Capturing Life's Little Moments: Tyler Time

Tyler may as well be starting college next week as fast as time has flown. How is he already a half year old? This just doesn't seem possible, at all. We are soaking up and enjoying every second with our best boy. He sure is a lot of fun and has quite the personality. Tyler loves to talk and talks a lot. His daycare teachers have even commented on how much he likes to talk. He will talk to his toys for long periods of time. We respond to his babble and he will continue on. I have a feeling he has been given the gift of gab from his Daddy.

Tyler weighs 17 pounds, 3 ounces which lands him in the 50th percentile for weight. He is 26 1/8 inches long which is the 25-50th percentile for height. His head circumference is 17 1/4 which is in the 75th percentile.

We hit many new milestones leading up to his six month birthday. He has learned to roll all the way over without assistance on 9/25. And also knows how to wiggle his right arm out from being tucked under. This often times woke him up and made him fuss because his arm was stuck, but now that he knows how to get it out, he sleeps so much better. He loves to sleep on his right side and on his tummy. The first time I woke up and saw him sound asleep on his stomach, I panicked a little...but his nose wasn't pressed against the sheet and he was breathing just fine. The pediatrician reassured me that he's strong enough not to suffocate himself so that has helped me with being so paranoid.

Now that he figured out how to roll over, he rolls all across the living room. He seems to enjoy being "mobile" in a sense.

On September 30th, we had our first ER as you probably read about in an earlier post. It was a sad day to say the least. I sure hope the stomach bug never returns. Our boy was so sick and it broke my heart seeing him so miserable. But thankfully, the new ear infection antibiotic cleared up the ear infection that had lingered for a week and the stomach bug only lasted twelve hours.

On 10/5 Tyler sat up all by himself without support. He was so proud of himself! It was a big day and he is seeing the world from an entirely new perspective. He doesn't like laying flat on his back anymore because he can't see what's going on. He is our observant little boy that's for sure.

I nurse Tyler when he wakes up in the morning. He gets oatmeal at daycare in the morning along with three (5 oz.) bottles throughout the day. We feed him vegetables in the evening along with another bottle for dinner, but most times, he only takes three ounces of that bottle. After bath, he gets a bedtime bottle but usually falls asleep before drinking all of it.

We begin our bedtime routine between 7:30-8 PM and by 8:30-9 he is sound asleep. It seems like lately we have been giving him his bath about 7:30 and by 8:30 he is all tuckered out. Becoming a big boy is tiresome. He sleeps until about 4:30-5 AM and wakes hungry. I feed him and get goes back down until 8-8:30 AM. There are many days where I have to wake him up to get him ready for school and it pains me to wake a sleeping baby. Some weekend days Tyler has slept until 9:30-10 AM. We are fortunate that he is such a good sleeper.

Tyler loves to hold onto my hair and play with it. He is also fascinated with my jewelry and will reach out for earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces. He also loves to grab his bottle and hold it. He puts it to his mouth, but can't quite get it in there. When he's full, he will pull the bottle out of his mouth and just play with it. If he's starving and fussing, if we show him his bottle, he will usually settle down enough while it heats up.

He watches us eat and will follow the fork from our plate to our mouth. He is very interested in food. We have only given him fruit once and that was mixed into his oatmeal. I am going to check with the pediatrician at his six month visit to see if it's time to introduce more fruit into his diet.

We were given a jumparoo that you hang from a door facing and Tyler loves it. He hasn't quite figured out how to really jump in it, but we will swing around and move. Once he learns to jump, he will be one excited little nugget.

He loves his exersaucer. Rich calls it his office because he is so studious when sitting in it. He plays and plays with his toys, but the little monkey that spins is his favorite so far. We've attached a few toys to it too so he can chew on something while he is sitting in his seat.

The TV still fascinates him and will grab his attention. We have a TV in his room but I can't turn it on while I nurse him because he will turn his head so he can watch TV instead of eat. I guess the flashing colors lure him in.

Tyler has found his thumb and will chew on it a bit. He still isn't a fan of the paci, but sometimes when he's fighting sleep, if I give him the paci to suck on he usually falls asleep rather quickly. He still doesn't keep it in his mouth by himself. He sucks and then spits it out.

We received his first progress report card from daycare. It's a nice way to track his achievements and to make sure he's right on track. His teacher notes were great as they think the world of him. One of the remarks is how observant he is...wonder who he got that from?!

I took him to his first little league football game to watch Alex, Matthew and Reece play. He had a ball! Between the cheerleaders the action on the field and the fans cheering, Tyler was in seventh heaven. So much so, he wouldn't take a bottle for anything. There was entirely too much going on for him focus on eating. That has become a new trend lately because he wants to watch everything so much that his interest in eating fades away.

Tyler doesn't have any teeth yet, but I think they are on their way. He chews on everything and drools like crazy. He is constantly trying to chew on our knuckles too.

It seems like he learns something new each day and I am fascinated to watch him grow. He is such a joy to be around and literally makes our world complete.