Stuffed Animal Heaven

Tyler loves rolling around on his stuffed animals.

Vinny the Beaver appears to be Tyler's favorite stuffed animal. Go figure that he is the only stuffed animal Tyler has that seems to shed!

At the Playground

After a brief glimpse of fall, summer weather has returned and so we have been making the most of the warm, sunny days.

Our budding musician...

Tyler is drawn to water fountains and loves being held up high enough so he can drink from them. The big challenge is trying to make sure he does not douse the front of his shirt in water, which tends to happen on occasion. Given the option of his sippy cup, which I almost always have in tow, or the water fountain, Tyler will always go for the water fountain.

Clara's Build-a-Bear Birthday Party

Clara's Birthday

Yesterday Clara celebrated her 4th birthday with a Build-a-Bear Workshop. Tyler loved building a bear and hanging out with the big kids! Happy Birthday Clara! Click on above photo for album.

Which Book to Read Next?

Lately Tyler has mostly been wanting to read books about trucks or dogs. When we are out and about he points at all the big vehicles (trucks, buses, and construction vehicles) and says "Vroom! Vroom!" Tyler also gets excited when he sees dogs and today he said "Doggie!" for the first time when we drove by a woman walking her dog.

Head and Toes

Soggy Aggie

We were all pretty soaked by halftime of the Lady Aggies (#6) vs. University of Portland (#3) soccer game Friday night. Unfortunately the Aggie offsense didn't show up. The Lady Ags managed to keep the score to a respectable 0-1 loss. Tyler did pretty well considering he stayed up 2 hours past bedtime! It was unusually muggy out so we all opted to forgo the jacket hood. Most of our rain gear is for cold rain.

Hard at Work

I brought Tyler into the office Friday afternoon because I needed to stamp some plans. Luckily my recycle bin was pretty full and provided Tyler with a distraction. He seemed pretty comfortable roaming down the halls too but then got shy when I took him around to say hi to everyone.

Tyler doesn't need any help with the slide anymore and has even been going down the tall twisty slides all by himself. He's growing up too fast!

I don't want my photo taken in front of the fountain Mommy!

After Tyler calmed down from the fountain trauma, I tried to get his photo in front of some of the roses. He decided to sit down and cry instead so I abandoned all scenic photo attempts in exchange for lots of hugs.


Viola on the slide. Tyler can't climb ladders yet so he couldn't climb up to this slide.

Viola, Teresa, and Tyler

Oven Mitt

Tyler likes to get the oven mitt out of the kitchen drawer and play with it.

Check out the drool! Tyler's canine teeth on the bottom are coming in. Once those are in that just leaves the 2-year molars. Maybe the drool will stop for a while after the canines come in!

Dinner Conversation

As you can see from the video we only engage in sophisticated conversation and behavior at the Hurtado dinner table.

Shoe Fiend

Hmmm... do heels go with my football pajamas? Tyler decided quickly that my heels were too hard to walk in and so he rummaged through Michael's side of the closet until he found his favorite sandals to wear.

Expanding Vocabulary

Lately we are hearing Tyler say "I did it!" and "Vroom! Vroom!" frequently. And yesterday at daycare Tyler's teacher asked him who he was coloring a picture for and Tyler replied "Daddy!" As I have previously posted, Tyler says everything emphatically as if he uses exclamation points for all his punctuation. Tyler has also started trying to repeat words back to us after we say them and that is quite exciting! (Naturally I had to end this post with an exclamation point!)

Modern Toddler

You definitely can't break out the laptop in Tyler's presence and not expect him to want to look at it and/or tap at the keys!

Just Like Daddy

This morning we looked all over the house trying to find Tyler's shoes so we could go to the park. Eventually Michael decided to check our bedroom closet. Apparently Tyler had put his shoes with Daddy's shoes. As a mother, I think this is absolutely adorable. As an organization nut, I LOVE that Tyler understands that shoes go in the closet!

Softball Tournament

The annual softball tournament that my office softball team plays in was yesterday. Sadly we were not able to defend our championship and ultimately lost in an extra inning during our fifth game of the tournament. The team that beat us moved on to the championship game. We had a few really close games that were nailbiters and as always it was a fun day. Plus we had fabulous weather! After playing five games I am pretty sore today! Michael and Tyler came out to watch the action. Tyler mostly ran around, kicked and threw his soccer ball, collected softballs that were lying around, and spent some time on the playground.

Tyler did sit still for brief periods of time- mostly if it was time for a snack or a PB&J dinner. He did try out his new chair (left side of photo), but why sit in the little chair when the adult chair is available?

Bubbles

Tyler and the Amazing Technicolor Outfit

Can you tell that Tyler colored with markers at daycare today? I'm thinking he couldn't have gotten much color on the paper!

Coloring

Our budding artist exploring the crayon on construction paper medium

Exclamation Point

Everything Tyler says these days sounds like it ends with an exclamation point. He hasn't added many new words to his vocabulary lately other than "yummy". Tyler's current hit parade of phrases:

• Uh oh!
• Oh no!
• No! No! (most frequently No! Nooooooooooo!)
• Yummy! Yummy!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Beavers Baseball Game

Today was the Beavers next-to-last game at PGE Park before they leave Portland for good. : ( Tyler had fun at the game even though he didn't really watch the action on the field. Click on photo for entire album.

Video of Tyler, Bebe, Clara, and Viola in the bouncy house in the kids zone (it's hard to tell in the video but Tyler was grinning from ear to ear):

Gig 'em Aggies

Aggie Season Opener

Dane, Devin, Tyler, and Luke cheering on the Aggies. The Ags beat Stephen F. Austin today in the football season opener. Click on photo for entire album.

Truckin'

Giving Vinny a ride in the hauler truck

Peekaboo

Kitchen "Helper"

Tyler often likes to hang out in the kitchen while I make dinner, especially if Michael is not around to play with. Cooking has become an obstacle course because I have to watch where I step and I have to make sure Tyler is not trying to reach up to the stove or trying to grab things on the counter because he can just barely reach the ledge of the stove and counter. When Tyler is ready for some attention, he will stand between me and the counter and start pushing against my legs to get me away from the counter. He's so adorable!