The First Few Months of 2015

Again, much of this time was a blur, but looking at pictures helps - I remember being so excited when Tyrien started taking interest in the monkeys on his bouncer, at about 7 weeks of age. He focused on the red monkey first, and would reach for him, smile at him, try to reach him...this picture shows him expanding his horizons to spend some time with the blue monkey - his eyesight must have improved by this time. It took a while for him to warmup to the blue monkey before he would smile at him. Meanwhile, Tyler loved taking the monkeys off the bouncer, switching them to see if Tyrien really did prefer the red one, etc. My little behavioral scientist...

I loved that Tyrien's hair went fro-hawk style, like Tyler's was at this age. Tyrien's fro-hawk maintained much longer than Tyler's - we didn't travel to a humid climate this time.

About this time, Tyler was invited to his first Chuck-E-Cheese party. He loved it. I abhorred it. Way too loud and noisy! And somehow, Tyler's friends' parents kept giving him more tokens, so we were there for at least an hour after the party ended! Brutal. But fun to get to see Tyler playing with his school friends.

Tyrien found a friend to hang out with, too. Except his friend is two months older than he is, yet Tyrien's already bigger! Maybe they'll end up in school together next year.

Even though this picture is blurry, I love it, because it reminds me of my favorite of Tyrien's new baby clothes. Aunties PJ and Dawn, along with Cousin Payton, bought this for him in New York - bicycles, which is our family theme of late, and so, so soft! This was the softest fabric I've ever encountered. And he was having so much fun playing with the red monkey, in the bouncer Aunt Jonell and family bought for him. This picture reminds me that even though I am far away from my family, they still get to play a role in my kids' lives!

Tyrien came to work with me until he was four months old. Tyler came to work with me until he was 5 and 1/2 months old - talk about different personalities! Tyler was the perfect bring-to-work baby. He was predictable, I could time his nursing sessions so he would fall asleep in time for me to teach class or attend a meeting, he was content to bounce in his bouncer, and was easily entertained by toys/objects/mirrors, etc.

Tyrien, however, is completely unpredictable, and cannot be nudged onto a schedule for someone else's convenience! :) If he wasn't hungry, no way was he going to nurse himself to sleep, and as for sleep, he needs far less than Tyler.

He prefers human eye contact to toys, so wanted lots of attention. He prefers movement, especially forward motion, as in stroller rides. So by the time he was three and a half months, we settled on a school. And at four months, he started there. Tyson was shocked to realize he would start school so early, but I knew he would be happier with people who could dedicate more time and attention to him, in a building designed to keep him entertained and happy.

Just before he started daycare/preshool, we realized we needed to teach him to drink milk from a bottle - this turned  out to be no easy feat!

When Tyrien started daycare, both the teachers and I were confident he'd soon take a bottle. How wrong we were! "3 days" Erika predicted. On the 3rd day, she said, "The longest it's ever taken is a week." Fortunately, I took Tyrien to his PCP that day, who informed me, "Babies can easily go 8 hours without milk. We're happy when they do that at night, right? If he doesn't want to drink milk during the day, that's fine. He'll just make up for it at night." "Except that means I won't get any sleep." "You're right!" Cheery smile.

The teachers were so worried that I offered them a syringe as a last resort measure to ensure he stayed hydrated. Tyrien became angry any time he saw the bottle or the syringe. Finally on the Friday of his second week, he dream-fed from the bottle. The teachers were so happy that they took pictures to show me.  And that's how I knew we'd found the right daycare for him - these women take so much pride in their work, and love these babies so much.

As for Tyler, he came with us to drop Tyrien off at daycare for the first day. He was excited by the cool toys and mats and bouncers, but then, when he realized we were going to leave Tyrien there, burst into tears! "You're going to leave him here???? That's MEAN!!!" His reaction absolutely touched the teacher's heart, and I still hear her telling people how much Tyler loves Tyrien.