Inchworm

No wonder he can't sleep!! Nothing is safe anymore!

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Tyler at Work

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Rise and Shine

Jim and I have been very fortunate that Tyler has slept through the night from an early age. With few exceptions, such as travel, his normal sleep pattern is 6pm to 6 or 7am. Another reason for disrupted sleep is when he's on the cusp of a major development, either motor or verbal. I remember the week before he learned to roll over onto his stomach he was up many times in the night, rehearsing the movement in his crib. For the past week Jim and I have been keeping our eyes peeled for another milestone because Mr. Tyler has been waking up at 4:30. For the most part he'll fall back to sleep after fussing for 30 minutes but one day he actually stayed awake in his crib until 6! Could he be ready to crawl? Or getting in his top teeth or learning some new sounds and babbles? Well, yesterday we got our answer. We were playing in the basement and Tyler dove onto his stomach. After some wriggling around and struggling he managed to sit up all by himself! It's still really hard work for him but he's done it 3 times now. The satisfaction he must get after pulling his little bulk up is worth losing a little sleep over!

Farmer Ty

Our neighbors, Will and Vincent, loaned Tyler their Little People Farm and Tyler loves it! The small round animals are perfect for his little fists and he's fascinated by the animal noises. Whenever he hears an oink, cluck or a bleat he jabbers back in response. He's also discovered how to open the doors to hear more animal noises. He'll sit for minutes on end (that's a long time to a 9 month old!) opening and closing the barn doors and smiling when he hears the "moooo".

Happy Halloweenie!!

The past couple of days have been filled with fun Halloween activities. On Saturday we met Steve, Christa and Anna at the Como Zoo for ZooBoo, a Halloween themed fundraiser. As it took place outside we decided against costumes that evening and bundled the kids up in their winter wear. We walked throughout the zoo and were met with many costumed characters and fun themes straight out of storybooks and songs. Tyler was in awe the entire time. He talked up a storm to anyone who would look at him and never stopped kicking his little legs. Towards the end of the walk Anna and Tyler sat down for a sunset dinner. Yes, love was in the air! We joked that it was their first dinner date, chaperoned of course!

This morning we met Anna and Christa and our friends Karissa and Max at the Children's Museum. Costumes were worn for this adventure! Anna was a precious lion, Max came as Elmo and Tyler was a hot dog. All three had fun exploring and playing together then had lunch. It was so fun to visit with everyone and see the kids all dressed up. Happy Halloween everyone!

Seasons

Summer has officially left here in Minnesota. The leaves are changing colors and this morning we had frost on our lawn. Yes, it's time to pack up the shorts and tank tops for another year and say hello to turtlenecks, gloves and scarves. For Tyler and I our days of stroller rides and swings are waning fast so we're taking advantage of every last day we have. Yesterday we met some friends at a local park then spent the afternoon swinging at the playground just around the corner from our house.

Tyler, too, is going through some changes. Nothing as dramatic as starting to crawl but subtle differences that show he's on his way to becoming a little boy. Everyday his vocabulary of sounds increases. Twice this week he's waken us up in the middle of the night by talking and laughing to himself in his crib. He still hasn't said "mama" yet but I'm hoping for it soon! He's also learning how to express his displeasure in new ways. Instead of crying he will jerk his arms and legs and "yell". Yes, I think the temper tantrums have begun. I had no idea this would begin so young and that realization has prompted me to check out several discipline books from the library. I know there's not much to do right now but Jim and I know we need to have our game plan together sooner rather than later!

He's also moving around quite a bit. He can turn all different ways on his stomach and can also inch along a little by stretching his body out as far as it'll go. He's using anything and everything to pull himself up to his knees, including his crib railing. Jim and I lowered his crib mattress last week just to be on the safe side. He's also taken to reaching out for me when we're sitting on the floor together. He "dives" for me with his arms out and ends up resting his head in my lap. It's pretty cute!

This week I noticed that he's playing with his toys differently too. He has a set of blocks that have different functions on them. Normally he will knock them over and try to stick them in his mouth the second I stack them up. Lately though, instead of knocking them over he's been gently exploring how each function works and getting excited when he figures them out. Then he proceeds to stick them in his mouth!

All these changes are an exciting prelude for what's to come but they also serve as a reminder to cherish the times we have now. Soon Tyler won't be our little baby but our rough and tumble little boy.

Children's Museum

On Friday Meg and I took the boys to the Children's Museum. We had such a good time even though the place was packed!! Their theme right now is Sesame Street and, although Tyler is too young to appreciate it, it brought back a lot of good memories from my childhood. Vincent "worked" really hard at the block and paper factory while Tyler and William played together in the Habitot area. William can crawl like a champ and Tyler is paying close attention. Tyler can now get up on all fours and rock back and forth a few times before falling down. It's only a matter of time! Enjoy these cute pictures!