1. Tobias has never been a good napper. It took him about 8 months to discover the concept of a long nap (meaning more then 45 minutes). We tried about every single technique you could think of the get him to take a nap. Finally, I guess, one day it just clicked. We now rock him for about 5 minutes and then lay him down. The only reason we rock him is to let him know we're there for him. If you just lay him down, he tends to freak out. Believe me. We spent 2 months letting him "cry-it-out" for every single nap. There were lots of days with no nap and more then an hour of solid crying...by both baby and mommy. But now he takes 2 naps a day. An hour to hour and a half nap in the morning and an hour and a half to two hour nap in the afternoon.
2. He has pretty much always been a good eater. I breastfeed him and then starting at 4 months, we started giving him baby cereal then slowly introduced solids. When he was really young, he liked to flail around while breastfeeding. Now he just gets distracted and tries to talk to me. But he's so adorable I can hardly get frustrated with him. He's always done an excellent job at eating solids. Has only refused two things: some mixed veggies combo and blueberries mixed with his oatmeal. But we are very thankful he's made the transition so well. And that he likes so many different things!
3. We cloth diaper and do disposables. We have 14 bumGenius diapers that we use and then wash in one cycle. While they are getting washed, we use the disposables, Target brand. And then we use disposables while we're out and about. I like using both. The cloth diapers are good for the environment and they are adorable. And the disposables are easy and flexible. Plus when we have people baby-sit, we don't have to worry about showing them how to use the sprayer with the cloth diapers.
4. At night, we put a much larger size of diaper on Tobias. We had a friend suggest this, that it would help him sleep through the night better and they were so right! He can pee to his hearts content and it pretty much will never fully fill up...at least right now. It is awesome. Definitely recommend this to other mommies!
5. Tobias is a pacifier guy. It helps him fall asleep and calm down. He's also not super dependent on them. We can take them away and he won't freak out. I totally chalk that up to his personality...not something we've done. At least on purpose. I know a lot of people don't like pacifiers...I figure they're easier to take away then a thumb :-)
6. He was born with a mole/freckle on his ankle. He now has three total. One under his armpit and another...somewhere else, I can't remember (and I'm typing this while he's napping...so not going to go check now). I love them. I have lots of moles/freckles and I think they are unique. Plus, I had a teacher when I was younger that called them "angel kisses". I like that.
7. Tobias didn't have a name for the first 2 days of his life. Going into the hospital, we had narrowed it down to three names. Once he was born, one got eliminated immediately. We knew it just didn't fit. We then spent the next two days alternating between the two names to see which one fit the best...and ended with Tobias James. We still absolutely love it and definitely think it was the best choice for him. We're saving the other two options for future kiddos which is why I'm not sharing them :-)
8. When Tobias was 10 days old, he slept seven hours consecutively at night...the next day was my birthday. Second best birthday present a new mommy could ask for. The first one was him.
9. He loves animals. He loves to pull their hair, pet them, follow them around, throw things at them...in a playful way. I'm so glad. Now we just need to work on him not pulling out Jasmine's hair and trying to eat it. Thankfully our dog doesn't mind. But that really isn't tasty.
10. I think Tobias has the largest hands of any baby I have ever met his age. When he was born, that was one of the first things our birthing nurse noticed. I like his big baby hands. Maybe he'll work with his hands. Or play sports. We'll see. He can do anything he wants when he grows up...well, almost anything :-)
11. Tobias now has five teeth. Three on the bottom and two on the top. His top two front teeth have a large gap between them and it is A-dorable! I love it. When he smiles or laughs, the gap in his teeth make it ten times better.
12. He loves taking baths. Loves to splash around and move his toys everywhere. And he loves to have water poured in front of him and try to move his hand through it. He does not like getting dried afterwards. Don't believe the picture below. It's deceiving.
13. We have had lots friends say that he looks like my dad. Or Trey mixed with my dad. Very interesting combination. I haven't decided who he looks likes yet. To me, he looks like Tobias, a cute combination of everybody. Except he definitely has Trey's eyes. I'm very thankful he has his daddy's eyes. I like them.
There's some fun facts about Tobias. And how we raise Tobias, the views we have, are just that. Our views. They are what work for us but we understand they might not work for everybody. We totally get that. And we're thankful that not everybody is the same or does the same thing. How boring would that be?
