Counting

Tyler has been learning to count at daycare. He seems to be very fond of the number 2!

Hanging Out with Calvin

After lots of playing, Tyler decided he was too tired for the semi-long walk back to the car, stopped in his tracks, and started to fuss. Lourdes asked Calvin if he could help Tyler out. Calvin sweetly took Tyler by the hand and started leading him along the sidewalk and miraculously Tyler followed. What precious little boys!

Zoo

Checking out the crocodile

Driving the Jeep in "Africa"

Riding the train

Cold rainy days (like today) are great for visiting the zoo because it is not very crowded. Plus, Tyler was excited to wear his rain boots! During today's visit we most enjoyed the sea lions, otters, giraffe, and a brightly colored lizard. We also got an eyeful of the swamp monkeys mating. Thankfully, Tyler didn't ask any questions! As much as Tyler loves trains, he seemed completely in shock that he was actually riding on one. He did excitedly talk about the train after our trip to the zoo and wanted to play with his train set this afternoon.

Little Shopper

On Friday afternoon Tyler and I popped into a grocery store we don’t normally shop at to pick up a few things. Tyler was very excited because they had kiddie shopping carts, which we do not have at our nearby Fred Meyer. You should have seen my little shopper in action. I had to keep a close eye on him because Tyler initially just started grabbing stuff off the shelves and putting them in his cart. Once I reined him in Tyler enjoyed putting things we actually needed into the cart and then handing them to me at the checkout.

Pump It Up

We ventured to Pump It Up (different than Pump It Up, Jr.) on Friday. The Junior version is better for toddlers but Jack was off for spring break and is much too old for the 3 and under playtime. Tyler and Viola still had fun hanging with the big kids.

This is the smaller slide. Viola (almost age 3) went down it many times. Tyler only went down once. He is not as fond of the wider slides. Tyler spent most of his time in one of the bouncy houses and had a blast jumping.

Jack, who is naturally quite a ham, loved the big slide. At one point Tyler decided to climb the ladder to the top of the big slide. It took him a while and caused a queue of big kids behind him (think of the cars lined up behind Clark W. Griswold in National Lampoon’s Vacation)! When Tyler got to the top he just sat in the middle and watched kid after kid go down the slide. Finally I had to climb up there and go down the slide with Tyler on my lap.

Dadus Technophilus Cargoshorticus

That is the new species classification that Shawn Bean coined in this month's Parenting magazine in regards to the modern dad. Funny- that sums up Michael perfectly!

The Wheels on the Bus...

...is Tyler's favorite song right now! He loves making the motion of the wheels going round and round. He also really likes the horn goes beep beep beep, the driver says move on back, and the babies say peekaboo.

1 Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

These days Tyler would probably stay in his pajamas all day if we let him. This morning he rearranged the pillows on the bed and started jumping among them to procrastinate getting dressed. The fact that he could watch himself in the mirrors of our sliding closet doors amused him even more. What a little ham!

Snow Misadventures

We have been planning to take Tyler snow tubing for about a month now. The first weekend we nixed the trip because Tyler had a cold, the next weekend Tyler and I were both recovering from a stomach bug, and last weekend it was raining at the lower elevations where all the tubing is. We finally made it out to Mt. Hood today.... BUT Tyler absolutely refused to wear his gloves and so we didn't even play in the snow! ; ( Tyler didn't really complain when we piled on all his other snow gear but for some reason he refused to wear his gloves. Even after being in the cold for about 10 minutes and seeing tons of other kids and adults wearing gloves did not convince him. We forced his gloves onto his hands and tightened them at the wrist but he just yanked them off. Eventually we put Tyler in the front passenger seat of the car and after he decided to stop throwing a tantrum he hopped in the driver's seat and pretended to drive. We spent almost an hour total trying to convince Tyler to wear his gloves. From inside the car he even kept pointing and saying "outside" and "play". So we eventually gave up, had an early lunch (Tyler perked up with some mac & cheese), and headed home. Toddlers can be so frustrating!!!!

Little Gymnast

Tyler has started to hang onto the bar at gym class and to swing like a monkey. He has tried previously but he used to just let go of the bar once the weight of his body pulled him downward. It seems like all the girls in the class picked this skill up weeks before the boys.

Tyler spent a good portion of bubble time trying to catch them on his bare belly. We are not sure what inspired him but I have seen other kids do this at past classes.

Born to Play

Having a ball (2 pits full of them!) with Jack and Viola at Papa's Pizza.

Medical Check-up

Tyler received a clean bill of health at his 2-year well-child visit today. The latest measurements:

• Weight: 29 lb 10.5 oz (68th percentile)
• Length: 35-1/2 in (74th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 19 in (38th percentile)

Statistics show that your height at 2 years old is typically half the height you will be as an adult. Based on these measurements that means Tyler will be 5'-11" as an adult. We find that hard to believe (I'm 5'-3" and Michael is 5'-6") but it is possible Tyler got some recessive height genes from my side of the family. Only time will tell!

My chair!

When it was time for bedtime stories tonight Tyler climbed into the glider in his room and said, "My chair!" Usually Tyler sits on my lap but he wanted none of that. He did the same thing to Michael last night. So for the first story I sat on the footstool and read to him. But then I decided I am not ready to give up snuggling with Tyler during storytime. Despite his protests, which did not last too long, I put Tyler on my lap and we read a few more stories.

Mommy, more carrots!

This was the wonderful request our picky eater made during dinner tonight! Even though Tyler had already finished his chicken and a big helping of carrots he wanted more. Gotta love that!

Playground Adventures

The approach of spring has brought warmer and drier weather. Tyler and I spent some time at the park yesterday afternoon and that boy has gotten fearless! I don't know if age 2 has brought him confidence or if he gradually got more confident over the winter but he definitely tried a bunch of new things on the playground that I hadn't seen him do before.

Tyler was unphased that you are supposed to climb "up" the stairs or ladder and go "down" the slide. We pretty much had the play structure to ourselves so I let him have free reign.

Watching Tyler go up crazy ladders makes my heart skip a beat! He did a different crazy ladder on the other side that goes up higher and I spotted him every time he went up it.

Check out that jump!

This is NOT Going on the Blog!

When we got in the car after lunch, Tyler had definite ideas about who should drive. As Michael started getting in the driver's seat, Tyler exclaimed, "No Daddy! Mommy drive!" Of course I took this as a sign that Tyler thinks I am a far superior driver. To keep our temperamental toddler happy in his pre-nap state I drove home. Michael said, "This is NOT going on the blog!" Too bad I do all the blog posts!

Mac & Cheese is Yummy!

Our picky eater has been broadening his food horizons lately. Tyler finally tried mac & cheese a while ago and has decided it is one of the best foods ever and asks for it frequently. Well, you can't really blame him for liking such cheesy goodness! Tyler made quite a mess today at lunch wolfing down his mac & cheese. It didn't help that I forgot to bring one of his little forks, which is much easier for him to eat with, and we let him sit in a normal chair instead of a high chair. We ended up using lots of napkins!

Children's Museum

We finally decided to check out the Portland Children's Museum today since it is pretty rainy out. Tyler had a ball and definitely could have played in the Dig Pit and Vroom Vroom Room all day long if we let him.

The Dig Pit is full of fake dirt made out of recycled rubber. Way better than messy sand! Tyler mostly used shovels to fill up the dump truck. He tried to use a bulldozer to load dirt into the dump truck because he is used to seeing backhoes helping with the loading in his truck books.

In the play grocery store Tyler went straight for the carbs!

The bus dashboard includes lots of cool knobs and levers. The driver's seat in the bus and the ambulance were a hot spot for all the little boys coming through the Vroom Vroom Room.

Budding transportation engineer?

Checking out the Curious George exhibit. Tyler was very excited by the giant blow-up of Curious George on top of the museum.

The Hard Way

This morning we were trying to cajole Tyler into brushing his teeth and getting dressed so I could get him to his Little Gym class on time. Michael said, "Tyler, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Tyler grinned and said, "The hard way!"

Dinosaur Train

Tyler has gone to the dark side! After getting a taste of cartoons last week while he was sick he has been asking daily to watch Dinosaur Train, a cartoon on PBS. Our goal was to hold off on Tyler watching TV (except for important things like Aggie football) until he was 2 and we made it! So now we will let Tyler watch some TV in moderation. I have only seen Dinosaur Train a few times with Tyler but today at work I could not get its catchy theme song out of my head!

Sunglasses

Snack? Check! Beverage? Check! Blankie? Check! Patches the Dog? Check! Sunglasses? Check! Now that spring is approaching we are starting to see more sunshine. Yay! And since Michael and I have been wearing our sunglasses Tyler wants to wear his too. This is definitely a change from last year when Tyler took the glasses off every time I put them on him. Granted, he takes the glasses on and off in the car and either misses his ears or puts them on upside down. Then Tyler wants help but I can't help him until we are parked at our next destination.

Lil' Aggie Part 2

Tyler definitely associates maroon with Texas A&M. Today I made him a triple berry smoothie, which he has had before, and I guess it looked maroonish through the white plastic cup. Tyler exclaimed, "Aggie juice!"

Mall Adventures

We went to the mall today to run some errands. Everything is always an adventure with a 2-year old. We intentionally left the stroller in the car because lately Tyler has been clingy and wants us to carry him around. He is much too old and too heavy for that! Several times Tyler defiantly sat or lay on the ground and cried when we wouldn’t carry him. We continually encouraged (and sometimes bribed) him with enticements such as riding escalators and waving to the animated bears outside Build-a-Bear. Ultimately the promise of cookies at the end of our trip proved the most effective!

Our shoe-loving guy stopped and stared in awe at all the kids’ shoes in Stride Rite without any prompting from us. We went in briefly to look at socks and he excitedly pointed out all kinds of shoes.

We eventually stopped at the play area. In the partially washed-out video below shot from Michael’s mobile phone, Tyler is the one standing on top of the ladybug. We knew it was only a matter of time before he started jumping off of stuff. I just hope this doesn’t extend to furniture in the house! He jumped off the ladybug repeatedly and was not thrilled when it was time to go home for a nap.

Lil' Aggie

Our awesome lil' future Aggie (Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2031) recognizes the Texas A&M logo! When Michael changed into an Aggie t-shirt today Tyler pointed at it and said "Aggie shirt". Whoop!

Leaning Tower of Legos

When Tyler plays with his Legos lately, he particularly likes building towers out of the smallest one and giggles when they fall over or when he knocks them over.

Big Talker

We are constantly amazed at how fast Tyler’s verbal skills are expanding:

• Sentences: These are becoming more frequent and getting longer. Just today or yesterday he had a five- or six-word sentence. Most of his sentences are very basic two- or three- word sentences.
• Verbs: Tyler is using more verbs and this is definitely exciting because he is starting to link people and things with actions.
• Animals: Tyler can identify the most common animals and knows what sounds they make. I’ll have to get a video of him saying “Oink! Oink!” because that is my favorite animal sound he makes. Tyler gets excited about some of the more exotic animals such as ostriches and peacocks probably because he seems to remember seeing them over the holidays.
• Counting: A few numbers are starting to show up in Tyler’s language. He has been trying to count to 3, but he says 3-2-3.
• Alphabet: We were singing the ABCs to Tyler earlier and he started singing along during certain parts. We were pretty impressed! I’m sure they have been working on this at daycare.
• Third Person: Tyler still doesn’t seem to understand “I”, “me”, and “you” very well. He talks about himself in the third person such as “Tyler shoot” (as in Tyler shoots the basketball) and when he points to himself in photos he says “Tyler!”
• Repeating: Frequently Tyler repeats back what he hears especially when you say something emphatically (like “Oh boy!”). It really makes you reconsider your word choice when you hear your words repeated back to you.

Photos

Tyler loves looking at photos of himself, friends, and family. He will point to my laptop (even when closed and sitting up high out of reach) and exclaim, “Pictures! Pictures!” until I open it the laptop and browse through photos with him. He is getting pretty good at recognizing people (and their dogs) and telling us their names. When I show Tyler baby photos of himself he does not understand that it is him. He will say “baby” and thinks it is someone else. He does recognize his blankets though in the photos with the “baby”.

Diving

Our little daredevil in action!

Under the Weather

Our poor little guy has been fighting a stomach bug the past few days. Tyler was fairly lethargic on Wednesday but has been more like his normal peppy self yesterday and today. He has definitely seen more cartoons in the past few days than in his first 2 years!

Open Cup

Now that Tyler is 2, he is in the Two-Year Old Class at daycare. This means he no longer gets sippy cups at daycare and must drink from an open cup! Apparently doctors also recommend ditching the sippy by age 2 because it can inhibit speech development. We are still weaning off the sippy at home because as you can see from the videos the use of the open cup is quite messy! But we are definitely helping Tyler work on this new skill.

Play!

Tyler loves to play! What kid doesn't? Tyler usually wants breakfast right after he gets up. Even on daycare days he still wants a waffle even though he gets breakfast at school! This morning was a first- Tyler did not want breakfast at all! He just kept saying "Play! Play!" So he played basketball while we finished getting ready. He did eventually drink some milk but playing was his top priority.

Tyler used to want a snack mid-afternoon but these days he is too busy playing. He eventually asks for a snack around 4:30 or 5, which is way too close to dinnertime and he is usually disappointed (and whines!) when we only give him a small snack.