11 months

This one turned 11 months old yesterday.

The changes are getting more incremental. He's more mobile, but not *quite* walking. He has more sounds (babbaba) but not quite talking.

He fills out his clothes in a way his brother didn't even at 15 months. He's closing on 19 lbs but is easily the tallest in his room at daycare. That's because he's still eating everything. (This would be his favorite, chicken.)

With the obvious results.

He's getting more confident in what he's doing.

He figured out how to use the coffee tables to get up on our couch, but that's mostly ok because, unlike E, he'll find the edge and then spin around to slide down feet first.

And he still has an awesome personality.

He was sick for a good chunk of the last month (cold turned to ear infection) and it made him a little fussy. I'm very glad to report he's back to his happy self with the addition of some amoxicillin.

(I wish this had sound so you could hear his motoroboat noise. It's his expression of general happiness, but he'll hold a conversation all in buzzes.)

His only question...
Wait, were you going to eat this?


(click here for all of the big blue chair posts)

10 months

This little man turned 10 months old last week.

Things have been quiet on the blog for a while, because, well... life. I've got two busy bodies to follow, and one of them is hungry, so the dinner to bedtime stretch pretty much takes my whole evenings. I'm pounding away on classes while I'm at work, and then I've pretty much given over the weekends to spending time with the boys. Because how could I not? I have to keep up!

So, while I have long intended to do a bunch of catch-up posts with all the pictures from the last while, for now I'm just trying to get up to date. T may have to look at twitter to see what was up for these few months of his life. Of course, if he does, he'll see that it was all pretty darn busy!

And pretty darn awesome. He's mobile now. He was soooo frustrated that he couldn't get around that life was pretty rough for him between about 8-9 months. I expected him to be walking by now, to be honest, he was so determined to GET MOVING. However, he's pretty content with crawling and cruising, and he doesn't seem to notice that he can stand (if he notices that he is standing unsupported, he instantly drops to the ground).

At least he quickly figured out how to get up/down without slamming into the floor (unlike E). After a couple of weeks of constant forehead bruises a couple of months ago, he has done pretty well! He moved pretty quickly from rolling to an army crawl to what Ray calls his arachnid crawl (right leg sticking out to form a 90 degree angle off from his body). Now, he can get anywhere quickly and keep up with E, and that seems to be all he asks.

Well, that and more food, please. He'll eat ANYTHING (at least once). We skipped the whole puree thing this time and started him on things like strips of steak. Now, he eats more at dinner than I do (partially because he cries when the food goes in my mouth if he doesn't have any... hard to keep up!). Last week he ate a full chicken breast along with some sides... I think he eats as much as E and I combined!

He is a meatarian (lifelong commitment!) - he'll eat just about anything but would prefer that steak/chicken right there, please. Feeding him something new is always fun, since it's met with a look of total disgust- right before he swallows and asks for more.

E is his favorite person - E can make faces or just jump and land on his backside and T will LAUGH. Ray or I might get a chuckle, but nothing like the deep belly laughs E gets. This is handy, since E is often happy to just keep his brother entertained.

He's still a love and a cuddler, although... wait... off he goes again, wriggling his way down to go eat E's toys.

At least you get to check out the curls on his way by...

6 months

T turned 6 months old. For his six month birthday, he got himself the flu.

Yup, that's how I felt about it, too.

But he's getting better, and even sick he was one of the mellower little dudes you've ever seen (we did his chair pictures after he'd been fever-free for a day. He still has the cough). We did pull the swing out of the basement, because he just wanted to move, constantly, and frankly, he's getting heavy! (18 lb by the bathroom scale - doctor's visit is next month when E goes in for his 3 year)

T's favorite occupation is EATING ALL THE THINGS!

You have a thing? I'd like to eat it! Please, can I eat that?

Please? Banilla does not, in fact, taste like vanilla, despite my brother's name for him. 
(her?)

Four months

T was four months old yesterday.

Yup, buddy, four months!

He's pretty awesome. He's such a mellow kid still, and smiley. He has slept through the night a few nights since early September, although he has yet to get fully into that groove. He likes his peeps and is just a little bit more happy when Dad is home and he has everyone he is supposed to. He is doing well at daycare and he and I are in a production/consumption race, unlike his bottle-strike brother. No real interest in food yet, but he loves to sit with everyone at the dinner table.

Although sit is a loose term.



That outfit? E wore it when he was about 11 months old...we'll get the official info next week, but our back-room measurements put T at 16.4 pounds and 26 inches. Or... way ahead of his brother. He is his own man....

Click for more big blue chair.

Edited to add: apparently T started rolling from his back to belly last week at daycare. He has done it for me when he wasn't completely flat, so I didn't count it. Punk.
Further edited to add (11-30): Still regarding that as a fluke, since I still haven't seen it three weeks later.
Still further edited to add: At his doctor's appointment on 11-26, T weighed in at 15 lb 12.5 oz, and measured 27". Around 50th percentile for weight and off the scale for height. Well, he's 75th percentile for height - for a six month old. Looooong.

Growth Chart

Just a little comparison from about a month ago...

4 weeks

Tighe is 4 weeks old today.

What, 4 weeks?

Whee, 4 weeks!

In honor of the occasion, we tried to get the standard blue chair pictures.

Do you guys have any idea what's going on here? Heh, monkey? Dino?

Oy, monkey, this is torture!
Torture, I say!

Yeah, so he wasn't into doing it alone...

... but pretty content to share the chair.

Here's an E for reference. (Not surprisingly, he wanted to be involved.)

T is doing well. He's eating like crazy, sleeping decently (mostly), and developing a pretty good set of lungs to express his displeasure. And the 3 mo. polo onesie fits way better than it did two weeks ago.

I think we'll keep him.



(For reference: E at 5.5 weeks in the same chair but with the back pillow on:
)

Three

Of all the things I am behind on getting posted here... Christmas, New Year's, trips, family, friends... I somehow can't believe I missed this one. At least we got the pictures, but... it has been so huge.



Our little man turned three. As celebrated with completely illegal fire at the restaurant of his choice, Noodles.

And as celebrated with probably illegal numbers of toddlers (I think we had 12 3yo's and several older kids, and yes, there were parents with all of them) at our house. Crazy Uncle Steve, the ball run was a big hit. As was the "fishing pond", with Ray loading the "hooks"... I'm impressed Ray survived the near-riots.

And the later gift opening, which resulted in him trying to do everything at once. Not really a new idea for him.

Little man is still so very very cute.

He'll ask you to tell him that, though, which worries me.

But not too much. He's working out where he is in the world, and asserting his authority over himself, but also working on his control over himself. It'a work in progress, but at least now when Ray or I glare at him when he whines for something, he usually turns around and asks politely for it in his sweetest voice. Ray is trying to teach him to say "Daddy dearest, please...", which is amusing.

Though he still doesn't have to ask all that hard to get whatever he wants out of Dad. Fortunately he usually uses his powers for good. Or just extra books (which he may read to you, if he has them memorized).

Usually.

He can count reasonably high if he concentrates (otherwise he'll just pick out some number, currently in English or Spanish), sing most of his alphabet and sign some of it, mostly dress and even amuse himself (with full blown conversations, the best being between his two legs as he tries to put on his pants).

We'll keep him.

For previous moments in the Big Blue Chair, click here..

2.5 years

E turns two and a half today. Of course, for months if you asked how old he was, he would say "three... ANDAHALF". He rejects the existence of two, (one, three, fourfivesix, nine, ten, no?) so... this whole post is anathema.



So is sitting, for that matter. That's pretty typical, unless he's reading a book, cuddling before bed, or mesmerized by Elmo, he's running, kicking, jumping, throwing, singing (Baabaa black sheep, minus the line about the dame, is a current favorite). (Heh, that last picture takes me back.)

He is so very very two. He threw a fit last night because I had the wrong kind of noodles, then ate them all (typical - he eats pretty well, although he is losing his former sense of adventure - but he will still share hot green chili with me). Life is on a thin edge between mania and tragedy these days. The mania can be pretty darn fun, and he's pretty sweet in between. When I finally pointed out to him that the point of all this was to get a shot of his face, suddenly:


(Heh. I love this goofball.)


Of course, like everything else right now, it only lasts so long.

He's a different animal every day, or several a day. Currently, he's a roly poly after something caught on a cartoon, even though he will admit to having no clue what a roly poly is. But he's right, he is one. And a dinosaur, and a lion, and my teddy bear. His imagination is pretty fun to watch.

And the traditional end to the whole photo session:

But with a twist...
E's vocabulary is not small -we just finished the language project study and he had a few hundred of the words on their list - no idea how many total, although he added one in this photo session. "Actually", he says, and runs back to the pile behind the chair....

...and gives me exactly what I asked for. He is thinking, always. It's hilarious, fun, sometimes terrifying to watch. Just like everything else with our little man.