Tyler Lately

Look how big my baby is getting. He gets more personality and spunk with each day. He's had to learn how to stick up for himself and he's definitely not always the mellow, go with the flow kind of kid he used to be. It's still his underlying nature, but he's learned how to stick up for himself and I get a real kick out of it. When something gets taken away from him he lets the whole world know he's pretty ticked about it- whether it be toys being taken by Marshall, an empty bottle he wasn't ready to give up, or when Mommy takes crayons away. The crayons always elicit the biggest fit. He gets bored of paper very easily and seems to think as long as he's carrying it, he should be leaving his mark. We've yet to find any large "masterpieces"... and I hope to keep it that way.
He's becoming quite the character. He's learning its fun to climb and do things a little out of the ordinary. Hiding is becoming a fun game and if he hasn't seen Marshall in a while and suddenly finds him, he'll flip out! He loves his big brother. The other morning he was having a ball in this new play space he found... under the kitchen table on Marshall's booster seat. He played there for a while, left to find a spot on Mommy's lap while I worked on the computer, then made his way back again and again.
He walks all over now and it is the cutest thing. Sometimes he'll just wander the house. I think its just because he can. He's gaining confidence and that can sometimes be good, sometimes bad. Today he was standing at the top of a little slope of dirt and finally worked up the guts to walk down and fell over and slid, face first, all the way down. It wasn't high or very steep, but he refused to try again the rest of the evening. But then we were at Grandma's and he was very persistent while playing on the trampoline. There were three bigger kids (Marshall's age) on there with him and when Tyler would fall over, he'd make his way back up and smile so proudly.

He still has pretty good sleeping habits. He's down to one nap a day usually and most times still falls asleep on his own. He likes to work himself into the corner of his crib while he sleeps. (Just like Marshall still does.) This morning I couldn't find him in the crib and I thought Colby had put him in our bed and I didn't notice, until I realized he was right up against the side of the crib closest to me (where I obviously didn't figure he'd sleep). The last couple of weeks he's battled some kind of stomach trouble and in the midst of a late night throw up experience, he found a new best friend. This little puppy. I needed something for him to hang on to (hoping it wouldn't be me ALL night long) and Ty made friends with this soft pup right away. In fact, this picture was taken one afternoon that he wasn't feeling good at all and he wouldn't settle down until he had his puppy on Mommy's bed. I felt so bad for him because he wasn't feeling good, but he looked so precious and I'm glad I got this picture so I can always be reminded of his sweet, angelic nature as a young one. (Something tells me "angelic" doesn't stick with boys for long.)
It's so fun to see his similarities to Marshall. And the differences. Oh, what fun these little ones are. I love being a mom.