2-year checkup

At Tyler's checkup he measured 35 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile), head circumference at 19 1/4 inches (50th-75th percentile) and weighed in at 31 1/2 pounds (75th-90th percentile). A far cry from being below the 10th percentile shortly after birth. He's also reached all the social and developmental milestones for his age. And he got a sticker for his brave face to a flu shot.

party animal

We rounded out Tyler's birthday week with a party with his little buddies. Tyler really enjoyed playing with his friends and new toys. Have you ever eaten a cupcake while lying on your back? Tyler highly recommends it. All of the running around left Tyler beat so he pretended to take a quick catnap. Such a jokester.

spotting scope

Tyler's favorite show is Go, Diego, Go! At certain points in the show, Diego asks viewers to hold up their spotting scopes to look deep into the jungle to see an animal. How cute is this little boy?

lying on stomach

Tyler got his very own kid's DVD player for his birthday and enjoys watching it while mommy and daddy are in the kitchen preparing dinner. He sets it up on the floor and lies on his stomach to watch the shows. I find it so adorable to see him there, knees bent and his little feet dangling toward the sky.

big brother

That's right. Tyler will transform into a big brother in May 2009. Mom and family are all doing very well. If you ask Tyler where mommy's baby is, he'll point to my belly.

i want some

We were eating dinner and Tyler took one look at my sesame chicken and said "I want some!" The attitude with which he said it was hilarious. He zeroed in on the noodles especially and ate nearly half of my Lean Cuisine.

happy 2nd birthday!

My baby is no longer a baby. He is a big boy in every way. Size, intellect, vocabulary, humor, attitude. And what I like best about him, he is just to fun!

before the chill

We are really trying to take advantage of the nice weather and get to the playground as much as possible before it gets too cold. As I sat there watching Alex and Tyler play together I started to cry. We are just so blessed and I am so in love with my husband and my son. We really have so much fun together. Even Daisy did; she went down the slide too while in my lap!

birthday celebration with the family

Thanks to all of Tyler's extended family. The Maryland relatives joined in person and those out-of-town relatives were there in spirit. Tyler really enjoyed ripping open the gifts and running around with Uncle Dylan. What a fun day!

stupid

Alex said something was stupid and Tyler immediately repeated, "STUPID!" It was a wake up call to us that we really need to watch what we are saying.

boatyard brunch

We celebrated Uncle Dylan's birthday with all of the Joneses and Christine at the Boatyard Bar & Grill. Yummy food and it was fun embarassing Dylan by singing Happy Birthday to him.

trick or treat!

The Campbell family started off the Halloween celebration by attending the annual Capitol College Halloween luncheon. Tyler had a blast running up and down the LONG hallways several times without a break. Mom joined him and got her workout for the day.

Tyler refused to wear his fireman hat for more than 30 seconds. This didn't bode well for the evening festivities! As we left Capitol he fell and split his lip open. It immediately swelled up and bled, but he took the injury probably better than Mommy did. It hurts so badly when our babies hurt.

That evening we hit the sidewalks of Cape Ann. Would he wear his fireman hat? No! So Mommy and Daddy took turns putting it on and then told him it was his turn. The darn trick worked! He put it on and never took it off again! He was a little shy at first as we visited houses, but he managed a soft "Tri-r-treat," and a zealous, "Thank you," after seeing the treats. He quickly got with the plan when he saw the rewards and got to taste a bunch too!

hey buddy

We joined the Howes family for a playdate (Tyler and Simon are just a month and a half apart) and dinner. And go figure, Tyler gravitated to all of Simon's car toys. At one point toward the end of the evening Tyler filled his arms with as many of Simon's cars as he could and then announced, "Bye Bye!" What, we don't get to keep all of these? :)

leaving no leaf unturned

Tyler and I spent much of the morning raking up leaves and then...jumping in them! "So fun!" he said.

dinner date

While Alex was out of town for the week, Tyler and I enjoyed some dates with our buddies. This night Kristen and Ayla joined us for dinner at Red Robin. The kids were cute as they shared their food and hugged goodnight. Awww. But just never quite enough time for the mommies to chat in between the arm taps and "mommy, mommy, mommy's!"

car transporter

Tyler can identify a crazy number of vehicles. Which truck is the CT2004? Which one is the combine harvester? His love of cars is bordering on an obsession. He also needs to have many handy at nearly all times. In fact, he runs out of hands to hold them all and resorts to clutching them under his chin.

Why the sad face? He can't hold all of his cars at once.

Happy times again as he hams it up with a "CHEESE!"

big box

Our new bedroom dresser arrived and it came already assembled in one huge box. Tyler loved his new fort!

pinpointing emotions

Tyler has never had trouble expressing his feelings or moods, but now he's often describing them. If he hears a baby crying he'll say, "she sad," in a compassionate voice. He will also happily declare, "So fun!" when he's having a good time.

playground fun

One of our favorite things about our new house is all the nearby playgrounds. We take full advantage of this community resource. Weeee!

joy care

Tyler had a ball playing with Aunt Joy all weekend. They ended up on a very long walk when she let the not-quite-two-year-old guide her through the maze of bike trails behind our house; they never did make it to the park. But they did manage a trip to Target where they encountered a frightening dinosaur. FYI: Tyler loves dinosaurs as long as they are friendly!