Weight Gain

We had Tyler's doctor appointment and it went great! First he got to stand on the big scale to get weighed and measured and then they took his blood pressure (all new things). He weighs in at 28 lbs, which is the 25%!!!! Whohoo!! He is 36.75 inches tall, which is in the 45% and his blood pressure was 90/50, which they say is great.

Then they brought us into the room, where Tyler had to get undressed and wear a hospital gown. It had dogs all over it and he looked so cute and grown up at the same time. By the time the doctor came in tho he was tired of the gown and just ran around in his underwear. Because of the weight gain he can finally get off of whole milk. She also said not to worry about his eating to much, since we can't force him to eat. Just keep offering him foods. Since he will take one courtesy bite of dinner, she said to try to make that up to 3 bites by next year, but to go slow. She also said that eventually they will stay in their beds. However right now they are refusing to naps and destroying their room, so I hope that will come soon. On the anger note she thinks a lot of it is him being three more than the sensory stuff. This was a relief and I have a few more ideas now to help him calm down. Carter did great during the appointment playing with the toys and showing off his language skills.

At the end of the appointment we got his flu shot. He cried more because they made him lay down than the actual shot and he stopped crying as soon as he sat up. Right after the appointment we had to head to the lab to get his blood drawn for his iron levels. He started crying and saying no before we even got to the door. I was pretty nervous as how he would react as last time it took three people to hold him down. Once again tho he surprised me. He did cry and make a fuss, but much better than the last few times. Hopefully he won't have to get another one of those for a while. I am so happy to have such a healthy little boy!

Sick Day

Carter has had a cough at night since Thursday. This weekend he also had a cough during the day. I decided to stay home to day in hopes that he would feel better sooner. He is acting fine, just more tired, not eating, and has a terrible runny nose.We are taking the day easy, watching some t.v., doing some playdoh, and building with Legos. It is nice to have this day as I missed them on Sunday,

On Sunday I went to Elitches with Heather, so it was a boys day at home. The boys had a fun day with daddy. They watched a lot of football and ate hot dogs for lunch and for dinner. Carter decided that he would take off his pull-up and go poop on the floor and Tyler decided that he would just have accidents all day. Justin still says it was a good day .

Tomorrow is Tyler's 3 year well check-up at the doctors. I am hoping that he can finally stop drinking whole milk and that the pediatrician will have some ideas with his sleeping and his anger issues of late. Tyler has always been a very intense child when it comes to his emotions. Now when he doesn't like something he gets mad and throws things, hits me, and yells at me. Obviously we don't allow this behavior and he gets disciplined, but I would like some ideas of how to give him ways to express his anger in an acceptable manner. Also I know part of the intensity is from the sensory stuff, I just don't know how much of it. Of course along with his appointment he will also have to get his blood drawn, wish us luck!

The Birthday Day

On Monday night we took Tyer to Red Robin so he coud get his free birthday dinner. At the end they brought him ice cream and sang happy birthday to him. He slid down in his chair whie they were singing, but I think deep down he liked it. He started eating his ice crea, when Carter asked for some. Without our asking he passed his spoon over to Carter - such a great brother!

On Tuesday Justin took the day off so we could spend Tyler's birthday together. Of course we did what Tyler wanted, which was go to the zoo. As always the boys had a great time. The carousal and train were closed so the boys rode on the ponies instead. 'Cause you can't go to the zoo without riding on something. They also got to pet the goats, watch a turtle go on its walk, and help water a gecko.

At one point we were looking at the hippos when Tyler slipped and hit his teeth against the rail. It started bleeding immediately. So far it isn't loose or anything and we are hoping it won't turn black. I guess only time will tell - it is only a baby tooth.

Tuesday night all of Tyler's favorite people came over - Steve, Melissa, Heather, Leah, and Drew. We had pizza and brownies and Tyler got to open more presents. We are so blessed to have such great friends that love our kids so much. It was a great day!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Three! Three years ago our lives changed. Three years ago we didn't have any idea how blessed we would be. Three years ago we didn't have the laughter, the entertainment, and the joy you bring us. Tyler, you are what made me a mommy and daddy a daddy. Because of that you will always have a special place in our hearts. The past three years have gone by so fast and you have become such an incredible boy.

You can do so many things now on your own. You dress yourself, you sleep in a big boy bed, you go potty, you feed yourself, and even get your own drinks. You can even buckle your own car seat now! You love to help out – always willing to feed the dog, get daddy his keys, phone, and wallet (and even sodas out of the fridge), and always watching out for your little brother.

And what a great big brother you are. The highlights of my day are watching you two interact. Carter looks up to you so much, and you are trying so hard to be a good example to him. I love it when you help him with a puzzle, or help him get some water. But my favorite times are when you run to him on the playground or to his crib when you first hear him wake up. I love that your best friend in the whole world is your brother.

Tyler you have grown so much in the past year. You had a few obstacles this year, but you overcame every single one of them. You went from barely putting two words together to speaking in paragraphs. You love to ask questions and then tell us the answers. You went from the boy who got so overwhelmed that all he could do was squeeze and bite, to a boy that can use his words and calm himself down –without any help. You are working hard every day at having self control and you ask to take naps just to calm yourself down. You have erased every label that anyone has ever tried to give you.

I love how you observe everything and anything. The things you pick up astound me on a daily basis – like that bunnies eat carrots and God would be sad if you lost your toes. You do it all on your schedule. When you feel like you have the confidence to do something that’s when you do it. And when you do it, it’s usually close to perfect. Baby I hope you always have that spirit.

Your imagination never ceases to amaze me. From being a fire fighter who helps people, to the football mad, to the baseball player, to the daddy wolf I love all of you. I love how you love to wrestle with daddy and how you love to cuddle with me. But then you are also just fine with playing by yourself, building towers,reading books, playing with your trucks, or throwing your ball around. And as hard as it is to see you become three years old, knowing that my baby is no longer a baby, I am so proud of the boy you have become. I cannot wait to see how much you will grow this year and how you will blow away any expectations of you once again. I love you my sunshine, my bug, my Tyler.

Tyler's 3rd Birthday Video

Here is Tyler's video montage of his 3rd year - enjoy!

At the Park

This morning there wasn't a good football game one so we decided to go to Fox Run park for some fun. The boys played soccer for about 2 minutes and then it was on to the playground. They got to try out a tire swing for the first time which they both seemed to enjoy a lot. They of course also climbed on everything and did a lot of swinging. Tyler now likes to swing on the big kid swings by himself. He is even starting to pump his legs a little. The park wasn't to crowded but the boys still has to wait some before they got to swing or go down a slide. I am happy to say that they did a great job being patient. After some playground fun the boys had a picnic under one of the pavilions, which they boys always think is so fun to do. After lunch it started raining so we went home with no complaints for nice naps. A great fun morning!

Fire Truck Birthday

We had Tyler's 3rd birthday party today. Instead of having our friends over Tyler had 5 of his friends from church and playgroups come to his party. We started out at the fire house for a tour. The fireman were very welcoming. They had the dispatcher practice a drill so we could hear what it sounded like and on it she wished a "Happy Birthday to Tyler". Unfortunately just as we were about to go and see the trucks they got a real emergency call so of course they had to leave. We were able to stay and look at the other trucks after they left however. Of course my camera battery died while we were there so no pictures!

After we finished our own impromptu tour we cam back to out house for lunch, cake, and presents. Justin made a fire truck cake that looked great and we got chicken nuggets from chick-fil-a, a Tyler favorite. All the kids seemed to have a great time and Tyler loved having happy birthday sang to him. He also couldn't believe that the presents were for him! I think our first "real" birthday party was a success!

p.s. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I wasn't sure if the other moms wanted their kids pictures on the Internet

Puzzle Mania

"Do Puzzle" These are the words I hear from Carter's mouth at least (and no exaggeration) 50 times a day. As soon as I get him out of his crib in the morning"do puzzle". In fact yesterday he wouldn't even eat his breakfast because he wanted to do a puzzle. He kept pushing his plate away. Finally when it was time to go upstairs and get ready for church I took his plate that he hadn't touched and threw it away. He immediately went to go do his puzzle. When I explained to him for the 15th time that we would do a puzzle after church he screamed "where breakfast!"

After nap time that's all he wants to do as well - puzzles. So we do puzzles. A lot. If Carter wants to do a puzzle it usually means Tyler will also do a puzzle, although he finishes the process a lot quicker. Carter will finish a puzzle and then take one piece out just to put it back into place and clap at himself - over and over again. Tyler has always loved doing puzzles, but never to this obsession. Tyler can now do the 24 piece puzzles on his own and Carter is getting there. Yesterday I only had to help him with maybe 3 pieces. At least puzzles keep them busy.

At It Again

Carter wants to do everything Tyler does...and I mean everything. Lately he has been requesting to go to the potty every time Tyler does, and he goes. At church when they tell him they need to change his diaper he says "no I go potty". So we have been taking him more and about 50% of the time he goes. About 75% of the time when he needs to poop he tells us and then goes in the potty. At church when they bring him he wants to go so badly he says "no mess in diaper" and doesn't want to get up until he goes. I am going slower with Carter, as I am thinking this may just be a quick phase. He is in pull-ups, other wised known as glorified diapers. However it makes it easier and he is proud of them. I don't see us going to underwear for a while. Oma mentioned to me that hopefully Carter doesn't think potty training also means getting a big boy bed - I didn't even think of that and agreed. I like him in his crib.

Then tonight happened. We put the boys to bed and not 2 minutes later we heard the door open. It was Tyler and we put him back to bed. A minute later we hear him out of his bed again. Justin goes up there to find Tyler in his bed and Carter out of his crib. I go up there and ask Carter to show me how he got out. He quickly climbed out like he had done it a hundred times before. The boys thought it was so funny that Carter could get out. One time Justin went up there Carter was sitting in Tyler's bed and they were talking. After about 3 more trips up there putting Carter back in bed (he even came out of the room a couple of times) they both finally went to sleep. This is something I totally wasn't ready for. Time to convert the crib to the toddler bed I guess. Carter sure is trying to keep up with Tyler as best as he can.

Brush, Brush, Brush Your Teeth

Tyler had his dentist appointment today and it went fairly well. We read some books in the waiting room and he seemed to love having just Mommy and Tyler time. When they called us back I went with him (they usually request that the parents stay in the waiting room). He sat in the dentist chair where he seemed so small, however he didn't make a single complaint.

Then they put the chair back. Tyler didn't like this at all. He did a little whimpering but with my help we managed to get his front teeth cleaned. By the time we got to his back teeth he was opening his mouth for the hygienist. She put his seat back up while we waited for the dentist. Tyler then told me he was all done. I convinced him to stay put and the dentist finally came. She laid him back once more and he did a little crying. She probably took less than a minute looking at his teeth, so at least it was quick. He has no cavities and his teeth look good. She did ask if Tyler used a pacifier or sucked him thumb. I told her that he uses it for naps and bedtimes and with his sensory stuff he is always chewing on something. She told me to do what we needed to do for him and if nothing else we will get him braces later. I have no plans of taking it away. Tyler happily went and got a toy and loved that he got new toothpaste. I am hoping he will finally learn to spit it out so he can use fluoride toothpaste. All in all a good appointment! To celebrate Tyler and I went to Michales to get the last of the stuff for his birthday cake - that was the best prize ever.

Brown Big Football Man

Tyler always pretends to be something or someone. The main one used to be "Daddy Wolf". Whenever he said he was a daddy wolf it usually meant he was going to start running around like crazy. The past two week we really haven't heard of daddy wolf, but "brown big football man" has joined the family.

Why this name? It all started when he got a new football shirt, which happened to be brown. Ever since then, even if he has a green football shirt on, or even a baseball shirt on, he is the "brown big football man". However he is this 80% of the day. If I ask "Tyler could you please put your plate in the sink" he will respond "no I'm the brown big football man". He then will put the plate in the sink after my correction. Justin and I don't refer to him as brown big football man, since it seems sometimes he uses it as a way to not hear us. I am curious how long this will last.

Grandma and Grandpa are in town for the weekend. I was able to go to a bridal shower for a friend while they watched the boys yesterday. It was very ice to get away and the boys did great. Tyler did have an accident yesterday (the first one in about 2 weeks). He was back on track today however. Grandma is going to watch Carter tomorrow while Tyler has a dentist appointment...wish us luck.

I Just Called

Carter has always been obsessed with the phone. He loves to play with the one in our bedroom every weekend morning. He thinks the operator's voice is mine. From early on he has pretended any block, spoon, or even car is a phone. The past few weeks he has been talking more into the "phones". Instead of just hi or good bye he talks gibberish.. Whenever Oma calls Carter tries to talk to her. However he usually gets "hi" out and then proceeds to try to look at the phone instead of talking.

Last night I was on the phone with Justin. Carter was insisting to talk to daddy. I handed him the phone. First was a "Hi Daddy!". Justin asked him a few yes or no questions "(he listening to mommy, was he making good choices) all of which Carter answered yes to. Justin then asked him what he was doing. Carter answers "playing with puzzles. Sesame Street puzzles, Tyler do Car puzzle". He then answered yes or no to Justin some more and then with my prompting he said "Bye Daddy!".

Maybe this is normal for a 23 month old, but it blew the pants off Justin and I. Tyler has only started talking on the phone more in the past few months. Carter sure is a chatterbox.

The Games We Play

Last night Justin was getting home from work a little late. The boys were getting restless so I thought maybe we would try some games. First we did Ring Around the Rosy. The boys are great at this and have it down now. After 10 times of falling down however I thought maybe we could move on to something else.

So I tried Duck Duck Goose. The boys sat down and I called Tyler Goose and told him to chase me. He seemed to get the concept so it was his turn to go around the circle. He kept going around the circle patting our heads and saying duck duck duck duck duck. I told him he needed to pick Carter or me. He finally squealed duck and started running -I guess that's how he picked me. Next it was Carter's turn. He just walked around the circle, saying "quack quack". I asked him if he wanted to pick Tyler or me. He said Tyler so I told him to go pat Tyler on the head. He went and gave Tyler a head bump.....time to move onto the next game.

Red Light, Green Light. Tyler tells me all the time that red means stop and green means go, and he used to play it in soccer so they should get this game right? I yelled Green light and both boys came running. I yelled red light and tell them they need to stop. They stop and run back to the starting point. Well Tyler ran back and Carter followed. We tried it a few times, but they just kept running back to the starting place never coming close to me. Next.....

Hide and Seek was the next one. We have played this before, but for some reason it was connecting. I covered my eyes and counted to 10 and told them to go hide. When I was done counting Tyler was "hiding" in front of the fridge - right where I could see him. Carter was standing right next to me. So I told Tyler to count and I would hide. He counted to 6 and came and found me. Carter then walks up with his two pointer fingers poking his eyes (which were open) and saying "one" over and over again. I tried hiding one more time in a harder location. The boys couldn't find me and started crying...time to go outside.

We went outside and Tyler showed me how he learned to climb a tree Wednesday night with daddy - a first. He went right up with no problem. Carter needed some help but then also climbed the tree. At least they have tree climbing down, and those games sure created a lot of laughter.

.

Favorite Things

Its been a little bit of a tough week. For the most part the boys have been doing very well. But on Tuesday Tyler decided he wouldn't take a nap and Carter has seem to have more tantrums lately. He also decided that he doesn't want to sit on his naughty step any more. Combine that with the fact that the last few times we have been out to eat the boys weren't the best listeners, I decided I should remember some of the things the boys do that make me smile instead of cringe.

• Tyler is becoming such a great big brother. We were at the park and both of the boys were climbing up to a slide. There was an older boy, maybe 6, climbing down the same structure. The older kid just touched Carter on the head, not hard at all. Tyler immediately says "no, don't hit Carter". He said this in a very nice tone tho, not a yelling or bossy tone. The boy asked "his name is Car?" Tyler responds "no its Carter". I was so proud of him. He stood up for his little brother and besides that he took the initiative to talk to a kid he didn't know - a big step for Tyler - for his little brother.
• Carter is also talking up a storm now. My favorite thing with Carter is to ask him questions. He always responds, even if he is in the middle of a tantrum and screaming. It is absolutely adorable.
• Carter is beginning to pretend play more. In their play kitchen there is a fridge with a ice maker on the door. He loves to get his cup, fill it up with water on the fridge and give us drinks. The best part of this is that we don't have a ice maker on our real fridge. Tyler would always pretend to get water from the sink. I have no idea how Carter figured it out, but I love that he did.
• This is probably something I should try to put a stop to, but I must admit I love it so for now I am going with it. Tyler has been waking up very early lately - usually around 6:15. I wake up to something and there he is looking at me. Instead of making him go back to bed (where he would most likely just wake up Carter) I bring him to bed with me. We cuddle and doze for a while til Tyler gets restless. Then we read books and cuddle some more. While I would rather him sleep in and stay in his room, I do love this time with him.
• The boys seem to get along better everyday. Of course we have to occasional fight over a toy or one of them hits the other one, but those seem to be decreasing everyday. They can't get enough of each other. As soon as Tyler hears Carter he stops whatever we are doing and jumps off the bed and runs to go get him. If Tyler is going to the bathroom, or just go upstairs, Carter needs to know where Tyler is at all times. They are two peas in a pod.
• I almost forgot one of my all time favorites! I was in a grumpy mood and needed a break from the boys. Justin was home, but Tyler only wanted me. I told him to go find his daddy. He goes over to Justin, but then looks back at me and says "guess what". I asked him "what" with a sigh. He responds " I love you!". Couldn't be grumpy after that!

Dare I Say......

Tyler is potty trained! I finally feel comfortable saying that Tyler is officially potty trained - at least day time. He tells us when he needs to go now, even when we are driving in the car, he stays dry during naps, and he even stands up sometimes now! (man he is going to hate me when he is older). I am pretty sure he would be night trained as well, but I just don't quite have the energy for that right now, maybe after his birthday. I am so proud of him! Way to go Bug!