When last I reported to you, I mentioned that Tyler was really getting into squealing. Well he's moved past that and onto the 'raspberry' or 'zerbert', if you're a Preecs. The funny thing now is that he's doing it very deliberately now. He'll be sitting there and you'll see him get his concentrating face on, take in a deep breath, and then zerbert for a good 5 or 10 seconds, a whole sentence made out of rapidly vibrating lips. It's very impressive, and he seems to really get a kick out of it. It's definitely less haphazard than previous audio attempts. Vocals level up!
He might be teething? It's hard to say until we see a first tooth and can, therefore, attribute whatever fussiness happened over the past few days to that. He's certainly not too fussy and hasn't been losing any sleep, though he does drool a lot and likes munching on inanimate objects, especially the cloth diapers we have reserved for burp cloths. We might be seeing the early signs of something coming through the lower jaw, but as much as we are learning about Tyler, we still don't know what teething gums look like yet, and he's squirmy enough that he doesn't often let us really get a good look at his mouth. He's usually too busy trying to get it clamped around something. Oh, and yesterday when he was fussing before being put down for bed, I walked up and put my finger in his mouth for him to munch on. It fills up his mouth, so he just makes a 'mmm-mmm' sound while he's doing it, but I've discovered that if I open up his mouth with my finger a bit, he goes from 'mmm' to 'aaah'. So I've given Jessie a preview of what it's going to sound like when Tyler starts saying 'Mama.' She was quite enchanted.
In sports news, He's definitely gotten stronger. He gets a lot of tummy time and can push his head up and his chest clear off the ground. Tiny baby pushups! So cute. He's clearly trying to figure out how this whole 'crawling' thing is supposed to work, but at the moment, all he can do is push himself up, and then lift his arms and head and legs off the ground and balance on his tummy. It looks like hard work even to me! He doesn't get too far, but it lets him turn a little bit, and it's gotta be fantastic exercise. It's much more deliberate, too. It's not the random flailing of a newborn anymore, he's trying things out and attempting to get things done. Movement level up!
I know proper crawling doesn't happen for a while yet (month 9, reportedly), but any excuse to get things done. This past weekend we had a massive to-do list that Jess and I tackled as a team. We went to Ikea to get some doors for the entertainment center to keep inquisitive hands off the flashing lights, then went to Costco and got a bunch of food and the baby store and got some baby-proofing gear. So far I've just put baby locks on the area below the sink and the liquor cabinet (mostly due to glass, not alcoholism). We also put some foam on the stone trim of the fireplace (low, hard, and jaggy, a rough combination) and also on the coffee table by his play place. I also fixed a broken cabinet drawer (that was a pain), did the laundry and the dishes, vacuumed, mopped, moved the changing station downstairs, and any number of other odds and ends. Jess cooked several frozen dinners, cooked up cookies, refilled the hummingbird feeder, and took care of Tyler. We destroyed that to-do list, let me tell you.
And even with all of that, we managed to go out to a party on Saturday, and we even brought Tyler along. Some of Jessie's hockey team was meeting up for food and fun times. We brought Tyler along to show him off. He was a perfect gentleman the whole time, being cute and quiet and letting strangers hold him and even flashing several of his winning smiles for the ladies. We let him stay up past his bedtime, which meant it was a little harder getting him to sleep that night, but on the plus side, his morning nap was three hours long the next morning, so he caught up.
We see Tyler in the morning before we leave, getting him ready for the morning wake-up he'll have to do when he goes off to day care, and it lets Jessie see him in the morning which puts her in a much better mood for the day. Grandma has been doing a fine job taking care of him, and she's even been writing down his schedule so we can better train the Preecs Family Day Care Squad when they come to visit. I'm planning to take off Mondays when new people are in town just to help people get used to Tyler and help Tyler get used to people. We know all the tricks, but that's mostly because we where there when the tricks got invented.
We read to Tyler a lot, and we have A-B-C flash cards we show to him, even though it's way to early for him to worry about learning most of that stuff. I kind of like the idea that we teach him stuff too early. It gives us more to do with him and who knows, maybe he'll be the earliest-reading baby of all time. It can't hurt to try.
-N
Showing posts with label Grandmothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grandmothers. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Tyler Growing Up, still
The benchmarks keep coming. Tyler has started rolling from his back onto his stomach, though it's pretty rare. The most common place to see this phenomenon is actually when he is in bed. We put him down in some random position and he kicks and squirms and shakes so much that when we come by to pick him up he's usually facing a completely different way and is occasionally on his stomach. We got him from a nap this afternoon and watched him scrabble and grab all over the bed. I wonder what he was dreaming of. He was in a bad mood afterwards, though, so it might have been a bad dream. We picked him up and calmed him down, though, which always makes you feel like something of a superhero.
We've also started to get a lot more sounds out of him. I've had entire conversations with him that consist of nothing but squeals. I'm not sure what information he thinks he's conveying, but hey definitely enjoys the interaction. There's often a subtle but critical transitions between squeals of delight and the early signs of crying, though, so it pays to pay attention.
Tyler is starting to interact with the cats, too. We mostly just supervise and let Tyler feel their soft fur, which he really seems to enjoy, even if it is clear that what he really wants to do it grab them and stuff them in his mouth. Anyway, the cats are starting to like it too. When they're nice to Tyler, they get treats; an arrangement they're quite happy to support.
We had a gaggle of family visiting this weekend. Still do, actually. Jessie's grandmother is here with us for most of a week. She's been as entranced as anyone by his charms and cuteness, even though he is great grandson number 10. And she also has number 11 already. Clearly he is the cutest one, though. So since she was here, some near-ish-by family dropped by and spent the night last night. Good thing we have a big house. I'd have to bust out the family tree to be absolutely sure how they are related, but let's just call them an Aunt, a Cousin, and a Second-Cousin and just call it done. The second-cousin was 10, and it was nice to see her interacting with Tyler. She and he got along really well, and she even went out running with us, which was really nice. Made me feel like a nice, supporting influence. Getting ready for when I get to do stuff like that with Tyler. Anyway, we went out to dinner with everyone, chatted a lot, and generally had a really nice time.
Then I've been playing video games all day today. And if you haven't noticed, and you care about video games, today is the final day of the steam summer sale. You can pick up a bevy of games for very, very low prices. Jump on that if you like. And then add me to your friend list. Considering all the people I know, I have a surprisingly small number of actual friends to play video games with. Come on, Nana, let's go play some Grand Theft Auto!
July 4 came and went with little fanfare, not the least of which because we've been seriously drought-cursed for a while and everything is far to dry for amateurs to be setting off fireworks. Probably not a bad call. It's looking like a short but intense bout of rain might be on the horizon, which would be great for checking to make sure our roof is fixed. Last time we got a burst of rain we discovered a leak over our breakfast nook. We had someone come by earlier this week to try and repair it, and they re-did the layout of some of the tiles and got rid of some rusty nails and improved the sealant. I would like some good rain just to see if it worked. It's been dry enough, though, that whatever water got in there has almost certainly dried out completely.
Man, pictures. I need to sort through some, but we had the four-generations come through on Jessie's side of the family and so we had a photographer drop by last Saturday and get some great photos. We'll share them soon, I hope. Our new, sexy camera has been getting an occasional workout as well. It takes a whole lot of pictures, though, and I don't always sort through them. Good way to use up a hard drive.
-N
We've also started to get a lot more sounds out of him. I've had entire conversations with him that consist of nothing but squeals. I'm not sure what information he thinks he's conveying, but hey definitely enjoys the interaction. There's often a subtle but critical transitions between squeals of delight and the early signs of crying, though, so it pays to pay attention.
Tyler is starting to interact with the cats, too. We mostly just supervise and let Tyler feel their soft fur, which he really seems to enjoy, even if it is clear that what he really wants to do it grab them and stuff them in his mouth. Anyway, the cats are starting to like it too. When they're nice to Tyler, they get treats; an arrangement they're quite happy to support.
We had a gaggle of family visiting this weekend. Still do, actually. Jessie's grandmother is here with us for most of a week. She's been as entranced as anyone by his charms and cuteness, even though he is great grandson number 10. And she also has number 11 already. Clearly he is the cutest one, though. So since she was here, some near-ish-by family dropped by and spent the night last night. Good thing we have a big house. I'd have to bust out the family tree to be absolutely sure how they are related, but let's just call them an Aunt, a Cousin, and a Second-Cousin and just call it done. The second-cousin was 10, and it was nice to see her interacting with Tyler. She and he got along really well, and she even went out running with us, which was really nice. Made me feel like a nice, supporting influence. Getting ready for when I get to do stuff like that with Tyler. Anyway, we went out to dinner with everyone, chatted a lot, and generally had a really nice time.
Then I've been playing video games all day today. And if you haven't noticed, and you care about video games, today is the final day of the steam summer sale. You can pick up a bevy of games for very, very low prices. Jump on that if you like. And then add me to your friend list. Considering all the people I know, I have a surprisingly small number of actual friends to play video games with. Come on, Nana, let's go play some Grand Theft Auto!
July 4 came and went with little fanfare, not the least of which because we've been seriously drought-cursed for a while and everything is far to dry for amateurs to be setting off fireworks. Probably not a bad call. It's looking like a short but intense bout of rain might be on the horizon, which would be great for checking to make sure our roof is fixed. Last time we got a burst of rain we discovered a leak over our breakfast nook. We had someone come by earlier this week to try and repair it, and they re-did the layout of some of the tiles and got rid of some rusty nails and improved the sealant. I would like some good rain just to see if it worked. It's been dry enough, though, that whatever water got in there has almost certainly dried out completely.
Man, pictures. I need to sort through some, but we had the four-generations come through on Jessie's side of the family and so we had a photographer drop by last Saturday and get some great photos. We'll share them soon, I hope. Our new, sexy camera has been getting an occasional workout as well. It takes a whole lot of pictures, though, and I don't always sort through them. Good way to use up a hard drive.
-N
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
A little Journal about Tyler
It's nice to write about some of the smaller moments if only to have a catalog of all the things that happened back when we were new parents. This all seems clear and eternal now, but I'm sure I'll forget it all inside a year.
"Baby Cakes" (no, I don't know why I call him that) is developing new skills slowly, but with confidence and flair. His latest escapades involve squealing. He gets really excited about something and you can see it working up from his toes up through his legs and then his body and arms and then..."EEEE!" Either that or nothing. He's still figuring out how to engage the system sometime. But you can always tell when he *wants* to make the noise. Just sometimes you get a "aaaaoooh" or "pffffft" or just silence instead. All are cute.
I think the discussion is over, Tyler is definitely a Florida baby. He loves hanging around outside. One of the most surefire ways to calm him down is just to walk around outdoors. I'm not sure if it's the warmth, or the sun, or the fresh air or all the bright green grass, but he calms down very quickly. This means we've gotten a lot of use out of the hammock in the front (and, consequentially, I'm getting much better at getting into and out of hammocks). I like to put him up on my lap and then lean back and swing in the hammock. He just stares at whatever happens to be in front of his face, be it either the grass or the light playing off of Daddy’s shirt. We got a patio swing for the backyard and assembled it yesterday. And, of course, it rained for the first time in months, last night, so it’s all soaked.
He’s also starting to move around, though I’m not sure he realizes it yet. He’s definitely doing a back-arch thing when he’s on his back that gets him moving around on his play matt, and when we put him on his belly he will put his arms out and occasionally drag himself along an inch or two. That’s nothing, though, nothing compared to Tyler’s sleep time. We swaddle his lower half so his default motion is just to lift up his legs and bring them kicking down. You can get a lot of distance out of that as evidenced by the fact that the position we find him in in the morning is entirely unrelated to the position we put him down in at night. This morning he was kicking the monitor.
Grandma Swanson is here, and this is our first day with both of us at work and someone else in charge of the little one. I suspect he’s not having a great time, but I give it about two days before the whole thing is routine and normal and he’s totally back into the swing of things. Also, G-ma Swanson is very patient. She has been a mother before, and did a fantastic job of it. Jess is worried that between his ever-increasingly-early bedtime and the fact that he spends most of his waking time while we are at work, we won’t get to see him anymore. I have my doubts.
Oh, and I had a great father’s day weekend. Jess let me play a lot of video games and made me a little collage of Tyler pictures for my desk at work. I like the ones with the bottom lip best.
Tyler is discovering his thumb, which I attribute greatly to his ability to put himself back to sleep several times at night. He is rapidly approaching 12 hours a night. He is also starting to grab cloth and shove it into his mouth. Unless he has something specific in mind, this usually involves chewing on his shirt.
-N
"Baby Cakes" (no, I don't know why I call him that) is developing new skills slowly, but with confidence and flair. His latest escapades involve squealing. He gets really excited about something and you can see it working up from his toes up through his legs and then his body and arms and then..."EEEE!" Either that or nothing. He's still figuring out how to engage the system sometime. But you can always tell when he *wants* to make the noise. Just sometimes you get a "aaaaoooh" or "pffffft" or just silence instead. All are cute.
I think the discussion is over, Tyler is definitely a Florida baby. He loves hanging around outside. One of the most surefire ways to calm him down is just to walk around outdoors. I'm not sure if it's the warmth, or the sun, or the fresh air or all the bright green grass, but he calms down very quickly. This means we've gotten a lot of use out of the hammock in the front (and, consequentially, I'm getting much better at getting into and out of hammocks). I like to put him up on my lap and then lean back and swing in the hammock. He just stares at whatever happens to be in front of his face, be it either the grass or the light playing off of Daddy’s shirt. We got a patio swing for the backyard and assembled it yesterday. And, of course, it rained for the first time in months, last night, so it’s all soaked.
He’s also starting to move around, though I’m not sure he realizes it yet. He’s definitely doing a back-arch thing when he’s on his back that gets him moving around on his play matt, and when we put him on his belly he will put his arms out and occasionally drag himself along an inch or two. That’s nothing, though, nothing compared to Tyler’s sleep time. We swaddle his lower half so his default motion is just to lift up his legs and bring them kicking down. You can get a lot of distance out of that as evidenced by the fact that the position we find him in in the morning is entirely unrelated to the position we put him down in at night. This morning he was kicking the monitor.
Grandma Swanson is here, and this is our first day with both of us at work and someone else in charge of the little one. I suspect he’s not having a great time, but I give it about two days before the whole thing is routine and normal and he’s totally back into the swing of things. Also, G-ma Swanson is very patient. She has been a mother before, and did a fantastic job of it. Jess is worried that between his ever-increasingly-early bedtime and the fact that he spends most of his waking time while we are at work, we won’t get to see him anymore. I have my doubts.
Oh, and I had a great father’s day weekend. Jess let me play a lot of video games and made me a little collage of Tyler pictures for my desk at work. I like the ones with the bottom lip best.
Tyler is discovering his thumb, which I attribute greatly to his ability to put himself back to sleep several times at night. He is rapidly approaching 12 hours a night. He is also starting to grab cloth and shove it into his mouth. Unless he has something specific in mind, this usually involves chewing on his shirt.
-N
Friday, July 24, 2009
Off to visit the grandparents!
So tomorrow morning I'll be taking off to play nurse/chef/handyman for Nana and Papa over a long weekend. I made the error of assuming my travel plans would simply diffuse through the family information channels in the normal way, but evidently Nana was happy and surprised to hear that I was on my way just a few days ago. Heh. Whoops.
I have a few projects of my own to accomplish while I'm there. I got a digital voice recorder for Sandlin for her birthday and am going to fill it up with some choice stories told by Nana and Papa. The current favorites are "How I met Your Grandmother", "Biking across the country", "I was totally a spy" and "Bart getting dragged back into the Baranofv by his grandmother, on a leash". I haven't heard that last one, but Sandlins says it's one of her favorites, so I'm excited to hear it. I'll try and post the stories up here in some format or another for all to enjoy, eventually.
-N
I have a few projects of my own to accomplish while I'm there. I got a digital voice recorder for Sandlin for her birthday and am going to fill it up with some choice stories told by Nana and Papa. The current favorites are "How I met Your Grandmother", "Biking across the country", "I was totally a spy" and "Bart getting dragged back into the Baranofv by his grandmother, on a leash". I haven't heard that last one, but Sandlins says it's one of her favorites, so I'm excited to hear it. I'll try and post the stories up here in some format or another for all to enjoy, eventually.
-N
Sunday, May 10, 2009
WOW
Extending this blog is the perfect Mother's Day gift. I check it at least once a day and it is almost as good as a real a hug, a good way to connect. And I am not the only one to benefit from this connection. Your Dad often lets me know there is a new blog because he checks it at least as much as I do. I know that your grandparents have appreciated this gift too. Nana told me just today that it is the best Mother's Day present I ever got from her point of view.
I absolutely agree with her except for the three special people that have given me the honor to celebrate this special day as their mother. Those are the real gifts that have given back to me more than I could ever give to them. Keep being the great people that you are and I will always have reason to celebrate this day.
And a special Happy Mother's day to Betty Sequin who produced such a wonderful man and to Fran Swanson who gave us such a special woman. Cheers to us mothers.
Nana (and Papa) and Grama, you have been such wonderful support for us in our early years and hard times. We are so lucky to have you around to continue to celebrate your incrediable grandchildren.
I absolutely agree with her except for the three special people that have given me the honor to celebrate this special day as their mother. Those are the real gifts that have given back to me more than I could ever give to them. Keep being the great people that you are and I will always have reason to celebrate this day.
And a special Happy Mother's day to Betty Sequin who produced such a wonderful man and to Fran Swanson who gave us such a special woman. Cheers to us mothers.
Nana (and Papa) and Grama, you have been such wonderful support for us in our early years and hard times. We are so lucky to have you around to continue to celebrate your incrediable grandchildren.
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