Mouthful of teeth

As young kids grow up into pre-teens, teenagers, and eventually young adults, we watch their talents and skills blossum. There is no doubt that kids have their strengths and natural talents. We can watch as they become naturally drawn to a certain "lot in life".

So, what will Tyson's strengths and talents be? At this point we are thinking they may be in the culinary arts. Maybe he is the next Chef Emeril. Maybe he will be a judge on Iron Chef. Or maybe he is bulking up to be an offensive lineman for the Seattle Seahawks.

Our boy is about 8 1/2 months old now. His friends of similar age are crawling, standing up, and generally doing whatever they can to expore their environment. These buddies don't have many, if any, teeth. And they have only tried a few solid foods. Tyson, on the other hand, has 6 teeth (at his age, 2 is a normal amount to have) and is trying new solids (pureed) a couple times a week. But, he is not as inclined to move about. Although, he can roll continuously and stay sitting up on his own. We are still waiting for his first crawl.

His list of solid foods include avocado, yam, peas, carrots, bananas, pears, mango, yogurt, rice, oats, mozzarella cheese, egg yolks, tofu, and tahini. He has also had brief tastes of saltines and salmon.

In addition to loving foods, Tyson has the gift of gab. He is constantly talking, singing, screeching, yelling, and whispering. He tries to carry on conversations with us all the time. Granted, his vocabulary is limited to lots of da's, ma's, and other ahh's, but he is not afraid to speak his mind. It's great because he seems to understand the how a conversation works. He has great eye contact. He waits his turn to talk. He uses inflection in his da's and other ahh's. And he has figured out the head shaking version of "no". And he knows what it means.

Tyson also has a great laugh and beautiful, crooked smile. He is so much fun!! He still fights naps like a sickness. And he still has trouble getting back to sleep if he wakes up in the middle of the night. That part is quite frustrating and fatiguing. But he is such a great joy, that the frustration just fades away each morning.

We are in the midst of looking for our first home! It's very exciting! Tyson has been quite the trooper in these outings that we take to look at homes. Hopefully, we can get into a home soon. This 775 sq ft one bedroom apartment is starting to feel like a closet. :)