09.03.10: Tyler lassoed Kevin today with a string that goes to a lacing game, and said "come on Kevin, I am going to teach you to make my bed". I didn't believe it but five minutes later, Tyler came running out to show me that he made his bed. I was so excited since normally he just helps me, and his response "you like it even though it is lumpy". Yep. I love it son! Keep it up!!!
09.01.10: Listening to Tyler play through an Iowa game in the living room. He keeps diving to the floor over and over and then will randomly announce "I scored a touchdown mom" and after another dive "And Tyler wins the game! Go Hawks!". And rather than rest, he is right on to the next series of falls before going through the same dialogue again. I think someone is ready for the start of college football this weekend!
08.27.10: On the way home, Tyler spent most of his time negotiating with Kevin over a yellow race car. Tyler's position was if Kevin would give him that car now for the ride, Tyler would give him a car once we got home. Tyler was very nice and patient, and wouldn't you know eventually Kevin gave him the car. And once he got what he wanted from Kevin, he told me that if I didn't give him a cookie when we got home, the baby would be sad and cry. And he didn't want the baby to be sad. Ha! This kid!
08.26.10: Tyler told us yesterday that he "is the luckiest boy ever" because he is getting a baby, and that makes him so special. Cute.....
05.18.10: What can I say...Tyler is just a very busy three year old these days. :) His favorite color is still yellow. He LOVES the number 3. And EVERYTHING has to be in three's anymore...three pieces of toast, three pieces of banana, etc. And he loves toast. Thanks to a hot-buttered toast loving pig named Mercy Watson, Tyler is always requesting some hot-buttered toast. We like to tease him and by telling him of course we will get you some cold toast, and he will just giggle and correct us. We have a lot of the Mercy books, and although they are long to read, he LOVES every second of them. He is also big into the Magic School Bus series, and thanks to the used book store, we are swimming in them. We think that he may be disappointed once he gets to school and realizes that field trips are nothing like Ms. Frizzles. But for now, he dreams and talks about one day being in Ms. Frizzles class. He has also developed a lot of energy and spends most of his day running around as Buzz Lightyear or Woody...depending on the day. We all have our roles too....
- On a Buzz Lightyear Day: Tyler is Buzz, Kevin is T-Rex, Daddy is Emperor Zurg, Carlie is Hamm, Ellie is Slinky and I am Woody.
- On a Woody Day: Tyler is Woody, Kevin is T-Rex, Daddy is Buzz Lightyear, Grandpa Thimmesch is Emperor Zurg, Carlie is Hamm (and sometimes Scud), Ellie is Slinky, and I am Andy.
I am amazed at how much he has latched on to these stories. He has seen one of the movies once and the sequel twice, but he acts like we watch them all day long. :) It is fun though to watch him get into character and play out some of the story lines.
05.08.10: While playing Uno with Tyler I told him to "look at his hand" so he could see if he had a card he could play. With a very confused look, he looked at both sides of his other hand. It took a minute, but once I realized what I had said and what he had done, I couldn't stop laughing!
05.07.10: After one pass with a noodle at swim class, his teacher took away all floation devices and Tyler spent the rest of the lesson practicing swimming and floating on his own! He couldn't have had a bigger smile after each attempt and just loved getting to go down to the bottom again to get a toy. :)
05.05.10: Tyler surprised us all when at the end of swim class volunteered to swim to the bottom of the pool (almost four feet deep) to get a toy. He managed to get one and was so proud of himself!
04.30.10: Tyler got his noodle taken away from him today and we couldn't be more excited. He is swimming on his own now at swim class! He also shocked me afterwards when walked up to the Stop sign outside of class and read what was below "No parking Fire Lane" and then told me to never park my car there or the fire truck might crash into me.
04.29.10: Tyler insisted on making dessert (pronounced "bessert" by Tyler) all by himself and he did! It was very yummy brownie pudding!
04.25.10: Last night while we were out at dinner, Tyler grabbed both daddy and I's hands and said "You are the best family ever". It totally just melted Adam and I and we continued to just sit there and hold his hand while he explained that he would someday have a house of all yellow (everything inside and outside would be yellow (but thankfully there will be a bed for us to come visit), and that in his past lives he liked different colors...when he was a grandma it was black, a grandpa brown, and when he was a daddy he liked white. Interesting.).
04.23.10: I am so proud of Tyler. Today at swim class when a little girl was not thrilled about putting her face in the water, he started loudly yelling "yea" every time she would do it, which she loved and started doing it longer and longer and would immediately look up at him with a big smile to see his reaction (which then caused him to keep doing it longer and louder). He was so proud that "he was teaching her" and that they could both do it that he talked about it the entire way home. I am also thrilled that after playing in the bathtub for an hour last night he has discovered that he can "put his monkey cheeks" (entire face) under water for as long as he can hold his breath. He LOVED showing off today at class and the teacher was VERY impressed that he had come so far so quickly with it. And he just begs to spend the day at class and even asked his teacher that today. I think that he loves swimming!
04.22.10: Just showed Tyler "the man's profile" in the United States (i.e. the shape that appears from Minnesota to Louisiana) and not only was Tyler thrilled that he was wearing shoes but also proclaimed "that's grandpa with a Tallulah (a cooking cat) hat" and "he's going to cook Oklahoma" (when I explained that Oklahoma looks like a frying pan. Ha! Maybe he will at least know where MN, IA, and OK are though as a result :)
04.20.10: At breakfast, daddy asked Tyler what he would do if mommy went to work, and Tyler just answered that "then you daddy would stay home with us." So daddy clarified, to ask what Tyler would do if both mommy and daddy went to work. This required Tyler to think a bit, and then he got a big smile and announced that he would get in his car and drive to get ice cream. And when he gets home from getting ice cream mommy and daddy will be waiting to eat it. No idea where he came up with this nor do I remember how the conversation started, but I thought that it was so cute that (a) Tyler just thought that daddy would then stay home and (b) if he could have neither of us he chose ice cream. ;)
04.15.10: Tyler realizes that he can now saw "Nemo" instead of "Emo" and loves that he is now a "big boy" who can say things right. He also gave daddy and I a spelling quiz at dinner.
04.20.10: At breakfast, daddy asked Tyler what he would do if mommy went to work, and Tyler just answered that "then you daddy would stay home with us." So daddy clarified, to ask what Tyler would do if both mommy and daddy went to work. This required Tyler to think a bit, and then he got a big smile and announced that he would get in his car and drive to get ice cream. And when he gets home from getting ice cream mommy and daddy will be waiting to eat it. No idea where he came up with this nor do I remember how the conversation started, but I thought that it was so cute that (a) Tyler just thought that daddy would then stay home and (b) if he could have neither of us he chose ice cream. ;)
04.15.10: Tyler realizes that he can now saw "Nemo" instead of "Emo" and loves that he is now a "big boy" who can say things right. He also gave daddy and I a spelling quiz at dinner.
04.07.10: Attends first swim class ever and enjoys getting to talk about Buzz Lightyear with his swim teacher.
04.05.10: Attends first class without any parents!!! And he did great and loves going to class. :)
03.01.10: Tyler thinks that it is fun to count to 100 by 10's over counting to 10 by 1's anymore. And sometimes he prefers if I count to thirty by ten's instead of three by one's when I am serious about something. He has also discovered Buzz Lightyear and the movie Toy Story, and has since spent most of his time in character as Buzz.
02.07.10: This morning we went to get donuts and Tyler LOVES to drive the car cart at the grocery store. We always have the ritual of having to park the car exactly where we found it so we don't avoid a breakdown. Well, today we were parking the car, and Tyler walked around to the front of it and said "Thanks friend. I will be back to drive you around when we run out of peanut butter and jelly. Be good. Stay warm. Bye friend!" all while rubbing the front of the car like he was petting it. Talk about adorable, and it just shows you how much he enjoys driving their cars!
02.06.10: We went to Home Depot today to make a kids workshop craft. Once we got both boys settled into their car cart and they were driving us away, Tyler turned around to look at daddy and said "I saw the power of Home Depot on t.v. dad"! Ha! We thought that it was hilarious and we were very surprised that he picked up on their commerical.
12.30.09: While hanging out in daddy's office yesterday, Tyler asked what book daddy was reading. Daddy showed him the big book of SEC regulations sitting on his desk. Tyler asked if he could read it and daddy said sure. Tyler opened it up, saw all of the small print and said "that is a lot of words daddy" and closed the book. Then he looked up and with a big smile said "that is just wonderful daddy, your book is wonderful". AHHHH. Too cute. I hope that he continues to love books and words as he gets older!!!
10.31.09: Tyler enjoyed the Hawkeye game against Indiana. He would watch parts with us and then run off to play. The best part about watching the game with him today was when Tyler Sash got a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Tyler was watching with us, and as we were yelling for Tyler Sash to run, Tyler was yelling "I'm doing it, I am going to score, Tyler scores a touchdown!". :) Just too cute to listen to him get all excited about another Tyler making a big play.
10.31.09: Tyler gets up early with daddy, who makes him a bowl of cereal and some applesauce for breakfast. While sitting at the table eating breakfast (Kevin and I are still sleeping), Adam asks Tyler whether Tyler likes the breakfast that Adam made for him. Apparently, Tyler looked up at Adam and in only a way that Tyler can, said "You did not make my BREAKFAST...you just put milk on my cereal and opened my applesauce DADDY". Tyler apparently thought that this daddy was quite the goofball for thinking that that was making a breakfast, and remembered that moment to tell me later in the day.
10.21.09: I think that it is adorable that Tyler refuses breakfast because he is busy making a picnic and bossing his friends (Tyler Sash, Pooh Bear, Elmo, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck) around so that they help him. So far, they have packed broccoli and ice cream, and are having their picnic at the park since they all are going to work on the bulldozer there after they swing. Tyler told them that if they eat their broccoli and ice cream all gone, then he will drive them to the cookie house in his grey car. Too cute!
10.20.09: Tyler shocked me today by looking at a lot of different clocks on a paper and telling me what time it was. So I printed out more and we had fun learning about clocks and practicing pointing to the hands (since his default guess is always two o'clock) to see what the hands are actually pointing at.
10.19.09: Tyler did his first fingerpaint. It was for his daddy, and not only included some smiley faces, but also included some goats. He was so proud to be making a fun painting and was sure to put lots of blue (daddy's favorite color) and yellow (Tyler's favorite color) all over the paper.
10.12.09: Upon seeing that it is snowing this morning, Tyler announces to Adam that they need to clean it up. Then, while sitting at breakfast, Tyler tells me that we should make daddy some hot chocolate when he gets home from work because "daddy will like to drink it, it warm him up". Ahhh. So, now, Tyler is alternating between looking at the snow in the backyard and pretending to make hot chocolate for daddy and Ellie (not sure why Ellie is getting it...maybe because she looks cold) at the kitchen table. Too sweet.
10.11.09: As we are waiting for Mass to start, Adam realizes that the church childcare is open once again (it closes during the summer and start of the school year). He looks at Tyler and asks him if he wants to go play with kids, and immediately Tyler is up and headed out. Adam told me that Tyler immediately ran to the toys once they walked in (a welcomed change after the tears we would have last year, and just a reminder that he is growing up) and that he didn't care that Adam was leaving. Upon returning, the lady's in the nursery told us all the story's that Tyler told them as apparently he talked nonstop while he was there (including telling them about how grandma has a sister....no idea which grandma he was talking about or where he realized that grandma's can have sisters...). ;) Just bittersweet knowing that he is big enough to go play by himself with strangers for an hour....we love that he is growing up...but then of course there is the reminder that he is growing up! ;)
10.05.09: Tyler has his first hot chocolate. He came out after his nap (he can open his door even though it has a child lock on it now, so naptime or quiet time seems to end whenever he wants anymore) and came out right as I was making myself a cup. So, I made him a small cup of his very first hot chocolate in his monkey "coffee" cup and we had a nice chat at the table sipping our warm drink.
10.05.09: This morning Tyler goes and changes out of his pajamas all by himself (something that happens occasionally) and walked in with the clothes that he wanted to wear for the day. I helped get him changed and he pointed out that he already had his shoes on (he had his Thomas Train slippers on) and announced that "Tyler needs to walk....needs to take a Tyler walk". He kept saying this over and over, and I finally asked him where he wanted to walk. He told me that he needed to walk down the street. I told him that he cannot walk down the street by himself because there could be cars driving down the road and that could be dangerous. He told me that it was okay because the cars were sleeping, and that he "needed" to walk down the street to go to daddy's work to help daddy work. It took a little convincing, but ultimately he settled on just walking downstairs to have a pretend picnic instead. :)
9.08.09: After getting home from Iowa, Adam and I are standing in the kitchen talking and Tyler walks in with an unopened McDonald's toy that he dug out of a bag while we were busy unpacking the car. He is trying his hardest to open it up (there is a car inside), but can't get the plastic open. Adam asks him if he would like help, and one determined Tyler responds with "No! I am a big boy....I am a big boy...." as he continues to struggle. He makes the affirmation that he is a "big boy" a couple more times before looking up at Adam and saying "I am NOT a big boy" and hands Adam the package to open. It was a very cute moment, though we felt for him on his realization that he still needs parental help once in awhile. :)
8.26.09: While waking Kevin up this morning, Tyler ran in to help. He announced to me that Kevin and daddy were "Tyler's buddies" and then kept asking Kevin "are you my buddy Kevin? yes, you are my buddy" over and over and over again. He was just so excited with this piece of news, that I asked him if I could be his buddy and he just looked up at me and said "whhhhaaaatttttt?" with those big brown eyes looking up at me and a big smile on his face. I asked again if I could be his buddy, and he told me "no mama, you are NOT my buddy, you are a girl!" with a big smile on his face. Apparently, only boys are eligible for Tyler buddy status right now. I can't complain though, because he did give me one of the sweetest kisses on the check after that.
8.20.09: After taking Kevin's truck to the grocery store, Tyler decided that it was time for breakfast. I asked him if he wanted to have oatmeal, something he has not had in months, and his eyes got so big! He started screaming "OAT-meal" over and over and over. For those of you that remember how he used to chant this when he was younger, it was in the same way with the same excitement. Oh, what a fun morning already. :)
8.19.09: Tyler told me that Kevin and him are going to the library this morning. They have ten errands to do, and are going to do them in Kevin's car (Tyler is stuck on "ten" because Adam has been reading him "ten" books at night...small ones...in lieu of several songs at bedtime). I listened to Tyler convince Kevin to let Tyler drive, and then they buckled (noisely). After finishing three errands (the library, gas, and groceries), they stopped to get lunch. Tyler ordered "milk and water" for Kevin and "chocolate milk and a cheeseburger" for Tyler. They Tyler sped off telling Kevin to be careful and not make a mess. :) And then promptly stopped for ice cream. ;) I just love Tyler's imagination....and think (based off of Kevin's sounds and smiles) that he is LOVING playing with big brother today!
8.19.09: This morning, Tyler and Kevin were quietly playing in Tyler's room. Kevin was playing with some blocks and Tyler was performing a concert for Kevin with various instruments (all pretend), so I ran downstairs to start some laundry. I got a load started and then took the kitchen trash outside. After that, I headed back into Tyler's room (I wasn't gone long, so you would think that everything would be the same, but alas I was wrong) where I see Candyland game pieces EVERYWHERE and each boy has half of the board (sigh). I am just looking at the mess, when Tyler looks up at me and says "Kevin teach Tyler how to do this mama, Kevin is good at Candyland." I said, "he broke the game?" and Tyler responded with "we don't break it mama, we are playing." Sigh. I can't get upset because I am the one who left it within reach after playing it with Tyler yesterday, so it is my fault, but I did find it funny that Tyler is putting it all on Kevin already! ;)
8.17.09: Upon walking in to get Tyler up for the morning, Tyler sat up in bed and promptly asked whether daddy wore a green tie to work. I told him that I would have to call daddy to ask him, and Tyler agreed and also wanted to tell daddy that his fan blew the light in his closet out last night and that they will need to fix the light because "me want to see books in Tyler's bed"! ;) (Really, we just turned the light off after he went to sleep and since we keep his books in his closet I guess that he woke up looking for his books (since last night he told Adam that he wanted to see his books as Adam was tucking him in). I asked him how he was going to fix the light in his closet and he told me "we fix it real good, real good at Home Depot" and ran to get his flashlight."
8.14.09: Tyler walked right to the fridge this morning after getting up (something he always does after we decide on what type of cereal he is having...his or daddy's). He opened the fridge up and said "oh no...who drank my milk?!?!" in a very accusatory fashion! I had to tell him that daddy drank his milk all gone this morning, but that we would go to the store to get more. That was all Tyler needed to hear. He quickly ate his dry cereal and then off we headed to the store, where he proceeded to tell EVERYONE that we got lots of milk because "daddy drank my milk all gone". Ha.
8.13.09: I just watched Tyler tuck Pooh Bear into bed. I asked him if he wanted the lights off for Pooh Bear, but Tyler told me no, so I left. I grabbed something from the kitchen and walked back down the hall to hear Tyler signing "good night my pooh bear" (a song that we sing to Tyler every night). I came out here to post about it because it was so cute, and Tyler came running out with a pretend cup telling me that Pooh Bear needs water and went to get him water and then told him "night night" (asking for water has become a Tyler ritual). Then Pooh Bear started crying, so Tyler went to get him and it turns out that Pooh Bear needs Thomas the train to sleep with. So they grabbed a Thomas and Tyler went back to bed, with Tyler singing one more song and then telling Pooh Bear to dream about Thomas the train. I just love how he imitates daily life!
8.13.09: I think (he has been doing it consistently for three days) that I can officially type that Tyler knows "one plus" addition...at least up to the point that he can count (right now it is consistently twenty, with sometimes up to thirty). It all started with a math puzzle game he got and so we had to teach him the "____ plus ____ is ____" format to be able to work the puzzle. Now, he can usually read you that format if you write it out, (i.e. knows the "plus" and "equal" sign). Anyways, Adam worked on adding ones and he quickly realized that one plus something is just one more of that something. So now you can ask him what "one plus seven is" or something else between one and twenty, and so long as he isn't being silly, will tell you "eight" or the other correct answer.
8.13.09: I walk in to wake Tyler up this morning. He is sitting in his bed and looks up at me with his big brown eyes and says "I'm sick.". That was it. As he then climbed out of bed and walked into the living room to find Kevin. He starts playing with some stacking toys that you can turn into balls. He makes three balls, one for me (the biggest), one for Kevin (the smallest), and one for himself (a middle sized one). I ask them what they are, and he tells me apples. He then tells me that mine tastes like a banana, Kevin's is chocolate, and his is medicine. Yuck! But he ate his all gone and then told me that he was feeling better.
8.12.09: While sitting at the table with Kevin, who was finishing up his dinner, I hear Tyler running into the kitchen yelling "let's blow him up mommy, I wanna blow him up". Huh? Tyler finally makes it into the kitchen and says "mama, i blow him up all by myself". I look at him (since I was feeding Kevin his yummy dinner of avacado, lentil, and pear) to see Tyler holding the ear thermometer. Ah!! Makes so much sense....and as I piece it together Tyler tells me that he is a doctor and can do it all by himself.
8.11.09: I go in to get Tyler up for the morning and notice that his nose is really running. I asked him if his nose was running, and he looked at me with a serious look and said "no mommy, my nose not sick, it ran away". Ha! Apparently, Ellie's running away left an impression.
8.10.09: When I picked Tyler up from the childcare center at the gym, I started talking to a staff member who was playing with him. I asked him how she did today, and she said great and that he is quite the talker. Apparently, he approached her and asked her to play trains with him and when she sat down to play, he started talking nonstop! He told her that he likes to eat his food all gone, and when she asked him if he ate all of his vegetables because vegetables make you strong, he replied "yes, but not my tomatoes, I don't like tomatoes!". She asked him what he got if he ate his vegetables all gone, and he told her that "mommy lets me vacuum all by myself" and how daddy lets him build a trench. I then had to explain that this morning I had let him vacuum a bedroom by himself for the first time, and that he helped Adam work on some landscaping over the weekend where they made a small trench to lay some edging.
8.07.09: While playing playing outside on his tricycle, Tyler abrubtly stopped and ran into the garage. I started to hear dragging noises, and soon Tyler appeared with one of the car ramps (to raise up the front end so Adam can change the oil). Tyler got it situated and then ran back into the garage to get the other one. He took his time lining them up next to each other, then brought me his yellow plastic fire hat (he was a fireman today) that he was wearing. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me that he had to "work on my bicycle little bit). Sure enough, he then worked very hard to roll his tricycle up the ramps and once situated, then looked underneath and pretend fixed a few things before declaring "I fixed my bicycle, mommy" and continuing to then ride it.
8.06.09: After singing along to "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis, Tyler announces repeatedly that "mommy, I did bring him home to your house"; and it has happened everytime since. Too cute.
8.07.09: While playing playing outside on his tricycle, Tyler abrubtly stopped and ran into the garage. I started to hear dragging noises, and soon Tyler appeared with one of the car ramps (to raise up the front end so Adam can change the oil). Tyler got it situated and then ran back into the garage to get the other one. He took his time lining them up next to each other, then brought me his yellow plastic fire hat (he was a fireman today) that he was wearing. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me that he had to "work on my bicycle little bit). Sure enough, he then worked very hard to roll his tricycle up the ramps and once situated, then looked underneath and pretend fixed a few things before declaring "I fixed my bicycle, mommy" and continuing to then ride it.
8.06.09: After singing along to "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis, Tyler announces repeatedly that "mommy, I did bring him home to your house"; and it has happened everytime since. Too cute.
