My babies

My babies were born in March and February. That means that right now I am in complete denial about one of the birthdays and in full party planning mode for the other. I want to skip Tucker's birthday. He is still a baby. There is no way that he could possibly be 11+ months old. No way. Madeline, however, is turning 4 and this is sooo worth celebrating. 3 stunk. It was horrible. There were some highlights, a few, but overall 4 is approaching and I am thankful for it. With every day that she ages lately it seems that her attitude improves. She is becoming more agreeable and seems to be better equipped to understand that actions have consequences.

Poor Tucker. All of my friends with two and more kids told me that it would happen and it did...Tucker is no longer a squishy baby and I feel like I have completely neglected documenting his "babyhood." I've done an okay job because I have had this blog but there are a few funny things about Tucker that I need to write down. Things that I must remember.

His "Christmas ball." Madeline got an Uncle Sam squishy ball somewhere- maybe a freebie at a baseball game or something, I'm not sure. Anyway, there is a caricature of Uncle Sam on it but Madeline has always called it her Christmas ball because she has no idea who Uncle Sam is and she thinks it is Santa. Tucker loved this ball. He carried it with him everywhere from like 5 months to 8 months. He would go about his business and play around the house crawling and exploring but he would always have the Christmas ball in one hand. He liked to squeeze it and bite it.

His "pork chop." It is really a chicken leg and thigh but it's more fun to call it a pork chop. It is Madeline's plastic play food. For some reason Tucker loves the pork chop. Same type attachment to it as the Christmas ball. We got a lot of funny looks out and about with Tucker with this pork chop. We would pull it out when he would get fussy and it would immediately pacify him and calm him down. I don't know why. Hilarious.

He loves his blankie. He doesn't take pacifiers. He sucks his first two fingers on his left hand. When he is tired or a little unsure of his surroundings he sucks his fingers. His blankie is a little tag blankie made by a friend. It stunk so bad last week because he loves on it and slobbers it up every night. Tyler gave it to me to wash so I did it quickly because I knew he would need it at nap time to go to sleep. He hated it when I gave it to him clean. He wanted nothing to do with it. Now he has it stinky again and loves it. That is the first thing he does when you hand it to him- he buries his face in it and takes the deepest breath.

Madeline got Handy Manny tools for Christmas. She'll occasionally "fix" Tyler's recliner but mostly Tucker plays with the tools. He'll pick one and carry it around the house with him everywhere.

He says baby (buh-beeeee), hi, bye bye, and uh oh. His mouth takes the sweetest shape when he says uh oh. It is a really round pronounced "oh." Very deliberate. He uh ohs before he drops something. He gets away with so much more than Madeline did. It's that smile! He smiles at me when he knows he has done something "bad." So mischievous. He gives kisses and hugs upon request and is starting to blow kisses although he doesn't do the blowing part. He just makes the kissing noise when you ask him to. It is precious.

He loves to have his back rubbed. When he was smaller I could get him to go to sleep on his back if I would stand beside his bed and rub his head. I would run my fingers all over his little face and head for the longest time and he would just drift off. When he started turning over on his tummy to sleep I started rubbing his back. I still will sometimes although now he really gets himself to sleep easily. I do cherish putting him t o bed, though, because after he has his bottle he will rest his head on my shoulder and be perfectly still while I rub his back. It is the only time in the day when I still feel like he is a baby.

That's another thing. At exactly 12 months we started giving Madeline milk in her sippy cup. She was weaned off the bottle quickly. I don't feel so anxious to get Tucker off the bottle- he won't even hold it himself yet!

So, Tucker's birthday celebration will be held on Valentine's day. If you don't get an invite it is because I am in denial.