feeding daisy

Today, all on his own, Tyler picked up Daisy's dog food scoop and filled her bowl. Then he called for Daisy and announced, "FOOD!" Very proud of himself, he looked at me and yelled "I did it!"

deer are back

Tyler was so impressed with the deer who ventured into our backyard at dinner time. The deer love snacking on the fallen apples from our neighbors backyard and we love watching the four of them. I've included another picture at Katie's special request! :)

too many words to count

Tyler now repeats everything we say. I can't count all of his words because they pour out of him daily. The flood gates are open!

mommy

While mama was Tyler's first word, he's not used it in quite a while. He's started calling me Daddy as well. Alex's car is "Daddy's car" and my car is also "Daddy's!" I wasn't sure if he sees us as one parental unit or if he was trying to be funny (he does love his jokes). Either way, he's learned to call me Mommy if he wants my attention. He wanted me to hold his sippy cup of milk. His requests went unanswered until the magic word popped out, "Mommy!"

comedian

While playing with his Peter Rabbit bowl set, yet again, Tyler turned the plate upside down and placed it on top of his head declaring "hat!" Then he giggled at his own little joke. What a little funny bunny he is?

master playroom

Well it is supposed to be our master bedroom, but Tyler really enjoys playing in there as well. He has a bin of toys, window views and a walk-in closet that he uses as a fort. Who's that in my winter boots?

peeta wabbit

Tyler's great aunt gave him a dish set with Peter Rabbit on it. Tyler LOVES it! He bangs the plate and bowl together and points out "Peeta Wabbit!" Then he has his boy version of a tea party where he feeds his dog stuffed animals using the cup and bowl. He even tries to feed Daisy his imaginary food. She's not impressed.

lounging

The whole family is lounging before bed. We all had an active day: Mommy and Daddy ran around town planning their kitchen remodel while Tyler played with Oma nearly all day. We're inclined to use the cabinets below (vanilla bean glaze, now renamed canvas with cocoa).

got water

Where is the action on a Friday night? The Campbells' backyard! Mommy let Tyler play in the sprinkler while she watered the yard. So much excitement for a 21-month-old boy! Got to love our new laundry room with a door to the side of the house where we can remove sopping wet clothes and shoes!

noncooperative

Why do I have 19 blurry images of the same subject you ask? The answer is that little boys do not always like to cooperate. I taught Tyler how to do the UF Gator chomp and wanted to get a picture of him doing it with my UF hat on. Not going to happen!

belly button

This is the cutest new term Tyler uses. He just looked down while on the changing table, pointed and said "belly butin!" Tyler is as cute as a button!

new neighbors

We've met both sets of our neighbors and both are super nice. But neither was quite as exciting as the deer and her three babies who visited our back yard this evening. They came within 15 feet of our sliding glass door in the family room. At the same time, two bunnies hopped nearby. Our whole family had a great time observing the wildlife close up.

peanut butter

Tyler broke out these words for the first time ("peena budda") as he saw Daddy pulling the jar from the pantry. And has used it nonstop since!

day after

The day after the big move we got up very early and headed back to the old house to hand over the keys to the new owners. Tyler had a good time running around his old stomping ground.

And then it was time to head over to Grampy and Grandma Jeanne's house. It had been months since they had seen Tyler and they were itching to see him. And Tyler certainly didn't disappoint! He showed them his dance moves, his new vocabulary (used the word "turtle" for the first time) especially many full sentences now, and his great hide n' seek skills. And Grandma Jeanne was impressed that he gobbled up cantaloupe, pretzels and pickles (yummy combo right?).

the move

This was a long, long day. What started at 8:30 a.m. wasn't complete until nearly 7:30 p.m. And we only moved four miles!

Tyler played with Oma while the movers shifted from room to room at the Loring house. Then as nap time neared Tyler, Oma and Alex headed to the new Cape Ann house while I stayed behind. We worried how Tyler would adjust to the new environment, which was probably wasted energy. He saw the new house as a large new playground. New rooms to explore and new hiding places to find. It was Daisy who seemed unnerved by the new sights and sounds.

bye bye loring

Tyler's last day at his first home...bye bye.

long sentence

Tyler has started to enunciate his words much better lately. Recently butterfly has gone from "buh" to "buttafly." Then this morning truck changed from "kuh" to "truck." He's also said "I see it! I see it!" often, but this morning it was expanded to "I see a car!" I'm a proud mama!

big hugs

While Alex has been out of town for work, Tyler and I have had a lot of opportunities to hang out alone. Last night we watched Go Diego Go while cuddled up on the bed. Tyler took a break from the show to climb up to me and give me a big hug around my neck. He squeezed tightly and even patted my back. Then just as abruptly as it started, he was finished and went back to watching his show. He did this three or four more times throughout the night. I'm no dummy; I soaked it in and loved every second of it! Will he still do this when he's 15?

21 months

As Tyler is approaching 2 (OMG!), his vocabulary is on the verge of a huge boom. He picks up new signs, words and sounds in minutes (if that). He's very interested in the sounds that vehicles and animals make. He also likes to mimic the goofy noises that mommy makes.

His best loves (other than mommy and daddy of course) are pandas, transportation vehicles, dogs and dinosaurs. He's also expressing his affection clearly with hugs for Daisy and if she is not nearby, he calls for her.

He also loves to run and dance. He will totally rock out in his carseat (arms up and everything) and loves to dance in the kitchen to the iPOD music with mommy and daddy. He's also starting to pay attention to musical instruments too.

crazy panda love

Knowing how much Tyler loves panda bears, Oma mailed him a card that pictured two pandas cuddling. Tyler opened the card last night and proceeded to hug and kiss it by putting the card up to his cheek. Then first thing this morning he saw the panda card again and hugged it over and over.

rocker

What is so fascinating about rocks? Only Tyler and other young boys seem to know! He likes to hold them, throw them, point them out and now talk about them, "ROCK!"

laugh out loud

Tyler is a big giggler! You'll remember that he was dubbed TYLER THE SMILER by his daycare buddies. But even I was amazed when he started laugh hysterically while watching an episode of Backyardigans. The characters were playing pranks on each other and Tyler though it was fabulous. This makes me nervous for what is in store for us in the future!

CT2004

One of Tyler's favorite books is his truck book. There are 9 million versions of trucks, more than I'd ever care to know! But Alex has started telling Tyler what each truck does. Now he can ask Tyler, "Which truck plows the snow?" Tyler points to the snow plow. "Which truck delivers the mail?" He points to the mail truck. "Which truck puts out fires at the airport?" Amazingly he can distinguish the airport fire truck from a normal fire truck. "Where is the CT2004?" And Tyler points to the cement mixing truck (Dane Cook anyone?). He knows them all and it is a little scary! :)

happy 2nd birthday ayla

We went back to SP, "the park," and had a blast at Ayla's pool party. While we had some good times in the pool splashing (notice Daddy caught that move in the last photo), Tyler's favorite activity by far was riding around on all the mini cars. No surprise what this kid wants for his birthday! We're happy that Kristen and family are back in town for good.

soccer man

Tyler loves to kick a ball around with Mommy and Daddy. We took his O-ball out with us while walking Daisy and he was REALLY good at the soccer moves. Do they have little leagues for kids this young?

daddy everything

MaMa was Tyler's first word. He's been saying Mommy for quite some time. So why now has he started calling me Daddy? If I point to a picture of our family and ask him to point to Mommy, he points right at me. Then turns around not much later and giggles with his arms out for me and says "Daddy!" I think he's a joker and gets secret enjoyment out of teasing me. It is crazy scary how similar his personality is to mine.