Child Locks... Schmild Locks!

We were good parents and child proofed the house. Not anything over the top, just enough to keep him from hurting himself. That lasted about a month!!! He has no trouble pulling the electrical outlet covers out of the outlets and he's now figured out how the child locks work (as you can see in the video).

And now he's figured out how to take off his diaper. That was one I figured would happen... but so soon? Damn smart child!
Off with the diaper!Bum cleavage! Just can't resist!
I love this picture! But he suddenly looks like a little boy instead of a baby! Where has the last year gone? Oh and you can see he's actually getting some hair, light though it may be!

State Fair Fun

Chad always says that football and the State Fair really kick off fall for him so of course we had to go to the fair this year. I was mean and didn't want to go last year since I was fat, swollen and rather uncomfortable. But this year was much better and a lot of fun. We went with Jen and Brandon and the boys and Chad's brother Jeff and his wife Jen and Chad's BFF Jake. We ate, walked around and of course looked at all the animals. Tristan loved it! He was so excited when I let him walk around and pet some of the animals. We'll definitely be going again in future years.

Tristan trying to reach the goat but it was just not cooperating.

Another goat... this one was more friendly so I had to hold Tristan back or he probably would have tried to hug/wrestle him.

He's starting to learn to pet "softly" which was a good thing for this sheep. A month ago the poor thing would have had its ear pulled and probably been smacked on the head a few times.
Mama and baby piglets... so cute! Almost makes you want one, until you take a good look at their mama and realize that's what the babies will look like shortly!

My little cowboy and a demon cow!

WATERMELON!

One of Tristan's favorite things is watermelon as evidenced by the video below. I think he would be perfectly content to exist on a diet of watermelon, bananas and cheerios! He's also learned to clap and will do it at the most random times, especially if we say "Yay!". He thinks it is so much fun!

As I've said before, Tristan also LOVES bath time. I didn't really want to give him a full bath so I stuck him in the sick to hose him off and he thought that was the greatest thing ever!

Smarter than the average bear...

As you can see by the video, the suction cup trainer plate didn't stay suctioned very well. This kid is too stinkin' strong! It came up a whole lot easier the second time (of course when I was videotaping it). The first time he had to pull pretty hard and basically just took it apart piece by piece and threw them all on the floor... including the spoon. Fortunately, there wasn't any food on it because I wanted to see what he would do with the plate. He needs to learn to eat on his own with a spoon because half the time he refuses to eat if I'm trying to feed it to him. He wants to eat things that he can pick up on his own, which is fine, but I can give him only so much watermelon, bananas, cheerios and toast. :)

Attempt Number One

STEP 1: Take spoon with food already on it from mom and try out this whole feeding myself thing.

STEP 2: Bang spoon on my tray to listen to the fantastic noise it makes and then try getting a bite on my own.

STEP 3: Get bored with all that, grab the bowl full of food and shake it until all the food dumps onto my tray!

This is the result of Tristan's first attempt at eating with a spoon. It didn't go so well. He understands the concept but eating with the fingers is SOOOO much easier! He took a few bites with the spoon and then grabbed the bowl and literally shook it so that all the mashed potatoes would fall out onto his high chair tray. He continued to play with the spoon but when that got boring he started throwing it, once at me! Then it was on to finger painting with said potatoes. He would occasionally suck them off of his fingers but would promptly go back to pushing them all over the tray. At the end we had a tray caked with mashed potatoes, a belly covered in potatoes and a mohawk with potatoes holding it up. But at least he had fun! We'll try this again, but this time we're a little smarter and have purchased a "trainer" plate that actually suctions its self to the tray so there will be no more dumping the contents of his dinner out.
I love the bottom left picture because you can see how truly BLUE his eyes are.... beautiful! (click on the pictures and they will blow up so you can see them better).

Walking Man

So this post is WAY overdue. Tristan really started walking on August 8th but I haven't gotten a video until now. He's still pretty wobbily but he's getting better. He was so tired when I recorded this and didn't feel like cooperating so it's just a quick preview. I'll get a better one when he's in a happier mood.

Field Trip

Chad and I just bought season passes to the Aquarium here in SLC. Odd place to have an aquarium I know but it was pretty cool and we figured Tristan would like it especially as he gets older. And since paying twice pays for a season pass, we just bought the pass.

Here's Tristan in front of the Anaconda's tank. He loved watching all the fish swim around. His favorite was the Shark tank. We sat and watched the sharks and sting rays swim around for at least 5 minutes and he was enthralled the whole time. He kept touching the glass whenever one would swim by the window. We'll definitely be going back again and once he gets a little bigger he can touch the sting rays in the touch pool (they feel like wet suede).

Standing Man

Tristan has been able to stand on his own for a few weeks now but try as a might, I can't get a picture of him doing it! When he sees the camera he either plops down on his butt and crawls to me to get it or literally lunges at me. And since our camera is way too slow in taking pictures I haven't been able to get one of him actually standing, just ones of him half way down to the floor or coming at me like a monster. :D The other night I finally got a picture (see below) but of course... he blinked!!!! Bloody hell! HAHA I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to get an actual picture without him blinking, falling or attacking but it's still annoying! He's started using his little walker toy that we bought him because he realized he can walk if he pushes it - walk without falling that is. He's taken a few tentative steps but hasn't gotten more than 3 or 4 without falling down. But it won't be long before he suddenly takes off in a dead run I'm sure.

Don't mind Chad's head, he was ducking trying to get away from the Godzilla baby. If you lay down on the floor, Tristan takes that as a cue to attack you. He thinks it's quite hilarious... and it is, when it's not you he's attacking!

This picture just made me laugh so I had to share!

FRUSTRATED!!!!

If the next time you see me and I have a few bald spots, just pretend you don't see them! They are either from Tristan pulling my hair out - which he does quite regularly - or because I've yanked my own hair out in frustration. The child won't sleep through the night! He used to, he started around 6 weeks until 5 months, but since then it hasn't happened. And he's started waking up in the middle of the night and staying awake. I've tried letting him cry it out a few times but I think I give in to easily. It just seems to me that if he's crying so hard that he can't breath, I should probably check on him.
Tonight he went to bed around 9 and then woke up at 12:15, I nursed him and he fell back asleep but as soon as I laid him down in his crib his eyes would pop wide open. I rocked him once and then laid him back down and I let him cry and just sat outside his doorway where I could see him but he couldn't see me and watched him to see what he did. He of course screamed like the world was falling down on top of him. He kept laying his head down for a second and then would bounce right back up and scream even louder. I let this go on for about 35 minutes before I went in and picked him up. I tried rocking him but at this point he was wide awake and was just not having me try to put him back to sleep. I was so frustrated so I had Chad try and take a turn rocking him. He lasted about 10 minutes before he brought Tristan downstairs. I stayed down in the basement and worked and Chad let Tristan crawl around and play for a little bit. When Chad wanted to go to sleep I tried to get Tristan to go to sleep too by laying down with him but he still kept pushing away and jumping up. Finally, I threw him in the car and went on a drive. I drove about 10 miles before he finally fell asleep. He woke up once a few minutes after I laid him down in his bed but I only had to rock him for a minute and he's been asleep since. Of course that was only 2 1/2 hours ago so we'll see how long it lasts.
I think he's also about to get a new tooth or teeth because he keeps gnawing on my fingers and pulling on his ear. So maybe that's a partial cause of him waking up so often but I've given him teething tablets and it doesn't seem to extend his sleeping length. I've looked at a couple books and gotten some advice from friends and family, I just need to stick to it and let him cry it out I guess. But before he finally sleeps through the night on his own, I may end up bald from pulling my hair out in frustration!

Things In Threes

I sure hope the old adage, things come in threes is true because it has been a rough couple of weeks for the wee one. First he got croup, which as I said before, is actually not too bad since it's the first time he's been sick. But then last Friday I was woken up to Chad running up the stairs and yelling for help. He had Tristan cradled in his arms, literally foaming at the mouth and covered in pink. Chad was wearing some pants that he hadn't worn in a while and they apparently had some Tylenol and Benadryl tablets in the pockets. A few must have fallen out and Tristan found them, and like every 8 month old, put them promptly in his mouth. Fortunately he started throwing up and that's why he was covered in pink. When Chad brought him up to me I dug around in his mouth and pulled out part of a Tylenol tablet. We of course called poison control and they said that he should be alright since it was only one tablet and just to watch him. He stayed acting normal so that was a crisis averted. And then today.... I gave Tristan some freeze dried strawberries and bananas a few days ago not realizing that he couldn't have them yet (yes, stupid mom moment) and a couple days later he had a little bit of a rash on his face. It still hadn't gone away and so I called the doctor's office to see if I could give him Benadryl and they asked me to bring him in just to document it and make sure that's what it was. It's a good thing we went in because he didn't actually have an allergic reaction, he has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. The other day we noticed that he kept playing with his tongue but thought it was just his new entertainment because he wasn't acting like he was sick or anything. Apparently he has quite a few sores/cankers in his mouth. Poor baby!!!! So now he's all doped up on Benadryl and Ibuprofen. Fingers crossed that this is it for a while!