he's got his rock moves

talan is a rock star. he has loved music from pretty much the time that he was born. he has made up all of his rock moves pretty much by himself, maybe with a little help from a few fireflight shows. and talan just doesn't have one dance move like most kids. he dances differently to different types of music. and he is always dead on.
when we are down in the basement, talan usually has to bring a pair of drumsticks with him just in case. and when we turn the music on, he typically runs for a hockey stick and uses it as his guitar.
talan's newest thing is that he will get his hockey stick, come over to me and say "rock, rock." until i turn on some music so that he can rock out.
i was able to record a few of his moves. it's rare to get a recording because he typically wants to be watching others in the camera. but on this day, the music really hit him and he had no idea the camera was even there.

21 months

today talan is 21 months old. 21 months sounds way better than 20 months. just think how it will sound when i call him 53 months. that'll be fun.
i feel like talan has done A LOT this month and i'm not even sure that i'll be able to begin to capture it in this blog.
talan can now get past child proof items such as the door knob locks. i have heard there are better ones out there, so i may have to look into them. he doesn't usually bother most doors, like hayden's which is a bit surprising because he LOVES to go in hayden's room. but he does now go into the bathroom anytime he feels like. so not only can he get past the door knob child proofing, he can also get past the cabinet door child proofing as well. he just very casually opens the cabinet door as far as the lock allows, the sticks his finger in, presses down, and bam, the cabinet door is open. his favorite thing to do once in the bathroom and then once in the cabinet is to open the drawer where all of the bathtub toys are kept, empty the ENTIRE drawer out by dumping each toy, one by one, into the bathtub and then climbing into the tub himself. one day he even turned a water knob right before i came in to get him and it got his blanket, which he of course had with him, a bit wet. "uh oh. waa-waa" he told me. yeah. thanks, talan.
if he's not playing in the tub then he's climbing up on the sink trying to reach his toothbrush. he loves to brush his teeth. his new favorite thing is to suck the water off of it and hand it back to you to "refill" it over and over again.
talan's favorite christmas gifts this year were music related. a yo gabba gabba guitar that hayden got for him, some drums for the bathtub, a little thomas drum, and a tambourine that justica got him which he broke in literally the first 2 minutes he had it. but he sure did love it for those 2 minutes. he has little to no attention span, but with a toy like these, he might actually play with it for over 2 minutes. he has about 4 different sets of drumsticks and he carries them around with him all day long. he usually is very good about not banging on things that he shouldn't be banging on, although we have had our moments. he actually calls his drumsticks "bang."
talan is no dummy and it appears he really does not like the cold weather. even if it's not THAT cold out and i bring him out to the car with no hat on, he covers up his face or ears and makes a horrible face and starts breathing all funny. i don't blame him one bit.
talan is a total daredevil and pain really doesn't seem to bother him most of the time. he loves to skateboard in the basement and actually does quite well at it. he loves to climb on anything he can. he jumps and spins and does kicks. and apparently while we were out on december 28th, jessica and justin witnessed him do 2 perfect somersaults...his very first ones. since then he does them almost every day.
he has recently started wanting to go up and down the stairs by walking instead of crawling. he usually will do the first two that way and then turn around to crawl realizing it's much faster that way. if someone is there though, he'll take your hand instead so he can get down faster but still by his preferred method.
i have been keeping peanut butter away from talan for as long as possible as the last thing i want is for him to have a peanut allergy. months and months ago dave did give him some peanut related food and he's gotten his hands on several other things from hayden's plate so i wasn't too concerned, just tried to keep it away the best i could. one day, jessica and justin took talan and hayden for the afternoon and apparently justin fed talan some of his peanut butter fudge. they didn't tell me for several days thinking i'd be upset. on christmas eve, talan reached right up on the counter to the plate of peanut butter fudge, grabbed a piece and ate the whole thing. he LOVED it. since then we have gone to "the peanut restaurant" as hayden calls logan's because you throw your peanut shells on the floor, and i realized there is no reason to keep it from him anymore. so he ate peanut after peanut. his new favorite food is the orange peanut butter crackers. we'll just keep hoping that in a few years he doesn't suddenly become allergic.
talan is a fairly good eater most days. he has been known to eat more dinosaur chicken nuggets than hayden. i know that's not saying too much, but he's eaten 5 before. he also loves apples. he still would rather eat on the go, however. if he's sitting to eat, he'll take a bite or two before he starts saying "all done" which actually does sound just like "all done" he's finally added the n to the done. i usually can get him to sit a bit longer to eat some more. but he would be perfectly content to just keep walking back to his plate and grabbing something to eat for the rest of the day than to sit and eat a whole meal at the table. he is also a food grabber. just last nite he went into the kitchen when nobody was looking and ate the rest of hayden's cupcake that was sitting on the table.
we are already into january and talan hasn't had a single ear infection yet this winter! i actually just set up his surgery appointment to have tubes put in and also to have the cyst removed on his nose at the same time. he will be going in to the southfield providence hospital on friday, february 27th early in the morning to have those things finally taken care of. figure after those surgeries are done, our super high deductible will be met for the year! which will mean frequent visits to the dr. for any little thing!!!
his bedtime continues to be between 7 and 8 with nap time at 1 lasting until 3:30 or 4. although we had a streak of days where he never did take a nap at all. those days were definitely 7pm bedtime days! he goes to bed really easily still and doesn't usually wake up at nite. he has been sleeping in a bit more recently and gets up anytime from 7:30-8:30. he used to be a huge grouch when he would get up but lately he's been much more pleasant (unless you wake him up!). he'll sit in his crib and point up at pictures saying "dada. mama. haen" then he'll point to his blanket until i say "blanket" he'll grab his stuff pooh bear and say "pooh!" and immediately start saying and signing "milk" until we get him up and into this kitchen.
talan loves playing with trains, just like hayden always has. instead of making the "f" sound he now says "choo choo" perfectly.
he actually has come pretty far this past month with his speech. he is trying to say a lot more than he ever has and he is becoming much easier to understand with certain words. he says dada, mama, and has even said daddy and mommy a couple of times. hayden is still haen and justin is some weird noise that comes from his throat. the other day, mom came over to watch him for a bit and he ran to her and said something that was grandma. the ma was on the end but i missed the first part. he said it again a day or two later. he also says papa. when he was over at their house the last time, he went running in and said "papa!" and apparently he said it so well, dad thought it was hayden.
he recently started saying "hi" and it is one of the cutest things you will ever hear. he is typically a really loud child, but he'll just wave his hand and in the sweetest, softest voice say "hi. hi. hi." over and over again. he has also said bye several times, but not nearly as often as hi.
he also says "bity" for binky and has been pretty good about not having it except for at bedtime. there are times we forget and times that he finds one, but for the most part i'm trying to keep them away until he is put in his crib. they are always on hand when we go out in public though. just so darn handy to shut him up!
his temper is even stronger now and his favorite word is "no!" it really is SO cute when he says it because he puts this funny little accent on it and he runs away from you while he's yelling it. of course there are plenty of times it stops being cute and funny, but for the most part we have to try to keep the laughing in. he will grab something he's not supposed to have and when we go to take it from him, he RUNS from us and hides somewhere that we have a hard time reaching him in. the whole time yelling "no! no! no!" ahhh, the terrible two's strike early!
recently whenever we go to a store, if i turn my back for a second or walk over to get something to put in the cart, he'll sit in the cart and YELL "MAMA! MAMA!" the whole time. one old lady told me the other day "well, he'll never get lost!" he keeps the store entertained, that's for sure.
he loves to ride on his big trucks in the basement and says "beep beep" the whole time. he still loves to make messes, especially in the basement where he takes out every toy in about 5 minutes. he loves watching fireflight on our tivo...we typically watch it over 3 times a day. he loves to rock out with his guitar showing moves that he surely picked up from fireflight shows. he loves throwing and catching balls and is very good at it. he says "baball" for football anytime he sees a football or whenever it's on tv. he loves babies and points them out all of the time. he still has a crazy infatuation with justin and will run and lay in his arms for minutes on end and he won't look at or talk to anybody else while he's in justin's arms. he loves going "bye bye" and is very easy to get dressed because of it, but when we're out he typically doesn't really want to be out. i think it's strictly for the snacks he gets while in his stroller. he loves suckers and has become a much less messy with them. he loves to hold our hands at dinner before we pray. he typically loves playing with and chasing hayden. he loves using a fork to eat but is still horrible with a spoon. many days he loves to sit in your lap and have you read books to him. he loves "pips" or what we call chips. he recently developed a love for the baby einstein movies. he loves to point and say things as if he is counting, but most of it sounds just like "8" or other nonsense. when you ask him something, you used to say a VERY energetic "YEAH!" recently it has turned into a "yup!
he hates leaving socks or slippers on. he hates being told no. he still hates sitting still. he hates having his haircut and most recently it became a two day event. he hates when i walk out the door, but he typically gets over it pretty quickly.
he really knows how to keep a person on their toes, but most days we still do far more laughing with him than not. he is hilarious and knows just what to do at just what time to make someone laugh. his facial expressions are amazing and i wish we were able to take pictures of every single one so we don't ever forget them.
we love you so much, talan! can't wait to see what you get into next month!!!! happy 21 months!

20 months

why yes, that is the best laying down picture i got.
talan turned 20 months old today. and i wondered, how much longer am i going to do this every month post?! probably until he's two and then maybe every 6 months...or something like that. or maybe i'll continue....123 months...that could be fun.
talan is continuing to improve upon the art of the tornado. he loves to make a mess. leave him in a room for about 2 minutes and every toy, and non toy, will be spread across the entire floor. i have cleaned out the basement at least two times now getting rid of things that don't seem to get played with but still make a huge mess. there is still plenty for him to find to tear apart though.
i was scared to death to put up the christmas tree this year. but surprisingly he hasn't really bothered with it....too much. mom gave him a drum set ornament this year and he always looks up at it and says "bang bang" because once we let him drum on it with a pen. i came home the other nite to find that he did break one ornament and was playing with several others. but it's nothing like i thought it would be. thankfully!
i started wrapping presents the other evening and last nite wrapped some toys for my bff's children. since we will be celebrating christmas with them next friday, i decided to leave those presents under the tree. while putting them under there i thought about talan. then decided he really hasn't opened too many presents in his lifetime and at thanksgiving he couldn't have cared less to open up his ornament so i figured i'd be safe. well....about 15 minutes ago i went upstairs to find he had completely unwrapped one of the gifts. i mean completely. all of the paper was off. i thought he tried opening the others, but he didn't. just the one.
talan had a fever a couple of weeks ago but no other real symptoms with it. after a couple of days the fever was gone but he remained incredibly whiny and clingy. i decided to bring him in to the dr. to make sure it wasn't an ear infection since thanksgiving was just 2 days away. they looked in his ears and said they were all clear (to the shock of me and the dr.) and then they started to look in his mouth. right then i remembered that three weeks earlier i had strep so i mentioned it to the dr. at that point she just decided to take a strep culture just to be safe but she really didn't think he had it. 5 minutes later the test came back positive. the dr. said he shouldn't have gotten it so long after i had it...it should have been about 3 days later. but the test showed a weak positive meaning he was JUST getting it. leave it to talan. but thankfully i did bring him in so he wasn't contagious on thanksgiving! and nobody else in the family has gotten it.
talan has seemed to lose his appetite lately and isn't eating very well at all. he rarely eats a real breakfast. he usually just chooses to drink his milk and walk around eating fruit loop cereal straws. although i have gotten him to sit and eat some oatmeal a few times. for a couple of days he was on a grilled cheese kick for lunch. but just a couple of days. most of the time he'll eat some cheese, maybe some crackers and some turkey. occasionally he'll eat some apple, but many times he chews it and then spits it out. that's fun. he used to have no problem eating chicken with us at dinner but he doesn't seem to eat very much of that anymore either. he will usually eat chicken nuggets though. and he LOVES tomatoes. loves them.
he still wakes up around 7am, although the past week or so he's been getting up later. one morning i walked hayden to the bus stop at 8:45 and he still wasn't up. or if he was, he wasn't yelling to get out yet. he still takes a good nap from about 1-3 or 3:30 and then goes to bed between 7 and 8. some nites you think he should be tired and we'll put him in his crib and he'll just cry. and he won't stop crying. many of those evenings i'll take him out, let him play for awhile and then put him back in and he goes right down. so he's pretty good about letting us know when he really does want to sleep.
talan is quite the independent toddler, most of the time. he knows what he wants and he does it, no matter what. if he doesn't get to do it, he screams. and screams loud. he has perfected the tantrum. this calm, happy baby has turned into a raging tantrum toddler. he fits in perfectly in this house now.
dave told me a story the other week about talan harassing hayden. apparently they were all in the basement and talan had a ball in his hand (which he can hold with one hand because his hands are so freakin' big) which he would act like he was going to throw but just hold it right in hayden's face. hayden would yell "don't throw that at me!!!" and talan would do it again. and again. and again. dave finally let hayden in on the fact that talan was not going to throw the ball, he was just messing with him. and the thing is, i don't even know that talan learned that from hayden.
talan loves to go bye bye. at least for a little while. many times while we're out he lets it be known that he is ready to go...but the act of getting ready to go bye bye is usually a breeze with him cuz he's excited to go somewhere. so he'll happily sit and let us put on his socks and shoes and coat and hat. the other evening we were getting ready to go to dinner for dave's birthday. i went and picked out a pair of shoes for talan (the wide sized ones as they are the easiest to get on those logs of his) but he picked up a different brown shoe and handed it to me. i thanked him and told him i already had shoes so i put the brown one away. he then threw one of his fits, pulled the basket back out, found both brown shoes and handed them to me still yelling. i decided not to fight it so i put the shoes i already had away and said ok, let's go put them on. he then looked in the basket and at the shoes in my hand to make sure i didn't pull the 'ol switch-a-roo on him and that he would, in fact, be going to dinner in the brown corduroy shoes he had picked out. 20 months old and he's telling me what he wants to wear. hayden still doesn't do that...usually.
he continues to try talking more and more. most of which most outsiders wouldn't understand...most of which we can understand most of the time. he says "star" and was so funny after the tree was up and he came into the living room the first time and saw it. he just kept looking up saying "ooooo..dahhhr!" over and over. he now also LOVES elmo and says elmo perfectly. he also says dante, although he could be saying kitty, but i think it's dante. and he says something for shoe, but it pretty much sounds like what he says for train...it's not really even a word, he just makes this sound from his throat. he finally has started saying mama again. when he sees a picture of dave he'll say "there's dada" but it doesn't come out quite as clearly as that. and of course he always says "bang" as his favorite toy is still drumsticks. he says "all done" pretty clearly now as well and still makes tons of "oooo" "ahhhh" noises at all of the appropriate times which is hilarious. he says "pip" for chip which is probably my favorite. he also says "bibee" for binky. and he will say "cheese" when you take his picture or at lunchtime when he actually wants cheese.
his newest thing is skateboarding. last year hayden got one for his birthday. they typically used to just roll around on it, but recently hayden has been trying to stand on it. not sure if talan saw that or if he just decided to try it on his own, but he now will stand on the skateboard and walk off of it as it's moving under him. and he almost never falls. he has perfect balance. it's ridiculous how good he actually is on that skateboard.
he continues to love to dance. he loves watching thomas, yo gabba gabba and the imagination movers. he still loves his baths but hates having his hair washed. he loves playing in the basement. he loves playing on his pretend computer, especially when someone else is playing on theirs...but he'd rather the real deal. he loves music. he loves messes. he loves going outside and wants to get "down" no matter what the weather is. he loves going to target and seeing the "balls" outside and saying "ball" over and over again. he loves his binky and blanket although i know it's about time we start only allowing the binky in the crib only....but it's just so convenient to shut him up! he loves taking all of the movies out upstairs which i believe i hear him doing right this second. he loves taking the cushions off of the couch. he loves picking up the phone and pretending his talking and laughing with someone...but he won't say a word if someone is actually on the other end. he loves jumping on our bed. he loves playing on hayden's leapster video game. he loves trying to walk up the stairs instead of crawl up them. he loves brushing his teeth. he LOVES to give five's and to dap up. he loves to give kisses with a real kissing sound effect. he loves justin. he loves to jump into people's arms. he loves my dad. he loves to take the batteries out of the dvd controller. he loves cell phones and recently called dennis varty where apparently hayden took the phone and started talking to him.
he hates sitting for anything, even a meal. he hates being told no. he still isn't a fan of cold wipes. he hates being put in his carseat when he's not ready...and he'll stiffen up so that you can't buckle him in. he refuses to talk on demand. or do any of his trick on demand for that matter. he hates root beer. on the few occasions that jessica has given him some he makes a horrible face and sticks out his tongue. he acts shy around people when he first sees them by turning his head away and rolling his eyes so he can't see them. there just aren't a ton of things that he hates. although there are plenty of times during the day that he throws a fit because he hates something...but that's mostly the hates being told no thing.
even with all of the screaming and tantrums, talan is still a very good and happy baby with a hilarious personality. he says things, walks a certain way, or makes certain faces at the exact moment he should in a situation. he really is a funny kid. he keeps us moving all day long and he makes our house nosier than it was before....and it was plenty noisy before.
i'm so excited for this christmas and to watch him take it all in. i have a feeling we won't get a very good santa picture this year, but it will be a memorable one! speaking of pictures...i'll have to take on talan and the bear pictures after nap.
happy 20 months, baby talan! we love you!

talan's november 24, 2008

we've had a pretty slow month this month (slow from activities at least) which explains the lack of blogs on all three pages. but we had a full october and december will be a big one too, so stay tuned.
i took the camera out yesterday as i haven't taken many pictures this month and more or less captured talan's day. so here it is.

he pretended to paint:

he sometimes gets annoyed by his clothes and starts trying to take them, and his diaper, off. he took his pants off and then did this with his shirt. it was left this way the rest of the evening:
he modeled the newest look in paris:
he danced around:

he looked at hayden like he was crazy because he took his shirt all the way off:
he snuggled with daddy for a couple of seconds:
he had a dude's picture taken:

he gave daddy smooches with his new and improved kiss featuring a kissing sound:


he gave himself a pedicure:


this was just a funny one so i had to put it in:
he ate an apple that he stole out of hayden's backpack:



.

one more bite

the other nite we had spaghetti for dinner. talan did a fairly good job of eating, or at least making a mess of himself to make it look like he had eaten, but tina thankfully stepped in to help him eat a bit more. he took a few bites but once hayden broke out the candy talan lost interest in the spaghetti and only wanted a sucker.
we then spent about 5 minutes trying to get talan to take just one more bite before he could have the sucker. at one point some of the spaghetti made it in to his mouth but he then immediately spit it out as if we were feeding him liver. the game went on. showing him the sucker, telling him to take one more bite and him screaming. even hayden was there telling him "come on talan! you just have to take one more bite! it's easy! we're not teasing you, you can have the sucker if you take one more bite." yeah, hayden is one to talk!
eventually a bit more spaghetti wound up in talan's mouth and as he tasted it, it was as if he finally realized....ohhhhh, THIS is what they want me to eat. yeah, i like this. he then opened his mouth and took the last bite and then was given his sucker.
thanks for all the hard work and patience, tina!


he can be quite dramatic:

a visual aid:

finally:
the prize at the end of the spaghetti:

19 months

baby talan turned 19 months old today. i really feel like i just wrote his 18 month blog and i don't have much to say this time around, even though he's ever changing.
talan has pretty much lost his appetite. he usually does not like to eat at all first thing in the morning. just likes to have his milk and roam around for awhile. then when he does want something to eat for breakfast, he doesn't want to sit and eat it. he'll just grab a bowl and box of cereal and hand them to me. i'll pour it and he'll walk me (with the bowl) out to the living room where he will then eat, and spill, until i put it all away not able to take one more crumby mess. the other morning i made myself some oatmeal and figured i'd see if he wanted some too. turns out he did. and he wanted more this morning. he was actually quite pleasant sitting in his chair with hayden while eating his cold cereal (the crunch berries only from the generic captain crunch cereal) and oatmeal.
lunchtime usually doesn't go much better. there are some days he'll eat an entire jr. lunchable which consists of mini ritz crackers, little chunks of turkey and small strips of cheese. but he much prefers throwing it across the kitchen and crumbling the crackers into his lap. of course the second he gets down from the table he wants to eat something in the living room. doesn't ever like to sit, this one.
dinner time is the same. he'll eat a very tiny bit and then shake his hands, kind of the way you should to say "all done" in sign language and also say "aaa duuuuuu" so well that i think even an outsider would understand him.
he loves to use a fork. if you can't get him to eat something, but then stab it with a fork, he'll typically start eating again. i've slowly tried letting him use a spoon, but he's not so good at it and he would rather a fork anyway. so he might be 15 before he is able to use a spoon. oh well, he leaves way too many other messes for me to clean up, i don't need another one.
another thing about mealtime is that we moved his highchair back down to the basement and he is now sitting strictly in his booster seat. mostly because our kitchen is WAY too small and the highchair was just always in the way. but he seems to enjoy being at the actual table with the rest of us instead of sitting behind us all the time. we usually like it too. usually.
i am convinced that talan permanently lost the word "mama" when he learned the word "dada". he does, however, know exactly who "mama" is now. when asked to point people out he knows who mama, dada, hayden, tina, justin, jessica, papa, grandma, jenn and rainah are (don...i don't think we even have a picture of you! new family pictures need to happen soon!). he says "dada" often and perfectly clearly. in fact, anytime his binky is in his mouth he removes it in order to say it that much better. and lately, anytime hayden enters a room talan will run over to him, pointing, saying "hhhhaaaa ennnnn" in case we forgot.
he knows a lot of animal noises now and i can't ever talk about having chicken for dinner without hearing a "bach bach" behind me. he moos, meows, woofs, growls, peeps, tweets, scratches his arms and makes some kind of high pitched monkey sound, lifts his arm above his head and somewhat trumpets like an elephant, claps his hands and barks like a seal, chomps and makes a biting sound for a shark, and opens and closes his mouth to be a fish.
i have noticed that when we start to sing the abc's he sounds as if he is singing along. and he has become quite animated when he picks up an old cell phone and runs around the house jabbering away to whoever is on it...usually dada, but many times papa. i usually don't dare say it's justin as he will then run to the window looking for him and calling his name.
his separation anxiety has gotten a little worse, but he always seems to calm down once we leave. we haven't been called out of church yet, but they have had to take him out of the nursery and walk him around at times. he now goes not only on sunday's but 2 thursdays a month as well when i got to mops...so i'm hoping that will help him out a little. he has even cried when i've left him with mom before, which never used to happen. the other day mom came over to watch him while i went to the dr. and when she came in the house he just sat in my lap and wouldn't even look at her. he does that with most people that come to the house and i think it's because he thinks i'm going to leave him. once he realizes i'm staying and so are they, he opens right up.
talan is LOUD. he makes himself known all day long. his temper has gotten worse and i'm hoping it's strictly a "terrible two's" kind of thing and not something that continues the rest of his life. he does still tend to get over things quicker than what hayden did/does, but not as quickly as what he used to. he throws himself anytime he hears "no" or you don't do something quick enough. i honestly can't believe he hasn't started bleeding from his head yet as he's banged it MANY times by throwing himself down.
dave recently started putting him in his crib if he starts screaming about something. today it happened two or three times. shortly after getting out of his crib he started to throw another fit. he threw himself down and started to scream. i asked if he wanted to go back to his crib and suddenly he stopped screaming. he continued laying there all dramatic like but never did scream again. ahhh, maybe this will work!
he continues to LOVE music and dancing and drumming. today while listening to a song he purposely drummed along directly on the beat 4 times in a row. dave and i just looked at each other and said....that really is totally impressive. this kid is gonna make us rich someday. he's USUALLY pretty good about not beating on things he shouldn't with his drumsticks so i let him run around the house with them. most think it's not the best idea in the world but then they don't have to live with his screaming when i take them away, do they?!
he loves the show yo gabba gabba and dances along with all of the kids. there is one song where they sing "wiggle wiggle wiggle go! wiggle wiggle wiggle go!" and then they sing "hold still" he wiggles all around and then will freeze when they sing hold still. it's hilarious. one day i'll be smart enough to get it on tape.
he continues to go to bed around 7 at nite, wakes up at 7am...usually a little earlier and takes a nap at 1, waking up around 3:30 or so. there have been many mornings where it looks like he really misses his morning nap....and so do i!
he likes to be read to. for a bit at least. but will turn the page whenever he is ready, not necessarily when it's time, and that's annoying. his favorite book is a little tool book and a my friends tigger and pooh book about the seasons. he also still loves to get out the wheels on the bus book and this book with a bee in it. the book that because we taught him a bee goes "bzzzz sting!" now that we try to get him to repeat letters, he says "a" and then gets stuck on "b" because instead of saying it he stings himself.
hayden can really bug the crap out of talan, but talan certainly knows how to push hayden's buttons as well. apparently the other day while in the basement talan was palming a ball with one hand (he has giant hands, remember) he would fake throw it right at hayden's face. and he kept doing this. acting like he was going to throw it. apparently this really got to hayden. i wish i could have seen it!
they actually can play together really well and it's so much fun to watch them together. first thing in the morning hayden always goes over to him and says "awwww, baby talan. hi baby!" while he rubs his head gently. they love to play chase together and hide and seek. they also love dancing and throwing themselves onto the couches together. and hayden can make talan laugh like nobody's business. everyday when hayden is coming home from school, talan runs to the door or window yelling hayden's name all excited.
talan loves to play with his shape sorter but doesn't have a lot of patience with it after the first round. he loves holding onto the football while in daddy's car and now the soccer ball while in mommy's car. he loves to "brush" his teeth. he loves coming downstairs to "play" but really it's just making a bigger mess. he loves to give people high fives and daps. in fact, while at old navy, he insisted that i take the cart close enough to every half bodied mannequin so that he could give their hands five. he says "cheese" when you take his picture. he loves to pretend talk on the phone, but if someone really is on the other end he won't say a word. he loves suckers....i hate them. he loves to jump. he loves getting up on our bed and trying to do all of the same jumps and flips that hayden does. he loves to take all of the pieces of a puzzle out but doesn't want anything to do with putting them away. he will now help put most of his other toys away when you tell him to. he loves trains. he loves balls. he loves working out with me and my workout tape by punching and kicking in the air. he loves to make a mess. he loves to throw things. he loves to play with my hairbrush while he's on my bed. he loves to turn hayden's leapster video game on and off and trys to act like he knows how to play it. he loves to type on computers. he loves putting his socks and shoes on but hates leaving his socks on once the shoes are off. he has recently really started loving tv...tivo in particular. and he loves standing and sticking his belly out.
talan continues to hate sitting still. he hates cold baby wipes. he hates having water dumped over his head in the bath tub. he hates sharing. he hates being told no.....especially by hayden. he hates waiting. he hates leaving somewhere when he's not ready to go and will stiffen up so you can't get him in his carseat. i've had to wait it out before in a target parking lot. he usually hates cooperating. he hates having to eat a normal meal while sitting.
while talan has become a much more difficult toddler than we ever would have thought he would, he is still a very sweet and happy baby. he has a great sense of humor and he seriously makes us laugh ever other minute. we had a rough day with him, but unfortunately he's getting a cold...hopefully that's all it is seeing as though i just got over strep throat. it's that time of year....outside right now our cars have a layer of snow on them....no joke.
talan continues to grow and change every day. which makes me both happy and sad. he constantly has us on our toes and there is usually never a dull or quiet moment in this house when he is awake. we can't wait to see what this next month brings us.
we love you so much, talan cash. happy 19 months!

i figure an explanation for the pictures just isn't even necessary anymore. you all know he hates to sit still...enough said.

18 month check-up

yesterday i took talan to the dr. for his 18 month check-up. as soon as dr. newcombe walked in, she commented on how he had lost his baby look and looked all toddler now. i think i've had about 3 people say that to me in the last 2 weeks.
talan remembered the last time he was at the dr. with hayden and they were dancing around the room, so as soon as his clothes came off talan started spinning in circles and breakdancing on the floor. he must not have remembered too much else about the last visit because when dr. newcombe came in he didn't cry or get all clingy like he did the last time.
everything looks great with talan. which is possibly a first for him. i was SURE he was going to have another ear infection, but both ears looked great. she only heard a little bit of yuckiness in his chest which is simply due to the cough that returned because of a cold he recently had.
he only had to have 1 shot, which was his flu shot and he only cried for a few seconds. nothing too traumatic.
here are his stats:
he measured in at 33 inches which places him in the 70%. he weighed in at 24 pounds 13.2 oz which puts him in the 35%. and his head measured in at 19 inches which puts him in the 60%. big noggin.
had they measured his hands and feet i believe he would have been in the 160%.
at this point we don't need to go back in until talan is 2 years old. we are hoping to have the tubes put in his ears at the beginning of the year though, so we'll see how that goes.
on a totally different note, after trying to keep all things peanuts away from him until at least age two (i'm so paranoid about peanut allergies. it would be close to the end of the world if one of my children ever has one) i came upstairs yesterday to find him sitting on the couch eating one of hayden's peanut butter crackers. he also had a peanut shell in his mouth the other week. i'm sure we're safe....but i'm still holding out to make sure we keep it that way!

p.s. this picture was taken by justin cox. do you want good pictures? call him. he's good.

18 month pictures

this morning i took talan to have his 18 month pictures taken. we were the first people there and i had high hopes for talan.
as soon as i set him down, he started to cry. i think he thought i was going to leave him. guess he didn't recognize the place since he hadn't been there in six months.
after giving him some blocks to play with (which he just wanted to throw...but eventually would bang them on other props) he started to calm down a bit. it took a little work, but she got some really cute shots of him.
here they are:

18 months

first i must state for the record that both of these pictures were, in fact, taken today, this talan's 18 month birthday. we had a wardrobe change, but fear not, i am as anal as ever.
so this morning i tell talan we need to take his picture with his bear. so he goes running into his room to get his bear, runs back out to the living room, climbs up on the couch, lays himself down and starts wiggling all around with a silly smile on his face. easiest laying down picture i've taken since before he was mobile. sitting up? that was a different story. hence the wardrobe change.
every time i sat him up, he's just scoot back down to a laying position and start wiggling around again. i'd sit him up, he'd growl at me and then lay back down. after awhile i just gave up and decided we'd have to try again later. i only got 2 shots sitting up but that would have to do. heaven forbid i try another day when it wasn't actually his 18 month birthday!
talan has started trying to talk quite a bit more within the past few weeks...mostly the past few days actually. dave pointed out a few weeks ago that he talks with his mouth closed. he just makes noises that come from his throat to form his words. so they all end up sounding the same. shoe, sock, flag, tweet tweet, it's all the same noise that doesn't come across well when typing.
he continues to say "baaa" for ball and balloon, however just yesterday i realized he could say "bubble" perfectly clear. hayden and i even heard him say "purple" but that only happened once.
he now says "dada" all the time and quite excitedly whenever dave walks in the door. and he always calls for hayden (haaaennnn) whenever hayden goes off to school.
yesterday he started trying to say "heehaw" but it is just "hee hee" with the first hee being higher and the second hee being lower...just like if you said hee haw. but if you ask him what a donkey says, he first starts to bark. doggie and donkey sound a lot alike.
several weeks ago i commented out loud that i hadn't heard talan's horrible cough in so long i couldn't even remember the last time i did hear it. maybe a week and a half later he came down with a cold and the cough is now back. just in time for his 18 month check-up on monday. well, at least it was gone for a couple of months. i figure it's back to stay for the winter.
talan went through a big eating spell for awhile where he would eat 4 chicken nugget dinosaurs at a sitting. now he barely eats 1. things he used to eat he will now put in his mouth, make an awful face and spit it back out. oh how i hope it's a phase and that i don't have another hayden on my hands!
one thing he does still seem to eat a lot of are hot dogs. he ate 2 of them yesterday for dinner before hayden even ate his one. he also really likes the little carrot shreds that you find in bags of salad. thank goodness they actually sell bags of "matchstick carrots" cuz it was getting hard picking out enough of them from the salad to keep him satisfied.
he still really likes capt'n crunch crunch berries, but will only eat the berries. and he loves lucky charms but really only eats the marshmallows.
talan used to be the world's easiest kid to put to bed. all i would say is, "ready to go nite-nite?" and he would grab his blanket and binky and run himself into his room. i'd lay him in his crib and we wouldn't hear a sound from him until the morning. he did this both at nap and nite time. then he came down with that stupid cold and ever since, he lays in bed crying for awhile before finally falling asleep. it's probably more annoying now because he is 18 months and not a newborn. and because he used to go down so easily. now just listening to him scream in there is like nails no a chalkboard. several times i have been taken back to when hayden had colic. then i remind myself talan's will only last 1/2 hour TOPS not 4-6 hours straight. only then am i able to stop shaking him and gently lay him back down.
he continues to be the world's messiest baby. he can tear your entire house apart in 12 minutes flat. his favorite place in the house is the basement of course because that's where the most stuff is. he has zero attention span which leads to his mess making. hayden at least played with things for more than 2 minutes. not talan. the only thing he plays with for long extended periods of time are his drum sticks.
talan continues to LOVE to dance. anytime any music comes on he starts dancing away, sitting or standing, it doesn't matter. most nites we have a dance session where we turn on some cd's and let the boys dance around the living room while we stayed entertained. and talan doesn't just dance fast all the time. if it's a slow song, he'll gently sway to the music. i've been trying to get good footage of him dancing to the ellen show to send in, but of course he never does it when the camera is rolling. she'd love it though. i say she'd even hire him to just be at every show and dance.
i have come to realize after all of these months, that talan hates wipes. and i think he hates them because they are cold. he doesn't care if it's winter or summer, he just doesn't like having his butt wiped with a cold wipe. hayden could have cared less which is why it never it me talan had a problem with it. i just figured he didn't like being changed...which many times he doesn't, but i think the majority of the time he just doesn't want a cold pack wiped across his naked butt.
talan continues to love his big brother hayden. they play hide and seek and chase. they spin around the room together. they dance together. throw balls to each other. push each other. and drive each other crazy.
just this morning, talan was sitting on my lap after he had gotten up. he climbed down, walked over to hayden and leaned on him....which meant he was hugging him. he climbed back up into my lap and then did the same thing 2 more times.
talan also has recently taken up an interest in exercise. i have started doing my workout tapes in the living room right after the bus picks hayden up in the morning. talan now waits for it to come on and then starts saying "kick kick" (it doesn't come out quite so clear but there was no other way to type it) as he starts lifting one of his legs. he also loves to "punch" and jump up and down when they are doing jumping jacks. the rest of the tape is lost on him, but he gets plenty of exercise doing other things....like running in circles around me, hitting my butt when i'm doing my lunges and running back and forth trying to have me miss him while doing kicks.
talan continues to be a very active little boy. he loves to run and jump and never sit still. he loves to play up on our bed. he can't talk a lot but he knows what he wants. he shakes his head "yes" and now also "no" to help us figure it out. he loves pushing cars around and saying "beep beep." he loves opening the cd player and taking all of the cd's out and then putting them all back in to one slot. he loves to turn the music all the way up when i'm outside at the bus stop. he has recently really started getting into watching tv and movies and his favorite show is yo gabba gabba. he loves running and pretending to fall...but usually does it rather hard...he still thinks it's funny. just today when i said "you be careful, you almost bumped your head" he then went back to the headboard and purposely banged his head into it. he loves climbing down the basement stairs by himself now and will often sneak down when i don't even know it. the other day he slowly brought up cans of food one by one. he loves trains. he loves the beginning of thomas. he loves having his shoes put on. he loves baths. he loves playing with my hairbrushes.
he hates wipes. he hates to sit still. he hates being told no. he hates sitting for meals. he recently started hating going to bed. he hates keeping his socks on when his shoes are off. he hates having his hair washed.
we are headed to the dr. for his 18 month check-up on monday so we'll report back later with his stats. he is now mostly wearing size 18-24 month clothes. he has ginormous feet and wears a size 6.5 wide or extra wide. we are using up the last of his size 3 diapers as he is ready to be in size 4. he goes to bed anywhere from 7-8pm and wakes up around 7am. he still takes his afternoon nap from 1-3 or 4.
i honestly can't believe talan has been around for a year and a half. time has flown by, but we are now at my favorite age. he seems to learn and try new things every day. i can't wait to see what each new day brings but i'll miss each yesterday as i know how fast the time goes.
happy year and a half birthday, baby talan! we love you so much!

sharks don't cry!!!

it's just about halloween time again which means i've been checking out costume's for a month now. i found this shark costume for talan and OBVIOUSLY that's the costume i would pick! it just arrived today so i thought i'd try it on him.

he didn't seem to mind it so much here:

but started to mind it a little bit here:
and then he really minded it here:




he does have a cold so i'm hoping a little bit of this fit was due to that. although i do think most of it was the fact i put some weird awkward thing on him and then took pictures while he tried pulling it off and then started crying. hopefully when he realizes he just gets to walk for miles on october 31st, he won't even remember he's wearing a costume. it worked for hayden.