dad day

On Father's Day, other than giving his own Daddy lots of loving, Tyler took his Grampy out for brunch. Tyler ate pancakes, which really meant he dipped his fingers in the syrup like a bear with honey. Oma, Uncle Dylan and his girlfriend, Christine, joined as well which was a treat. But for Tyler nothing could top the three or four fire engines that raced by while we were leaving!

still my favorite

Tyler's most-loved book is still Good Night Gorilla. He thinks it is SO funny!

car waves

Tyler is supremely fascinated from anything and everything CARS! It's probably the word he uses most often. As we walk Daisy, he points to each passing car and tells us that it is a car. And now he's started to wave to each one. He's so adorable, he gets noticed doing this! We even caused a line as people in their cars all paused while passing to return the wave. He's now recognized as the car waver and even if he's not waving at first a person will stop their car to say hi to Tyler.

mohawk

Daddy and I were having some fun during bath time!

19 months

Growing by leaps and bounds. We had another showing this evening (we've averaged one per day which is craziness, no one can tell me the market is slow if you've prepped your house properly!) so we ended up eating out at Red Robin. Tyler loved the TV in the floor, the balloons and the yummy food.

hanging with simon

Well, with three house showings and an open house today, we had to spend the better part of the day out of the house. The gracious Howeses let us hang with them and the boys had a blast together. Highlights? The fish!! The toys! Hide-n-seek in the laundry room! And the bucket seats that provided endless fun (let's get out, climb back in, hop out...)!

dinner at simon's

While Daddy was in Oakland, Simon's parents were gracious enough to invite Tyler and me over for dinner and a playdate. It's really fun watching the boys. They still play separately, but now they interact a bit more. They had a great time despite Tyler gently trying to push Simon off the rodeo horse toy and closing Simon's head in the toy trunk. Oops, can't always be perfect. :)

primary colors

Last week I taught Tyler some colors. The next morning when I asked him to show Daddy suddenly Tyler had amnesia. This morning (after several days without quizzing him) I asked him to point to a red dinosaur and he did. Then I asked him to point to a yellow dinosaur and he did. I asked him to point to a blue one and, yep, he did. When I moved on to green I lost him. So he's got the fundamental three that are used to make all other colors. How fitting for an artist's son.

pee

No this isn't a diaper story...while wearing his new shades for the first time, Tyler also said plane for the first time, which sounds like "pee." He said it each time a plane passed overhead. By the last time he managed to eek out a "peen!"

shades

"My future is so bright I gotta wear shades!" Tyler loves to look at planes during our outings but the sun hurts his eyes. He's also shown interest in our sunglasses so I got him his own pair of green Go Diego Go shades. Once he figured out that he could see through them he enjoyed them and left them on the entire time we walked Daisy.

food signs

Well, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Tyler is showing early signs that this is true. He is constantly picking up new verbal and sign language words. He can pretty much go through his entire mealtime sign language book and sign the words on each page. Recently he's added the signs for banana, drink and all done to his repertoire.

pizza

An American staple and one of Tyler's favorites now.

flip flops

Tyler loves to bring us our shoes and try to put them on our feet. He's also been trying our shoes on and walking in them. Here are some photos of him wearing dad's flip flops and then his own!

bathroom access

Tyler has learned to open the bathroom door on the main level. He opened the door and closed himself inside with the lights off. Alex waited for him to call for help or start to cry, but no noise came. When Alex opened the door, Tyler was just chilling in the dark with no worries. He's such an explorer!

up on the big bed

The bed in our master bedroom is very high. Before we had Tyler, when Daisy was the baby of the house, she always wanted to be close to us. So we put a step stool at the base of the bed so she could hop up and down on her own. It took about five minutes to train her how to use it.

Tyler, all on his own, climbed up on the stool and then up again onto the bed to join Mommy. He was so proud of himself that he scooted backwards off the bed so that he could do it over and over again.

animals

While Tyler can't say all of the animal names, he understands all of them. I can ask him to find and bring me a monkey, elephant, giraffe, gator, and lion. (Those are all of the ones that we have in the living room). He points to them in his books when asked. But his favorite is still a dog, which he has said, signed and ruffed at as they pass by on the street. He also does lion and gator noises.

buh

"Buh" is Tyler's word for button. It is also Tyler's word for bus. As I drop him off at daycare oftentimes there is a school bus that picks up neighbor kids and he loves to point at it and tell me what it is.

i

I was talking to Tyler tonight and I told him, "I love you." Then I asked him if he could say, "I love you." He said "I." I asked him again and he repeated, "I." That is close enough for me!

name that tune

Tyler listens to a mix of songs while splashing in the bathtub. He's so familar with the songs now that he can name them (usually after just a few notes)!

memorial weekend at the park

We had three house showings on Saturday so we needed to get out of the house for awhile. And the weather was extremely beautiful so we went to lunch and then spent time at the local park, Lake Elkhorn. We had a great time running around in the grass and throwing Tyler's O-ball around. Alex even taught him to move it with his feet like a soccer ball.

monkey

I got Tyler a toy monkey, which was really excited about. He started to toss him and thought that was hilarious. Then later he used the word (very clearly) "monkey!"

headbanger

Our boy loves music and he can't help but rock to the beat (and lip synch)! (for some reason I can't seem to get the audio to work, but imagine this with Funky Cold Medina playing)

the look

Just a cutey!

the VCR ate it

When the designated remote for Tyler's play use disappears, check inside the VCR!

you're welcome

I thought I heard this phrase the other day and as it turns out, he's been using it all the time at daycare. So he's got his thanks yous and you're welcomes...now we just need to get a please!

student driver

Don't worry! This is not a Britney Spears move; the car is in park! But for a little guy who is totally into cars and trucks this was a special treat! (tilt your head 90 degrees to the left for optimal viewing)

18-month checkup

Tyler went to his first appointment with his new doctor (his health coverage changed along with Daddy's when Alex got a new job at Hobsons.) He couldn't like Nurse Claire more! He also entertained the other kids in the play area of the waiting room. He slipped and noticed that it made the kids giggle. So what did he do? He pretended to slip over and over again. I can't blame him; his audience was enchanted each time!

By the time he got to see the doctor, he showed all normal signs of development, weighed in at 26 pounds, 4 ounces (50th-75th percentile) and measured 33 inches (also 50th-75th percentile). His head circumference was 18.5 inches (25th-50th percentile) so my baby has a smaller head, but the doctor seemed to think he looked proportional.

mother's day

I can't say that Mother's Day was relaxing because the Campbell family spent the day working on our house (it went on the market Saturday). But it was rewarding and Tyler and I (and Daisy too) had some quality time together wrestling, reading, playing cars and cuddling!

18 months

Officially 1 1/2 years old today! My my. Our little baby is now a little boy. He is picking up new words daily it seems. Today he snorted like a pig when I got to that page of his farm book. It took me a second to realize that that was what he was doing. Cars and trucks are still his favorite things, but he does enjoy animals and animal noises. He really enjoys rough housing with mommy and daddy (and thankfully this hasn't carried over to Daisy). He is also so loving. He loves to give kisses and hugs and cuddle in our arms with a blanket and a book. And we'll have to start spelling words soon because Tyler's comprehension is through the roof. What he can say is only a small percentage of words that he understands. So we know he listens when he wants to! And yes, he's is definately up to something ALWAYS!

oh snap!

Alex got Tyler to try snapping his fingers. It's adorable to see him concentrate on the task.

ruff ruff duck

We were on the deck and heard some dogs barking in the distance and I asked him what noise a dog makes and he said, "Ruh Ruh" copying my ruff ruff.

Tyler loves his animals. Since he was a baby, Old MacDonald has been his favorite song. He also LOVES to play with his magnidoodle (like an etch-a-sketch, but using a magnetic pen and stamps) which has animal stamps. I pointed to one and asked him to tell me the animal name and he said, "Duck!" He points to the appropriate animal when asked and go figure...Gator is one of his favorites!

kamikaze

While changing Tyler into his PJs after his evening bath he decided he was ready to get down on his own. I had leaned over to sort through the clean laundry to find his PJ top while keeping my left hand on his side. Lesson learned: one hand is not going to stop Tyler. He took a nose dive off the changing table and onto the floor head first. He cried for half a minute and then seemed fine. In fact, he seemed more upset by the fact that mommy was crying so he offered her some toys to cheer her up.

pincher

Tyler loves playing with an old cell phone that we gave him. However, this time he kept putting the antenna in his mouth. I asked him to remove it. He did and then put it back. I told him again to take it out. He did and then put it in again. A couple more times of this and I decided he'd lost his cell phone privileges. I took the phone away which caused a meltdown.

I scooped him up in my arms to switch environments and try reading him a book. He started poking at my neck and it took me a minute to realize he was so pissed at me and was trying to pinch me in retaliation! Little devil! :) I sat him down, got his attention and told him NO PINCHING. Then we started to read a book and he cuddled against me, no hard feelings. :)

macgyver

While I'm not exactly sure what he did, but Tyler was inventive enough to escape his crib after his nap! AHHH! Alex and I were listening to him using the monitor and knew that he was starting to wake up. Then after some soft thumping noises Alex joked that it sounded as though Tyler was running around in his room. As we opened the door to his room a little person pushed back! HEHE! Tyler thought running around his room unattended was the most hilarious thing!!

ball

Tyler pointed to my T-shirt from basketball camp and said "Ball!" Although it sounded more like Baw. Another fun word added to his vocabulary.

book sign

While strapping Tyler into his carseat this morning he kept kicking the book that was resting in the back pocket of the front seat. I asked Tyler if he wanted his book and could he say the word. And to my delight he did the sign for book without me demonstrating it. It is so rewarding to see the fruits of our consistent effort to show him new signs in combination with saying the words!

banana bunch

I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I took Tyler to daycare and as I chatted with Miss Deb, Tyler climbed the stairs and popped himself down at the kids picnic table in her kitchen (nothing new). But then I hear Debbie say "Oh Tyler did you really want that banana that badly?" He pulled the bunch off the counter ripping one off and then pulled the rest of the peel off and chomped down leaving the evidence on the floor. He is so determined and wants to be so independent!

word copy

Tyler is getting really great at mimicing sounds and words we say. Earlier in the week he was climbing in and out of a basket. I kept repeating, "Tyler is IN the basket. Now, Tyler is OUT of the basket..." He followed suit with a clear "OUT," but I've not heard him actually use the word in context yet.

Then today as he was playing with his cousins, Alex asked him to say "Pear Bear," which is Perrin's nickname. Tyler consistently repeated "PaBa, PaBa." When asked to say Andrew it was still "PaBa!"

daddy is my hero

Tyler is SO into Daddy lately. Can't blame him! It's so cute to watch them bond. Just this morning Tyler kept saying "Dada" over and over again as Alex got him dressed. Awww.

chit chat

I called my mom to chat and someone else took over! He walked around holding the phone to his ear and listening to her talk to him. He didn't say much but a few "HIs" and some jibber jabber and OOPS, hung up on her a few times too.

glimpse into theater

Today I picked Tyler up from Owings Mills after spending the day at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott for a CASE Board meeting. It's tech week for Alex's play and Tyler got to check out the set and the actors in costume. Boy he had a great time! He instantly made many friends who admired his nonstop smile and giggles.

Tyler loved the music, the big open space to run, run and run, as well as a big sun that was part of the set. Daddy even took him for a spin on a rolling chair. What a fun night!

first boo boo

We visited Daddy's theater today and then stopped at one of our favorite shops nearby. Tyler was so excited about the puzzle he picked out that he kept running out of the store before I had paid for it. So when it was finally time to go I let him carry the bag to the car. He stumbled and got his first skinned knee. But he shook it off after only a few tears.

caulk

Today when I picked Tyler up daycare, all the kids were outside coloring the walkways with sidewalk chalk. Boy was he happy! He even used a new word, "caulk" for chalk. Tyler cried when it was time to go and I ended up having to pry a piece of chalk out of each hand (and Tyler has his dad's super human strength so it wasn't easy!) When we got home we colored our own sidewalk with chalk. And he pointed out each plane that passed overhead.

run, run

Tyler rarely walks. He RUNS! Everywhere!

kid table

Tyler decided that he was too big for the highchair at daycare. He wants to sit at the kid-size picnic table in Miss Deb's kitchen with all the other kids. He just climbs in and is ready for a meal!

planes, trains and automobiles

Tyler is such a rough-and-tumble little boy. He loves to push his cars around and bang them together. His most often used words? Car and Truck. And each time he hears a plane overhead he stops in his tracks and points to the sky turning until his finger lines up with the plane's location.

17 months

What a handsome little gentleman Tyler is growing into? At 17 months Tyler is VERY confident. He knows what he wants and doesn't hesitate to tell you just what that is. Yet he is so loving and loves to giggle. Still to this day the question I hear ALL the time is, "Is he always so happy?"

stop to smell the roses

Well not roses, but I put out some beautiful yellow flowers on the front steps. As we passed by Tyler's instinct was to grab the petals. I showed him how we smell flowers rather than squeezing them and he immediately bent over the blooms and blew out of his nose. He's just so adorable!

illa

One of Tyler's two all-time favorite books is Goodnight Gorilla, which he got from his Granny (the other is I Love You Through and Through). While reading the book to him tonight he repeated "illa" after my saying "goodnight gorilla." Now I want to hear him do it again!

picture pointer

I mentioned last week that Tyler was able to point to a picture of Alex and call out his name. This evening he looked at the same picture and pointed to me and called out "Mama!" Then I pointed to Alex and asked Tyler who it was; he called out "Dah!"

socks

Tyler always pulls his socks off when it is time to get into his PJs. But this morning he tried to put his socks ON while getting dressed for the day. It was so cute to watch him fumble trying to get the material over his bubbly toes.

head kisses

Tyler has his own funny version of kisses. He's really got the leaning in part down. But he doesn't realize that he's supposed to be using his mouth. So if you say, "Tyler can I have a kiss?" he just leans his head over and leans his forehead against your head.

picking up daisy

Tyler just decided that when it's time to go to the playroom Daisy must come too. However, sometimes Daisy would rather take her time with her own dinner. So Tyler has taken it upon himself to try to carry Daisy to where he thinks she should be. Poor Daisy. At least she is a good sport and side steps him quickly. Where you going Daisy?

chilly

It's still chilly! Tyler can't wait until the weather is a little more mild so he doesn't have to layer so much. But he sure has made good use of his vest this season!

signing eat

Tonight Tyler used a new sign. And an important one: EAT!

car rides

Tyler loves car rides. He just chills out back there and watches the world pass by. A few times I've even caught him flirting with those in neighboring cars stopped at the light. And other times all I hear are ZZZZZZs.

missing daddy

Alex had been out of town for training for his new job with Hobsons. During dinner Tyler looked over at a framed photo that sits on the ledge in between our dining room and kitchen. The photo is of Alex and me from our dating days. Observing it closely Tyler smiled, pointed at it and said "Dah!" He repeated it several times and pointed to Alex each time smiling all the while. How sweet!