mama's boy

Tyler is hyper alert of where his parents are at all times, especially mommy. This new-found awareness caused him to bring on the tears as I left him at Meg's house on Wednesday morning. Ouch, it's tough to see that pathetically beautiful and sad face and those big blue eyes bubbling over with tear drops. Thankfully, the scene didn't last long since he had best bud Audrey Kate to distract him.

daddy you make me sick

This morning Tyler played in bed with Mommy while Daddy napped. Once Daddy was awake we all got up together to make breakfast. As Mommy held Tyler, Daddy leaned over to give him a kiss - just then Tyler spit up which shot out of his mouth onto Daddy's chin. So funny! Oh, I'm sorry, I mean, it was awful and very unfunny. Daddy was just thankful his mouth was closed!

singer

Tyler was so cute tonight. His favorite song has always been Old MacDonald. But tonight when he pressed the button on his exersaucer so that it played the music, Tyler sang a few of the notes along with the music. We thought it was just coincidence at first, but then he repeated it later in the song.

pre-walker

Tyler is thrilled with the idea of standing and walking. He's not ready to do the latter without some assistance, but he sure loves to pull himself up to a standing position. He's never really loved crawling but he still does it when he wants to get into something. As a little baby Tyler was really early to hold his head up on his own. He was always so curious and nosy. Things haven't changed much there and I figure the strong desire to stand up is just a natural extension of that curiosity and his personality.

Earlier this week he was seated next to his exersaucer. He moved up to his knees, then reached up, put his fingers around the lip edge of the exersaucer and pulled himself to his feet. He stood holding it with one hand and banging the attached toys with the other. Tyler was having such a good time that he started rocking the whole thing and it nearly tipped over on top of him except that Mommy was able to avert danger with some fast hands.

But by far Tyler's most favorite activity is to pull himself up onto his swings and then bounce up and down as it sways from side to side.

dancin' fool

Tyler has really shown a fondness for music and can cut a rug too. Right now his moves consist soley of the butt bop. It's similar to a squat but much faster. It's really only cute because of his small size, so we'll have to help him with some new moves before he sheds the baby fat. Daddy is the perfect mentor considering he did the worm at our wedding and won a dance battle at Joy's birthday party. (yes, I'm serious.)

first four

Tyler's top right tooth finally showed itself in the last week. It had been just under the surface for quite a while. Tyler does not like me peeking in his mouth so confirming the tooth's arrival was nearly impossible for many days. But I did manage to get my finger in there just long enough to feel the edge of it and just fast enough to remove my finger before he chomped down!

biter biscuits

We've been trying to offer Tyler solid foods like puffs, zweiback toast, and really small bread pieces. For the last month or so he didn't want to have much to do with any of them. His face would scrunch up as if I'd just handed him a lemon. Then all of a sudden today Tyler showed great interest in the rice crispy treat that I was eating. I offered it to him and he dug his teeth in and took a small kernal and ate it. So I offered him a biter biscuit and he loved it! I encouraged him by nibbling on it myself a tad and he was down with the program. And when I put it in his hand so he could control the pace, he got really excited and shook his arms up and down with delight.

model

You'll remember the adorable photos we had taken of Tyler in March (see pics). Well, this is round two. These are some of our favorites!

9 months

Well, he's been in the world as long as he was in my belly. Hard to believe the changes in Tyler and our lives in just nine months. We look back at videos from his first months and it's hard to remember Tyler before we knew that he loves dogs, trees, music, books, water bottles, baths, technological gadgets and other kids to name a few. And he was just so small! We're looking forward to learning more and more about what Tyler will like and who he'll be.

play ball

Tyler experienced his first baseball game Friday night at the Orioles v. Red Sox game at Camden Yards. He was a little uneasy during the sudden erruptions of cheering but really enjoyed watching all of the faces behind us. He especially loved the music which he would dance to with a very cute (only when you're at this age) butt bop. He finally got cozy in mommy's arms and napped until the end of the game, which the O's won 6-5 in bottom of the ninth inning.

rainfall

Some of our most favorite family time is spent walking our dog together as a family each night. This night we were caught in a sudden summer shower. We got a little wet, but Tyler sure did enjoy himself. He cheered as the rain plopped on his head and arms.

checkup

Alex and I took Tyler to his 9-month checkup yesterday evening. He weighs 19 lbs. even and measures 28 inches long exactly. In keeping with the trend, Tyler is still hovering around the 50th percentile when compared to others his age. The doctor deemed Tyler healthy and meeting all of his physical and social milestones. We thought we were going to breeze through the exam since he didn't need any shots, but now they routinely draw blood at this stage to check for anemia. Tyler took the shot like a man (ok, there were a few tears) despite them having to try twice!

new heights

We've now had to raise Tyler's exersaucer yet again. He's now using it at the top height already. Considering the height of his parents, Tyler may be a tall guy!

biter

Tyler is very curious about most everything and likes to put things in his mouth. And now that he has teeth on the top and bottom, his bite hurts. Poor Audrey Kate learned this the hard way when Tyler nibbled on her hand. Ouch!

But he's also a biter in the other sense of the word. He copied Audrey Kate's raspberry noises and now practices them frequently.