We visited with Grandma on her birthday. Uncle Mike, Aunt Kristin and Grandpa Steve were all there too. Tyler likes to announce everyone's name when he sees them. He was the first seated for dinner in the highchair, and as each of us walked into the dining room with our plate of food, he announced our names. Always the greeter. We swam in the pool yesterday and went on a nice walk. I'm trying to enjoy myself as much as possible these last couple weeks of work, reminding myself it's not too hot and it could be way worse. But since the countdown has begun towards my last day, I am going to have to take a hiatus from writing this blog for a while. Tyler will continue to be adorable as ever, you can count on that. And I will do my best to get back into the groove as soon as I find the time and energy. In the meantime, give him a call, he loves to talk on the phone. Or come visit. He loves entertaining.

When Tyler does something bad, I really try to monitor my usage of the word no and save it for the very bad times. But I can't control how other people talk to him. His latest trick is to get into trouble doing something, anything, that gets disapproval. Whether it's pouring water out of a cup, sticking his hand in a planter box, throwing food, hitting, standing in a chair, or any of the millions of things he does just to test us, and as soon as he gets our disapproval, he turns to the object he's not supposed to be touching/hitting/pouring, sticks out his pointer finger, and shakes it up and down saying "No, No, No" with the other hand on his hip. From what I've been reading, I guess this is mimicking. It's also hard not to laugh when we're supposed to be reprimanding him.

I'm pretty certain Tyler knows the arrival of his brother is on the horizon, and he is doing his part to get Mom and Dad as ready as possible by not letting us get much sleep these days. We have been awake at 5 a.m. everyday for the past week. That's after Shawn is up with him until 1 a.m. trying to get him to go back to sleep. Of course, he's taking 3-hour naps at daycare. But Mom and Dad don't get that luxury. It's temporary, we keep telling each other. But it is crazy. So many people have been asking me what's wrong at work, apparently they can tell I can't stay awake during the days and I'm not my usual chipper self. "Tyler's teething again" I hear myself saying. I have said that so much this past year. This is the absolute last time, the only teeth he'll have left after these eye teeth are the older molars (I think 2 and 4 year molars or something). That's 16 teeth in 12 months. Everyone warned us the eye teeth were the worst. I wonder if that's because you know they are the last and can't wait to get it over with. I wonder how we made it through all those awful nights as each of those teeth broke through. Nights filled with screaming and arched backs, where he does everything he can to throw himself out of our arms. Pick him up and you get hit on the face or worse, your hair pulled. Put him down and he screams and bawls. Pick him up again and he takes a big sigh appearing to relax. Sit down with him and he writhes in pain. Stand up and he calms down. Wait until he's fallen asleep and lay him in bed with us hoping for a couple hours of sleep. Tyler can no longer get comfortable sitting with me since my belly is in the way. So instead of holding him, I spend more time than ever with him laying next to me. We need a bigger bed. He needs those teeth to make it all the way through so he can go back to being the sweet little angel he usually is.

We went to Santa Barbara for a long weekend. This was Tyler's first trip down there as Shawn and I had been nervous about how Tyler would do on the long drive. He slept most of the way which made for a pleasant drive. We stayed with Andrea and Tyler couldn't leave her dog, Hannah, alone. Poor Hannah doesn't like little kids much and Tyler doesn't listen to us much so it was an on-going struggle keeping those two apart.

We went to the zoo down there and saw way more animals than the Sacramento Zoo had to offer. Like elephants, gorillas, turtles, sea lions and more. This zoo features a giraffe with a crooked neck which we couldn't take our eyes off. Just as the highlight of Tyler's first visit to the zoo was chasing the pigeons, this time around it was a seagull he chased back and forth. We went to the brand new Chase Palm Park which featured the fastest carousel I've ever seen. Grandpa, Andrea, Mommy & Tyler rode the carousel while Daddy stayed back to video tape it all. We didn't want Daddy getting motion sick. As Tyler's horse started going up and down, round and round faster and faster, he began shaking his head no and saying 'no, no.' Luckily, we were able to distract him with watching for Daddy each time we spun by him and that took Tyler's mind off begging to get off the ride. Phew.

Tyler also had his first encounter with the beach. He loved the sand and figured out how to walk barefoot in it pretty quickly. Not an easy task for a toddler. When we got down to the water, he was quite awestruck by the ocean and the waves. Eventually, he and Daddy walked to the water and when Tyler felt the cold sea cover his feet and sweep across them back out to where it came from, he had the biggest smile on his face. Remember how fascinating it was to feel the sand change shape beneath your feet as the water rushed over them? That's what I think Tyler was experiencing. I think I took two rolls of film, this was such a neat first in his life.

I know we'll be back to Santa Barbara for many family vacations as the kids get older. Grandpa can teach them to respect the ocean like he taught me. They can go off to junior lifeguard camp and volleyball camp, both of which Tyler saw. We stopped by the volleyball camp to visit my old high school coach and Tyler found himself surrounded by volleyballs. He definitely had an affinity toward them. Good! I see beach bum in this kid's future.

I hope this doesn't sound too bad, but Tyler and Chili are very alike. They both are highly motivated by food. They both strive to please most of the time, except when they are sidetracked by another dog or person. They both understand the same commands: sit, stay, wait and no. The difference is Tyler's commands come in the form of complete sentences, with rationale as often as possible whereas the shorter the better for Chili to understand. But back to the motivated by food thing. Tyler has been walking into daycare every morning lately. He does a pretty good job of this and makes it through the main doors heading straight towards the infant classroom where he starts each day. They move the toddlers over after breakfast. But he hesitates outside of the classroom's door, looking around for something better to do. It always takes one of his teachers asking if he wants to eat to get him to actually walk into his classroom. As soon as he is reminded that's where the food is, he nods his head yes and cruises over to the highchair. He is usually the third or fourth kid in the classroom, which by 9:00 has anywhere from 8-12 kids in it. Ms. Andrea told me that Tyler always says "Bye" to each of the parents as they drop their kid off. Shawn and I were discussing our little Tyler the Friendly Greeter the other day and wondered how he would take it when we have the talk with him about not speaking to strangers. Hopefully it doesn't change him too much.

Tyler is turning into Mr. Manners. Especially when it comes to food. Hand him some food and you get a nice big "Thank too" (isn't that cute?!!) He'll go out of his way to bring something to me and say "Thank too" as he hands it to me. This morning Ms. Jaclyn gave him a plate of waffles and peaches but she didn't hear him thank her. I did and I made sure she knew he said it. When she gave him praise for having such good manners, I mentioned it must be due to them working on it with him. She said they haven't been working on manners yet. Well he got it from somewhere and I figured since he spends so much more time at daycare than he does at home with us, he must have gotten it from them. Shawn and I always try to remember to say 'please' and 'thank you' to him, I guess he picked it up from us. That was very nice to know! Luckily the bullying was just a one-day thing. He was back to his usual good mood yesterday.

Tyler is at the stage where he will try to repeat just about any word we ask him to. This morning as we were brushing his hair and teeth, I asked him to say brush. He paused, put his lips together and really thought about it, and said it very well! I wasn't sure he was even going to try he paused so long. But he did and what a fine job it was. As his vocabulary is expanding there's even more words he says that we haven't figured out what he's talking about. Drink is one of them. If he's thirsty he is supposed to say drink. Or cup. Or please. Maybe he's saying a combination of the three because I never quite know what he is saying. So he gets up and goes to his cup drawer and pulls out a cup. Oh! You want a drink! At least he can show us what he wants. So then what is he trying to tell us when he goes to Chili's water bowl and splashes in it? Does that mean he wants a bath??

Shawn brought Tyler home from daycare last night and had an unusual answer when I asked how his day went. He pulled Tyler's daily report out of his pocket and read "Tyler got a little physical with the others today." What! What does that mean? Tyler, what did you do, we asked him. He just smiled at me and gave me hugs. My reaction was very interesting. After reading the report hoping to find more information than that, I noticed that at the bottom they checked off that he needs diapers and wipes. I brought both just last week so there is no way he could need them again. Aha, I declared. They must have gotten the two Tylers mixed up. This must be Tyler H's report. I've seen them write on his reports before that he gets physical with the other kids. Then I pictured Tyler H's parents reading his report which probably said something along the lines of our Tyler's usual reports: Tyler was in a great mood today. He danced and played really well. That is probably the best report they've ever gotten, I thought. So I was able to sleep ok without imagining my son as a bully. But when I woke up this morning, I knew I still had confirm my theory with Tyler's teachers and began to wonder if it was possible.

We got into class this morning and first I told Ms. Jaclyn that his report indicated he needed diapers and wipes, but I brought them last week. We checked his cubby to see what happened to the stuff I brought. I thought that was when she would put two and two together and realize that was for Tyler H's report. But my Tyler's cubby was low on diapers and wipes. She said she would ask Ms. Fallon where she put the stuff I brought. Oh my gosh. Could the next part be true?? I waited until Tyler was happily seated in the highchair eating and then I couldn't wait another minute. I asked Tyler "Are you going to be a good boy today?" to which he nodded his head yes. So I turned to Ms. Jaclyn and asked what happened yesterday, holding my breath for the response. She assured me he was not himself at all. She said sometimes the older kids (Tyler H and Alana) pick on him and she thinks maybe he just got sick of it because he started throwing the toys at them and pushing them away from him. Wow. Please let this be the only time I ever get such a report! I was in such denial. Then I defended him, telling her he woke up really early - 5:00 yesterday morning. Luckily I had made note of that on his report, as though the documentation would stand up in court or something. He was probably super tired and grumpy...Ms. Jaclyn backed me up saying he did take a three-hour nap. Yep, that's it...he was not his usual cheery self but had a much better night's sleep last night. I'm holding my breath for today's report.

Tyler spent Friday night at a Rivercats baseball game. We took him to a few games last year and it was great. He'd watch for a little, look at all the people, and then fall asleep while Mom & Dad enjoyed the game. Now that he's older, bigger and more active, it's not quite so easy. Luckily he had Grandpa Curt, Grandma & Grandpa Roberts, Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristin to distract him. At dinner before the game, Tyler seemed most interested in Uncle Mike and spent a lot of time checking him out. I think this was because he recognized everyone except Uncle Mike, who he hadn't seen since Christmas. But the way Tyler was just staring at Mike reminded me that kids have no concept of social norms. If Mike weren't family, he probably would have freaked out by the way Tyler kept staring at him.

After much practice, Tyler is starting to get good at talking on the phone. Until now, he always begs for the phone when he sees me on it, but when we hand it over to him, he clams up for the person on the other end. Saturday I called Grandpa Neb to wish him a happy birthday and Tyler asked for the phone. When I gave it to him, he actually said "Hi" and when it was time to give the phone back to me he said "bye!" He did the same for Grandma yesterday and Andrea last night. Practice makes perfect.

With a vocubulary that is growing by leaps and bounds every day, Tyler is talking more than ever. Most of it makes great sense. Some of it doesn't make any sense. Shawn and I are reminded every time he repeats our words that we need to start really watching our language. When Tyler woke up yesterday, I opened his bedroom window to get rid of the stinky diaper smell. Yes, I use a Diaper Genie but Tyler has definitely found a way to get his stink through their amazing technology of stink free diaper storage. Anyway, we could hear the morning traffic driving by, lots of trucks since there's still so much construction going on. We couldn't actually see any of the traffic, just heard it. Tyler started saying 'Truck' every time he heard a loud truck go by. Except he pronounces it 'Guck.' That's pretty smart to associate what he hears to words he knows, don't you think?! He's very into saying the names of his friends. Alana, Carina, Conor, Mack, Jordan. The funniest thing is to hear Tyler say his own name: 'Nana.' He really thinks that's how to say it. We'll keep practicing that one, and as we begin thinking of names for his little brother maybe we'll focus on names Tyler can say well.

He has been beating up Chili quite a bit lately, making the poor dog cry as he gets a hold of Chili's ears and pulls hard. So we're back to working on being gentle again. I thought he had that one down but apparently not. Ultimately, I think Tyler knows exactly what he's doing because I have noticed he's been dropping extra big bites of his food on the ground as a reward. This guy is a true love bug though. He just loves to hug and sing to anything. This morning he was preoccupied with saying bye to his toothbrush. He blew kisses and everything. Every night he sings bye-bye to the bath water as it goes down the drain. My favorite thing is watching Tyler drop Softy off back in his crib after he's woken up each morning. He always gives Softy one last squeeze right up on his face, and then extends his arm out, slowly letting go of the blanket. As it falls in his crib, he waves and sings bye-bye to it. Quite the opposite of the way he chucks Softy across his bedroom as if it's his worst enemy when I'm trying to get him to sleep every night.

When I picked up Tyler the love bug from daycare last night, he was so excited. After giving me a big hello hug, he turned to say 'Bye' to his friends and teacher and decided to walk up to Alana. It seemed like he didn't know why he felt compelled to walk to her so I asked him if he wanted to give Alana a hug goodbye. He nodded his head yes, took a step closer to her and leaned his head in to her. His arms remained at his side. It was more of a head hug I guess. Anyway, Alana knew what to do and she quickly wrapped her arms around Tyler to say goodbye. Then he walked to Ms. Amber and she gave him a hug. I guess he's more of a receiver than a giver of hugs, which works well for him since he is so sweet when he sings 'Bye' to everyone with his sweet little soft voice.

After dinner, we were very hot so we went to the pool to cool down. This time, Tyler was fully prepared with his new Spongebob water shoes and a floatation device that looks like a partial life jacket, but is much less constricting. He looked like a spaceman as he walked around the wading pool. He did some great swimming between Mommy and Daddy. This was the most he's ever put his face under the water and it went under a lot. He didn't complain once and seemed to swallow far less water than he has in the past. Still, I kept thinking he'd throw up pool water any minute. But he didn't. It's so funny to me that he instinctively closes his eyes when he goes under the water but keeps that mouth wide open.

We had another great weekend. Saturday Tyler & I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Roberts. Auntie Kristin got a new puppy which Tyler couldn't leave alone. Tyler played outside in the sprinkler, had his first hammock ride and talked up a storm for everyone. He got some new sandals and shoes for waterplay. He charmed everyone at the store, playing the role of Greeter welcoming everyone. I'm beginning to notice it's women way more often than men he sings 'Hi' to.

Sunday, we went to Lake Oroville to meet up with Daddy on the boat. It was very hot outside and by the time Tyler got on the boat and in his life jacket, he was sweating a lot and pretty out-of-it. But once we were all aboard and moving on the lake, I think Tyler remembered exactly what his last summer was like as he felt the wind blow through his hair and cool him off. He did really well on the boat. Just like he can't stay awake in the car, he couldn't fight sleep on the boat either. As we cruised, the hum of the motor hypnotized him to sleep. He took a lot of naps. He also ate a lot, as he convinced Grandma, Aunt Kristin, and Grandpa to each share their KFC chicken with him. We'd swim for a little, which he was excellent at. Still cracks up when he floats on his back, silly boy. Then we'd eat. Then we'd cruise around and he would sleep. Then we'd stop for another swim. This was a great day for everyone. Daddy and Aunt Kristin did some awesome wakeboarding, Grandma and Grandpa loved playing and swimming with Tyler, and Mommy got to cool off in the water. Ahhh if only we could do that every day.