We say: Hippopotamus
Ty says: Hippo puppets

Tyler is starting to answer questions really well. The other night I asked who was ready for bed and he answered "Me!" He's also got a new word "Uhhh," which seems to come before many answers. When I asked him what he did today "Uhhh play outside. Uhhh paint picture. Uhhh eat good lunch. Uhhh bite Carina."

So we were at the dinner table last night eating ribs, artichokes, beans and macaroni. I was losing my mind after a weekend of minimal sleep thanks to Gavin and minimal patience thanks to Tyler's tantrums. After having numerous opportunities to study Tyler's tantrums this past week, I put it all together to realize they always circled around food. I am so scarred by his absurd behavior that I don't want to get into it now, so you'll just have to trust me on my conclusion. Shawn and I are both getting worn down to our cores. Tyler can't sit, he can't stand, he can't eat at the table or outside or at the couch, he pushes his food away although he can't stop screaming for the very food he just pushed away, he can't stop screaming for a drink and can't help but throw the very drink he screamed for across the room. Is it just me or is this beginning to sound like a Dr. Seuss story?

That's what our days have become lately and we are all getting a little delirious. Tyler had sucked the life out of his artichoke leaf and ignoring me & Shawn's pleas to put it in the bowl with the other eaten leaves so he could take another one. Tyler devilishly looked at both of us and slowly put the whole leaf in his mouth. We could hear his inner voice saying "Let's see what they do when I do this," as he looked back and forth at us, teasing us with the leaf in his mouth. I threatened no more artichokes but Shawn was far more patient. He took a leaf of his own, and showed Tyler the old trick of throwing the leaf into the bowl. Tyler threw his leaf across the table. Shawn took another leaf and threw it at Tyler. Tyler started cracking up. I sat there appalled but glad Tyler had a sense of humor because this really was funny. Tyler threw a leaf at Shawn. We had a real life food fight right before my eyes and I began wondering how it would all end. At least it was the leaves and not the beans. Hopefully Tyler doesn't think we'll do that at every meal now, but if that's what it takes to ward-off the tantrums, we will.

One significant part of Tyler's ritual in feeding Chili is he always samples the food. Gross, I know, but he eats at least one kernel of dog food a day. The more we get grossed out, the more he does it. Last night he ate three kernels. Maybe that explains the nasty diaper this morning.

These kids have been cracking me up lately. Maybe it's out of delirium because I feel more exhausted now than I recall feeling when Gavin was a newborn. But I really have been laughing a lot lately. Gavin's got this new thing going on where he just shakes his head 'no' back and forth really fast. When we do it back to him, it really gets him going. He's going to make his bald spot bigger the way he's rubbing it so much, but this is a funny new form of entertainment for him and us. I remember Tyler learning to shake his head around the same age. Only Tyler did it most often when he was sitting up in his highchair. Gavin does it most when he's laying down on the ground, his crib, changing table, in the car seat. Funny little one-toothed wonder.

Shawn has been training Tyler to feed Chili. It's never too soon to make the kids earn their keep with chores, is it? Anyway, Tyler loves this task and if it were up to him, Chili would eat every morning, noon and night. Tyler was diligently scooping the food one night, using all his might and suddenly the handle snapped off the scooper. So now, every night he picks up the scooper and tells us "Ty broke it," as though we had not just heard about it the previous night, and the night before that. Next, he begins talking to himself as he fills the scooper with food, "Little bit more," he repeats several times as Chili obediently stands by frothing at the mouth but waiting oh so patiently. Finally satisfied with the amount of food in the scooper (which takes at least a minute or two), Tyler carefully pours the food into the bowl. This is where his learning curve is most prominent because we've progressed from one or two kernels of dogfood actually making it into the bowl, to just one or two not making it in the bowl. Then Chili dives in and Tyler sings words that are magic to Chili's ears "hmmm need little bit more." Tyler would feed the dog all night if we let him!

Tyler has suddenly acquired some sort of an accent. Outside is a word he's been saying clear as day ever since he was old enough to know he wanted to go outside. Suddenly he's saying it like he's from Boston: "Outsoid."

Sesame Street characters have also been part of his early vocabulary and he's very good about calling them all by their names (except instead of saying Oscar, he says "Trash" which is just too cute to correct). But suddenly Ernie has become: "Ooynie." He hasn't visited the east coast recently and we don't know anyone from Boston so I have no idea what's up with this new dialect!

We over-stimulated Tyler this weekend. Saturday was Will's birthday party at Funderland. Funderland is a micro amusement park geared for 2-4 year olds. I say micro because it's smaller than most carnivals, and because most of the kids running around are really small. I'm sure to the 2-4 year olds, this place feels huge. Until they've been to Disneyland. Or even a carnival.

Tyler rode on his first rides. First up was a big octopus that spins around and the kids sit in a tiny little fish at the end of each tentacle. As the octopus goes around, the fish go up & down. I must have been side tracked because somehow Shawn snuck Tyler past me before my nagging, overprotective, over communicative, and over anxious senses could kick in. I suddenly looked up and Shawn was buckling tiny little Tyler (who looked adorable in his Kings hat and sunglasses) into this tiny little fish that I was certain he could easily fall out of just by leaning wrong. Shawn chose the furthest fish away from me and it took every bit of will in me not to yell all the paranoid things that were crossing my mind. Are you sure you buckled it well? Be sure to explain to him what's going to happen. Order him to stay sitting on his bottom. Threaten to withhold Elmo for life if he doesn't stay sitting down. I was ready to explode because all I could do was watch from afar and try lame hand signals to triple check the buckle situation.

As the ride operator began getting the ride ready, Shawn took one step back and Tyler, who up to that point seemed to be doing fine, lost it. Tears flowing behind his sunglasses, holding his arms out, screaming for Dada to get him out. I yelled "GET HIM OUT!" my arms were flailing around too and I was just about ready to cry myself. Shawn took another step back and avoided all eye contact with me. Had Gavin not been asleep in the stroller, I would have leapt over the fence, pushed Shawn out of the way, and swooped poor helpless Tyler up into my arms, telling him it's ok that he's not quite ready to try such a scary thing. Just then, the operator announced the ride would start, Shawn got out of the way, Tyler kicked the tears and screaming up a notch, I hollered "PICK HIM UP" one last time, frightening all the children around me, and the ride started.

My eyes were fixated on Tyler and I was sure he would leap out and splat on the ground at any minute. But as soon as it started, he froze. Hey, freezing is better than crying. At least he appears calm on the outside. Oh, he's coming around toward me, I'd better wave and let him know it's ok. I'm frantically flailing my arms all around so he'll notice me through his stoic expression but he doesn't really acknowledge me the first time. He was too busy processing the commotion. The second time around, the ride's going pretty fast and he's going up and down and suddenly I notice how high the sides are and how low in the seat he is, and think to myself there is no way he could possibly fall out of the fish. Third time around, he's looking more relaxed, so am I, Shawn is giving me the thumbs up from the other side of the ride but I make a mental note to still give him hell for not rescuing Tyler. Fourth time around, he's actually looking for me as he comes toward me. There's no way he can possibly wave back to me because he's still frozen and his hands are grasping on to the side of the ride, but he's watching me. Fifth time around and I'm wondering how long this ride really is. My arm is getting really tired from waving every 15 seconds he comes around and I'm beginning to really notice what a smothering mother I must look like to the other parents around me who watched the events unfold. After going around and around what must have been 40 times or so, it finally came to a halt and Shawn got Tyler out. As Tyler bounced over to me, he said "Ride round and round up down" and his hands were going around and around while his little body bobbed up and down. He was thrilled. Shawn was proud. I was initiated. This was one of those times you realize how absolutely necessary it is to have two parents in the household. Balance.

In all, he rode the octopus, the carousel, and the train twice. Daddy exceeded the weight limit for the water ride so I took him on that. Funderland is on our list of places to go again soon! Sunday we visited Papa and Tyler watched a tow truck in action for his first time. Tyler now likes to talk about the tow truck so much, I think he's forgotten all about Funderland. We were still on the other side of town at dinner time so we dined out, allowing Tyler to eat his ice cream. We're not sure if it was the busy weekend or the excessive amount of ice cream he ate, but the boy could not fall asleep last night and when he finally did, he kept twitching awake, freaking out all night. Whew am I glad it's Monday so I can catch some rest at work!

Well Tyler ate dinner pretty normally last night. So who can I convince to come over & distract him tonight? Actually, I think I figured out the real root of his problem when I watched him eat breakfast at school. They sit in toddler sized chairs at toddler sized tables. He is able to get up at his leisure. At home he sits in a booster seat at an adult sized table. He wants to be like Mama & Dada and sit in a real seat. So last night he ate at the table sitting in a big chair (no, he wouldn't let me stick the phone book under him) and we could only see him from mouth, up. But he ate, so I can't complain.

Silly boy is stuck in the viscious cycle of counting:
One
Two
Fee
Four
Ibe
Ix
Seben
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleben
Twelve
Fee
Four
Fibe
Ix
Seben
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleben
Twelve
Fee
Four

If we jump in and help him get from twelve to thirteen, he gets right back on track and goes all the way up to nineteen!

Tyler is on dinner strike. This came out of left field. He's been suffering from it since Monday. He eats so well at school that we weren't too worried putting him to bed without dinner on Monday. But when he threw the same fit on Tuesday, Shawn & I did everything we could think of to please him so he would eat. By Wednesday, I was tired of the same old fit and tried standing my ground. Three different pitches. Three strikes. Three nights without decent dinner. Tonight Uncle Mike is coming over for dinner. Little does Mike know inviting him for dinner was all part of my plan to distract Tyler into eating. We'll see how it goes!

Cute little man is into dressing up these days. He's always been fond of the swimsuit that has an innertube sewn into it and frequently puts it on asking if we can go to the pool. Explaining that it's too cold and too dark doesn't seem to stop him from trying again the next day. Now he's getting into more garb. We picked up a cute bath robe for him at Costco and he begs to wear that thing to school. As soon as he gets out of the bath, it goes on and doesn't come off until right before bed. He loves it, and he must wear the hat at all times. He's actually great at wearing any hat I put on his head. Today he wore his khaki sun hat to school. I asked if he wanted to take it off while he ate his waffles at breakfast but he said no. The sun has been really bright in the mornings lately so he's even wearing his sunglasses. On our way to school this morning, he sat in his car seat with both the hat and sunglasses on. "Cool dude" he says. He looked in the mirror the entire drive checking himself out. Over the weekend we were driving and I looked in the backseat to smile at him and couldn't tell if he was asleep or awake with the sunglasses on. Very cool dude.

Getting ready for work this morning, I was putting my make up on and each thing I put down, Tyler picked up pretending to put it on his own face. Purple eye shadow went on his forehead. Luckily he can't get the lid off most of the stuff yet. I suppose someday I will find him quietly painting his face, or the baby's face, with my makeup in all the wrong places.

Along with pretend dress up, I've noticed Tyler pretending to act like the baby. Then I read this about reverting to baby behavior and felt much better knowing we didn't mess him up by having another baby, he's just normal. Last night he tried putting Gavin's bottle in his mouth. I don't think he actually knew what to do with it, other than put it in his mouth. So funny how quickly they forget these things. His first year, the bottle and the binky played a significant role in his life. His second year he knows they both go in the mouth but doesn't seem to know how to make either one work. I guess that's evolution.

Yesterday was great grandad's birthday so we met all the Roberts--about 20 of them--at Macaroni Grill. The cousins (Steve, Andrew, Conner, Mason) see each other often so Tyler & Gavin were a hit with the kids. Tyler in true fashion was very quiet and reserved, sitting politely and watching everyone get wilder and crazier in the restaurant. Meanwhile, Gavin was good and enjoyed all the attention as long as nobody, including Daddy, attempted to pick him up. Tyler told Great Grandpa "Happy day to you Great Papa!" and I'm pretty sure Art knew what Tyler was saying. It is so easy to forget that not everyone can understand Tyler as well as I can. He's definitely getting there, though. And on the way home, Shawn & I heard him chattering away in the backseat and as I listened to figure out what he was saying, it occurred to me that he was telling the story we are reading at bedtime We're Going on a Bear Hunt. This was the first time I've heard him recite a story from memory, and we've only been reading this book since last weekend when Uncle Mike gave it to him for his birthday. Brilliant!

Tyler also showed some significant empathy last night. While feeding baby Gavin who is working on his second tooth, I screeched in terror and began crying immediately when he sank his razor sharp baby tooth into me. I couldn't help myself and got even more frantic when I realized I was bleeding. Always the observer, Tyler watched the scene unfold nearby. He had never seen me cry. I could see the concern on his face as he stayed out of the way, but kept his arm on my leg, his eyes locked on me watching every move as Daddy helped take care of me and take Gavin the vampire out of my arms. He was so concerned, but not overly sensitive. This is a great balance! Always the parent, I took the opportunity to tell Tyler this is why we don't bite. He went on to relive the event as it happened and used the past tense for his first time. "No bite Mama, Baby. Mama cry. Baby bit Mama. No bite Baby." He repeated this over and over, as if to exercise his knowledge of using present and past tense together. I was impressed! Baby's going to be getting bottles only from now on.

One thing that really cracks me up about Tyler is his shyness. A month ago, he turned his head away from people trying to talk to him when he was shy. If he can't see them, they aren't there, right? Well, this weekend we were standing in line at Costco and this man in front of us started talking to Tyler. I was expecting Tyler to turn his head away pretending he wasn't there. Instead, Tyler put his fingers in his ears, plugging them up. So now it's if he can't hear them, they aren't there. A little rude, maybe, but so funny!

Tyler turned two! We milked his birthday out over three days. Thursday was his last official day in the toddler's classroom so he brought cupcakes to share with his teachers and friends there. Daycare requires shared treats to be store-bought and the only thing the grocery store had was St. Patrick's Day cupcakes. This will matter a lot more when he's older, this year it was no big deal to have green cupcakes with four leafed clover decorations! That night Tyler opened presents that had arrived in the mail: books and a magnetic board from Gramma Dee and a Little People zoo from Andrea. On Friday, his actual birthday and his first day in the new classroom, Mommy and Daddy took the day off work to celebrate. We took him in to school together and spent extra time making sure he was well adjusted. He still cried when we left, but it was half-hearted. Then we headed off to Toys R Us and splurged on his gift, a wagon to pull him around the park! Tyler came home to balloons and new toys in the house, and we sang happy birthday all night long. When Gramma, Kristin & Papa called to sing happy birthday, Tyler listened intently and promptly said "Again" when the song ended. I think they had to sing it three times before we finally cut them off. Saturday we met Gramma, Mike, Kristin, Great Gramma (which Tyler is getting really good at saying) and two Papas at the zoo. It was a great sunny day and Tyler had a blast walking around looking at the animals. Baby slept through the entire zoo so it really was all about Tyler! Then everyone came home and we had lunch, opened presents, and had Papa's homemade lemon-banana-chocolate cake! Talk about a happy day!