare sent an accident report home last night. He fell against the toyshelf and hit his head. This is probably the sixth accident report, and all past accidents have been on the same toyshelf. You'd think he would learn to stay away from it, but that's where all the toys are, luring him in. No big deal, just a little bruise on the forehead to which they "applied a cold compress and lots of TLC." We laughed because that's what every report says. Must be the standard procedure for completing an accident report. They also sent home his daily report saying he ate thirds of everything for lunch. Everything included peas, potatoes and chicken strips. He eats better than I do for lunch, and he's getting to the point of eating more than I do--and I'm eating for two! At dinner we made ravioli and I set two large ones aside for him. After he inhaled those, I had to give him two from my plate then frantically searched through the fridge while he begged for more. So in addition to four big raviolis (I probably ate a total of six) he had some pork chop, a banana, tomatoes and some spinach salad. This kid is definitely not a picky eater!

Today we took Tyler back to polmonology as part of our exploration in figuring out why he's had pneumonia twice and so many chest colds. He's perfectly healthy right now. But it seems that whenever he does catch a cold, it goes straight to his bronchial tubes. Last week he had blood drawn to count his white blood cells and to test for allergies. Today they did a sweat test to make sure he doesn't have cystic fibrosis (we don't think he does, but these are the steps to take in figuring out what he does have). We brought extra blankets and a jacket because he had to sweat enough to draw the moisture out of his skin for the lab to analyze. This was not fun for Tyler, except there were several other little boys his age having the same procedure so he was entertained by an 18 month old talker and an 11 month old walker.


When we took him back to daycare, Shawn & I got our first glimpse of what his days are like playing outside. Tyler was definitely showing off for us. He ran to a big umbrella pole and went around and around in circles, his arm hanging onto the pole to keep him balanced. How did he learn that? Miss Tricia said he loves playing outside more than any other kid she can remember. He had no problem saying bye-bye to us.

We're getting glimpses of Tyler's temper and I'm worried because this is just the beginning. Last night he was carrying around Chili's collar. Before he had a chance to put it in his mouth, I asked for it but he scurried away. I asked for it again then took it out of his hand and he threw himself on the ground sobbing and completely heartbroken. Shortly after, he got a hold of a pen, something he definitely shouldn't have. I asked for it the same way and he gave it to me, no problem. So, this weekend I started reading my books about how to raise a toddler to try to make sense out of all this.

For all moms-to-be or friends of moms-to-be, I absolutely loved Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and have found Baby Whisperer for Toddlers just as helpful. In the toddler version I answered about 25 questions about his personality and found that Tyler is split down the middle between an "Angel toddler" and a "Textbook toddler" which sounds good to me. I think he was a cross between "Textbook baby" and a "Touchy baby" in the first book. So, the next time he throws himself onto the ground in a fit, I just need to remind myself that it could be worse. He could be a "grumpy baby."

This morning while helping Tyler get dressed, I asked him where my nose was. He grabbed a hold of my nose and squeezed so tightly it brought tears to my eyes...and they weren't tears of joy. That was the first time he's gotten that question right. I'm clipping those fingernails tonight.

Tyler and his 10 month old friend Conor played together yesterday. They've always enjoyed looking at each other but now that they're so much more active, we can see they really enjoy interacting. They ate dinner across from each other. Conor would squeak (his nickname is Squeaker) and Tyler would laugh. Then Tyler would grunt and Conor would laugh. When they were done with dinner they were let loose in the kitchen and got into Mary's Tupperware cabinet. Tyler prefers to stand these days, so he stood over Conor and hit him on the head with Tupperware. That game didn't last long. Tyler liked exploring on Conor's face. He'd touch his mouth then Conor would reach back and touch Tyler's mouth. I was just reading last week that kids this age will play side-by-side but not together. Clearly, these are two exceptional kids.

We went on a walk along the bike trail and there were a bunch of cows right along the fence. I was telling Tyler that the cow says 'moo' when one mooed all of a sudden. Tyler thought this was fantastic and soon enough he began mooing. When we got home Tyler told Daddy the cow says 'moo'. He's so smart!! This is the first positive thing I've come up with about living in a cow town.

We've been feeding this kid a lot of peas lately. He's generally starving right when we get home from daycare since his last snack was at 3:00, and in order to buy some time to figure out what to make, we throw peas on his highchair tray. He eats as many as Shawn and I do in a helping. He loves his peas. He's had them for dinner every night this week. We've been working on introducing more meat products to expand his palate. He's still unsure of meat's chewy textures. Plus, he only has 1 & a half molars so it's not exactly easy to chew. We've tried fish sticks, chicken nuggets and meatloaf among other things. He puts them all in his mouth and it looks like he's eating them. But when I take him out of the highchair, I find all the meat in his lap.

With last night's meatloaf, he got a few bites in his mouth and then leaned over to put a few bites on the floor for Chili. It's Tyler's way of rewarding Chili for tolerating getting hit with the toy hammer and pulling on his ears. Tyler must have 10 different balls throughout the house. Chili loves balls, but somehow he has known to leave Tyler's toys alone. If we throw them, Chili will chase them but he won't pick them up like he does with his own tennis balls. A great baby and a great dog...what more could we ask for?

Tyler is transitioning over to the Toddler room at daycare. This is great developmentally because he'll be spending his time with kids that are older than him, and he thrives off the older kids. Plus, they just got an influx of infants in his old classroom and there are fewer toddlers so I don't have to worry about whether he's getting enough attention. In the Toddler room, they eat breakfast, go outside and play, eat a snack, go outside and play, eat lunch, take naps, play inside, then eat a snack and play inside or outside until they go home. All this play is making him sleep so well at night! Also, his naps are no longer in the crib but on these adorable kid-sized cots. His teachers say he does great on the cot but I have a hard time picturing it since I still have to hold him until he falls asleep when he's home with me.

We have now gone three days without a bottle. I think he might be officially weaned! But there's always the possibility of regression. Yesterday, for example, when I arrived to pick him up from daycare, he was asleep in the baby bouncy seat. I couldn't believe he even fit in that anymore, he hasn't sat in his at home for at least six or seven months. His teacher explained he kept climbing into it so she buckled him in, changed another baby, and came back to find him asleep. Sweet baby.

With the daylight breaking earlier these days, Tyler's been waking up earlier. Which is a good thing on weekdays because I always felt bad having to wake him up at 7:30 to rush out the door to daycare. This morning he woke up before me, singing and humming in his baby babble which is always extra sweet in the mornings. The babble usually turns into words and later into grunts, and if I wait too long, a few cries. When I got in the shower he was singing. When I got out, he was talking. Fifteen minutes later when I was ready to get him, he was silent. Silence in the morning gives me a bad feeling when I know he's awake.

I've been putting toys on the edge of his dresser which he pulls into his crib and plays with until he throws them out and declares that he's really ready to get out of the crib. That usually buys me the half-hour I need to get myself dressed & ready for work. But last week, he managed to wiggle his lamp to the edge of his dresser and pulled it into his crib. The shade came off, the light turned on, and was hanging upside down a few inches from the crib mattress. When I went into his room, he was quietly sitting in the opposite corner of his crib. We are so lucky the bulb wasn't touching his blanket or sheet because I don't even want to imagine what would have happened. This morning's silence gave me a bad feeling so I hurried down the hall and into his bedroom. He was laying down on his tummy with knees tucked under him and his butt in the air sweetly trying to fall back to sleep. Why can't he do that on a Saturday?

After not seeing Tyler for six days, his daycare teachers were impressed at how much he is walking, talking, and eating. He says bye-bye on demand now, which is so cute it makes me squeeze him with delight each time. He says "more" when he needs more of anything, including this musical frog Grandpa Neb sent that sings a fun song, gets Tyler dancing, and then stops. More. More. More. We're going to have to teach him how to squeeze the hand so he can turn it on himself...and put earplugs in our ears. Last night I was talking on the phone and grabbed a banana. Tyler got so excited and started bouncing in his highchair "nanananana" so I guess he knows that word too now. Every day he continues to amaze.

Cousin Jordan left yesterday. Tyler had a great time playing with Jordan. They were very good together, shared each other's toys and everything. They even pushed each other around on the tricycle. Jordan is very into swords and weapons. Hard to imagine, but I bet soon Tyler will give up his brightly colored balls and musical toys for swords and weapons too. One day when Jordan, Tyler & I were playing on the ground, Jordan announced he could see my belly. It tends to stick out these days. So I asked him if he could see the baby inside my belly and he said yes. I asked him if it was a baby boy or baby girl and he said he saw a baby boy. So there we have it.

Even though we had to cancel Tyler's first birthday party, he experienced a lot of firsts this weekend. Mommy & Daddy brought home a cookie decorated with frosting to look like Elmo, his favorite Sesame Street character. We put the cookie in front of him after lunch and he went to town sticking his fingers in the frosting and then licking it off. He finally picked up the whole cookie and started taking baby bites of it. In all, he didn't eat much cookie but lots of frosting. It was a fun mess. The next day, Uncle Dana, Aunt Kari & Cousin Jordan sang Happy Birthday to Tyler as we gave him a piece of cake Mommy made. He had already been sitting in his highchair eating for the past hour and was more than ready for bed, so this celebration didn't go over very well. He put his finger in the frosting and then wailed for someone to wipe it off. Mommy ate his piece of cake after she put Tyler to bed.

We went to Arden Fair mall for Tyler & Jordan to take pictures together. Tyler was overdue for a nap and after getting two poses of the cute cousins, he announced he was done with pictures by throwing a complete fit. We thought sticking the boys in the toy car would cheer Tyler up, especially since he was on the driver's side. He began sliding down further and further until he fell off the car seat and on to the floor. Jordan took some great pictures though! Next we went on Tyler's first Carousel ride. I think he had more fun just watching everyone else go around and around. He was strapped on to a pretty pony with Mommy standing by to keep him upright. She couldn't get him to look ahead the entire time, he just wanted to look behind as we went around and around. Hopefully Daddy was able to get one picture of his face, we'll see.

Grandma & Grandpa Roberts sent Tyler a rocking chair which he somehow knew exactly how to climb into, sit down, and rock. We are constantly amazed at how much he knows. He really likes this present. He even got to visit with Grandpa Steve for a few minutes yesterday but couldn't show him how he walks because he was having a hard time staying awake. In all, we made the right decision to postpone his party because he was still coughing on Saturday and some of his friends have become sick with various ailments: Owen has pink eye, Jacob has a stomach bug, Conor has a runny nose, and Grandpa Ron sounds like he has pneumonia. Plus, the Kings did not win their game on Saturday so that would have been a bummer to watch with friends. We go back to the doctor tomorrow and again on Wednesday. In fact, this month will be full of doctor visits for Tyler and Mommy.