Coolest Gift Ever

I have to give props to the greatest friend in the world for giving me the greatest gift for Christmas.  I’m a sucker for all things Tuco, especially cool-looking artsy gifts that I can hang in my home and enjoy every day. She said she got it from someone on Etsy. I give you the Blue Tuco:

And to get a better look at it close up:

I love the look on his face, the look of his striped t-shirt, and the fact that it says “Tuco” on it instead of his real name. It almost feels like it’s poster for a band called Tuco whose show I might have gone to when I was cool and 23 years old.

My friend is not the only one who knew that a gift with Tuco’s face on it would be instantly loved. I had personalized M&Ms made with Tuco’s face on them for his grandparents for Christmas.  They were well received by Tuco’s Grandpa, Grandma, and Oma. I have a feeling these M&Ms won’t be eaten for a while.

Tuco’s New Toys

Sometimes, I feel like Tuco is bored. Winter will do that to people, even little babies. It was much better in the summer when we could go to the park to get a change of scenery and some fresh air.

Now that Tuco is a few months older, I will start taking him to classes in January. This will help keep both of us from getting bored. In the meantime, I’ve been trying to think up new things that he’ll find interesting. I thought about that video of a baby laughing at ripping paper, and I realized I had to get back to basics. You know, kick it old school.

I began by plagiarizing the ripping paper idea. I grabbed a pile of junk mail and started tearing. Not one laugh. But he was intrigued by the paper, so I let him have a Trader Joe’s ad. That bought me about 20 minutes of a contained, happy Tuco. All I had to do was sit nearby and not let him eat the paper. He was fully focused as he waved the paper around and opened and closed the booklet.

With the success of my junk mail experiment, I decided to kick it up a notch. I took a cardboard box and put Tuco in it. He was amazed and excited. No extra toys were necessary. He sat in that thing playing for a good half hour. You can get the gist of what he did during that time while watching the video below.

I find myself giving Tuco all kinds of non-toy items to play with, and he loves it. Is he crying in his high chair when I’m trying to get his meal ready? Have a measuring cup, Tuco. Is he crabby in his exersaucer though I need him to stay in it for a little while longer? Have a spatula, Tuco. Wait, no. Take the potato masher. You played with the spatula for a long time yesterday.

Tuco Meets Santa

We had a nice little outing to visit Santa Claus at our town’s Christmas walk. Tuco lasted a few seconds on Santa’s lap before bursting into tears. We lingered long enough to make sure we got a couple crying shots.  You know, to capture the spirit of Christmas.

To cleanse the Santa palate, we wheeled Tuco to the other end of the festivities where we took a picture of him in front of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. As you can see, Tuco was thrilled.

Tuco Is Not The Only Nickname Tuco Has Had

The other day, my husband and I were  reminiscing about the many nicknames Tuco has had in the short time he’s been with us. I am documenting them here, so we can remember these silly things forever. In the future, my husband and I will read this post and chuckle about a very special time in our lives.  When Tuco reads this post, it will give him an idea about what kind of people his parents really are.

The First Nickname: Sleeslack

It’s not a reference to the Sleestaks from The Land of the Lost; it’s a reference to the sleep sack Tuco wore when he first came home. For some reason, my husband came up with this name after wrapping Tuco in his sleep sack, and we started using it. At one point, I walked a days-old Tuco around the house, cradling him in my arms and pretending to know what I was doing. Eventually, we ended up by the piano where I played him a song that went “Sleeslack, slee-ee-ee slack, I love my little sleeslack.” I sang it to the tune of the Yankee Bean song Elaine sang on Seinfeld. I think this name lasted about a month.

Fartin’ Gary

This is the nickname I am a little embarrassed about using for Tuco. Mostly because we are supposed to be adult parents by now. It’s a reference from a Mr. Show skit that adults really shouldn’t find funny, but we laugh anyway when we watch it. I’m sure you can guess why we came up with this one. It still gets used from time to time. Sorry, Tuco.

Skeeter

Here we are again with another nickname we probably shouldn’t have bestowed upon a newborn baby. Here’s the story behind it: In Tuco’s first few weeks of life, his top lip would peel every 4-5 days. When it did, it peeled in big pieces from the bottom of his lip up, which left loose pieces of skin attached at the top of his lip. When this happened, it looked to us as if he had a bunch of crooked front teeth (See picture). This was another short-lived nickname since it didn’t work once Tuco’s lip stopped peeling.

Tuco

We all know how this name started, right? This is the nickname that stuck, but sometimes we make adjustments and invent other versions including Tookey (pronounced Two-key), Tooksberry Farms, Rookey Tookey Tembo (this evolved into just Tembo, which evolved into Tembie, a personal favorite of mine currently).

There you have it, the many nicknames of Tuco. Absurd as they are, these are our terms of endearment for our son. I’m not sure how we came to create so many–the only reason I can think of is a combination of our brains being exhausted and the fact that we love this kid so much. We can’t help but utter little pet names for him when we  look at his sweet face. I wonder if other parents over-nickname their child like this.