Inflatable Fun

Pump It Up, Jr.

Teresa and I checked out open play at Pump It Up, Jr. on Friday and the kids had a blast! There are tons of inflatable slides, some bouncy play areas, and an obstacle course. Click on album above for more photos.

Trucks

As I have previously mentioned, Tyler LOVES trucks. I recently scored a dump truck (with blocks for dumping) and Little People school bus for a steal at a consignment sale. Tyler loves pushing these two trucks around and playing with them.

Today at daycare Tyler and his buddy Marcus both pretended to be trucks and apparently they even beeped when they went in reverse. Wish I could have seen it!

First Parent-Teacher Conference

We had our first parent-teacher conference at daycare today. It was great to hear how our amazing little boy has been developing particularly over the summer. Some things were consistent with what we see at home while others were surprises. Some highlights:

• Tyler was quite shy for a while and played by himself but now he loves to play with the other kids.
• Tyler and his buddy Joshua both love trucks and when Joshua arrives at school Tyler immediately gives him one of the trucks so they can both push them around the classroom.
• Tyler likes to line cars up in a line. If anyone moves them out of the line he gets upset and puts the cars back in a line. (I think there is nothing wrong with a little order! Gee- I wonder where he gets this from.)
• Tyler does not like to get messy. (He definitely gets this from Michael!) He is hesistant to participate in messy activities like finger painting but often joins in after he sees how much fun all the other kids are having. He will paste pieces of paper together only if his teacher applies the glue!
• Apart from the messy parts, Tyler really likes art projects.
• Tyler loves circle time when Ms. Clarybell reads to the kids and they sing songs and dance. He often says "Yay!" about the books and songs and likes to do all the hand movements that go with the songs.
• Apparently Tyler is a rule enforcer. When he sees other kids doing things they are not supposed to he will say, "No! Nooooo!". Tyler also says "No! Nooooo!" when Ms. Clarybell says "Tyler" and gives him a look that he is not supposed to be doing something.
• It turns out Tyler has not been using a pacifier during his naps at daycare for several months now. That was definitely news to us because he still uses a pacifier during naps at home and at bedtime. We have been debating when to wean him off the pacifier and it sounds like the time is here.

Balls! Balls! Bonanza!

Tyler and I have been taking a Balls! Balls! Bonanza! class at the community center. I use the term "class" loosely because it is very unstructured and pretty much just a half hour of time for toddlers to run around the gym and play. Today was class #4 (out of 5 total classes). Every week there are wiffle balls and bats (with cones for tees), basketballs with a mini hoop, and little soccer balls with a mini goal. Sometimes the kids race and sing songs. Half an hour is just long enough for Tyler to get warmed up. He is usually bummed that we have to give up the gym for whatever class they hold after ours.

What was that?

Tonight Michael and Tyler ran laps through the house as they often do. As Michael passed me he playfully smacked my behind. We were both quite surprised when Tyler followed suit by smacking my behind on his way past and then he giggled about it. What a reminder that those little eyes are always watching what is going on!

Jack's 6th Birthday

Jack's 6th Birthday

Click on photo for entire album. Although too little to bowl Tyler had fun watching all the big kids bowl at Jack's birthday party. Tyler discovered that it is pretty cool to push bowling balls around on the circular storage racks.

Gym Class

Here is Tyler climbing the "mountain" of mats during gym class this morning. Lately during gym class Tyler likes to run up and down the cheese-wedge shaped mat and walk on the balance beam (while holding my hand of course!). Like most of the other kids his favorite part of class is towards the end when they play with the bouncy balls and Teacher Adam blows bubbles for them to catch.