We Love You Nana and Will Miss You!!!!

Tyler, Nana, PawPaw, and Daphne (January 2012)

My mom passed away on Saturday, April 14. For a celebration of her life visit nancyhulett.blogspot.com.

Tractor Song

Taller, Bigger, and Braver

We don't make it to the playground much in the winter mostly because it is too darn wet! Now that we are having nicer weather Tyler is enjoying the playground again. He is doing things that he was either previously scared of (e.g. the tall slide) or that he wasn't quite big enough to do (e.g. scale vertical ladders, push the merry-go-round).

Daphne loves going to the park. She often
catches some Zs in the stroller, but loves
being outside and watching all the big kids.

Unimpressed

While driving today, a person activated the flashing yellow beacons on a pedestrian crossing that I designed. As I came to a stop, I excitedly told Tyler that I designed the pedestrian crossing and pointed out the flashing yellow lights. Unimpressed, Tyler replied, "Tyler designs toys at home."

Happy Tax Day!

Take that IRS!

Michael and I typically aim to break even on our tax return. However, this year we are not complaining that Daphne's surprise early arrival on December 27 gave us another deduction on our taxes. I finally submitted our tax return yesterday with a day to spare and was quite pleased that our little angel earned us a nice refund!

Sleeping Bliss

Daphne often sleeps in the car so this is no new feat. But it is sheer bliss when Tyler falls asleep in the car around nap time because we can just carry him to bed and he will take a nap without a fight. Lately he has been fighting naps. Of course when Tyler doesn't take a nap he eventually gets cranky.

Ants

While playing in our back yard Tyler told Michael, "Daddy, there's an ant on my Cozy Coupe. How did it get out here?" The ant problem in our kitchen is almost resolved but apparently Tyler thinks ants are supposed to live indoors.

Blame it on Daddy

Spying all the sports equipment in our wagon, our neighbor asked Tyler if he played baseball at the park. Tyler replied, "Daddy didn't throw the ball very well." I'm sure it had nothing to do with the 3-year old batter!

Easter

The Easter bunny thought Tyler could use some flat Lego pieces
to round out his set. Mrs. Bunny did not anticipate that Tyler
would want to build the playground shown on the picture on the
package that includes a special Lego slide that Tyler does not have.

First chocolate bunny

Mmmm... the ears are tasty!
Have I mentioned that Tyler loves chocolate?

Can we start the egg hunt already? Clockwise from top left:
Bebe, Michael, Jack, Clara, Viola, and Tyler

Now can we start the egg hunt?

Tyler found the obvious eggs in the grass
but needed help finding the more hidden ones.

Tyler with his loot

The Zoo

Look Mom- no hands on the MAX train!

Daphne snoozed through most of her first trip to the zoo.

Tyler likes the zoo animals, but he always requests to
drive the tractor, drive the jeep, and ride the zoo train.

Bunnies were out in the petting zoo for Easter.

The 3- and 4-year old Easter candy hunt

We didn't realize the zoo was having an Easter egg/candy hunt on Saturday, which is why Tyler doesn't have a basket with him. He still made out pretty well by putting candy in his jacket pockets. Tyler was so excited by the hunt and a few times ran over to the side towards Michael to show off his loot. And the camera battery died while I was taking the video.

I Want to Ride My Tricycle

This trike appears to be on steroids

Viola and Tyler sometimes race although
I am not sure Viola is aware that Tyler
considers what they do racing

Look Mom- I can pedal with one foot

Teresa getting her baby-holding fill

Indoor play park had a variety of tricycles the other day and even though there were tons of kids Tyler seemed to manage to ride every type of tricycle available. He loves zooming around. One of Tyler's favorite things about moving up to the 3-year old preschool class at daycare is that their playground has tricycles. One of his teachers told me he used to stare longingly at the tricycles through the chain link fence when he was on the 2-year old playground. Michael and I have tried to get Tyler out on his no-pedal balance bicycle lately but when the weather is nice he often wants us to take him to the playground instead.

The Back Seat

What crazy hat did Mommy put on me this time?

This is what the back seat of our Honda Pilot typically looks like. Being the competitive guy that Tyler is he likes to get in the SUV before Daphne and get out before Daphne because he has to be first. This is easy in the garage, but a little trickier in public parking lots. The nice thing about keeping the kids side-by-side is that Daphne seems entertained by Tyler, especially when Tyler activates the pull-down toys on her car seat handle. And in a pinch Tyler can lean over and hold a bottle!

Tyler's Hand-Me-Downs

Don't worry, Daphne has some girly clothes. But it is also fun seeing her in the few items of Tyler's that I kept that were more unisex such as the "My Mom Rocks" onesie and denim overalls. Tyler likes it when I tell him that Daphne is wearing one of his old items of clothing. He often tells me that maybe Daphne can wear his current favorite clothes when she is bigger. I don't have the heart to tell him that she will unlikely want any of his boyish wardrobe when she is 3.

Ah, sleep how I love you!

For the last 4 or 5 nights Daphne has been sleeping about 9-1/2 to 10 hours straight! Of course this means that I am getting lots of sleep too. It is amazing how much more energy you have when you get back to one nice long stretch of sleep. Daphne has also been slowly moving towards an earlier bedtime as she sleeps longer stretches. The last few nights she has been out by 8:30. I'm hoping this trend continues towards a 7:30 bedtime, which is when Tyler went down when he was a baby.

Bathing Beauty

For several weeks now Daphne has really enjoyed taking baths. She doesn't even mind getting her face or hair washed anymore. And the smiles definitely make baths even better!

Tell Daphne...

Instead of speaking directly to Daphne, Tyler likes Michael or me to relay messages to her. He often tells me, "Tell Daphne..." followed by something like "... that her big brother has a monster truck."

Never heard about that!

I am not sure where Tyler picked up this phrase, but he constantly tells us "I've never heard about that before. That's silly!" You would think he was an 80-year old that had traveled the world and was learning about something crazy. But no, the silly part reminds you that Tyler is just a little boy. And he's always learning something new, hence the repeated use of this phrase.

F-E-L-O-N

To pass time while Tyler sits on the potty (when he is not watching the iPad), I have been singing him a variety of songs. For ages I have sung a song about Tyler to the tune of the B-I-N-G-O song. Then I started singing about his monster trucks to the same tune and so now Tyler requests I sing about all his different monster trucks. One of his monster trucks is unfortunately named Felon because apparently it breaks the laws of gravity. Of all the monster trucks this is the one that Tyler remembers how to spell! Michael came upon him playing and Tyler said, "F-E-L-O-N". Is it a bad sign when your son remembers how to spell felon before his own name????

Sleepover

Makeshift "tent"

Patches and Kitty Cat armed with flashlights

Michael had a sleepover in Tyler's room on Saturday night. They fashioned a tent in the center of the room. Tyler was so excited! He was also so fascinated with the flashlights that he didn't even want Michael to read him any books before bed. They played light tag on the ceiling of the tent with their flashlights. Michael said that Tyler was a total floor hog in his sleep. This is amusing coming from Mr. Bed Hog himself!

Tummy Time

Watching Tyler at play

Sucking on the pacifier to keep calm on her tummy

Although Daphne initially liked tummy time 2 months or so ago, she is not a big fan anymore. Maybe because it is much harder to hold up her now chubby cheeks? ; )

Bumbo

We broke out Tyler's old Bumbo seat. Daphne liked it at first but wanted out after a few minutes. Her head control is getting pretty good and she mostly likes to be carried upright so she has a better view of everything.

Tyl-"er"-ize it

Often Tyler likes to intentionally mutate words or speak complete gibberish just for fun. Lately he likes to add "er" to words. He particularly likes to say Mom-er, Dad-er, and Daph-er.