Here are some pics of Tyler engrossed in play with his Sesame Street Clubhouse. During this photo session he spent 20 minutes putting people in the merry-go-round and taking them out. He would do it over and over again. It is fascinating to watch him and how he interacts with the features of the toy and what he decides to do with all the little people that day – will it be a ride in the wagon? Will they go down the slide? Will they sit in the merry-go-round? Will he store bristle blocks and people inside the clubhouse? I love watching him play!!

Had a bad night’s sleep. Went to Cabela’s to get a tent which is in Buda, TX. Was running late, so totally missed part of the spa morning I had planned for myself. On top of that had to pay the $30 for the portion I missed.

On the bright side, I did not miss the AMAZING pre-natal masaage I got from the always amazing Adrian at Daya. She gives the best massages – I wish I could afford more. After the massage, called Susan to see if her daughter was napping and if I could come visit. Yay – I could! Of course, I stop by Amy’s ice cream to get ice cream for us. Imagine my AMAZING luck when they had Girl Scout Thin Mint ice cream!!!

I hung out chatting with Susan and enjoying the ice cream. It is so nice when we can just hang out and chat and not have to worry about what our kids are in too. It was kind of a last hurrah of sorts as I will now have Tyler with me and can’t do those drop in visits sans child anymore. She was telling me about a great discussion they had at a recent API meeting on discipline. Personally, I am beginning to think that obedience in a four-letter word. More of my thoughts on that later…

So my day was redeemed and I pretty much threw my “to do” list out the window for the day. It was nice. My Dad and I had Quiznos for lunch and I am about to hit Target and then go get my little man.

My adventures truly begin Monday with my Dad still here and Chris out of town. I am looking forward to it. Oh, and we got a really cool tent and Cabela’s – I can’t wait to set it up and check it out!!

This week has been busy and really tiring. I haven’t had the time or energy to blog much which is incredibly depressing since Tyler has done AMAZING things this week. The whole reason I wanted to blog is so I didn’t lose the memories of the little milestones that make every day so special and exciting. I have several things to report, and sadly few pictures to go with the vignettes. I am going to have to keep a camera on me at all times these days….

Siting down to play for a spell
All of the sudden, Tyler has developed a small attention span. Before everything was about destruction, but on occasion, he will now sit down with something for a few minues and play. It is amazing to see his concentration and see what he decides to do with whatever he is playing with. His favorite thing is still the Sesame Street Clubhouse, but he also loves to pour things and put things in/take things out of containers. The other day he had a leaf and was playing with my pots and pans, putting the leaf here and there. It was so cute!

Tyler likes to Color
He will walk over to his little table upstairs and say “color”. He will yank on the chair to pull in out from the table, sit in the chair, take a crayon and draw a bit. He also likes to unload the crayons out of their box and put them all back in. It is too cute to see him sitting at the table.

Open, Up, Out, Avocado, Mama, ..too many words to keep track of
The kid is picking up words faster than we can spit them out. It is most amazing and most fun. He repeats a ton of things. He is saying ‘avovado’; although for Tyler it comes out “cado”. He has asked for “booty” (his snack Veggie Booty) without being asked if he wanted any. He actually asked this morning, but mama told him he wasn’t having “booty” for breakfast. He is FINALLY calling me “mama”. He says our pets names “Chase”, “Rosie” and “Emerson” so far. I think today he said “paper”; although “diaper”, “Piper” and “paper” all sound really similar. He says this word that sounds like “de ju” and I swear he is saying “thank you” because he does it when you give him something. I can’t tell you how happy I am about it. I didn’t mind that Tyler took his time walking – what I wanted more than anything else was words. I wanted to communicate with this little being – to know what was on his mind. Right before my eyes there is this line of communication that is growing and it is making being a mommy so much fun!!

Lions go Roar….
Tyler now roars when he sees a lion. It is the absolute cutest thing….

Our Little Builder
We have this set of cardboard blocks. They are three different sizes and are sitting on our fireplace. Before Tyler’s bath today he knocked several of them off the fireplace. After giving the customary “uh-oh”, he sat down and began to move the blocks around and stack them. He actually stacked 5 high!! He was so proud of himself! We were amazed because it was the first time he sat down and was intent on stacking blocks.

Tyler Loved Music Class!!
We went to our first music class and Tyler loved it. We were all sitting in a circle with our children and where is Tyler? He is in the middle of this circle hamming it up with all the other mommies and the teacher showing them what he can do with his instruments. He was squealing with delight and loving every moment!! Well, except the moment where we have to say “bye-bye” to the instruments. It helped a little when he saw all the other kids putting thiers away too. Since we have 7 weeks of class left, I am sure he will get used to the routine. We got a CD from class to play in the car and at home. Tyler will hear the songs and then repeat things, so after a bunch of “wheee”s – he will chime in with his own “whee”. The same goes for the song that is made up of “na na”s and the rythmic chant that is all “bop bop”s in different cadences. It is so cool to see him picking up on the music and reacting to it both physically and verbally. I think we are going to go and get him a little instrument set so we can play along with the music like we do in class.

The one thing he did in class that melted by heart was after hanging out in the middle for a while he came over to me, made his scrunchy face, put his head on mine, did “noses” with me, and then he headed back off into the circle. It was like “hey, Mom – I love you and I’ll see you later”. It was pretty cool.

He is Putting It All Together
I guess what is so neat is that you can tell he is putting it all together. Some stuff he just gets. He is starting to play games with us and make his own fun with us. He loves to try and dart around me into the driveway. He will giggle and giggle as he choses a new path and I block it. He is becoming a little boy more than ever. I know that pictures say a thousand words, so I will do my best to take as many as I can in the coming week!!

Ug – I just try to do so much. You feel like you have this precious time, so you kill yourself trying to use it wisely. Perhaps I should have sewn all week and finished my curtains. I could have, but chances are I would have felt guilty about not putting my time to better “use”.

At any rate, I had several appointments and got a lot taken care of. I feel ready for next week with Tyler and am excited by it. I got all of my Flylady stuff in order. I do think that, at least while it is just me and Tyler, I will really benefit from having routines and will be able to keep the house up and still have plenty of time for fun with Tyler. I guess it is like a job – for the most part you want to feel on top of things.

Anyway, this next weekend and week will be crazy. My Dad is here and Chris will be out of town starting Sunday morning through late Wednesday night. I could grumble, but he rarely goes out of town and although I will be tired, I can handle it. I guess things will stay pretty busy leading up to our trip.

I am really hoping the trip goes well. I think the only concern and hope is that the kids sleep well. Our days will be so full of new stuff I don’t see how they couldn’t – unless it is just too much and they are wired. Dunno – can’t really dwell on it – it is going to be what it will be and we will just make the best of it.