Right on Schedule

Tyler has been growing, and in doing that, has definitely matured and settled into a SCHEDULE. ah! Every parent's dream. I have been trying to get him on some sort of schedule since he was born but never succeeded. Now he has developed, in his own timing, a schedule that has been working wonders for the whole family.

Baby boy wakes up around 6:30 or 7am every morning, and is down for a nap by 8:30 or 9. Most of his naps are at least an hour long, and sometimes will be 90 minutes long. Definitely gives me the chance to get some work done around the house! Then he naps again around 12:30 or 1 and then again around 4. He get solids at breakfast, lunch and again at dinner and nurses after each nap. He gets his bath around 7:30, nurses and is usually asleep by 8 or 8:30 at the latest. Then it's time for Mommy and Daddy to relax! It's so nice to have a (semi) predictable day. Yes, sometimes the schedule does get a bit thrown off, like when he had a cold last week, but he always seems to get back on track. And he even did pretty good keeping with it the last time we traveled.

He's been eating very well (except last week when he had his cold, but sickness throws everything off). Some new things he's tried are apricots (I mixed them in with sweet potatoes and he loved it) and peaches. I made a fruit medley of apricots, peaches, apples, and bananas which he loved, and it is great to mix in with his cereal in the morning. I've also made other combinations like sweet potatoes with apricots, sweet potatoes with banana, and carrot with pear. I made him some applesauce with cinnamon as well, which was a hit! Last week I introduced yogurt which is a new favorite and daily staple for the little guy. Plus he's been munching plenty off our plates, so he's had a bit of banana bread, he chewed on a roll at Logan's Steakhouse (it was too cute!), black beans, and some other foods that I can't remember off the top of my head. We gave him some baby pureed chicken (we bought the organic jarred kind to try before I went out making and freezing a bunch), but he hated it! I'm not sure if it was the taste or the texture. It smelled like cat food to me, so I'm not surprised he wasn't a fan. I'm thinking about buying some ground turkey and giving him finger-food sized chunks to try (he's getting pretty good at picking up food and feeding himself)... if he doesn't like then I know Jordon can use the ground turkey some other way so it won't go to waste.

And if all of that didn't convince you that Tyler is officially a big boy, listen to this: he has THREE teeth now! Well, his top tooth just popped through this morning and the other one appears to be on the brink of getting through, so I think we will really be able to see those top pearly whites clearly next week. I was so surprised because although I thought he may be teething again (he had been drooling a ton and slightly more fussy than usual), he was nothing like last time. Plus, he had "teething" symptoms for 2 months before either of his first two teeth popped through, so I figured I had a little awhile before his top ones came through. But yesterday I was playing with him and I noticed a rough white spot on his gum, and then this morning I felt the tooth. I'm so glad teething was easier this time around.

Lastly, he has started to really become smarter (I'm not sure if that's the right word here, but go with me...). If he is making a bee-line towards trouble (ex: the floor lamp, the wheels of his stroller, shoes, etc) I can say "Tylerrrrr...." and he'll turn around and look at me. Of course, he usually decided to ignore my warning and go on his merry way towards the contraband item, but at least he is recognizing his name! And he makes this funny face sometimes while in his highchair, where he makes his mouth the shape of an O and looks surprised (See photo above) and Jordon and I laugh so hard. He's learned that we think it's funny because he'll do it again and again as long as we laugh and usually laughs along with us!

I used to have a very optimistic view of him growing up, telling Jordon that with each month and year, there will be something new to be excited about and embrace, but now I'm starting to fall into the typical feeling of "I want my baby to stay a baby forever!" I cannot imagine him growing to be a *gasp* teenager or even getting married one day. yikes. I'm hoping I'll be able to embrace all of the new changes as they come. But for now I'm just trying to enjoy each milestone he's reaching and taking advantage of all the cuddle time he'll give me!