Duece Day Revisited

Round 1 of Ty's birthday started off with opening the package from Aunt Becca, Uncle Travis and Baby Porter in Alaska.

Like father like son? Not in this case. Try "like dog like child". Ty and Jackson have a special bond.

Ty and his new set of golf clubs. He also got some play dough (a favorite of his), a beach ball perfect for soccer, a rubber duck and wooden blocks to through according to him. Ty is into throwing anything in his hand these days. Thanks Becca, Travis and Porter! You did great!

After his 2 year old check-up at the doctor (all is well), we went to the mall to play and pick up some balloons. Ty adores Elmo and I had to pry these balloons out of his hand. He was determined to have them in his crib at nap time. I instead convinced him that Elmo was going to watch him sleep from his dresser.

After nap, Ty opened up his presents from Mom and Dad. Yes, we decided to recycle and use the days newspaper. Ty still didn't understand what the day was all about despite our efforts to talk it up all week. It was more of a celebration for us!

Ty got a recorder, bug catcher (Ty is into bugs) , Melissa and Doug magnetic bug puzzle (we love M&D toys) and a Discovery Toys peg board.

Ty and Dad catching bugs.

Check out that arch and concentration on his face.

We ended the day visiting our neighborhood Mexican restaurant where Ty is known by first name. I love this shot as he was not sure what to do when they put on the sombrero, smudged him with ice cream and then sang to him. Look at that face. "What am I to do Mommy and Daddy?"

"Yeah, it is all over. Happy birthday to me!"

We ended the day with a visit to his favorite playground. I wish I had video to record his excitement as we pulled into the parking lot. Ty is OBSESSED with playgrounds!

Duece Day

Our baby turns 2 today! We are celebrating throughout the day and will have the party next weekend as this weekend is CRAZY! Look for pictures and details in the day to come! I must go now and wrap his presents for him to unwrap once he wakes up from his nap!

The Party Invite. Ready to monkey around?

Playground Madness

Our zoo rebuilt a playground that just opened up and has made Ty the biggest fan! We are blessed that it is so close to home. The kid goes crazy every time he sees a playground and signs the word "play"! This playground is perfect for the big and little kids, handicap accessible and the incredible soft cushion stuff on the ground guards the falls. Its even fun for adults!

The new playground. This is just a portion of it. The place is HUGE!

The drum wall. They never had these when I was growing up.

Ty climbing up the big dinosaur tail.

This a cool piece of equipment. You can slide down it, but also climb up it.

Look at that smile...oh, the joy of a toddler!

This is a springy type contraption. Not quite a trampoline, but requires some balance.

This is a big kid slide. Check out the steepness to get up it.

I love this picture. The boys were watching a helicopter fly overhead.

Ty using his impeccable fine motor skills to pick up a piece of tiny plastic. The little guy will hand you the tiniest crumb off the floor and happened to continue his game on the playground floor.

Morning Stretches With Daddy

Troy came home for a morning run and we met him in the garage to welcome him back. Ty is in this stage where he mimicks what we do. As soon as Troy started his streching, Ty joined right in.

" Down and..."

" ...and up."

"Down again."

"And cross the feet." (Look how Ty has crossed his arms!)

A little modification by Ty.

"One last time. And down."

"And strech real high to the sky."

"Say Cheese!"

Ty decided to dump all of his books out of the basket and sit inside. He looked so cute and I had to take a picture. He wouldn't smile for me so I said, "Say cheese." This is what I got! He signed the word "cheese" which totally made sense. He had me rolling on the floor laughing. The kid doesn't even say the word cheese or even know what the saying means, so what did I expect. He gave me exactly what I asked for!

This is the picture I got of him after explaining what "say cheese" meant. Isn't he full of personality?!!

Easter...A Little Late

Our Family Picture. Ty had an itch on his back, hence the arm movement.

Ty's Easter Basket full of bubbles, a kazoo, Melissa and Doug Puzzle and a few eggs with Mr. Potato Head parts.

"The Biggest Egg...Mr. Potato Head"

Ty taking a break from hunting eggs while watching the Masters.

Ty with his new puzzle.

Ty found an egg!

These are some pictures from Easter, a little late, but we have been busier then normal. Troy's dad came for a visit and Ty enjoyed the Easter goodies, but did not quite understand the entire hunting for eggs concept. Funny since he understood Halloween more then we thought he would. Maybe it was the lack of candy. Instead of hiding eggs filled with the sugary stuff, I bought a Mr. Potato Head and hid the accessories inside the eggs with the addition of a few pennies and quarters to add to the piggy bank. The day was gloomy and we decided to hunt for eggs inside our house after his nap since Troy went for a run in the morning with his Tri-Gator friends, breakfast and off to the big church (we decided to cancel our organic church, not "house church" anymore since it can be in other places besides our house) and then home for lunch with our organic church family. It was an eventful day, but Ty found time for fun between his nap and watching the Masters.

Beyond Cute...Short and Sweet

I cannot get over how cute our little guy is. Look at that smile. He radiates pure joy. I am in love with our little man.

"Snot Your Average Wipe"

OK, so I stole the title from the Boogie Wipes website, but it is so true! This is our new favorite product. Between colds and allergies, this product is amazing! We don't use it for every boogie or we would be $$$ in the hole, but the dried on crusty stuff, AMEN! I found it in the medicine department at our local big box that begins with "W"! Go try it for yourself!

The Power of Words

Ty said "No" for the first time on Monday morning and I was a proud moma. I always give him a few munchies to nibble on while I fix his breakfast and I put a few cheerios on his tray. He said "No" and I clapped my hands and said, "Great talking!" Ty wanted Craisens instead. He also said "Egg" as I was making scrambled eggs. He is getting into the stage of "no" and while some moms might be dreading this time, I am rejoicing. Out little man is right on track. Right on track and beyond. We had Ty evaluated a couple of months ago for early intervention services. He qualified for speech since he was at the 10 month mark, but was beyond his age in everything else! Ty now gets speech therapy once a week and developmental therapy twice a month that focuses on speech and vocabulary building. We are so blessed by Miss Betty and Miss Linda. Their toys are a blast to play with. Ty is starting to babble more and attempting to imitate our sounds and words on occasion. "Uh-oh", "mama" and "yaya" (daddy) are still the 3 words that are used the most and clear.

Signs and More Signs

"Bear"
"Go"

"Stop" (In mid-stream)



"Drink" (Ty's version.)




"Monkey"



"Please"



"Sleep"



"Water"


"Hurt"

"Eat"

"Cheese"

"More"

"Apple"

Ty knows about 21 signs at this time and continues to expand my knowledge of infant/toddler sign language. While I teach the infant/toddler sign language class for work, I know enough signs for a 3 year old, but my son is expanding my sign vocabulary. He doesn't just want to "eat" anymore, Ty is specific in what he wants to eat, thus my need to learn new signs.

I am teaching a lesson on infant/toddler sign language at BabyFest which is held at a regional library in late April. In preparation, I took pictures of Ty using some of his signs to show the families on how children modify signs. This was the first time that I had ever tried this on Ty by say, "Ty, show me (fill in the blank). " I was quite impressed with my little guy. He used all of his signs out of context and gave me the perfect opportunity to take some pictures. When I teach my class, I always encourage my participants to share these signs with caregivers since the signs children make are often modified from the actual sign.