Tyler learned to crawl a few weeks ago, and three days after he started crawling, he started trying to pull himself up to standing. Now he pulls himself up on that chair in his bedroom, on the couch, on the outside of the bathtub...He also loves climbing all over Vader, who graciously tolerates it.
Tyler's favorite syllables right now are "Da Da Da" and "Rah Rah Rah". We both heard him say "Dagobah" one day, so we know he's thinking about becoming a Jedi knight.
For Halloween, we were lucky enough to get to attend a couple of parties in addition to trick-or-treating.
We spent time at my friend Paula's house. She did an amazing job decorating!
We also went to the annual RavenHearse party. No one does Halloween like these guys! The bathroom was amazing, they'd taken the time to adhere at least a hundred rubber spiders all over the ceiling. The whole house is full of Halloween-appropriate decorations.Even their swimming pool was decked out for Halloween.
Even monsters need their sleep...
On Halloween night, we went trick-or-treating with the McNamaras. Here's Sarah, Leo, Tyler and me.
The next week, Tyler and I celebrated Dia De Los Muertos by going to the parade downtown with Lisa, Gene, and Sarah. I don't have any pictures, but we had a great time. Tyler stared at the paraders with the same expression he has when he takes a bath - not a smile, but definitely intrigued and glad to be there.
One of my favorite things to do with Tyler lately is to bring him to his bedroom, sit him on the floor with his toys, and I sit a little ways away and start reading his books out loud. Within a couple of minutes, he abandons his toys, and comes crawling into my lap to snuggle up and read together. He'll ditch me again to go play, but I keep reading anyway, and he ends up in my lap again a few minutes later.
Tyler also loves music. Tyson has an extra guitar that Tyler's allowed to play with. We lay it flat on the floor and he alternates strumming it and drumming on it. Most of his toys have musical elements to them, too. And of course, when I need to cook or clean in the kitchen, the old pot-and-wooden-spoon combo does the trick.
Tyler has two teeth now, but no interest in solid food. Trying to feed him is like playing air hockey, and he's an excellent goalie, blocking our attempts to get food in his mouth with his fist, a spoon, bobbing and weaving, or simply by raising his tongue to the roof of his mouth and refusing to move it. Yes, we've tried a wide variety of foods, and a wide variety of methods...His daycare teacher was confident that she'd be more successful than us. She was wrong. Every few days, she tries again. I can always tell when she's tried, by the splotches of food on the walls and floor. (Too bad Vader's not allowed at daycare. He earns his keep at our house these days!) I think this picture accurately depicts Tyler's mood during dinner time...
We thought for a minute that Vader's food was more appealing, but it turns out, Tyler just enjoys taking it out of his bowl and feeding it to him.
I think we've turned a corner, though. Grandma Anne Marie got him to eat carrots and apples several times over this weekend, and Tyson and I were able to feed him apples today.
On Saturday, I realized Tyler had yet to ride in a swing, so his grandma and I took him to the park. He liked it some of the time. I couldn't tell whether he liked the slide. Doesn't he look like Spiderman?
This is the same park where Tyson and I held our rehearsal dinner. I'm sure we'll come here more often in the months ahead.
Happy Thanksgiving!
-C
