Oh The Stories

I have a few Tyler quotes I just have to get up here before I forget. I wish you could hear his little voice saying these things, because it's hilarious. But this is the best I can do.

Lately he has been sort of telling on himself for things. I think he's just pointing out that I should be paying more attention. A few days ago we were in the bathroom. I was putting my contacts in and make-up on and Tyler was brushing his teeth. I am constantly telling him to turn the water off when he's not using it. But that day I guess I was paying more attention to whatever I was doing until all of the sudden he said, "Mommy, look. I wasting water!" And sure enough, he was just running the water and watching it go.

The next day he was taking an exceptionally long time to finish eating lunch, so I started cleaning up. When he finishes eating sometimes he starts to play with his food and we always tell him if he's just playing then he needs to be done. I was putting things in the dishwasher when he said, "Mommy, I just playing." I looked up to see him giggling and dropping handfuls of food on top of himself from as high in the air as he could reach. What a stinker!

Then the other night when we were eating dinner Carl and I decided to have pop with our pizza. Part way through the meal Tyler asked for some and I told him that when he's a little bit bigger he can have pop but it was just for Mommy and Daddy right now. (I know, mean, right?) He immediately looked down at his shirt (that said Big Brother), pointed to the word Big, and said, "I big! Me bigger right now." We were totally amazed that he put that together and Carl gave him a sip of root beer just because he was so proud of him for it. It was so funny to watch.

 

I can only hope that Tyler is as good with his baby brother as he is with his Hallies. They are the most loved stuffed animals in the world! On Sunday we asked Tyler if he was excited to meet his baby brother and he said, "I want baby brother. I need new one." He can say he wants a new one for another week or so I guess, but then he is stuck with the one he gets!

 

It's actually been pretty fun over these last few weeks to see Tyler get excited about the baby. Although he still has no idea how things will change, he has been telling us he wants to hold him. And he calls his old room the baby's room, sometimes even using the baby's name. He has been having fun playing with his old baby toys, and playing in the crib. He saw our crib bedding set up in a crib at Babies R Us Saturday and he ran over to it shouting that it was Baby _____'s bed. He also still asks us to hold him like a baby and reminds us that he is our baby regularly. But hopefully he won't mind being the bigger baby soon!

12 Days More Days!

It would be impossible to describe how excited I am to meet this sweet little boy. As long as we've been waiting and getting ready to meet him, now that it's finally almost time I can hardly believe it. It almost doesn't seem real. Like we're just pretending. But I'm pretty sure it's real. And it's happening in twelve days. Or less!

I have been wanting to take some pictures for quite awhile. In fact, I have coordinated our outfits a few different times and for various reasons it has not worked out. Today it finally worked. Clearly it wasn't a well planned photo shoot. It was more of a "Quick, while the sun is shining, lunch is still cooking and Tyler hasn't fallen apart due to hunger and exhaustion!" photo shoot. You can kind of tell. We didn't even think about the houses in the background across the street or cars and people going past and being in the pictures. Our outfits were not coordinated at all, and it was so windy that we only ended up with a couple of pictures that didn't include hair in my face. And while Tyler was still clean, I apparently spilled something on my shirt, and my skirt was on almost sideways. I will be really happy when I can wear clothes that fit again! Thanks to photo shop, you can't see that my back pocket is actually on my hip. :-)  Did I just ruin all of Carl's hard work editing by admitting that?

 

Imperfect as it may be, at least we got our little mini photo shoot in before baby! And now we're ready. You are welcome to come any time little one. :-)

New Room!

Tyler finally moved into his new room almost two weeks ago. Since I was hoping to do this in the beginning of February, and there were a lot of things I couldn't do until it was done, it has thrown me off a little to just be done with it now. But the pieces finally fell together and it's done. (And I am now obsessively scrambling to get all the organizing and cleaning done that I can in the rest of the house before baby gets here in less than three weeks!) We are still waiting for an under-bed storage drawer and a bookshelf to be delivered, but that won't be until the end of May or June. For now Tyler is using the bookshelf from the baby's room. And I am still looking for valances for his window. I cannot find anything I like so far, but hopefully I will sometime soon so his room can be complete!

Tyler loved helping Daddy "fix" the new room!

He was a very hard worker.

Yes, we got bunk beds. The plan was to store the top one until we need it, but somehow that didn't happen.

Tyler's name was my one DIY project. I love his cozy little book corner.

So excited for the first night in his new room!

Doesn't he look so little in such a big bed?

Thankfully, Tyler loves his new room. With the exception of the first few days (before Carl made some black-out shades), he has been napping and sleeping amazingly in there and I am so thankful for that. It took months for him to start sleeping well when he switched from crib to toddler bed. So I was really hoping this would go better.

I'm still hoping he will come to the conclusion himself that his old room would be a good one for a baby. But so far he still thinks the little guy should sleep downstairs. The baby's room is all set up, but we haven't made up the bed or anything yet. We wanted Tyler to get used to his new room before we set his old one up for some one else. He is running out of time to come to that conclusion though. :-)

New Wheels

For almost two years I have been fighting for a minivan. I think it's practical, and I think we travel and camp enough that the space would be extremely helpful. Especially when this next little guy gets here. Back in February when Carl's car broke down, I thought I was winning. Carl was looking up minivans and even decided what kind he wanted. But then by some wrong turn of events, the smallest minivan in the world showed up in my driveway on Friday.

 

Now don't get me wrong here. I'm very thankful for a reliable car. It's not a good sign when your husband doesn't let you or your child into his vehicle because it's not safe, but yet he drives it to work everyday. Carl is the one who will be driving it, and it won't usually have kids in it, so it doesn't need to be big. And I really do like this car. It's just not what I was picturing when we were talking about minivans!

Just to be clear, we did talk through this decision. He didn't just go buy it on his own. Or tell me he was getting a minivan and show up with this. But still, I think I lost my fight.

And on a different subject, but speaking of me losing, you know how Tyler lost the ability to fall asleep on his own for naps when he switched to a bed? Well Carl has been talking about getting black-out shades for like a year. And I always tell him I don't want him to be dependent on complete darkness to fall asleep. I want him to be able to sleep when we travel! Then three weeks ago, we were desperate for him to get a nap before swimming lessons (which fall during his normal naptime), so Carl put a big piece of cardboard behind his shade, making the room so dark he needed his nightlight on. And Tyler fell asleep immediately. And now, for 23 days in a row, he has fallen asleep by himself, within about ten minutes, without emptying his bookshelf or dresser or getting into any other kind of shennanigans and he has been sleeping for two hours again instead of 45 minutes. Yep. I was wrong. Black-out shades would be amazing! Who cares if he doesn't sleep well when we travel? As long as he takes great naps the other 300-some days a year, I can deal with rough naps once in awhile! I don't know why I fought that. Ridiculous. Carl, you rock.

Look Mommy, I'm Two!

I like to keep things positive on here. The point of this blog is not to complain. I want it to be a way to share fun stories with friends and family and I want it to be something our kids can look back at and read or remember stories about themselves. But believe it or not, it's not always sunshine and roses at our house. :-)

I think that last week Tyler wanted to make sure that I know that he is indeed, two years old. Starting with the biggest tantrum/meltdown in the history of Tyler. You know those cute little busy bags? Well who knew that the sweet little felt pizza could cause an hour and a half of tears?! When I was getting it out for him (and I can't believe I ever could have done such a terrible thing), I opened the bag and dumped it out for him. Big mistake. Mr. Independence was not in the mood to have things done for him. I really don't remember the order of events or even what all of them were. But the next 90 minutes went something like this. There were no breaks or pauses between tears. He just moved along from one thing to the next to be upset about. It started with me dumping out the pizza. Then he tried to put it all away and do it himself, but he was too mad and couldn't get it back in the bag. Then he couldn't get his sock off. I offered to help. His nose was runny. It got on his hands. He coudn't reach the Kleenex by himself. Then I got him a Kleenex (not cool Mom). So after 20 minutes I decided to just leave him alone because nothing I could say or do would calm him down. And he completely re-lost it when I told him I was going to make lunch. So I told him I would sit by him for a couple more minutes. But I didn't sit down in the exact spot on the carpet that he wanted me in. And then I wasn't turned in the exact right direction. So I got up and left and made lunch. He continued to cry and be frustrated. But when he sat down with his lunch he turned it off and was delightful to sit and eat with. As soon as he was done though, he needed a diaper change and (again, what was I thinking?) I helped him out of his chair and it all fell apart. He screamed and kicked through his diaper change and then we went to read before nap. He wanted to read a Bible story, but couldn't find the exact page he wanted to read. And he wanted to hold it himself, but then I couldn't see the words. So he cried and flailed through an attempt at a story until I told him he could take it to bed with him, but we couldn't read anymore. When he got into his bed he couldn't find the exact right place to lay, he was apparently mad at his pillow, his Bible kept tipping over when he tried to stand it up, his water was in the wrong cup, and life was altogether miserable. He wouldn't let me hold him or hug him - he just wanted to be mad. So eventually he cried himself to sleep. And he woke up two hours later like nothing had happened, happy as can be.

He has never done this before, and he hasn't done it since. Usually his meltdowns last between 30 seconds and two minutes. And whether he is mad, sad or hurt, he always cries for about 5 or 10 seconds and then completely stops to say, "Me crying," in his saddest, woe is me voice, and then starts crying again. I should have known this was serious business and that we had a real problem when he didn't stop to tell me he was crying. So I think that was his way of welcoming me into life with a two year old. I hope it's the last time he feels the need to do that!

Of course, he's also had some very fun moments of being two. :-) Carl took him to the zoo on Saturday and when they walked by a girl and her boyfriend, Tyler said, "Hi Girl. Hubba, hubba." I feel like I'm going to be in big trouble when he is a teenager. Yikes! And also, I blame it completely on Carl.

Our house has been overtaken by balloons. But they finally mysteriously disappeared during his nap Sunday.

He picked out his own clothes. Right down to the necktie and headband necklace.

 

He also picked out this outfit. And wore it for a couple of hours, hat and all.

He's warming up to the idea of being a big brother. He practicing with his puppies.

And his Little People.

 

He doesn't understand everything that having a baby in the house will mean. But he is getting excited about it. I'm very relieved about that! He has been doing lots of pretending. And he talks about how the baby is going to sleep in bunk beds with him and that I will go to the hospital and the baby will get out. And he put all but one of his pacifiers in a gift bag to give to our friend Baby Adeline because he's big and doesn't need them anymore. Nuks are for babies. We're working on getting that last one in the bag. And lately he has been talking a lot about holding the baby! He and the baby have a matching outfit that he thinks is so funny and he's really excited to wear with him. He's moving into his new room with his twin bed tonight, so after that maybe he will decide the baby can sleep in his old room instead of the top bunk.

Busy Bags

The concept of Toddler Busy Bags is not new to me. I made similar things for my classes at school, and have often thought about putting some together for Tyler. Just little bags of fun stuff to pull out on a rainy day or in the car. But the last time I had thought about it he was still a little too young for most of my ideas. Then recently some one from my MOPS leadership team set up a Busy Bag Exchange. Best. Idea. Ever. She set the ages for 2-5 year olds. Tyler turned two a couple weeks after the exchange, so I knew he might be a little young for some of the activities, but still thought it would be fun. Eight of us ended up doing it, so we each came up with an idea for a bag and made eight of them. This is what we ended up with!

1. A pom-pom activity. Tyler loves this one. He has a hard time using the tongs to pick them up yet, but he likes to put them in through the slot. And he has kind of claimed it for his Hallies. It's "Hallie food". This bowl gets carried all over the house with his puppies.

Feeding Hallie!

2. Brown Bear Puzzle. Tyler likes this one too, although he doesn't really try to do the puzzles yet. He mostly just stacks the cards and plays with them, or tells me what things are when I put them together. It's really cute though, and I'm sure he will figure it out sometime soon!





3. Felt Pizzas. This is another one that Tyler loves. He likes putting the pizza together, and of course he likes feeding his Hallies with it. They are pretty spoiled little puppies.

 



4. Pot of Gold Counting Game. This one is far beyond where Tyler is at, but it is one of his favorites. When Tyler counts he points at each thing and says, "Three, three, three..." Sometimes he will throw in a two or an eight. And he definitely doesn't know written numbers yet. So he doesn't actually use the counting sheets, but he likes to play with the money! Until this morning he hadn't figured out that some of the coins are chocolate. I had to hide some of the money after that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Buttons and Cars. I think this one is adorable. There are buttons sewn on each side of the ribbon and the cars all have slits to hook them on. So cute! Tyler has a hard time getting the cars on. I think it's mostly an issue of patience - he doesn't try very hard before moving on to the next thing. But he likes taking them off and when I put them on he likes pushing it around and making train sounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Craft Stick Puzzle. We haven't used this one as much. It's a great idea, but the concept is a little hard for Tyler yet. He loves puzzles, but he still just does the ones where pieces fit into the spots. This one is a little harder for now. But as with everything else, he still likes to play with it!

 

 

 

7. Matching Color Shades. I had actually considered making one similar to this, but it got taken. :-) I like the idea of it. For now Tyler loves color matching, and he's really good at it, but shades are a whole different story. He could say they are all blue, but matching them to the right shade is still a little tricky. So for now, he loves to play with the clothes pins and take them all apart, but then he just leaves them in a big pulled apart pile. I might save this one for a little while and make my own with just plain colors for now. If I have time. :-)

 

8. Counting and Color Matching With Frogs. This one was mine, so Tyler has been playing with this one for a lot longer than the others. I had a lot of fun with it - it kind of brought out the teacher in me. Tyler loves those squishy little frogs, and it's one of the few that he does exactly what he supposed to with. And so far he hasn't tried to feed them to his puppies. :-)

So seriously, if you have toddlers, do a busy bag swap. So much fun! One reason I was excited about it is because when the baby gets here, these will be great activities to pull out when I'm busy with him. And they all fit in zip-locks, so they are easy to put in a diaper bag and bring places too! I'm probably going to hide all or most of them for awhile so they will be new again when the little guy gets here. Everyone did such a great job on them, and they're all really cute. And even the ones that are geared for kids a little older than Tyler, are still fun for him to play with. So now I have eight bags of fun activities to pull out when I need them. Perfect!







Happy Easter!

I love Easter. I do think we should be thinking about what Christ did for us every day. But I love taking a day to really think about and consider both the cost of what he did for us, and the hope that we have because of his death and resurrection. And with Tyler running around, I love the extra opportunity to talk to him about what Jesus did for us.

I want a lot of things for Tyler in this life. I hope that he is kind and loving, I hope that he makes friends easily, cares about others and that he is happy. I hope that he always knows how much we love him and that he always loves and respects us. I hope that he works hard and does well in school and I hope that he always remembers to have fun! But more than anything in the world I hope that he understands who God is and his love for us, and that he loves God with all of his heart. Which is why my heart has been melting into liquid all week. I really try to enjoy where Tyler is at each day instead of looking forward to the next big milestone. But one thing I have been excited for is the day when he would learn to pray. For a long time he's been saying, "Amen," when we pray. But for the last few weeks he has been starting to repeat everything we pray like a little echo, and even praying on his own. For the most part he has just memorized some common things that we say. When he prays before dinner he almost always says, "Dear Jesus, thank you for food. Bless food our bodies. In Jesus' name, Amen." Sometimes he throws in an, "I love you." It is so precious. After playgroup a week ago I prayed with him before his nap. Then I told him it was time to lay down and kissed him good night. But he sat back up, folded his hands and said, "No, Mommy. Dear Jesus. Thanks playgroup." Again, precious.

And as we have been talking about Easter over the past week he has loved hearing the Bible story about it. We've told it to him in our own words and read it to him from a couple different children's Bibles. He is starting to be able to tell pieces of the story by himself. He tells us that Jesus carried the cross, that he got big owies, that people were crying, and that he's all better now. He often likes to bring his Bible to bed with him, and for the last few nights he's been specifically asking us to find the page with the cross before we leave his room. It is so amazing how much such young kids can take in and learn. I hope so much that he will always love to read his Bible and learn about God.

So yesterday, while we wanted to make sure our focus was on the true reason we celebrate Easter, we also had some fun.

I had an 'I just can't resist this' moment while shopping last week (although for $8 I don't think I'm the only one who would have bought something this adorable).

Hello, little stud.

 

He was really excited to wear his suit. He has always loved dressing up. I think he feels very grown up when he gets to wear a tie like Daddy. When we picked him up from the nursery they said he was very proud of his suit and showing it off to everyone.

 

After lunch Carl's grandparents and parents came over for a couple of hours.

 

Four generation picture

 

With his great grandparents, Dave and Gerda

 

It was great to see all of them. Tyler had a lot of fun. He's been talking about the people who were here a lot today and telling me where they all sat when we ate cheesecake!

 





And after everyone left we reserved a little time for some family Easter fun. We didn't color Easter eggs this year, but I did color rice for him to play in, and he loved it!

 

The trucks were a lot more fun to play with than the Easter Eggs.

 

When he was done playing, we had an Easter egg hunt ready for him. I wasn't sure how hard to make it, but he was a pro at hunting. Once he found the first one, he was a boy on a mission. It was hilarious, actually. I was trying to avoid lots of sugar, so some of them had a jelly bean in them, but there were also some with animal crackers or craisins (which he loves). After finding a few he started whispering, "jelly bean" before he opened each one. He was really hoping!

 

 

When it was all over, he kept looking. We told him when there was only one left so that he would know it was done, but he still kept looking. He really wanted to find one in his work bench. I don't know what I was thinking to not hide one there!