roses

Tyler picked out his first bouquet of flowers for a lady -- Mommy! Daddy and Tyler were shopping and Tyler nearly jumped out of the cart to get to the flowers. When given a choice, this bouquet is the one he selected to bring home. Good taste! And look at that smile!!

one for me, one for you

Tyler is fascinated with seeing mommy and daddy's teeth. He likes to look at them, touch them and giggles like crazy when we play bite him. Today as we were eating lunch, he paused and then concentrated on my food going into my mouth. He had been munching on an apple wagon wheel and for the first time decided to offer me some of his food. I accepted his offer and took a little nibble on his apple wheel. Then he'd take a bite. Then offer it to me again. This continued until the wheel was completely gone. He seemed so proud to share his precious treat with me.

smooth sailing

Tyler is officially a sailor! Grampy took him for his first boat ride. Our destination: the Chesapeake Bay. Alex and I tagged along and brought Daniel and Meg Redmon as well as a thank you for their care of Tyler. We leisurely cruised out near the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. On our way back the wind picked up to 23 knots and had Harlech, the boat, heeled over quite a bit. So much so that Meg got her boots and pants wet up to her knees! Daniel's pants might have been wet for a different reason; he was at the helm as we charged back up the bay and imagined tipping us over. But he did an awesome job and we all had a fabulous time!!

chilly

It was time to break out the sweaters on this chilly, rainy October morning. This is my absolute favorite picture of Tyler and me so far!

big hat

Tyler has the most adorable blonde hair, which I hate to cover up. But he just looks "so darn cute" (as Gramps would say) with hats on. Though this one might be a little big.

parents rock

Before going to work, we captured some photos of the working parents just before walking out the door.

sway

Tyler LOVES music. He stands at his musical table and as it sings ABCs, Tyler sways from side to side. Next time won't you sing with me?

echo00OOO

New giggles from Tyler! What is causing them? The sound of his voice when it echos. He puts his mouth up to cups and even the payload of his dump truck and then sings into them and squeals at the funny sounds he makes.

look dad

Alex watched as Tyler played on the floor in the living room. Tyler picked up one of his books and tried to open it, but it was facing the wrong direction. Tyler rotated the book and tried again. Not quite there yet. He rotated it again and voila, the book opened properly. Then Tyler pointed to the page and started talking baby talk as if to explain to Daddy what was on the page. So cute!

to the zoo

What did we do to celebrate Granny and Gramps's visit? We went to The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. We saw polar bears, giraffes, zebras, elephants, penguins, tigers, lions, cheetahs, chimpanzees, sitatungas and many many more.

sixth tooth

Chomp, chomp. I just noticed that Tyler's sixth tooth popped through the gum. He now has his bottom two center teeth and his top four center teeth. And they work really well! He actually destroyed his favorite monkey teething ring by chewing through the rubbery plastic!

pumpkin patch

With Halloween quickly approaching, we wanted to take Tyler to a pumpkin patch. The Campbell family, along with Granny and Gramps, ventured to the Triadelphia Lake View Farm in Glenelg. Boy did we pick the best place to go! We hopped onto a tractor for a hayride up to a corn maze (a maize maze?) and then continued on to the fields and fields of pumpkins and gourds. We selected a bunch and got to pick them right off the vines. After taking the hayride back, we visited the barnyard animals and played in a "sandbox" full of corn kernals rather than sand. We also picked up some freshly canned jars of apple butter and pumpkin butter. We can't wait to carve and display our pumpkins and gourds!

got to love family

Granny and Gramps flew into town from Florida to see the cutest baby ever. And while they were at it, they wanted to catch Alex's play. Only trouble is, when you have your parents and in-laws all going to the same event, who do you get to babysit so you can see the play too? Enter Uncle Dylan. He showed up with reinforcements (Jason Simms) and they took care of Tyler for the night. I guess it takes two 26-year-olds to handle one nearly 1-year-old. But they did a great job and my baby was happily sleeping when I got home. I'll overlook that they avoided changing his diaper before bed and it was at maximum capacity this morning. But no leaks. Go Pampers!

jump, jump

We really weren't planning to get Tyler a jumperoo since he is so close to walking, but it is hard to ignore a little boy who just keeps bopping up and down. When I'd hold him in my arms he'd try bouncing. And Meg told us how much he loved using Audrey Kate's. So we broke down and got him a Rainforest jumperoo. I think he likes it just a little bit!

11 months

Is it possible that I keep getting cuter each month?

linus

Tyler has started to want his extra soft blanket with him more and more. He likes to cuddle with it while he's still waking up and when he's getting ready to take a nap or sleep for the night. While holding his security blanket and sucking his thumb, Tyler really resembles Linus from the Peanuts!

standing tall

Tyler loves to be moving, moving, moving! And now he is venturing to stand on his own as well. He walks and stands all the time as long as he has one hand on a pant leg, arm of a chair, table, wall, etc. But this morning he let both hands go free and it only lasted a second and a half before he grabbed my pants again. Then this afternoon while Aunt Joy was visiting, Tyler was playing with her keys and let go of both of her hands. It lasted just three seconds and then he grabbed her hand again. He didn't realize that he did anything spectacular but Joy and I were thrilled at this landmark.

not enough hands

We recently purchased a toy dump truck for Tyler. The payload is full of oversized building blocks, which Tyler loves to dump out across the floor. He often keeps both hands full with a block in each, but here lies the dilemma. With a block in the left hand and a block in the right hand, how does he move the third block that sits at his feet. Well, when you are Tyler this is easy to solve. You bend down and try to grab the third block with you mouth!

learning musical table

Tyler's new favorite toy! While at the beach a few weeks ago, Tyler couldn't get enough of Simon's LeapFrog learning musical table, so it wasn't long before we acquired one as well. Anything that entertains them for that long is worth its weight in gold!

T-mobile

That's Daddy's new nickname for Tyler. He is non-stop! And he's lightning fast! I'm starting to get worried that Tyler will think his name is NoNo, because of how often I have to say it as he tests the boundaries.