Bookworm

Here is a video of Tyler reading. yes I know he has just memorized the pages, but I also know that is the first step to learning how to read. I am so proud of my little reader!



And Carter has a special treat at the end of the video.

Boy Can this Boy Talk

Carter is up to 10 words from a week ago at his 15 month appointment when we only had 2. His vocabulary now consists of:

mama
dog/doggie
amen (aen)
bubble (buba)
car (ca)
truck (uck)
pop (op)
daddy
cheese
more (mo)

I know that word explosions are pretty common around this age. Tyler never did this however, so its very exciting to see. One of my favorite things is Carter will sing along to The Turtle Song. He sings "buba, buba, buba op". Its so cute to watch. The other night after we said our prayers he also very proudly said "Aen!". The highlight however was when he said daddy. Carter has been saying mama forever but has yet to say daddy. After Young Life last night we put the boys right to bed, as it was already 9:30. Carter had fallen asleep on the way home and then woke up when he changed him. I knew this meant he would play in his crib for a bit before falling back asleep. On the monitor we hear "daddy, daddy, ga, me ba, daddy". Justin was so excited to hear this that he went right to his room to tell Carter that "daddy is here but you need to go to sleep". Now he knows how I felt when Tyler wouldn't say mommy for the longest time.

Mr Clean

Tyler has always been one to help me clean. I have pictures of him swiffering the kitchen at 15 months. Yesterday I was cleaning a bunch of our baby items I am loaning to a friend. Tyler wanted to help so I handed him a baby wipe. He quickly decided that cleaning his own toys was more important. He would clean a toy and then put it on the bin. Once he had cleaned all his toys and the bins that toys go in he could put those toys away. I hope this trend continues!

Last night we also popped some Jiffy Pop. I had never heard of Jiffy Pop and Justin insisted that we have it. The boys loved watching it pop on the stove and then eating it even more.

And Carter's

Here is Carter's montage from his 1st birthday.

Tyler's 2nd Birthday Montage

I am trying to figure out this video thing, so here is the montage I made for Tyler on his 2nd birthday. Enjoy!

Exhale

I am figuring out how much I need to have time with the family together. It has been a very busy few weeks, with Justin's busy season at both jobs and with Young Life. On a normal week we only have Thursday nights where we are all home for the entire night. Monday is Young Life, Tuesday night Justin works, Wednesday night I work and Friday night Justin works. Saturday night Justin is usually also working and starting in two weeks, Sunday I have Bible Study. So I crave my Thursdays.

We were suppose to have a Young Life meeting last night, which meant not a single night together. I was almost in tears at the thought of this. Then I became very impatient with the kids, because in my mind it meant I wasn't going to get any breaks either. Justin would get home and we would immediately have to leave and not get home until 9, which is way past the boys bedtime. Not really what I wanted to do. I wasn't happy and taking it out on the boys, which is not fair to them at all. Justin made the call that we wouldn't go. I felt bad, because we did make a commitment to Young Life, but as Justin says, we need to take care of ourselves as well.

So instead we went out to eat and had a fun time as a family. Tyler did great sitting in the booth and Carter, while fussy at certain times, did pretty well too. They both got balloons, which always makes everything better right? We got home, put the boys to bed and Justin and I watched some t.v. and went to bed early. Not that exciting, but its something I really needed. Even though on the nights Justin works he doesn't go in til 7:30 (after the boys are in bed) I still need time with him, and need to have relaxed family time where we are not rushing the boys before Justin runs out the door. So last night we got that time and I feel so much better, so refreshed. Its amazing what spending time with the people you love the most can do for you.

My Own Thoughts

Three posts in one day! I know I am getting a little crazy! This post is more for me than anything else. Its me getting my own thoughts written down about Tyler and the child that he is. It will probably be jumbled and pieced together and rather long, so you have fair warning if you read ahead.

When I was at the doctor for Carter today I mentioned some of Tyler's quirks. She said that they seemed normal, we just want to make sure he doesn't regress in any areas and we will keep a close eye on his development. She commented on his perfectionism and said he will probably always be a perfectionist and its good that we are seeing it now so we will be able to accommodate it later. Like when he is 3-4 and won't leave the house until whatever he is working on is perfect.

I was talking about how Carter already tries to do the hand motions and sing along to the songs at church and how Tyler still just sits there with his fingers in his mouth. Tyler's speech therapist said today that this is just who Tyler is and his personality. He will probably always be the kid that needs a lot of confidence before he will do something, he may never be the type of kid to perform, and will always be on the shy side. He may very well grow out of these things, but he also may not. That's just who he is.

I have been thinking a lot about this, even before she brought it up. That this is who Tyler is. Quirks and all. And to him they are not quirks, they are who he is. So I will no longer try to call them quirks. I love Tyler for who he is and wouldn't want to change him. However I do at times wish he was more outgoing, wish he would play like the other kids play. I think as parents we all have dreams of what we want our child to be. To be the star football player, to be the popular kid, to be the best singer in the school, to be a math whiz. Whatever it is, you have hopes that your child will want to be these things. I think I am realizing that Tyler may not be what I wanted him to be. He will be who he is. And that is ok.

Its ok if he isn't the kid in his class who everyone likes. Its ok if he would rather be a book worm than an athlete. Do I wish that he would sing along with the songs and do the motions to the wheels on the bus like all the other kids do at church? Yeah I do. Do I wish that he would be able to talk to adults instead of look away with his fingers in his mouth? Yeah I do. I would be lying if I said I didn't. But that is something I need to get over. Tyler is who he is and I never want him to feel that I wish he was different. I hope that he doesn't sense that from me.

Who knows, Tyler may grow out of this. By the time he gets to Kindergarten he may be singing along to all the songs and talk to anyone and everyone. But right now he doesn't. And that's ok. That's more than ok, because that is who he is.

Because of his perfectionism, he very well could be the guy who cures cancer because of he wont stop until he gets it right. Since he is an introvert may make him the best counselor in the world because he listens and watches better than most.

Will I stop trying to teach him the motions to wheels on the bus - nope. Will I pull him out of the nursery so he doesn't have to interact with anyone else - nope. I want him to be able to have experiences in these things so that one day he may have confidence to do them. I will continue to put him in soccer, gymnastics, music classes etc so that he can find out what he likes to do, what he wants to do with his life. He enjoys going to church and going to soccer lessons. He enjoys watching the other kids play. Right now that's all that matters. That for the most part he is a happy kid who loves to giggle and play. That's all that matters. That's all that will ever matter.

If you read this far I apologize for my jumbled thoughts. However I do have a question, as a parent have you ever felt this same way?

Speech! Speech!

We had Tyler's speech therapy today. We usually do it in the morning, but we had it right after lunch today. We all agreed this was a better time for Tyler as he was more interactive. He did pretty well. She is very impressed with the language he uses and his vocabulary. For example we were playing a matching game. There was a picture of a horse, a cat and a dog. The cat had its eyes closed so Tyler said it was asleep. He then said the dog was awake and the "horse was awake too". She was blown away that he uses the word too, as in also. I guess that it's not that common among his age group. She says he still is a little behind in how he says some of his sounds. He doesn't always give the first sound of a word. Horse is "orse" for example. She also is concerned about the language with the questions. She thinks he understands what we are saying/asking him. He just doesn't understand the language to use to respond to those. So we will be working on that for the next few weeks to see where that gets us.

I was telling her how I was going to hold him for a year before Kindergarten. The cut off is one week after his birthday. He can go when he is 4 almost 5, but we will hold him til he is 5 almost 6. I am going to do this just because in my experiences, its better for boys to have that extra year. Plus he would not only be the youngest in his class but also the smallest. She commented on that he would have 3 full years of preschool then. I was kinda taken aback by this as before she didn't think Tyler would qualify for the preschool program. I guess only time will tell.

Doctor, Doctor

Carter had his 15 month appointment today. He is doing great! He had a blast running around the office before his appointment, being Mr. Independent. He wanted his coat off but wouldn't let me help so he tried to take it off over his head. He got quite a few chuckles from the waiting room.

She was a little concerned at he only has two words (mama and dog) but we are going to see if he has a word explosion between now and 18 months before we do any evaluations or anything. In my eyes Carter is way ahead of where Tyler was at this age so I am not concerned at all. He did get two shots, which he cried for about a minute and then all was well with the world again.

His stats:

Height - 30.5 inches - 35%

Weight - 22 lbs 8 oz - 25%

Head Circumference - 37 cm - 40%

One funny comment on his stats - as you can see he is on the short side and on the smaller side for weight (altho you wouldn't think that if you saw his belly) however I keep getting comments that he is so heavy and is going to be a big boy. I also get asked if he and Tyler are twins. Funny what peoples perspectives are of big or small children.

Mr Biggs

The boys and I met Sarah and her boys at Mr. Biggs. They have a place called Little Bigg Town that is great for toddlers and preschool aged children. They have all these different rooms to play in - a dress up room, a fire truck room, a hospital, a reading room, etc. They also have a play area with things to climb on, a huge sandbox, and a big ball room. There is also a carousel (always a big hit with my boys). The boys had a great time. I am happy to say that their weren't any tantrums either when we had to leave. The only minor problem was Carter, my little escape artist, would go into another room and I would lose him for a second. I think we will return again. It was a great way to get out of the house on frigid days like today. And of course another bonus - it wears the boys out!

The Wheels on the Bus

I have come to terms with Tyler's (and Carter seems to be headed down the same path) oral fixation. He is a very oral child, always has been - remember the biting problem? So I have now taken off every rubber wheel that is on any of his cars, trucks, or buses. Mostly I did this because I was tired of calling the pediatrician saying that he once again swallowed a wheel. Do all kids do this?On another note - Tyler's speech therapy. I was talking to his coordinator yesterday how I think his speech is going great, but I am concerned about some of his other quirks. He still does not answer yes to a question or even nod his head. If you ask him do you want to go outside, yes or no, he will either answer "outside" or "yes or no". It seems to me that he also does not process questions, although maybe most 2 year old don't do this either I am not sure. But if I ask him what he had for breakfast 5 minutes after he finished eating he will make something up - usually pizza since that's his favorite. We have been going to the church nursery for a year now and Tyler still does not talk to any of the staff or engage with the kids (except for Carter now). I can understand if he is shy, but I would think he would interact some. He also has no coping skills. We were eating tacos last night and his came apart and he couldn't control himself. He totally lost it. Is this normal or do most 2 year olds have coping skills? I don't know. So we were going over these quirks with his coordinator and Tyler may be getting more services now since there could be more there.

When I went to pick up Tyler from his classroom today I was informed that he was saying yes. They asked him if he wanted to do his craft and he said "yeah" and went and sat down! I was then talking to some other staff and they were saying that he does talk to them when he needs help. He will say "help me please" over and over until someone can help him. So he does talk to others - just not one on one with people. I guess that's not so much of a quirk, huh? It will be interesting to say the least at his speech appointment on Tuesday.

Shooting Hoops

Lately Tyler has had a fascination with basketball. He loves to point it out whenever he sees it on t.v. or in the paper. For Christmas last year we got him a basketball hoop. At first we would have to pick him up so he could dunk it in. Eventually he got tall enough that he would dunk it in himself. He would never try to shoot it in tho. A few weekends ago we brought the basketball hoop indoors so that they could get some exercise without going into the freezing temperatures. Justin and I have been showing Tyler how to shoot the ball in, but he never seemed all that interested. Yesterday he just started shooting it in. He did great! I would say he had about 90% accuracy. He loves playing "bak-it-ball".

*Please excuse the bowling pins all over the floor - what can I say, I live in a house of boys and it either sports or trucks at all times.

Sleepy Boy

On Sunday during lunch Carter fell asleep mid bite. He would wake up for a second put food in his mouth and then immediately fall back asleep. When Tyler saw that we were taking pictures of Carter asleep at the table, he thought he should also "sleep".

Play Nice

I have mentioned before how my boys are becoming fast friends. Last night Justin and I were discussing Tyler and his quirks and how he doesn't seem to do well in social situations (he doesn't talk to anyone unless he know them very well, he doesn't really interact with other kids at church, etc). I told Justin I didn't want him to be the loaner kid in school that doesn't have any friends and is depressed. Justin simply says "he already has one". How true.

Yesterday Carter decided to dump all the puzzles out. Tyler stopped what he was doing to go do the puzzles. We have about 10 puzzles or so and the pieces were all intermingled. Carter would hand Tyler a puzzle piece and Tyler would say "Thank you Carter". If it wasn't a piece of the puzzle he was currently doing Tyler would say "nope" and put in in its own pile for later.

It warmed my heart to see this. 1., because Tyler was using such great manners. For every single piece he would say "thank you Carter" even if it wasn't the piece he needed. 2., because they were playing so nice together. They were sharing and solving a problem together. I don't think much else would have made that 10 minutes any better.

The Imitator

It cracks me up how much Tyler imitates us. Not the normal everyday stuff, like combing hair, throwing the bag the newspaper came in away right away kind of stuff, but our funny quirks. Apparently when the boys are doing something cute or silly I cock my head to the side and give a scrunched up face smile. Not sure why I do this, I just do. Tyler does this too now, except he will go back and forth from side to side making the scrunched up face.

Justin is fidgety. When he sits down he has to adjust his shirt and stretch his neck and fidget about 20 times before he is comfy - he will then continue to fidget every now and then. Well Tyler has picked up on this. When we eat dinner Justin will sit down and do his fidgeting thing. Tyler then proceeds to also move his neck back and forth, just like daddy.

Mommy Funny

So a post to make fun of myself. I hope to look back on this in 14 years when the boys are learning how to drive to teach them a lesson.

It snowed about 4 inches or so last night. The roads weren't too bad, just snow packed. We got a new van a few months ago with the electronic stability control (esc), anti-lock brakes(abs), and all that other safety stuff. We took this van to Montrose with us in the snow. This van does very well in the snow so I was not too concerned about driving and we headed to the mall. People in Colorado do no know how to park in a parking lot when there is snow. Cars were turned every which way, only half parked in their stalls, etc. It was like driving through a maze of cars. Anyway we parked, did our thing at the mall and then went back to the car to head home.

We get in the car, I put it in reverse, and pull out before it just stops. I hear the tires spinning and the esc comes on. Great - we are stuck in the snow. I pull in and out a few times trying to find a different way path to get out. My tires just keep spinning. I get out of my car and find hardly any snow or ice under any tires so I try again No luck I call Justin. No answer. I keep trying, backing out different ways, pulling forward different ways, etc. Because of the maze of cars its hard to find so many different routes to try. Right when I think I can make it out a car shows up coming the wrong way down the aisle. So I had to stop. He was coming to see if I needed help, but since he was kinda scary looking I said no and he drove away. However I had lost my momentum when I stopped so I was stuck again. (or so I thought). This time when I tried to go forward I couldn't even do that. So I call Justin again.

Let me just say first - that when ever I started getting stuck my car would start beeping. I am thinking this is some way this new van alerts me to be stuck - as if I didn't already know. So Justin answers. When he finally gets that I can't get out of my PARKING SPACE (he was thinking I was stuck in the middle of the road). This is our conversation:

Justin: "Is there much snow?"
Me: - "Nope, that's what I don't get."
Justin: "Is your parking break on?"
Me: "No." (I pull the lever and yep it was on - crap). Ok its working now I am not stuck anymore."
Justin: "You are ok now?"
Me: "Yep the parking break was on, I can drive now."
Justin: hysterical laughter. "Troubleshooting 101 - is the computer turned on?"

So note boys - when you think you are stuck somewhere try the parking break before spending 10 minutes in a parking space spinning your tires. And that beeping noise? Yeah check the dashboard to see what it is trying to tell you.

Climb On!

Carter is such a climber. He climbs on to anything and everything that he can. But he is also a very cautious climber. He takes his time and if he thinks he will fall he will totally get off the object he is trying to climb and start all over again. Once he is up he is so proud of himself. I took the boys to the mall play area today and Carter was climbing on everything like a pro. He was using his bare feet to grip on the foamy surface and was scaling some things better than Tyler (who only uses his arm strength). Hopefully he will continue to be cautious!

Carter is also in the container phase. You know the one where they like to put things into a container and them dump it right back out just to fill it up again? Carter will do this many times throughout the day. So because of this and Sarah's blog (a good friend of ours) I decided to try the shape sorter with him. Usually whenever I try to do the shape sorter Tyler comes in and "helps" (or does it all) for Carter. I make them take turns. One gets to do one shape then the other gets to do one shape. For some reason it seems that Tyler is always doing more shapes. So today I made Tyler wait until Carter got all the shapes in before he could have a turn. Well they shared very nicely taking turns and Carter did fantastic with the sorter! I am having a hard time just spending time with Carter. I usually can find time with just Tyler (he brings me books and sits in my lap, asks for a games, ect.), but Carter is in the stage where he is fine playing by himself, and most of the time prefers it. Basically what I am saying is that I need to find more activities like this just to do with Carter. I feel so guilty that I don't get the time to work with him on his animal sounds, body parts etc., that I got to do with Tyler. However I know the benefits of having each other outweighs any of that. And its obvious from how well he did the shape sorter that he is picking something up!

Wonderful Weekend

We had a great weekend. Justin was home almost the entire time and we just enjoyed our family time. I really can't think of why it seemed so nice we exactly.We really didn't do too much. We watched some football, went to church (more on that later), went to the Outback (thanks mom and dad) for dinner, organized and cleaned some and took a fun trip to Home Depot - Home Depot trips are always fun with the boys. Even thou we did clean and organize, the weekend seemed very relaxing. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the boys behaved great pretty much all weekend as well. It made me totally energized for this week. Tyler is having a bad day today, but my patience is in check and I am dealing with him a lot better, which in turn is making his outbursts much shorter.

Back to going to church. We got there and brought Carter to his room and then Tyler to his. When we got to his room, I noticed two things right away. 1 - there was no sign in sheet (there should always be a sign in sheet as that is how we keep track of how many kids we have, who we have etc. Parents have to sign a kid in before they may enter and sign the kid out before they can leave). 2 - there was no supervisor. There usually should always be a supervisor in the room, if you need something you send a staff person to get it so the supervisor stays in the room. The supervisor was running to get a sign in sheet I guess - three kids too late. Because I knew Tyler knew the room well enough and I did know the staff in there was capable (although they had the wrong name tags on two different kids) we dropped Tyler off and I went to find the director. I was thinking she may need me to work. When I found her, she said this was my time with the Lord and that comes first but she would find me if they needed me (I love my boss!). Tyler of course did great and the kids don't know the difference at all if a supervisor is there or not. Its just hard for me to see both sides of it. As a parent dropping a kid off and as a supervisor. I know how it should be run, and when things aren't running how they should be I get more upset than the average parent who doesn't know as much. On Sundays, when I don't work, I sometimes wish I was just a parent there and not also a worker. I know this isn't my boss' fault as soon as I told her what was going on she immediately went to that room. So that is a little vent. However the sermon was great, the boys did great, and I love our church so it didn't make my weekend any less wonderful.

As we watched football on Saturday Tyler once again made daddy proud. We got a picture this time.

How Sweet It Is

Its been a long week - hence the lack of posting. Tyler has not been listening, having many tantrums, and being a two year old, and I am losing my patience. I hate when I lose my patience, I yell and act like the mom no one wants to be. I know all moms have these moments and I need to learn from them, but that doesn't mean I like having them. Justin is in his busy season so he has been working late every night, which makes it that much more longer of a week. The boys crave daddy time, and 30 minutes before bed doesn't always cut it for the boys. And they don't really understand that is what daddy does so mommy can be home with them. Last night at dinner Tyler was put in time out three times, when I finally said fine no dinner. We tried again to feed him when Justin got home and he started doing the exact same things he was doing before (spitting, throwing food, etc.). That is why I thank God for days like today.

Today was by no means perfect, but a LOT better than the rest of the week. We only had one tantrum and so far zero time outs. When I was getting ready this is what the boys were doing.

Carter was rocking in the chair and Tyler decided to join him. He then requested that the blanket be put on so they can "sleep". I love it when they play together and just giggle and laugh together. This is becoming more and more common now and helps me make it thru the bad days.

We then went to the store and I brought along Tyler's shopping cart . He did great at the store and loved pushing his cart around. He didn't leave my side once and stop when I asked him to. His favorite part was getting to put things in his cart. When I told him the eggs had to go in mommy cart he didn't even protest! At one point I think his cart was getting to heavy to push as he started dragging it (he wanted EVERYTHING in his cart). So I suggested we put some things in my cart. He emptied his whole cart, one by one, into my cart and then asked for more items. This was great timing as we only had three things left to get. We got those three things, put them in Tyler's cart, and we were off to check-out. Tyler was so proud of himself putting his items on the conveyor belt. He then got one bag to put in his cart and helped me load the groceries into the car. I am so proud of how well behaved he was considering the past week and his attitude. Everyone else at the store thought we was pretty cute as well.

Tonight we are hoping Justin will be home on time and we can go out together as a family, just the four or us and spend some time together. We really haven't had anytime with just us since before Christmas. I am pretty sure all of us will enjoy it.

Thank God for days like today.