A bug playing chess in my ear

Tristan, who turned two in December, was rubbing his ear today and had the following conversation.

Tristan: "My ear hurts"
Maranda: "I am sorry it hurts, do you have an earache?"
Tristan: "Yeah" pause "There's a bug in my ear"
Maranda: "Oh my, a bug in your ear!"
Tristan: "Yeah, it's walking around!"
Maranda: "Walking around! That must really tickle!"
Tristan: "Yeah. It's playing pawns too" (pawns = chess)

Mimi

The past couple weeks Tristan has started calling Maranda "Mimi" instead of Mommy. Not all the time, and often when he is feeling silly. It is clearly an intentional nickname and he gets a little grin. We call the boys all sorts of nicknames (currently I call Tristan "Peanut" and Kieran "Butter") so it is very cute to see Tristan returning the favor.

Boys are now roomates!

Starting tonight the boys are now sharing a room, and Mommy and Daddy have their own room for the first time in 5 years!

Kieran loves his new "look-out" bed. Now the main task will be convincing him that things don't need to be continually launched off the upper bed from his cannons....

Tristan's 1st Mile

On a hike to Council Crest last week Tristan ran his first mile. He did a bouncy short legged sprint down the trail without stopping except when we forced him to get a water refill. Based on the mile markers he went 1.2 miles in a full toddler sprint, laughing on every 3rd or 4th step. Parents were exceedingly greatful for the exhausted nap that followed.

Tristan's New Assertiveness

Though Tristan has always been a very determined young lad, as he approaches his 2nd birthday we have noticed a marked change in his desire for independence. While this transition is natural and to be expected, nonetheless it caught us a little by surprise when our sweet boy started giving us strong feedback on what he would or would not do! Here is a picture back from the end of August where we first noticed this new element to his personality. We were leaving a water park where he had been playing with his friend Adah, when Tristan decided he did not need to hold our hand on the way back. Interestingly, he anticipated this request, because neither Maranda or I had asked him to hold our hand yet on the walk back. As we were walking I was puzzled by his arms clasped tightly around his body and a stern look on his face. When I finally asked him to hold my hand on the sidewalk to cross the street he vigorously shook his head and clenched his arms even tighter. Then it clicked what this odd behavior was all about (I hadn't been sure if he was cold or what!). We both are still laughing at this moment caught on camera!

I think it is amazing to see a young personality unfolding and a little person striving to individuate themselves. It really is a stunningly beautiful process when I can find the separation from the pressures of parenting to take it in!

Tristan Practicing Favorite Words

Very cute audio clip of 18 month old Tristan practicing some of his favorite words.

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Tristan - Day 476

Tristan is coming up on 16 months old and he is quite the fearless and energetic boy. He is also very, very determined. In fact, if I had to pick only two words to describe Tristan right now, I would choose fearless and determined. He is quite the climber and is on top of anything and everything he can pull himself up onto, which are increasingly high locations.

He LOVES to push things, especially the laundry basket. He will push the laundry basket up and down the hallway with glee. Almost anything that can be slid can end up taking a trip with a determined toddler leaning into one side. He is quite adept at maneuvering out of corners, replete with grunting and heavy breathing!

Tristan loves books these days and brings books to use constantly! Often he will walk up to me or Maranda with a book, turn around several steps away, back up and plop down holding the book up for us to read (which is followed by an insistent "uh uh uh" if we don't comply!). His favorite book has a picture of a butterfly on one page. Maranda showed him how to make a butterfly with your hands and every time he sees that page he gets a huge grin and clasps his hands together moving them in and out in wing motions.

Probably my favorite thing about Tristan is that he is a snuggler! His older brother was always hard to catch still, so extended snuggling sessions were sometimes hard to come by. Tristan loves to snuggle and since he was very small will lay his face against your neck or shoulder and press his little body in tight!

Tristan's First Words

Tristan has just started using his first words. In order of occurrence they are: Momma, Dad, Dog. Though granted, he seems to be more consistent right now on dog than Dad, I see where I rate... :)

Bull Run Mountain

Last weekend we took a hike up Bull Run mountain to check out the amazing fall color this year (cold snap really brought out the color!). The park is about 15 minutes from our house yet this was our first trip! It was a lot of fun, though we ended up with both boys in backpacks for most of the hike.

Who is Tristan?

What follows is basically a log of my perceptions of Tristan that I have been storing in my brain for a while. It is rather indulgent and intended to be a family record, so please skip if you would rather not read a parent blathering on about how great their kid is...

One of the greatest joys in my life has been getting to know my two boys as they have started to demonstrate their personalities and interests. As Tristan approaches eight months in age I have often intended to sit down and write this post, and just never seem to get to it. So I have finally gotten myself into the chair to try and capture what I have learned about this young human being who has entered our lives.

To begin with, apparent almost from his very first month, Tristan has been a very good natured and even tempered young man. We have learned to respond quickly to his cries because he rarely fusses without a very specific reason (of late this is often a certain almost four year old sitting on his head!). He seems surprisingly even keel and we definitely are grateful that his easy going nature makes life a little less hectic than it could be otherwise (and we feel for those who do not have this luxury!).

Tristan is a very happy little guy, he loves to laugh and smile and while break out in a fit of laughter anytime his brother makes silly faces or dances in front of him. He loves people and is surprisingly accepting of strangers, seeming content to be in most peoples arms (unless he hasn't had his quota of mommy for the day!). His gregarious nature is fun to watch, for example he discovered that he could look through the crack between the seats on the airplane coming back from Portland, so he eagerly "flirted" with a young woman sitting behind him for part of the flight.

This young man is determined. This seems to be a consistent theme in the Tennyson household, likely due to the Mother's genetic contribution. He started crawling somewhere toward the end of his six month, pulling himself by his arms since he couldn't figure out how to get his knees up (he still pretty much does a "military crawl"). When he encounters and obstacle he cannot easily overcome, he growls deep in his tummy and keeps pushing with his chubby legs until it is vanquished. He is not easily distracted from his goal, which bodes for some interesting parenting challenges in the future! :)

Tristan has surprising hand and foot dexterity, something I definitely attribute to his father's genetic contribution. He has continuously surprised us by doing things with this arms and legs that we didn't believe could be done at his age. For example, he started passing items between his hands when he was very young, weeks before we expected based on the timelines we had read.

Tristan loves daddy's brand of "tactile stimulation," or basically baby oriented horse play. He screams with delight when I "toss" him around the bed, roll gently on top of him, or put him in various MMA moves (mixed martial arts for those who are not avid fans). He definitely is a very "physical" young man. He loves to play with his brother and is mesmerized by all of the cool movements that he cannot yet reproduce. Even now at just shy of eight months he is clearly a huge fan of his big brother!

The Tristan "roar" has become quite famous in our household. When he gets excited he will often throw back his head and let out a "raaaarrrr." Often the various family members will roar back, eliciting more of the same.

Tristan loves food and has begun to forgo mommies milk in order to stuff down some more rice cereal, yogurt, mango, slightly chewed turkey bacon (his favorite), or anything else that is put in front of him. He has been so food focused that keeping him hydrated has been a bit of a challenge as of late. He has been growing like a little weed and is wearing clothes three months ahead of his age. Kieran was always very slender so it is quite interesting to have such a lusty young lad in the family! :)

Well, I think that paints at least a bit of a picture of the impressions I have formed over the course of Tristan's short stint with the Tennyson's thus far. I am sure he has many surprises in store for us as we move ahead, an adventure we eagerly await.

Memorial Day Weekend

This memorial day we went fishing....  Seems like we have been doing a lot of fishing lately!  It was a great trip, with Maranda outfishing me quite effortlessly.  We caught a total of 23 keeper size crappie, 8 bluegill, and 1 perch.  Kieran did a masterful job of fighting the perch, bluegill, and several crappie.  Maranda could be considered a show off after she hooked four crappie in under three minutes.  We were also accompanied by our friend Bruce from a church we have been joining fellowship with.  It was a fun time to swap tales and he kept the boys entertained while I ran to retrieve Maranda's frequent fish.

Here is Kieran proudly showing off our catch

A trophy bluegill

Our friend Bruce with Tristan

Miso Soup

We have just begun introducing Tristan to food, with a couple attempts at rice pudding that caused quit a grimace by the little man.  Last night while eating sushi take-out, I gave Tristan a taste of miso soup.  Instead of grimace he had an absorbed look on his face as he tasted the new flavor.  On the second attempt he grapped the spoon and lunged forward to intercept the advancing spoon.  We were both surprised that he liked it so much.  Maranda commented, "I can't believe he likes that better than rice cereal.  My immediate response was, "I too like Miso soup better than rice cereal!"  

Tristan Portraits at Four Months

Tristan is now four months old.  It is incredible how fast the time is flying by, he will be crawling before we turn around!  Here are a few shots I took of him this afternoon in our front yard.  He is quite the little poser!  :)

Photo shoot with peterbphoto

Pete of Peter B Photo brought his lovely wife to our house recently and spent some time shooting pictures of our boys. While my adhoc lighting setup proved to be less than exceptional, there were some nice shots of both boys and some ideas generated on how to improve my setup going forward.

Here are some of the best shots

Grandma Reading to Boys

Grandma Tennyson reading to the boys.

First Couple Minutes of Christmas Morning

Here is a video clip of the first couple minutes of Christmas morning showing Kieran discovering and then opening his stocking.




And here is Kieran unwrapping the "big" present, which he exclaims "I hope it is a rocket, I always wanted a rocket" during the clip.

Heading Home Outfit

Tristan's heading home outfit.



Flickr Album

Welcome Baby Tristan!

Tristan Riley Tennyson was born on 11/01 today, December 16th. He was 7 lbs, 13 oz and 21 inches long. We are so excited to have this little boy join our family! Maranda and the baby are doing fantastic, thankfully labor went fairly smoothly (if such a thing can be said!). Our midwife was fantastic, a wonderful experience to be sure!





Baby Tristan at just over three hours old. Family friend Deanna is holding him at the start of the video clip.




Video of Kieran "helping" the nurse to move baby Tristan from the birthing room to the recovery room.

Belly n Boy Shots

The nice thing about a delayed birth is I am finally getting around to getting all the photo shoots in! Here are my favorite "tummy shots" of Kieran and Maranda.

Expectant