It shouldn't take this long ... but, it does

Be prepared ... there is a lot of info here.

I've been thinking about posting this blog entry for the last couple weeks. In fact, I started uploading pictures of things we've done weeks ago. Each time thinking ... okay, now I just have to write a few lines of what we've been up to ... but still nothing. Well, now we are almost through another week & still, I've posted nothing. . . If I sleep another night I will forget it all.


Recapping the last week ... okay, okay the last month



Discovering we have another thumb sucker ... check




The other day I found Ryan sucking his thumb when I was checking on him. Too Cute! Ryan wouldn't take a pacifier ... just like Tyler. I'm glad he has found his thumb, even though he doesn't use it very often. But, when he needs it, he always has it with him & it never falls on the floor!



Lots more trips to the Arboretum ... check



This has quickly become our favorite hang out this spring. It's such a great place. Beautiful flowers, great areas for Tyler to run around and great spots for picnics. This spring they have fun little things built around the grounds ... little houses, even a pirate ship. Tyler loves it. And, I love having the boys outside. During the spring, the Arboretum also has Mommy and Me Mondays ... they have all kinds of activities for the kids. Things like a petting zoo, face painting, music, arts and crafts, etc.


Here are a few pictures from the Arboretum ...




Tyler loves brushing the animals.



What pretty flowers! They're much prettier in person.

You can never have too many hugs!

Total amazement as my 2 1/2 year old sat perfectly still while having his face painted ... double check

Tyler was fascinated by all the kids around the Arboretum with their faces painted. So, we walked over and watched some of the kids getting their faces painted. He said he wanted to have his face painted. I believed him, but I was not holding my breath that he would actually come away with a painted face.

Here are some pictures of the face painting at the Arboretum. The lady who does this is great ... so fast and it turns out so good.

This is how he sat for the whole thing ... like a rag doll.




Shortly after looking at himself he starting flying around like a dragon. I would say, "Come on Baby Dragon" and he would say, "Coming Mommy Dragon".




Here is another day of face painting ...




ROAR!!!




Tyler the Tiger




Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon ... check







Here are a few more pictures of Tyler as a Dragon and a Tiger.
















Healthy helpings of Dancing with the Stars ... check






I am not exaggerating ... this is one of Tyler's favorite shows. He loves the music and seeing them dance, especially to the fast songs. We have to clear our living room floor to make our dance floor. He likes dancing alone or with a partner.










Partner Dancing ...









This is the reaction I got when I told him it was the last song and time for bed.





Eating too much candy ... check


I mean me, not Tyler. To say I have a huge sweet tooth would probably be an understatement. In our house we have the unusual combination of potty training and Easter coinciding, which equals trouble for me. It gives me the perfect reason to buy Easter candy. We have a little jar on the back of the potty for every time that Tyler goes potty like a big boy. It works great with Tyler ... he doesn't bother it, he knows it for when he goes potty. I however, find myself making trips into the bathroom and getting a few treats. Galyn saw me getting a few pieces of candy ... I told him, I've done lots of pottying today.




Having a 5 month old baby (who is now almost 6 months) ... check


This is how I know how long it's taken me to get this blog updated. When I started to try and get this updated Ryan had just turned 5 months old ... he is now just under a week away from being 6 months.


Here's Ryan at 5 months





This one is closer to 6 months old ...






A complete and total public meltdown regarding a haircut ... double check


We were out and about one weekend and close to this place called Snip Its. It is a hair salon just for kids. Well, Tyler's hair has been trimmed several time, but it has never really been cut. So I thought what a great chance to get Tyler's hair cut. Galyn is with us, he can watch Ryan while Tyler gets his hair cut. Galyn definitely had the easy end of the job. Tyler was anti hair cut from the get go.


He didn't want to wear the cape, he didn't want to sit in the chair, he didn't want his hair sprayed or touched. No problem ... we're just getting our hair cut.

We tried having him sit on my lap ... no go. Wrestling a 40 lb 2 year old while your sitting in a chair & there is someone standing over the two of you with scissors is not fun. So, back to his own chair. They had little TVs by the chairs for the kids to watch to help them sit still. Also a no go. My child, who loves TV (especially since Ryan was born... mainly because he's been watching more than his fair share) had no interest in the TV. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the whole time this is going on, Tyler is screaming at the top of his lungs. The type of screaming that would scare other kids so they would never want to get their cut. I look over to Galyn, who is checking his blackberry ... ok, whatever. At least one of Tyler's screams jarred Ryan enough to get him crying ... It made Galyn do a little work.

Finally Tyler took an interest in some stickers, which got him to sit still for a little bit. He covered my arm with about 20 smiley face stickers. This was all we needed. The lady cutting his hair did it so fast and on a moving target. I don't know how she did it. In this case $15 for a hair cut was not enough.

Even when it was all done he was still not happy about it. He informed us that we couldn't go anywhere, he didn't anyone to see his crazy hair.

Oh well, we'll see if it goes better next time.

Here's a close up of the new hair cut.

Making a new fashion statement ... check

I was showing Tyler some of his new big boy underwear. He wanted to lay them all out and look at them. I was in the kitchen when he came in looking like this. Hilarious.

Knowing he had an easy audience, he went back for some more...

Brotherly conversations ... check

They were making all kinds of noises back and forth. Every noise Ryan would make, Tyler would copy, which would then crack Ryan up.

Is There Any More Room in the Bear Cave??

Here is some additional proof that Tyler is, in fact, a fan of the bear cave ... he brought this home from school:



So, we now know where the stash is if we are running low on money.

This may be a half-breed creature ... part leprechaun, part pig (judging by the nose) ... I am, however, Very Proud of the circles Tyler can draw!!

Update to Here's Hoping ...

For any of you who are dying to see what the bear cave looks like here are some pictures just for you!





Peek a boo!


You would be amazed at how fast Tyler can whip through from one end to the other! Also, how much stuff that ends up in that bear cave... At any given time you probably can find an extra pair of pajamas, truck covers, a water bottle or two and about 5-10 stuffed an animals. I mean, what else could make it cozier?

And the time change ... greatness. Sunday morning Tyler came into our room 7:27 am. It still felt like 6:27, but it was great to see a 7 on the clock.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Ryan has been doing these half rolls a lot lately. He'll get himself laying on one side or the other. He's only completely rolled over once. He was very proud of himself, but he couldn't quite figure out what he did to get himself there. He has been working really hard to try and figure it out though.

We always put Ryan on his back to sleep. This morning when I checked on him, he was on his tummy! I was surprised to see him on his tummy. (It was very cute to see him sleeping with his knees under him & butt up in the air.)

Here's Hoping ...

It doesn't seem like it should be time for this already, but it will be here this weekend. Daylight Savings Time. The dreaded spring forward when you 'lose' an hour ... But, we are actually looking forward to it in our house.

It seems that Tyler was a farmer in a past life...he's got to be up with the sun. His internal clock is set for 6:30 am. Everyday, 6:30 in the morning. This is usually how it goes ... we hear a creak, then stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp (Tyler is so heavy footed ... it's like big foot is coming down the hall) as he runs down the hall. Then, another creak (as our door opens), then a grunt (usually from Galyn) as Tyler climbs up with boundless energy and lands on Daddy. (I'm glad that Galyn has the side closest to the door.) He then thrashes around the bed in some type of whirlwind, wrestling fashion proclaiming that he is "Soooo, hungry". Us, obviously not quite as rearing to go as he is, try to put everything off a while longer ... bribing him to be still, by putting on a show. We don't even have to look to find something that's on ... we have it all memorized. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, 6:30, channel 126, which is followed by Little Einsteins. Two great shows that help us get a little more sleep. I guess we're pretty predictable ... Tyler now usually stops off at the pantry to get a granola bar or breakfast bar prior to coming into our room.

What's crazy is, it doesn't matter what time he goes to bed, whether he's had a nap or not, he is up at 6:30 ... 6:30! And when he's up, he's up ... there's no sitting still, or laying still as the case may be. We're pretty sure if he would just allow himself to lay in his bed, without popping up the second he realizes it's probably morning, he might fall back asleep. But for some reason it's like he thinks he's missing something.

We've tried just about everything to keep him in bed just a little longer. We've put him back in bed, telling him it's still night time. We've taken him to the window and showed him that the sun is still asleep. These both resulted in about 10 more minutes of sleep. We've tried hanging blankets over the window blinds to make the room darker. This didn't work either. We have now started a bear cave. Tyler has the bed rails on either side of his bed. We take a sheet and put it over the rails and then tucked it under the mattress. While it looks really cool, it hasn't made much of a difference. Except now Tyler always requests to have a bear cave. Look what we've started.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the funny things he says. Tyler says (pretty regularly) "I can't sleep when it's dright (aka: bright) outside." That's when we've taken him to the window and explain that he's mistaken... it is in fact dark outside. This also is a favorite nap time saying. The other morning he came in as chipper as could be ...
Tyler: "Guess who's up?"
Us: "Who?"
Tyler: "The sun."
We started laughing... we were expecting him to say Ryan was awake. (He normally keeps us very informed of Ryan's activities ... he'll let us know if Ryan is hungry, tired, crying, awake, asleep ...)

Anyway, we are hoping the time change will help us. He should now wake up at 7:30 am. We won't adjust his schedule for the time change ... just ours. It will definitely be nice to see 7:30 on the clock instead of 6:30.