Inspector Gurglet

Lately, a lot of people I know have been having babies - mostly because the 10 or so other pregnant women I work with have all recently started to pop themselves. And since I create and send out the monthly electronic newsletter for my company's corporate services team, I get early dibs on seeing the photos of most of these new arrivals.

However, what it's really made me realize is just how quickly time goes by with a baby. I look at little Austin and can't help but think how cute and little he is. But, then when I see how much littler the newborns are in the pictures coming through my work email, Austin suddenly looks so much bigger (and he is, of course).

Yes, Austin is now just past 4 months old... although sometimes it still feels like he just joined us. And at just 4 months old, the changes we see in him are impressive.

They say you shouldn't compare your kids... but when they're this close in age, it's impossible not to. I'm not talking about debating if one is better than or smarter the other - there would be no winner since they're both our little angels and both so incredibly unique from each other... but looking at how differently they interact with the world as they age.

One of the biggest differences that I've noticed with Austin, from when Tyler was this little, is his attention to detail in the world around him. I guess you could say that Tyler's more a big-picture guy.... but Austin's more about the many little pieces making up that big picture.

When Tyler was a 4-month old, as much as tried to entice him, little toys and stuffed animals never really held his interest for long. And now, even though we tuck him in each night by putting a baby blanket in one of his arms and a stuffed monkey in the other, Tyler still could probably care less if one of those was missing for whatever reason.

Austin, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He's already found himself a "lovey". It's a cute little ladybug his grandmom gave him, which we appropriately just call "Ladybug". Austin doesn't just grasp Ladybug. He fiddles with Ladybug, snuggles Ladybug to his face, sucks on her nose, and gnaws on her antenna (unfortunately, gnawing on Ladybug's antenna is also something Max likes to do... which means that we're actually already onto Ladybug #2, with Ladybug #3 hidden away in a safe place in case of another antenna emergency).

But, it doesn't end with Ladybug. Austin also now pays very close attention to other things around him - tags on someone's shirt sleeve, designs on a T-shirt, a bib around his neck... He loves to tinker with stuff, move it around with his hands, investigate how it feels and how it moves. When holding a different toy the other day, a stuffed dog, he spent about 5 minutes just twiddling and focusing on the toys little ears.

Now, that's not to say that Tyler was never interested in these kind of things... just that I don't have a big recollection of him doing these sorts of investigations.

Difference #2 has to do with baby noises. Tyler loved to babble and laugh as a baby. He still does, in fact. Austin, on the other hand, has been more of a cryer until recently. Now, he too loves to laugh. But, a key thing we've noticed about Austin is the bevy of "baby noises" he actually makes. They say babies coo, gurgle, etc... we never noticed it with Tyler. But Austin really does coo and gurgle. He's also the inspiration for our "I wanna be a baby dinosaur" song - because, yes, he actually sounds exactly as you would imagine a baby dinosaur would sound. He just makes the absolute cutest baby noises you've ever heard! Tyler, on the other hand, seemed to have passed the baby noises pretty quickly, and if you've seen his very first YouTube video, you can see he moved right into giving full speeches in babble.

And the third main difference we've noticed centers around food. Tyler likes his food - especially anything sweet. In fact, for a toddler, he had a very hearty breakfast this morning of 2 sesame street cereal bars, a handful of teddy grahams, a banana, and one Pillsbury Cinnamon bun. (Okay - not the healthiest, I admit - but it was mommy's day to get up with the pipsqueaks and after battling a fun stomach bug for the past week, she was in no mood to put forth the effort needed to make egg and cheese burritos as she had originally been planning). But, as a baby starting on baby food, it took Tyler a little while to get started. His first feeding had him covered in sweet potatoes because he just couldn't get the concept of the spoon needing to make it in his mouth.

Austin, however, seems to have that part down pat. In trying to give him sweet potatoes for his first foray into baby food, and applesauce on his second, Austin showed that he not only understood the concept, but he was going to help you out by lunging for the spoon to get it in his mouth even faster. Unfortunately, this approach also leads to the ending of a baby whose face is covered in baby food. But, needless to say, he's big on the idea of moving beyond just bottled fluids. And if you had any doubts, the crying you hear when all the baby food is gone should help convince you otherwise.

So, those are the latest updates on how Austin's been changing... but here's a brief snippet into Tyler.

Tyler's now moved on to trying to feed the dogs, much as we feed Austin. The other day, he was caught red-handed trying to feed Loki water from his sippy cup after having laid a burp cloth across Loki's back. Interesting image... I was really sorry I didn't have my camera handy for that one - but by the time i grabbed the camera, Tyler had moved on.

He's also gotten more concerned about helping out his little brother. Upon hearing Austin cryig upstairs one day, Tyler went to Austin's swing, took out his brother's binky, and carried it all the way upstairs to his brother without putting it in his own mouth! Isn't he such a sweetie??

Anyway, that's all the news we have to share today. It feels like I've been typing forever, so I guess it's a pretty long post as well. So, if you're still reading, then thanks! And hopefully, we'll have more stories to share soon. I intended to add a bunch of pictures to this post too, but just realized how late it is - and since I have a really long work day ahead of me tomorrow, it looks like the pictures will have to wait... Maybe I can get them up later this week...