Tristan lately

* Suddenly, Tristan is refusing any food being fed to him. There are many reasons this could be: teething, developing sense of independence, confusion over different feeding styles over these past couple of weeks, a naturally variable appetite, et cetera. He’s drinking milk readily (even without complaining from his sippy cup today!), eating any cereal-based finger foods given to him but not much more, and still sleeping well.

* And speaking of sleeping well, we have been doing all sorts of crazy things to Tristan’s sleep schedule and he’s taking it all in stride so far. He’s successfully done one-nap and two-nap schedules without any disturbance in his overnight sleep so far. This does open up some new opportunities!

* He’s learned to shake his head “no” to decline food and he recognizes the words for mouth and eyes in print.

* We got him a leash/harness thingie with a backpack. I’m interested in seeing if he can be trained to walk alongside me rather than banished to the sling or stroller. He really wants to be walking, it seems. And if he decides otherwise, there’re other methods of baby transport.

* We got him his own little chair that he can get up from and sit down into, but he’s not entirely interested in using it yet.

* Very importantly, he behaved very well for a probably-teething toddler while we were all cooped up in an office today signing documents so that we can close on our new home!

The past few days

Tristan’s Mema and Aunt Angie stayed with us for a few days – they left this morning.

Together we all went to San Francisco to see the bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf – the touristy stuff. Normally, this is something we don’t dare try to do without careful planning out of the time, due to Tristan’s traditional two-nap schedule. However, Tristan takes a good hour or so per meal nowadays, so that already eats time like crazy. He took the experience like a trooper and made friends with his new stroller, where he spent most of the day, including enough nappage that he slept just fine through the night.

We also went to the Japanese Friendship Garden and the Municipal Rose Garden. At the Japanese garden, the park rangers took pity on the poor kids out in the stifling heat and turned on the sprinkler – Tristan LOVED it. While we were at the Rose Garden, we had to stash Tristan under some trees to keep him both from overheating and chasing roses. However, we took him out to Del Taco the same evening and he did very well.

We didn’t get to swim or do much of interest to babies specifically during their visit, but we all got to spend plenty of time together. Tristan enjoyed the company very much and was happy to play with everybody. I got some wonderful time off from caring for him full time the past couple of days, and it seems that we’ve found at least one grandparent who doesn’t run away screaming at his energy as a walker! (I know that Tristan can be overwhelming – after all, he overwhelms us often. 🙂

Mema was very kind and provided Tristan’s next wardrobe and pair of sneakers, as well as a professional-looking handmade blanket, and even some money on top of that. Aunt Angie brought an adorable outfit that will likely be one of Tristan’s only coordinated outfits when we want him to look put-together, as well as his first savings bond. Uncle AJ sent along with them several outfits and bibs that are offensively wonderful, as well as a handmade blanket in strikingly gorgeous shades of blue from Jamie. We appreciate all of the lovely gifts – thank you again. 🙂

One year checkup

On the 26th, we had the one-year checkup. Tristan is now 30.5″ tall and weighs 23lb 7oz. He got to stand on the big scale instead of having to lie down on a baby scale!

The doctor was in and out very quickly, pronouncing him just fine, even though he still had a little bit of a lingering cough from his second cold (the cold that James and I had about a week before Tristan caught it). Then, the fun part came – one-year-olds get a blood count and a lead test, so I got to bring Tristan to the lab and hold him while the vampires sucked from his arm. He was pretty damn hard to hold but he was in fine spirits by the time we were out in the waiting room – many of the folks still waiting in line for their bloodwork waved and paid attention to him. James also had some bloodwork at the same time done, so when his was done we parted ways (so James could get some dental work done) and I took Tristan to the vaccination clinic. He played with a couple of children who were a little bit older around the waiting room’s big kiddie entertainment center. We were called in and once again, I had to hold him down while he flailed through too many pokes, but he was fine once we were done.

Importantly, he’s doing very well!