Tyler had a fantastic Easter weekend. Saturday we went to the Bessette's baby shower so he got to play with Connor and Julia. They had an Easter egg hunt there and this was neat for me because it was the first time I've seen Tyler be the "big kid" and get all the eggs. It made me remember his first Easter egg hunt at Stonelake when he was just 15 months old with all the bigger kids running past him for the same egg he was toddling his way to. Tyler used good teamwork. It turns out Gavin is far better at finding eggs than he is, so as soon as Gavin would scream "Egg" Tyler would take off running to where Gavin was pointing and race to put it in his basket. But when asked, Tyler did an excellent job of sharing the eggs with all the other kids who weren't nearly as fast as he.

Later, we visited Papa and then went to the mall to take portraits. This was the best photo shoot ever. Shawn and I stood there holding our breaths and trying to hold perfectly still so as to not distract our boys from being such excellent models. The photographer took more pictures than ever and got some really amazing shots. They smiled without putting their hands up, they hugged and looked right at the camera, Tyler even lay down on his tummy, placed his chin on his crossed hands and crossed his feet per her instructions. We were floored.

Easter Sunday Tyler woke up early and Mommy spelled out to Daddy while laying in bed at 6 a.m. "We forgot to h-i-d-e the
e-g-g-s last night." Daddy tried to get out of waking up by saying we'd just do the hunt at the park later. So, Mommy got the boys into the dining room, poured a big bowl of cereal for each, turned on their favorite extra-long Wiggles DVD and disappeared to hide the eggs in the house. After breakfast, the boys discovered their baskets and began hunting for eggs. They had so much fun doing this. Gavin was shocked each time he spotted a new egg, while Tyler couldn't wait to find out what was inside each egg. Daddy woke up just in time to go to the zoo where we met Gramma, Papa Steve and Auntie Kristin. Tyler and Gavin walked through the entire zoo. Tyler was a good tour guide, pointing out the "Nice, long necks" on the giraffes, announcing the zebras were eating, the lion was sleeping, and the monkeys were silly. He did mistake the anteater for an elephant because of it's long nose, apparently Tyler's size perspective is a bit off. We sat through the 20 minute zoofari show and at the end, Tyler got to interact with the animals, petting a snake (yuck) and handing a dollar bill to a parrot. There was a tourtise cruising around which Tyler tried to step on but Dada caught him just in time. We went out and picnicked at Land Park, playing soccer, catch, and having a wonderful time all around. What a nice Easter it was!

When I picked up Tyler from school, the staff was dying to tell me this story. Tyler had had an accident (his first in several weeks) and was told to go in the bathroom and put on clean clothes while Ms. Sarah cleaned up. Well, low and behold, after several minutes, Tyler comes out of the bathroom wearing his rainboots and nothing else. He just walked right out and went to sit down at the puzzle table. Buck "makid" as he says. After Ms. Heather and Ms. Sarah stopped laughing too hard to speak, they informed him he couldn't be out in the classroom without his clothes on. Apparently, he was surprised at this news as he didn't seem to think anything of it. Ms. Heather said if he were her kid, she would have taken a picture because it was the cutest thing to see him in nuthin but the boots. I don't need a picture to know what that looks like, as he prefers to streak around the house, but I guess we haven't informed him about the difference between being naked at home and being naked in public. Luckily, the kids in his class were either too preoccupied or just not interested in Tyler's appearance because while I've heard the story from no fewer than five teachers, ("Did you hear what Tyler did?") no parents have asked about it yet.

Tyler is getting himself dressed these days. He went to school today in a maroon shirt and red pants, accessorized with rain boots and his umbrella. Pretty snazzy. He's very focused and takes getting dressed quite seriously. So, suggesting he wear a long sleeved shirt when he's put a short sleeved shirt on is pretty much out of the question. But, luckily his sense of humor kicks in when I point out the he put his pants on backwards. He throws his head back, laughing, squinting his eyes and acknowledges that he needs to turn them around before he leaves the house. I do let him leave the house with underwear on backwards though.

When Mack visited a couple weekends ago, he asked Tyler what the name of Tyler's school was. Ever since then, Tyler has had a keen interest in the name of every school. Yesterday we drove by Stone Lake Elementary school and Tyler told me "That is Mack's school." Really? I asked, and Tyler said "Yeah. Mack is tall so he can go to that school." It struck me how similar that statement was to another one Tyler made the other day when he told me it was nice and sunny outside so we can go fly a kite today. You can almost see the wheels turning in his little brain.

Dada did it. I've heard horror stories of people doing it but never thought it would happen to our family. Last night, he took the boys to the gym while I stayed home feeling sick. It's allergy season, yuck. As it got late I began wondering what was taking them so long. At 8:40 Shawn called asking me to drive over to the gym because Tyler locked the keys in the car. Turns out, Tyler locked himself, his brother, and the keys in the car. Needless to say, I floored it all the way down EG Blvd. to the gym with the spare key. When I pulled up, it looked like Dada had been crying and Tyler and Gavin were just expressionless. Poor exhausted boys.

Tyler's third third birthday party (no that wasn't a typo) was a blast. But no matter what, next year we're only doing one party. Byer's Gym threw a wonderful party for him, complete with ice cream cake, tumbling, parachutes, balls and falls! The older kids did a really great job of jumping on the trampoline track but the little kids weren't too interested in that. Jordan liked jumping backwards down the track. Mack liked doing the barrell roll down it. Tyler and Carina just jumped and jumped. I would too if adults were allowed!

They moved to the paracute so everyone else could get involved. Note to self: Parachutes are a great ice breaker and team builder. We made popcorn out of dozens of balls on top of the parachute, played cat and mouse with one child under and one over the parachute, and much more! Then came more interaction with the cool apparatuses (apparati?) from hanging on bars to doing headstands to rolling atop a big giant donut to doing donkey kicks over a hurdle. The kids all did a great job following directions and finding their own favorite things. The time went by really fast but it didn't feel nearly as rushed as the 45 minute classes Tyler took at Byers last year.

When we moved to a special room for ice cream cake, the kids took their seats and the parents stood around. Tyler took a sip of his apple juice and announced to everyone "This juice is not nasty," well thank goodness but that got parents wondering what I serve him at home! After cake, we moved to the party room for presents which Tyler was more interested in opening than in paying attention to what they were. I expected the worst behavior and was happy because while he wasn't exactly polite (what 3 year old is?) he wasn't horrible. Gramma was in charge of Gavin and he gave her a run for his money. Dada did a great job capturing it all on video and now every evening Tyler wants to watch his gym birthday party instead of the Wiggles or Elmo.