4-Year Well Child Visit

Tyler had his 4-year doctor's check-up on Monday. The stats:

• Weight = 40.8 lb (84th percentile)
• Height = 41-3/4" (79th percentile)

Overall he got a clean bill of health. We're still keeping an eye on viral-induced asthma but Tyler will hopefully outgrow that. Prior to his appointment Tyler was actually excited about getting shots. However, after getting two shots Tyler told the nurse that flu shots don't hurt but the vaccination shots hurt. Luckily he won't be getting any more shots for a while.

Pre-K!

Now that Tyler is 4, he moved up to the 4-year old Pre-K class at daycare. While discussing this change with his teacher Ms. Kristina Tyler told her that he was excited to move to his best friend Jamison's class but sad that he would no longer be in his best friend Joshua's class.

Tyler's Birthday Party

We had Tyler's birthday party at Pump It Up Jr. and the birthday boy had a jumping good time.

Our big 4-year old

Click on link below for more photos:

 https://plus.google.com/photos/100310943716221103268/albums/5849501806195442753

Tyler's Birthday Morning

Since Tyler loves breakfast we took him out for pancakes
to kick off his birthday. He wanted to stay in his PJs
and so we figured why not.

Daphne "helped" Tyler open many of his presents.
We mostly distracted her by giving her wrapping
paper that Tyler had already removed.

 

Hot Wheels are Tyler's current passion.

I'm not sure who has more fun
configuring the race tracks-
Tyler or Michael

Happy 4th Birthday Tyler!

It's hard to believe that four years ago today our little guy came into this world at just four pounds. Now he's 10 times that size, constantly telling us what a big boy he is, and sometimes telling us things that are wise beyond his years. Tyler had a great birthday and I will post more birthday photos soon after I have a chance to sort through them. We love you Tyler and you will always be our "little" boy no matter how big you get, which will likely be taller than Mommy and Daddy!

Teething

W.e think we can attribute teething to Daphne being fussy and extra clingy the past few weeks. She has been putting everything in her mouth, even whatever part of her shirt or jacket she can pull to her mouth. The past few days the drool has been out of control! And lately Daphne loves it when we give her a cold teething ring. I finally poked around in her mouth today. It appears that about 8 new teeth are near the gums, 2 of which have broken through the gums.

Talkative

Daphne has added "Dada" to her repertoire. Now she definitely has Michael wrapped around her little finger!

Our Big Girl

Daphne has been walking quite a bit this week! She is pretty unstable, but often gets a bunch of steps in before she falls. Luckily she has lots of padding in the rear  Daphne has been doing a walking/crawling mix to get around. See below for a video of Daphne in acition.

Honey! I'm home!

Teresa, Daphne, Viola, and Tyler

Snack time!

Imagination at Work

It's a good thing we have
the artist's interpretation!

Walking and Clapping

Daphne has been clapping a lot lately. This afternoon she decided to work on walking again. After she took a bunch of steps in the kitchen I started clapping to show her I was excited. So then Daphne started clapping intermittently between walking stints.

I'm the Greatest Helper Ever

This is what Tyler told me when I asked him if he wanted to help take out the trash, recycling, and yard debris today. I have to say that he did do a pretty good job!

More Lyrics

Tyler added some more lyrics to his We Love Daphne song:

She is the cutest little baby around town

At the Park

We had a gorgeous day on Friday. It was sunny and in the low 60s, which we haven't experienced in months. So the kids and I gladly headed to the park for some playground fun.

Daphne loved that she is big enough to
play more now on the play structures.

Sliding siblings

Tyler has climbed many slides before, but this is
the first time I have seen him climb up one this
steep. I wasn't sure whether to be impressed or
worried! Tyler said he had strong shoes.
So much for using the stairs!

Our little swinging monkey

Daphne really wanted to climb this structure.

Tyler is almost too big to fit in the baby/toddler swings, but
it is fun to have the two of them swinging side-by-side.

Tyler also offered to push Daphne on the merry-go-round. So I sat on it with Daphne in my lap while Tyler pushed us very slowly. What a nice big brother!

Bicycle Built for 3

While reading the other night, one of the stories had a tandem bicycle. Tyler told me that we should buy a bicycle for three guys so Tyler, Daddy, and Mommy can all ride together and pull Daphne in the bike trailer.

Daredevil

Yesterday at Target our little daredevil Daphne managed to pull her feet into the shopping cart seat, turn around, and pull up to a standing position in the seat. And yes, she was strapped in! I strapped her in again and tightened the strap. And she still managed to pull the same stunt later. Daphne is pretty fearless about climbing around us, but yet for the second week in a row she was clingy and didn't want to participate in gym class even during the parts when you get to explore on your own with your mom or dad. Go figure!

We Love Daphne!

Pushing along my automobile,
My baby sister at the wheel!

Tyler was gung ho to push Daphne around in this car and I had to caution him to go slower. Later he pulled her in a wagon and before I knew it Tyler had abandoned Daphne and the wagon in the middle of the gym!

Tyler did write this super cute song for Daphne that he sang for us very quietly:

We love Daphne

We love Daphne

We love, we love, we love Daphne

Mommy and Daddy love Daphne

And so does Tyler

First Words

It's so hard to pin down "baby's first word" since they babble so much and repeat many of the sounds they hear. While Daphne did not have a first word moment, she has been saying the words "Mama" and "hi" in context quite frequently the past few weeks so I think it's safe to say those are her first two words.

Sleeping In Contest

Because Tyler is competitive, we have been telling him for quite some time that whoever sleeps in the longest wins the sleeping in contest to try and deter him from getting up early. I have stressed many times that Mommy would love to win the sleeping in contest. Yesterday morning when the kids got up early Michael was already awake and let me sleep in. Apparently Tyler kept wanting to wake me up because he said I had already won the sleeping in contest and it was time to get up. Michael told him that they should let me try for a personal best. For the record, sleeping in yesterday was only 7:15.

Girls!

While opening all the valentine's cards Tyler received from his classmates:
Tyler: I don't like getting valentine's cards from girls!
Me: Even if they have candy?
Tyler:...Okay...if they have candy

Our Sweet Little Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snowballs

At daycare Tyler had to pick his favorite thing about winter and draw a picture about it. His favorite winter thing: throwing snowballs at Daddy.

The Zoo

With the weather in the low 40s and no rain or wind, it was a great day to go to the zoo. Many other people had the same idea because the zoo was as crowded as it gets on a summer weekend.

All bundled up! Daphne is getting
better about cold weather gear and
never tried to pull her gloves off today.

Our monkey checking out some monkeys.

Forget the animals! Tyler's favorite
things at the zoo are still the drums, jeep,
tractor, and train. Today we hit the drums.

Intently watching Tyler beat the drums.

We waited in line 45 minutes to see the new baby elephant
Lily, who was born in November at a weight of 300 pounds.
She was adorable and worth the wait, although Daphne fell
asleep and missed out on seeing her. Lily reminded me of
Daphne because she was constantly underfoot of the adults.

Tyler liked baby Lily but was even more impressed by 4-1/2
year old Sam because he is male, slightly older than Tyler,
and we could see that his tusks are slowly growing in.

Soccer

We convinced Tyler to move his soccer indoors since it is pretty cold and wet this time of year. He can be such a little ham on the field sometimes as you can see by his little dance in this video.

Gym Class

Daphne had her first gym class today. I thought she would warm up sooner, but she pretty much clung to me most of the class and cried if I tried to set her down or help her explore any of the gym equipment. Daphne did finally venture off to explore at the end of the class when they broke out the bouncy balls and the bubbles. Hopefully next week she will feel more comfortable.

Hanging Out

Tyler and Daphne get along pretty well most of the time. But often Tyler gets frustrated when Daphne gets into his stuff, particularly when he is trying to build with Legos or train tracks. Conversely Daphne gets frustrated when Tyler won't let her play with some of his toys. The other day the two of them fought over a hackeysack. Daphne wanted the hackeysack for whatever reason and Tyler wouldn't give it to her because the hackeysack has a dragon on it and he said it was cooler than all our other sports balls.

Tyler builds and Daphne takes it apart

Tyler is probably saying, "Agh! No Daphne!" as
she reaches for another piece of train track.

Awwww! Daphne saw Tyler napping on the couch. She stole
one of his blankets and plopped down on the floor next to him.

Stomach Virus at the Hurtado Household

Ugh! We have been dealing with a household-wide stomach virus (aka gastroenteritis) since Thursday! Every time I think we are finally in the clear I am proven wrong. I will spare you the gory details and just provide an overview:

• Daphne started this whole thing on Thursday. Overall she has the mildest case but the poor thing still isn't completely well. I took her to the doctor on Saturday just to make sure she is okay and the doctor said it could last for up to a week and we just need to give her TLC and keep her hydrated. And the doctor warned this would probably spread throughout the whole house and boy was he right.
• Tyler got sick in the wee hours of Sunday morning. After being symptom-free for over 24 hours he got sick again this afternoon! Tyler kept saying, "I am ready to be done with this!"
• I was sick on Sunday and so far thankfully only had it for a day.
• Michael finally came down with it today.

I think we are finally on the home stretch but then again you never know.

Napping on the quarantined section of the couch

Starting to feel better (at least for a while). And of course
both kids can't get enough of Mommy when they don't
feel well. I can't remember who climbed on my lap first,
but the other one quickly wanted to stake some space too.

"More Cooler"

Tyler wanted his shark sunglasses on in the house because he said it would make him look "more cooler". And yes- it is still winter but Tyler constantly asks to wear shorts and t-shirts. So we struck a deal that he can wear that at home but he has to wear pants and long sleeves when we go out.

Some Tyler Gems

Excuse me? What was that again?
While in Austin in December Tyler told Michael's sister: "Dolito [how Tyler has been pronouncing Abuelito] and I will go to the park and the girls can stay home."

Fashion Police- part 1
Tyler: "That lady looks like a giraffe."
I was about to chastise him for this remark until I realized that he wasn't talking about a woman's physical features but rather her crazy Pikachu hat, whose ears did look similar to giraffe horns.

Fashion Police- part 2
In reference to a cute (my opinion) shirt I have with vertical stripes Tyler said, "I don't like that shirt. The stripes are making me dizzy!"

Cool Cars
While reading a book about luxurious sports cars this evening Tyler remarked on several pages, "Can we get that car? Please, please, please?" When I told him they were way out of our price range he pouted and batted his eyelashes. Tyler liked the lamborghini, ferrari (mainly because the doors open upwards), and especially the Formula One race car.