Tyler is Quickly Becoming a Toddler!

It's been an interesting week. Tyler has been very fussy because of his raised chemo dose and he's also cutting 2-4 teeth. I see 2 for sure but the top gums feel swollen too, I just can't see anything. I forgot his chemo before bed the other night, but thankfully he woke up later and I gave it to him then. We were up for the sunrise, I don't see many of those. It was so pretty! The clouds looked very textured.

Tyler has been enjoying his treats. He seems to have a preference for chocolate. No big surprise in this family! He's eating an oreo here. He got way messier than this. When he's done he always rubs his head, and gets food all over his hair. At least he doesn't have much of it, but he sure has more than he used to!

Tyler found a good spot to sit while watching Word World tonight. Dawson's car carrier case is just the right size for a baby chair.

This used to be Dawson's birthday card from his Grandma. It was a Cars themed one that played the song "Life is a Highway". Well he always needs to find out how things work, so when I wasn't looking he ripped the part with the words off so he could see the mechanics of it. He was quite pleased with himself. Then the card got ripped in half just from being opened and closed many times. We both thought "well now that card is done!". Apparently not, because when you push the little metal clip right under the round battery, it plays! That is, until he further started ripping it apart, got the clip off and I threw the whole thing away when he wasn't looking to avoid Tyler swallowing small metal objects!! It's still up in the air whether he'll be a mechanic or an engineer!

Boys in a bin. I was pushing Tyler up and down the hallway, then Dawson climbed in so I just sat Tyler on his lap. He actually tolerated it! He never used to want Tyler on his lap or anything but he seems to really be getting the hang of and even enjoying having a brother around now. :)

This week Dawson walked up behind Tyler (who was standing) and picked him up a bit. He did get him a tiny bit off the floor but not much. Dawson is only 12 pounds more than Tyler so I wasn't expecting much. I was talking to Dawson nicely while walking over there so he wouldn't just drop him when he saw me coming. He put Tyler down anyway and ended up hitting his head on the train table. Poor baby, he started crying and I picked him up and sat on the floor with him a while. Dawson said "sorry" and he looked like he felt bad about it, so I had him come give Tyler a hug. He wrapped his arms around Tyler and said "awww" on each side of his head. It's what he does when he cuddles people. I guess he picked that up from me, I used to say "awww" when he'd come cuddle me and it stuck! He even kissed the top of Tyler's head. It was so cute. Tyler didn't fully appreciate it though, he just wanted Dawson away from him. He settled down quickly though.

I've been putting the boys to bed at the same time lately. It used to be Dawson first, then Tyler once Dawson was asleep. This used to work great since Tyler was on a crazy schedule from the hospital and had his days and nights a bit mixed up. I finally got him down to Dawson's bedtime though and it's been doing pretty good. I change them both, then stand Tyler up in the middle of the room and have Dawson come over for a hug. They hug, which is the cutest thing ever, then I put Tyler in his crib and turn on his crib turtle while Dawson crawls into his bed. Sometimes he's not as willing and I have to put him there, but he's been getting a little better with that. After about a week, Dawson discovered that he could crawl into Tyler's crib and play with him and his crib turtle! So I put up the crib tent. I bought it 2 years ago to keep Dawson in his crib and now I put it back up to keep him out! Funny to think about. Tyler is awesome about bedtime, he's never (to my knowledge) tried to get out. He lays there a bit, then stands up and turns his turtle to the song he wants and lays back down to fall asleep.

In some ways Tyler seems so mature for his age! Changing the turtle song just to fall asleep. He helps me get his carseat buckled by tucking his arms in so I can get them in the straps. After mealtimes he always stays to get his hands washed. Today in Target he was fussing so I let him out of the stroller. He wandered around a bit but always came right back. He's getting so good at walking more steadily and is getting faster too! He walked along the stroller so we could check out the new food section too, which was all the way across the store. He did scream, squirm and throw a huge tantrum when I put him back in the stroller though. He's really starting to throw more on the floor tantrums lately. He'll flop down on his tummy and cry, then get up because I've walked right past him and he has to follow me! He's quite dramatic about it too, he often looks right at me and does a dramatic flop. Sometimes it's hard not to burst out laughing because it just looks funny. Thankfully Dawson's on the floor tantrum phase didn't last very long since I just ignored him, so I'm hoping Dawson will ignore him too so we can move past that phase.