Apart and Together. That is the theme of the week for Tyler. Anything that is together he tries to take apart. And once it's apart he'll spend a lot of time trying to put it back together. Legos, toothbrush holders, lids on cups...he is determined to take them apart. I don't really know how he knows that some things pull off and other things screw off, like lids on cups and the bottle of vegetable oil in the pantry he won't leave alone. But he sits down with these things and turns his hands like he's really going to screw them on and off. Lord help me if he does get the lid off the vegetable oil. It is fascinating to think how far he's come from the newborn arms that flail uncontrollably just 14 months ago to being able to grasp and push two different parts together so they fit just right. Seeing that coordination and determination is just awesome.

The other fascination this week is shoes. This weekend I could not get him to leave them on. Even telling him he can't go outside without them on doesn' t bother him. We'll sit down to spend the time putting the shoes on so we can do his favorite thing--go outside. And as soon as they are on, he'll take two steps, sit down and pull them off. These new shoes we were forced to buy to get out of the messy diaper situation are way too easy for him to take off. At least the old velcro shoes he has to un-velcro first. But these new ones he can slip off without untying, no matter how tightly I tie them. Yesterday's daycare report said "Tyler had a great day. He loves reading books but hates wearing his shoes." Well put. He was cruising around in his socks when I picked him up, and he ran to get his jacket. Funny, he thinks that jacket is his ticket outside. I explained he needed his shoes on to go outside and we sat down and put them on. In the time it took me to stand up and turn around to pick him up, he had taken off one shoe already. Ugh!!! Today he went to daycare in the old, velcro shoes because I'm testing to see if maybe the new shoes just aren't comfortable for him. We'll see what his report says today.