Vacation at grandpa & grandma’s house

This 4th of July, Tyler was VERY excited to take a trip to Grandpa & Grandma’s house. He even learned the word “vacation” somehow and babbled nonstop about going on said “vacation”.  He was equally excited to go on an airplane again. No longer the toddler who screamed when the plane took off and landed, this time he laughed with delight as the plane took off. Unlike our last visit in December where Tyler was a little hesitant around my parents (especially my mom who was a bit too overzealous), Tyler took to them like a fish to water. It helped that there was a huge lot of cars/trucks that Aunt Rebecca had bought from Craigslist, just waiting for him to play with. Every morning after Grandma would stuff him silly with food, Tyler would retreat to “his room” downstairs and play.

Here he is getting low to the ground…

(Note the large metal “death machine” tractor leftover from my older brother’s childhood from the 70s. Complete with sharp edges and corners. They don’t make ‘em like they used to)

Quality time with sesamestreet.com:

playing with sand and more trucks at the park:

As we were walking to our car from the park, we saw a REAL tractor which blew Tyler’s mind since he’s never seen one up close and personal…

We also went to the Seattle Aquarium, where Tyler was fascinated by Nemo and Dorry…and insisted on Grandpa holding him most of the time

He kept wanting to pet the “Fat Seal”

practicing his surf moves on a whale…

We also spent some time on the Kirkland waterfront but it was very windy and Tyler was a little scared of the waves.

Sadly this will be our last trip to Seattle before the baby comes in December but both Grandpa and Grandma promised to visit this fall and/or December to help out. As with every trip to Seattle I leave hoping one day we can move up there permanently. Tyler is such a nature boy and had a good time playing outside in the big yard. His connection to my parents is also growing  and I only want to see this connection grow stronger and deeper. We miss you Seattle!!

no more Mrs. Nice Mommy…

For what seems like an eternity (but more like 2 weeks), Tyler has been waking up crying in the middle of the night. It happens anywhere from 1-4am and has become so routine that I instinctively wake up pre-cry around 3am and just wait for him to start crying. Initially we made the mistake of bringing him into our bed simply because we were exhausted and he would fall back asleep immediately. But who can feel fully rested with a toddler kicking and thrashing around right next to you? (answer: Tom, because Tom could sleep through a hurricane.)  Over the last few days, my latest tactic was to lie on the floor of Tyler’s room with him, trying to break the association of sleep with our bedroom. This also worked and he would fall asleep immediately. Again, a short-term solution which was no better because he was still associating “falling back asleep” with “mommy”.

It’s obvious that Tyler has a problem falling asleep after waking in the middle of the night. The “Internet” suggests going into his room, rubbing his back, soothing him, then leaving the room. This only makes him angrier. We’ve tried to let him cry it out but the boy is loud and we have neighbors.  However our downstairs neighbors have recently moved out (we hope un-coincidentally) so it might be the right time to let him cry it out again.  A couple of our other friends with 2 year olds are going through the same thing so at least I don’t feel alone. Just exhausted…

family trip and sleeping woes…

I realized that we had never gone on a “real” family trip that didn’t involve visiting relatives (mostly my parents in Seattle). So we decided to go on a road trip to San Francisco for the long Memorial day holiday weekend. I lived in SF from 99-2001, and it is still my favorite city. Our last trip was 5 years ago so we were definitely due for a visit!

Of course it didn’t take long to realize that SF is a very different experience when you have kids. It’s still an awesome city but not very practical to eat at all our favorite restaurants. Instead of dining on shaking beef at Slanted Door, we ate at whatever was closest and most convenient to our hotel. Of course, going to our favorite bars and checking out any new ones was out of the question. We were in our hotel room every night by 8pm so we could get Tyler prepped and ready for bed. Speaking of bed, Tyler fell off the bed the first morning and put a half inch cut in his forehead. Blood was pouring out of the cut and we were freaking out. Luckily the blood stopped fairly quickly and no stitches were needed. The next day we requested a crib for him to sleep in and no further accidents ensued, however the bandaid on his forehead in all our pictures is a constant reminder of the horror.

Besides the head injury, the rest of the trip went really well. On Friday we went to a science museum called the Exploratorium, at the Palace of Fine Arts. Of course Tyler fell asleep as soon as we arrived, so Tom and I spent the first hour exploring the museum and wading through the massive groups of school children. Finally Tyler woke up and was ready to play…

He loved the gigantic bubbles.

he loved trying to stack blocks on the vibrating table…

most of the exhibits were for older kids, so he spent quite a bit time in the toddler area too.

afterwards, we spent some time roaming the area outside and admiring the architecture.

Another highlight of the trip was having dinner with our friends David & Linda. They conveniently lived a block from our hotel in SOMA, and have a 2 year old son as well, Dillon. Dillon is only 2 months younger than Tyler and it was great to see them play together. Dillon very graciously let Tyler rampage through his room and play with all his toys.

Linda made a great home-cooked meal for us that Tyler clearly enjoyed…

The next day was brunch at Pier 30/Fisherman’s Wharf with the Hongs again and the two buddies had fun hanging on the pier…

we had a great time! Tyler did very well on the 5 hour drive, with 1000% thanks to the portable DVD player and his new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD. who know he would love Mickey Mouse so much?

Adjusting back to home life has been somewhat of a challenge in the sleep area. For the past 3 nights he’s been going to sleep fine at 9:30, but waking up crying anywhere from midnight – 2am. The only thing that will console him is bringing him in to sleep with us. The second his head hits our bed he is sound asleep again. For the first couple of nights we would put him back in his room after he fell asleep, but he would only wake up again shortly after, crying to come back to our room. I’m hoping this is just another weird 2-and-a-half-year- sleep-separation-anxiety phase he’s going through or maybe it’s bad dreams? he’s cried out a few times in his sleep “NO!! NO!!!” which makes me wonder what he’s dreaming about

A king-size bed would come in handy as our queen is feeling a bit cramped these days…a full-night’s sleep would come in handy too.

Mr. Curiosity

Tyler has suddenly become curious about everything. “what’s that?” is his new favorite question. Whether it be reading books and pointing to every single detail asking “What’s this?” (Thank God for Richard Scarry), to pointing at ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and asking “What’s this?”, to asking “Where are we going?” every time we put on our shoes to go out. It’s fun now that we can actually hold conversations with him, and talk about events that happened in the past. He still talks about Disneyland all the time and meeting Mickey, Donald Duck, etc. and the time Daddy almost went into the ocean at the beach but Tyler stopped him yelling “NO daddy, NO!”  because it was “dirty” water (Tyler has a slight swimming pool/ocean phobia)

Along with becoming Mr. Curious, he’s also developed a Mr. Manipulative side, to our dismay. If he’s about to wreak havoc on his room by pulling out millions of toys to make a mess, he’ll tell me to go in my room. If he’s being a naughty boy and my head is about to explode he’ll smile and say “i love you.” (which, of course, works every time).

Tyler’s second family

Last week I finally took some video of what goes on every morning at daycare. From the video it’s easy to see what a close-knit family environment it is.  From the minute we walk through the front door, he is greeted with hugs and kisses from the other kids. His best friend, Hana (who is only a couple weeks older) always helps to take off his shoes and jacket. Not only does Tyler loves his friends and teachers, their days are structured with curriculum similar to pre-school. Every day he brings home a new art project and he already knows all his ABCs and can count up to 15 (on a good day). We have been dreading the whole process of researching pre-schools because a little part of us wishes he could stay here until kindergarten

Here he is with his latest masterpiece, a “real-life” Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree…

It’s a small world after all…except during spring break

Last week marked 2 special occasions: It was Tom’s birthday and Aunt Rebecca came for a visit from Seattle. To celebrate, we took a trip down to Disneyland mid-week. We were hoping it wouldn’t be too crowded being a Wednesday, and Tax Day at that…but we were wrong thanks to Spring Break. Surprisingly Tyler did really well during the 7 hour ordeal and even managed to wait in a 45 minute line to ride Dumbo! He was also very excited to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Chip & Dale. Other highlights included the goat petting area in Frontierland, where he had to touch and pet all 10 goats.

I have to say, meeting Mickey was very disappointing. We ran up to see him as soon as he came out but a line formed quickly right next to us. Mickey thought we were cutting in line and motioned for us to get in the back but Tom pushed us in front anyway. When we went to take a picture with him, he didn’t even give Tyler a hug or a wave and stood at a distance from us barely acknowledging us! Grrrr….I didn’t want to scar Tyler for life seeing Mommy beat Mickey down so I restrained myself

Donald and Goofy definitely made up for it though, giving Tyler multiple hugs, kisses and goodbye waves. All in all we had a great time, there were no meltdowns and Tyler even slept for almost 2 hours allowing mommy, daddy, and auntie to switch off and ride a few adult rides.

Boy vs. Girl

The other day our friends Kristina and Willow came over for a play date. Willow is almost exactly three months older than Tyler so it’s been fun seeing the kids grow up together. Now that they’re both two, the differences between Boy and Girl are getting more and more apparent. Willow quietly slinked off to explore Tyler’s bedroom. She delicately examined various toys one by one, carefully putting them back in their place.

In contrast, Tyler was in the living room digging through a basket of various cars and trucks, immediately discarding them and throwing them every which way. We had to duck our heads several times to miss being whacked in the head with a flying Lightning McQueen or Doc Hudson. Tyler danced and jumped up and down frantically. Willow quietly watched Veggie Tales, softly singing to herself.

Sadly, Willow never acknowledged Tyler’s prodding stares and refused the cheerios that he tried to force feed her.  Our boy still needs some lessons on chivalry…

bye bye binky

After Tyler’s 2 year doctor appointment, we knew it was time to confiscate the pacifier from Tyler. He wasn’t attached to it during the day but definitely associated bed and nap time with binky. Last week as I was putting him to bed, we went through all the usual rituals (bath, read 5-6 books, turn off lights, etc) get into bed under the blankets and he made his usual request for “FY-ER.” (pacifier). I calmly told him that pacifiers were for babies and he was a big boy now….and he accepted it JUST LIKE THAT. No need to explain “The Pacifier Fairy” no screaming/tantrum throwing. It’s been over a week and we are still amazed at how well he let go without a second thought!

He also has finally converted from sleeping in a crib to a cot at daycare. He had rejected it at first, after all it’s just too easy to get up and start playing with the toys in the room. After removing every single potential play thing from the room and constant coaxing from Beti, yesterday he finally slept in a cot alongside his little friend Hana (who was also sleeping in a cot for the first time). On the way home from daycare he babbled and repeated “Tyler Big Kid! Sleep in Cot!”

Our little boy is growing up.

10 things…

1. Tyler says “bless you <insert name>!” whenever someone sneezes. Even if you sneeze in another room, he’ll shout it out loud to make sure you hear him.

2. Instead of simply answering “yeah” or “yes”, he answers “OH YES.”

3. He can read numbers up to 9 (gets confused when he see the “1″ and ”0″) and knows most of his ABCs (gets confused between “i” and “j” and “m” and “w”)

4. His response to “What did you have for breakfast/lunch/dinner?” is ALWAYS the same: “Meatballs. Avocado. Appleshaush.” He still loves to eat anything and everything from broccoli to bagels w/cream cheese. However, he does not like cake or cupcakes!

5. His favorite shows to watch are Peep and the Big Wide World, the 3 min 50 sec. animation extra on the Finding Nemo dvd called “Knick Knack” -  about a snowman trapped in a snow globe (he does NOT like Finding Nemo), Elmo, and Curious George.

He has suddenly lost interest in watching Pixar Cars, but still likes playing with his Cars toys. He is mildly interested in Thomas the Tank Engine (will watch it if it’s on TV but does not ask to watch the DVDs)

6. He has been going to daycare since he was 4 months old and has never shed a tear/barely noticed when I drop him off. Recently he started crying and clinging to my leg when I try to leave. This stopped when I started calling it “school”. Thanks to all his Richard Scarry books depicting going to school and how fun it is, he is now very excited to go to “school” every day. Sometimes when I forget and call it “daycare”, he’ll correct me. “Not daycare…SCHOOL.”

7. When you correct him, he will first repeat his mistake, then make the correction. Example: “Not orange. Apple!”

8. We are starting to wean him from the pacifier. Out of sight, out of mind. However sometimes he’ll find it and give us a devilish smile as he’s putting it in his mouth.

9. When it comes to sleep, Tyler has two sides. He knows when he’s tired and needs to take a nap or go to sleep. Sometimes he’s so tired he’ll insist it’s time to put on his pajamas. Sometimes he’ll just want to lie in his crib quietly before drifting off to sleep. On the other hand, every so often he’ll get a case of night terrors and start screaming and thrashing around in the middle of the night. All you can do is leave him alone to cry it out. Eventually he’ll settle down but I do feel sorry for our neighbors.

10. When asked if he wants a little brother/sister/baby in the house, he says simply “No.”

tears for fears

From the moment (actually even a few months before) Tyler turned two years old, we said goodbye to our sweet-little-angel-dream-boy, and hello to temper-tantrum-boy-from-hell. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little but he has definitely realized and is not afraid to assert his independence and strong will. Take for example his 2 year wellness checkup at the doctor. He refused to let the nurse measure his head with the tape measure, refused to stand on the scale, and all bloody hell broke loose when the doctor tried to touch him. No amount of stickers could console him, and Tom had to remove him from the office just so I could have a conversation with the doctor without yelling at the top of our lungs. The only shining light at the end of the tunnel came when the doctor asked him what his favorite foods were. He stopped screaming enough to answer “Meatballs. Avocados. Applesauce.”

From what I remember, Tyler is now  39″ tall (about 75% percentile). I have idea what his weight is but he’s about 50% (average) and his head measurement was about 80% percentile (no surprise as he has inherited his father’s large cranium). We left the doctor’s office in a hurry, not without the doctor reminding me to make an appointment for his second hepatitis shot. ouch. Apparently the schools are very strict that each shot must be exactly 6 months apart, and if he had gotten his shot that day, it would have been 3 days too early. Probably for the best since there was no way in hell anyone was getting near him with a needle!

Take daycare for example. Tyler LOVED daycare. I would drop him off, he would run in and start playing with his friends without casting a single glance my way to say goodbye. Now, the minute we pull up to daycare, he starts crying immediately. This just started happening the past week and repeating my mantra “this is a phase” is not doing much to console me. He refuses to go inside and ultimately they have to peel him out of my arms and carry him away as he screams “MOM!!!!” at me wth arms outstretched, tears streaming down his face. Apparently this only lasts for 5-10 minutes after I leave, but it’s definitely not the right way to begin the day.

And finally, Tyler had another night-terror-nightmare episode last night. Screamed from 2:30-3:30am.  We’re trying to wean him from the pacifier at night so that doubled the good times as well!

With that, here’s a recent video of Tyler in his cuter times. Reciting his 3 favorite foods.