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!

parents getaway

Dylan masked by a beer, how apropos?

My should-have-been-my-cousin, Lea, and the dashing Rob McFall tied the knot at a weekend wedding in Richmond. We were thrilled to be able to attend along with my mom and brother, Dylan. (Shout out to Aunt Joy for staying at our home and caring for Tyler and Daisy.)

We headed down on Friday and got my mom there just in time to attend the rehearsal dinner. She was the matchmaker of this great couple so Lea and Rob paid special tribute to her for bringing them together. Meanwhile Dylan, Alex and I went out and enjoyed some family bonding time. After a weekend together Alex said he never realized how similar Dylan and I are (good thing?)

The wedding was spectacular and it was punctuated with fun-filled debauchery with some of my dearest old friends as well as some hilarious dance moves. It was such a pleasure to share in the couple's special day, hang out with my family, old friends and even some new great friends.

drool man

During Kate's stay Tyler did not stop putting her toys in his mouth. It was so puzzling to me why he kept noshing on her stuff. And then a few times a waterfall of drool surprised us. It finally dawned on me -- he's teething! His second set of molars are working their way in.

a day at the farm

Our second annual pumpkin picking expedition at the Triadelphia Lake View Farm was a blast. We took a tractor ride up to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. We also played and got to pet the resident bunny in addition to viewing the farm animals. And Tyler got to sit in the driver's seat of the large wooden tractor, aka Tyler's Mecca.

23 months

Just one month shy of his 2-year mark, Tyler is full of personality! He is still consistant in his love for all things with wheels. We talk about cars, trucks and buses daily! On this particular day we spent hours and hours exploring Port Discovery in Baltimore. Kate's favorite activity had to be the gum-making workshop. Tyler's was the water works room and the train, of course! At the end of the day everyone was whipped from all the fun.

park happy

We love when the Trickeys come into town. My cousin Diana and her two oldest daughters came to visit when Tyler was two weeks old. Diana came this time with her youngest, Kate. Cousins Tyler and Kate loved playing nonstop.

We kicked off the visit with a trip to the park near our house. Tyler insisted on going on the big swings like the big kids. He followed Kate down the high slide. And then the most amusing was when Tyler chased a pair of squirrels across the park.

We joined Oma and Uncle Dylan in Severna Park for dinner. Tyler really got a big kick out of running around the building with Uncle Dylan after dinner. He was excited to point out the lion toy sitting on the bed of the mattress store. Roar!!

tyler-in-the-box

too many cars

Tyler carries his cars everywhere he goes. So what does he do when he has five or six that he wants to transport? He gathers them in his hands and stuffs at least one under his chin. He hords them like a a squirrel with nuts preparing for winter.

daddy is mama

Tyler called Alex, "Mama," tonight. hehe payback.

facial features

Tyler loves to point to Mommy's or Daddy's nose and then says "Nose!" Ears, eyes, etc. Just watch out when he points to your eyes! Oh, and he is big into pointing out his own toes too.

hi oma

While digging deep in his basket of toys that live in our master bedroom, Tyler spotted my old cell phone (a Tyler toy). He picked it up and then pretended to have an entire conversation (99% of which I could not understand). I asked him who he was talking to and he responded into the phone "Hi Oma, hi Oma."

moon in the sky

Tyler and I were on the floor in the family room playing when all of a sudden he jumped up and pointed outside. "Moon, Moon," he pointed out. In the sky was a beautiful half moon. I said, "The moon is in the sky." He repeated it several times, "moon in sky, moon in sky!"

chicken melt down

With Alex out of town on business, Tyler and I picked up Chic-fil-a for dinner. We snacked on the potato wedges on the drive home. Once home I served up Tyler's chicken nuggets, but also made the mistake of pulling his chocolate milk out of the bag. Tyler was hell bent on ignoring the nuggets in favor of the chocolate milk.

My headstrong son did not want to be told that he'd have to eat nuggets before getting chocolate milk. He started to wave his hands and knocked a nugget from my hands to the floor (lucky Daisy). Then he started to so feverishly push the chicken away that he started spilling his dipping sauce (all the while he's whining and shrieking). I was so angry I slammed my hand on the table (hoping to shock him) and told him strongly NO! Bad idea. All it did was upset him more and make him cry nonstop.

I picked him up and carried him to his crib. We both needed a break so we could calm down. But in less than a minute I could hear through the monitor that he was now near hysterical (not good either). I popped back in his room and he stood at the edge of his crib sobbing with his arms outstretched. I asked him if he was ready to behave. Yes he nodded. Are you ready to try your chicken? Yes he nodded.

I carried him downstairs to the kitchen table. As I sat down he asked to get up in my lap. Then I handed him a piece of chicken and he popped it in his mouth and even managed to say thank you. I told him how happy I was that he tried the chicken and then offered him some chocolate milk. More chicken, more milk. My usually well-mannered boy was back and even cheery. Will I be laughing about this a year from now when he refuses to eat anything but chicken nuggets?

talking cars

After finishing dinner tonight, Tyler sat at the table with two of his toy cars. He made the cars face each other and then he created a little dialog for each of them. Car 1: "Hi, I a car." Car 2: "Hi, I car." Touka, touka (and more intelligible conversation)...

hitching a ride

While in the neighborhood walking Daisy, we bumped into some friendly neighbors. The kids were playing in a motorized princess-mobile. When they offered to let Tyler ride shotgun, Mommy said yes. It was clear that Tyler adored the kid-sized moving car, but when it came time to get in with the new friends he was a little hesitant. After just a little urging from Mommy he got in and we strapped on his seat belt. It was a good thing; once they were cruising along he hopped up and down in place squealing with delight.

Oma

Guess who added Oma to his name repertoire?

mama is back

What was Tyler's first word? Mama. As of late my baby boy has referred to me as Daddy. But Daddy was Daddy too. If you asked him to point to Mommy, he'd point to me. However, he'd still run up to me with his arms outstretched and happily scream, "Daddy!"

So with a little training (i.e. bribery with a Wendy's frosty) Tyler now says Mama. Consistently. I'm back!

one-word commands

Tyler is getting better and better at communicating what he wants you to do. For instance, "Hand," means he wants to extend your arm so he can hold your hand. "Sit!" He uses that one for Daisy when he wants to give her a treat or to Mommy when he wants her to play in a particular area.

hello leaves

Tyler was doing his part to clear up some leaves that had accumulated in our driveway. Then as we strolled down the sidewalk he shuffled through more piles and giggled all the way. As we moved along to a clear part of the trail Tyler made sure to call back to the fallen, "Bye bye leaves!"