Christmas 2007 pics and more

He's a natural.



Last day in "Baby" Carseat... Now on to the "Big Boy" Carseat





Tyson and Gracie - Dec. 2007 - She's crawling circles around him




"Maestro"

Escaping from the crib?

His favorite present.

Cry fests, Christmas and more

Wow, it's been awhile since we've updated ya'll on our little boy. So much has happened. I will try to hit the high points. For starters, I spoke to soon in an earlier post about Tyson sleeping through the night. He went two or three weeks with wakeless nights. Tenisha and I were beginning to catch up on months of lost sleep. Then we made the mistake of going out on a date without him. I took Tenisha to the annual firefighter Christmas dance. We left Tyson with some friends ( Daniel and Crissy) that just had a baby of their own. We were gone for about four hours, but we missed the all important bedtime ritual. Tyson sensed that we were leaving him minutes before we left. The dance was fun, by the way. But we have paid for it ever since. He has consistently woken up once or twice in the night since that night. We may have had one or two wakeless nights in there, but those are few and far between. He no longer feeds overnight, but often requires some form of comforting to get back to sleep. The battle continues...

Christmas was lots of fun. We put lots of miles in visiting family and friends. I had to work on Christmas day, but Tenisha and Tyson joined me and my crew for dinner. That's the beauty of my job. We went down to Eugene on the two days prior to Christmas. We went to a big family Christmas with my family, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We ate, opened gifts, and had fun. Then, we spent the next day with my immediate family. Grandma Coen enjoyed her first Christmas as a grandma and showered Tyson with clothes, books, and toys.

The day after Christmas we travelled up to Seattle to visit more family and friends. We visted the Reclusados's, Mattix's, Rollin's, Pingeon's and of course Grandma Patrick and Great-Grandma Robinson. More food, gifts, and good times. Grandma Patrick also thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas as a grandma.

Tyson's methods of choice for opening the presents included sucking on the wrapping paper and using his toes to rip the paper off.

A couple other points of interest: 1) Tyson cut his first couple teeth. His two bottom ones have broke through and are visible when he smiles. The top two are getting close to poking through. They will probably be here in the next couple weeks. 2) Tyson has mastered the skill of rolling. He can roll from back to belly and belly to back. He can't yet crawl, but he uses rolling to get where he wants to be.

Our boy is such a joy. It has been incredible watching him grow into the little boy that he is. We love him so much and look forward to the adventures ahead. Hopefully, restful nights are in our immediate future. :)

The Jumper

One of his first times in his jumper.

Eating Avacado

Is he still breathing?

On an early morning in November, I rolled over in bed and asked Tenisha if Tyson had woken at all during the night. Even though his crib is at the foot our bed, I had developed the ability to sleep through some of his middle of the night Cry fests. So, it was a honest question, in which I was truly unsure of the answer. Tenisha, with a surprised look on her face said, "No. What time is it?" After I informed her that it was 7:00, the room became silent. I know we were thinking the same thing. I didn't tell her what I was thinking, but I hopped out of bed to look at my boy and put a hand on his belly. I was feeling for that familiar rise and fall of his belly, when he squirmed a bit and smacked his lips. Tenisha, attempting to roll over and catch a few more Z's asked, "is he still breathing?" I said, "Yeah, and I think he's about ready to eat." At this point we both breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was our boy still alive, but he had slept through the night for the first time. This night was not a phenomenon. In fact, it has become a trend. He no longer gets up to eat in the middle of the night. Occasionally he will wake and need to have his blankets re-tucked, but we are actually getting sleep at night again.

The contents of this story may not be exact, but are based on actual events.

Solids

For those of you that don't know, Tyson is a "big boy". We tell him so all the time, especially after big achievements. For instance when he was finally able to support his own neck when being held, daddy told him, "you're a big boy now." He seems to like it when we tell him this, because he always cracks a big smile. But, then again, he smiles all the time, so who knows. Anyhow, our boy is also "literally" a big boy. At his 4 month appointment he was in the 90th percentile for his height and weight. We explained to the doctor that he was still eating every 2-3 hours and that he wakes 1-3 times a night to feed. We asked about feeding him solids early due to his need for more calories. He gave us the green light. Yahoo! Full nights of sleep, here we come.

So, his first "solid" food was rice cereal. It was about as fluid as his breast milk, but we ate it with a spoon. Tyson really liked the idea of eating with a spoon. Probably because daddy told him, "now you're a big boy." After the first few bites he understood that he needed to open his mouth when the spoon was approaching. By the end of the meal, he was reaching for the spoon wanting to take a shot feeding himself. Mama read a book called "Super Baby Food", which gave her info on what foods a baby can digest as each month goes by. Beyond the rice cereal, Tyson is able to eat avocado, banana, and sweet potato. His favorite thus far has been the 'Cado' (avocado). He LOVES it. We can't get it in his mouth fast enough. He is warming up to the others, but cado is definately the crowd pleaser at this point.

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