It's Finally Here!

We finally got a got picture of Tyler's first tooth! It started coming in last week and it is finally out enough that you can sometime catch a glimpse of it when Tyler is giggling.

1st Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Today was a beautiful day, so we decided to go to a local orchard to get Tyler outside. Tyler and I have both been cooped up all week with bad colds and are finally on the mend, so we certainly could use some time outside in the sunshine! When we got to the farm, there were hundreds and hundreds of people picking apples and the lines to purchase them were enormous! We opted to just walk around the orchard and then headed over to the area with arts and crafts, produce, and a kids area with pumpkins. We got some cute pictures of Tyler, but he really was quite serious the entire trip and I had to keep wiping his little crusty nose. We had a good time with him and came home with a homemade apple pie, some mums, and pumpkins. Now I am in the mood for Fall.

1st TOOTH!

Well, it's official, this week Tyler got his first tooth! Often times it's the bottom two teeth that come in, but not in Tyler's case. His upper front tooth has emerged! Eventually I will get a photo of it, but it's going to be tricky with it being an upper tooth. He knows there is something new there, because when he bites on us now, he really clenches down and is very proud of himself (oh goodness, hope we don't have a little biter here!)

Little Explorer

Very proud of himself after unraveling the toilet paper

Little gymnast doing a pull-up

Tyler's 9-Month Checkup

Before giving the stats for Tyler's 9-month checkup, let me note a milestone that happened this week. As you can see from the picture above, Tyler started pulling himself up the first landing of our steps last week. By week's end, he made the trek all the way to the very top all by himself as da-da followed from behind. Tyler was VERY proud of himself as he conquered the mountain-like obstacle and he peered back down the stairs.

Tyler is also becoming more and more vocal as he is understanding certain things we say to him. For example, when I ask him to get a book, his eyes get wide and he looks across the room at his basket of books. He will crawl over and tip the basket and start pulling out books, that of which he actually says the word "book" minus the "k" sound on the end.

His doctor appointment went well, another glowing report. He's a very proportional boy!

Height: 29" (grew 2 inches) 75% percentile
Weight: 21.5 pounds (gained about 3 pounds) 70th percentile
Head Circumference: 18 1/8th" 75th percentile

And the Winner Is...

Believe it or not--my parents actually paid to have someone at Friendly's write this on the cake...I think Friendly's should do better drug screening of their employees. :-)

The occasion for the cake was my recent election to the InfraGard Board or more specifically one of the two newly created Governor positions. InfraGard exits to facilitate the flow of information between the public and private sectors about threats to our nations infrastructure. For more information click here. Before the election I had to give a speech before 200 plus members at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia--I actually enjoyed being up on stage so it was fun. The position term is for two years so I am really looking forward to helping out as we now have over 850 members.
-Matt

August Events: Longwood Gardens

Also at the end of August, Tyler and I went to Longwood Gardens with a group of moms from church. It was truly the perfect day of weather to see the gardens!

August Events: Bella Visits

Toward the end of August, our friends Jess and Sam came for a visit. The husbands went to a baseball game and the girls + Tyler stayed at the house and visited. Bella is six weeks older than Tyler and it has been so much fun to watch her do new things and then see Tyler start doing those things a few weeks later.

My Other Baby

Our poor cat Elsa finds is quite difficult to get down-time with her ma-ma these days. While she loves having Tyler around, and loves rubbing up against him and watching him play, she takes every chance she can to run and snuggle up with me.

August Events: Adventures in Babysitting

Some friends of ours were able to get away for a few days on vacation, so we watched their daughter who is only 3 weeks older than Tyler. What a pair they were together! Tyler loved having a buddy around each day to play.

out for a walk...

It's amazing that even at 9 months of age, babies watch each other and mimic each other. There were even some bouts of jealousy when one was getting attention from us, and learning to share starts even this early in life!



Tyler appearing to be misbehaving, but really the poor boy was trying to be a big boy and stand up too... only thing is, his little friend's skirt wasn't sturdy enough to help him succeed!

August Events: Ma-Ma's birthday

Back in early August, we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Chiodi on my birthday weekend. We went to our friend's wedding on Saturday and Aunt Ann came up to the area to visit for the weekend too. She brought quite a treat with her to celebrate... lobster! yum-yum. We feasted on lobster Sunday afternoon, and after our meal, I was greeted with my very own princess cake, courtesy Matt's mom and her new-found love for a local bakery. It was quite tasty!