While we were home the past six weeks, we often practiced speaking in sentences. Well, Shawn and I always speak in sentences but now we're trying to teach Tyler. He's getting good at it too. Instead of just saying "more" he can say "More, please, dada." A few days ago I sat him on the ledge of the bathtub and he fell backwards, hitting his head on the bottom of the tub. There was no water in the tub but it was still traumatic. I felt awful because had I not been distracted by the ten million things I was trying to do at once, I would never have sat him there. But now every time he sees the bathtub, Tyler reminds me of my stupidity saying "Bathtub go bonk." Yes, Tyler, you did go bonk in the bathtub. As much as I'd rather not remember that moment, I suppose his constant reminder is keeping me more aware of my actions.

I'm working on teaching him to answer questions. So the next time someone asks him what his name is, or how old he is, he can answer them instead of just saying "Elmo." There are a few problems with this. First of all, he still firmly believes his name is NaNa and proudly says so whenever we ask him to say Tyler. Also, I just don't know how I feel about teaching him to talk to strangers. He's very outgoing as it is and always goes out of his way to say hi and bye to strangers so I'm not so sure I want him carrying on a dialog with them. But, he recently answered a question I asked him: "What are you going to be for Halloween?" and he answered "Rog." It was a correct answer! He's got a furry green frog costume hanging in his closet that he can't wait to wear!

So Tyler is back to daycare. This is great because I was very sad taking him out of there on his last day. Kindercare is awesome and really helped him develop and grow into the brilliant toddler he is. So while I'm really happy Tyler's back at school, I'm not so happy about tiny little baby Gavin being there, so susceptible to all those runny noses and coughing germs. The boys start their day in the same classroom where Tyler eats breakfast in a high chair and it will be interesting to see if he has any qualms about leaving the baby behind when it's time to move to the toddler classroom after breakfast. Shawn just stopped by to check on them both (knowing Tyler would be asleep and wouldn't be sad to see Daddy leave) and reported that both boys were sound asleep. Tyler's teacher couldn't believe how much he is talking and how well he eats without making a mess. Really? My Tyler? Now that they mentioned it, I haven't had to do a deep cleaning of his high chair lately, and that used to be a weekly ritual. Now I just brush the crumbs onto the floor for the dog to lick up and occasionally wipe sauce off the walls. I guess I hadn't noticed. That's what I love about Kindercare. It's like having another mom around to point out the things I miss.

Shawn was on the phone talking to a potential employer the other day and Tyler walked up to him saying "poop." Good daddy that he is, Shawn stopped the quasi-interview and asked Tyler to repeat himself. On the second poop, Shawn excitedly asked Tyler if he went poop to which Tyler said "nah," his version of yes (which sounds so much like no, we get the two mixed up all the time). Luckily, the person on the other end of the phone is a personal friend and soon-to-be-father himself so sharing this conversation with him wasn't completely terrible. In the end, Tyler intently watched us drop the poop from his diaper into the toilet and said bye bye as we flushed it away...and Shawn got the job!

Tyler has discovered his loud voice. We initially blamed this new nuisance on Conor, who has always been a squeaky and squealing guy because Tyler started screaming words after a playdate with Conor. But it appears this is a normal phase for 18 month olds. Not good timing considering there's a new baby who is trying to sleep most of the day. It seems whenever I've snuck off to Gavin's nursery to lay him down for a nap, Tyler comes running down the hall yelling. It's only certain words he yells: Nana, Mama, Dog (GOG), Elephant (ELMET), Elmo or BABY!!! Fantastic. He's also begun dreaming. We know this because he wakes up yelling strange words. Sometimes it's JUICE and often it's ELMO he screams in his sleep. Lately he's also been asking for hugs in his sleep. We've been having him ask us for hugs instead of hitting or biting and boy does he ask for a lot of hugs--even in his sleep. Last night I awoke to him screaming BUS!! I sure would like to know what that dream was about :-)

Free time is all gone these days, but I'm sneaking in a post here to do some catching up. Tyler just turned 18 months old! Such a big boy, he is getting very good at drinking out of a cup without a lid. He repeats just about any word we ask him to. He has a gigantic vocabulary. Now that he's not in daycare anymore, we are learning what a lot of the mystery words mean, but he continues to add new ones each day. The latest is mowon. He kept looking outside ("side" as he calls it) and saying mowon. What? Finally, I was watching him play yesterday and he kept saying it. Then he went over to the lawn mower and said it again. Ah. Tyler, say lawn mower..."Mowon" he said, nodding his head yes. Of course :)

He is discovering his emotional self. Not sure if this is due to the baby, the change in routine with no more daycare, just regular 18 month old behavior or a combination of them all. But it coincides with him crying out words in his sleep. He'll be sound asleep and yell out "Up" or "Mine" so we think he's begun dreaming, which can be very confusing to the little guys from what I've read. But, little things are really starting to get to him. Like, he'll be watching the same Elmo show for the third time in the same day and when Elmo gets thrown off the stage by big fat Rosie O'Donnell, Tyler screams "ELMO" and repeats this over and over as I assure him Elmo is fine. Heck, he's even yelled out "Elmo" in his sleep, so I'm guessing his dreams are difficult to differentiate from reality. We're learning to cope with his newly discovered sensitive side. He has become much more used to the baby crying and doesn't need nearly as much consoling as he did when Gavin first came home. But boy he sure won't let you forget the baby is crying, even if you're already holding the baby trying to make the crying stop. The cutest thing is Tyler will go out of his way to find a binky when the baby cries.

Well, that's it for this late update. I can hear Tyler thrashing around in his bed as we speak. He bonks his head so hard on the walls you can hear it two bedrooms away. He'll likely come out of his room rubbing his head in a few minutes saying "Bonk."