Looking cute in his autumn attire, perfect for the cool and windy day.
Ty was enthralled by the entire experience. Like his mom, he becomes really quiet and soaks in the entire experience.
We were off the train on our way to lunch. All the little guy wanted to do was get back on the train.
Seriously concentrating on the next bend ahead. 
The annual picture time at church allowed us the opportunity to get our first professional family photo without all the additional sitting fees. I still long for the day to be photographed outside the studio by a professional, but this photo session resulted in some prized photos. We got all of our proofs for free since the above photo is going to be submitted in a contest by the photography service. We will never know if we won, but if we do, you will see this photo in their publications and on display.
Ty was unsure about this entire experience as it was difficult to get him to smile in the posed shots (which is why I do not like posed photos at times), but we got it done and have some precious memories and photos to share. 
This picture is from a house on the main street in Arthur, a local Amish community. The variety of the carvings was eye catching and amazing! 
The little train engineer ready to get some candy!
We have the honor of living close to a premiere pumpkin patch that has been featured on Martha Stewart (show and magazine), the DIY network, Travel and Leisure magazine and Country Living. This pumpkin patch is filled with interesting displays, mazes, pumpkins from around the world, farm animals, etc. I am amazed at how creative they get each year to come up with unique and different displays. Ty had a blast running of his lunch from a local Amish restaurant while amazed by all the pumpkins. 
Isn't this the sweetest face ever?
Look at all the creations...from a train, to spider, to Noah's Ark, rainbow of pumpkins...
The mums and pumpkin trees are works of art in themselves.
Ty posing outside the Amish restaurant. He found the perfect rock and bale of hay to sit on. Perfect photo opportunity!
Ty catching raindrops on his mouth. My son loves to play in the rain and I let him!
Every September brings the juried art show to our local downtown park. This is where we began to "shop" for pieces of art for our house. Our first year in town, we purchased 2 framed prints from Randall Shedd, a photographer from Indiana who started to photograph his own flowers to save gas money during the high fuel prices. His photography is beyond anything I have seen before and I do not even know where to begin to describe it except, "I want it all!" He did put out a calender one year which enabled me to savor a taste of his work each month.
It all started Monday night while in the tub. Ty said "PP" and he peed in an old Nuby cup that he plays with in the bathtub. We cheered and did a little potty dance and told Daddy who was super proud. There wasn't anything on the calender on Tuesday so Ty spent the morning in his big boy underwear and he went potty every time! He has continued this routine while we are at home. We still haven't ventured out in big boy pants, but he does understand the concept. His face lights up and he does his own little dance when he accomplishes the deed. It is too cute! Of course he wants the gummy bear that waits for him at the end. I wasn't going to bribe him with food (stickers and stamps on the hand instead), but the grandparents brought candy from my mom's recent trip to Germany. Ty has been constantly running to the freezer where we keep the candy (we prefer our sweets frozen for some reason) wanting the yummies and I have denied him. Finally I told him he can have a gummy once he goes potty. That was the trick!
Yep, we are alive and kicking. My Mommy and Daddy have been busy with life that posting on the blog has been their last priority. They have been busy doing paperwork (along with work and church stuff) so I might have a little sister in a couple of years.
This was my look as I walked into the restaurant and saw my precious child of God. He was the first kid to arrive and beat us to the restaurant. You can see more about this day here.
It was so hard to control myself and not rip my son out of the caretakers arms.
I remember we had to wait, and wait (at least it seemed like for me) for "the moment". Patience is not my best virtue and I so badly wanted to hold little Ty.
The poor little guy had no idea why these people were crying and taking all these pictures. And this crazy lady was once again trying to capture his attention.
...finally in our arms, but so scared. 
Troy admiring Ty at the Chicago airport.
Ty has has weekly speech therapy starting this past April. It has been amazing to think he has gone from a sign vocabulary of maybe 25 signs, saying 2 words (Mama and No) and now having a vocabulary of over 50 signs and 100 words! We give a bunch of the credit to us working with him through songs, books, talking to him and plain old play, but Ms. Linda, our speech therapist has been a blessing. Ty runs to the door when Ms. Linda comes over to play and helps her bring in the toys. Ty radiates with joy and excitement when she comes over and loves to play with her toys. It is "play with a purpose" and he strives for the sounds/words we want him to say. Ty is so engaged with Ms. Linda's toys that we do not want to duplicate them at home so he will look forward to her visits.
Ty found the Mardi Gras beads at the bottom of Ms. Linda's bag and dumped them out on the floor. I am not sure how Ms. Linda uses the Mardi Gras beads because Ty went silent due to being so engrossed. Ms. Linda and I sat back and watched him play. By the way, it was at the end of his session so we were not concerned with him being mute.
Ty seemed to be starving during this therapy session and helped himself to a snack of almost gone puffs.
I love the look on his face with all the crumbs!
Ty helping himself to a little tea!
Growing up, my dad's mother offered some type of bean at every meal. This was a big joke in our family with the following question after every visit, "What type of bean did you have with your meal?" If it wasn't green beans, it was navy beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, lima beans...you name it. Luckily I like beans and their nutritious value. While we do not have them at every meal in our household, they are a popular part of our diet. 
We are blessed Ty has a great respect and love for beans. He can eat them straight out of the can as displayed above. Kidney beans are a favorite snack and hummus too.
Once again, I am amazed how a child that is not biological is so much like his Mom and Dad. Another example of God at work.
Our little guy has begun to put himself in time out for things I wouldn't put him in for. We give him 2 warnings and then it is time out time. Some things are automatic TO like hitting the dog with the golf club. On this particular evening, Ty put himself in TO before he even did anything. I began to wonder if TO is really effective for him. Then he did it...started chasing Jack around the house with golf club in mid-air, swinging it back and forth. That was enough. Luckily Jack was not hit, but we will not tolerate the teasing. So TO it was and this is what we got:
The tears...
... and more tears. Ty did apologize to Jack.
It is hard to believe our little guy's paperwork said he despised bath time and anything to do with water. Our second day with him, we took him to the baby pool at the hotel and he was a champ. Was his bath water too cold? Where there not any toys? We will never know, but we do know we better beware if water is near.
I bought plastic tubs earlier in the spring and filled one with sand and the other was for water. After an evening of watching Mom and Dad practicing open water swims in our local lake, Ty decided it was his turn to get wet at home. He plopped himself right inside the container despite his pool on the other side of the deck filled with water.
Another one of those smiles that melts my heart. (By the way, we sent this outfit to him in a care package to China. Ty also wore this outfit on the day we received him. To say the least, this was the last day he wore this outfit as it is now in safe keeping for Mom to create her magic.)
After our diaper dilemma, Ty decided George needed to put on his Elmo undies and plastic diaper protectors. He was all set and ready to go...
... SWIMMING!!! Ty is showing off his free-style while George is floating on his back.
One day, Ty decided George needed to wear diapers too. So Mama gave him a diaper just like Ty's.
But then George needed a diaper change after he pooped per Ty.
On goes the new diaper while George does a handstand.
But George isn't cooperating and the little guy is not happy.
So he throws a fit out of frustration.
This photo was shot back in June after Ty fell asleep in the car on the way home from an afternoon wedding on one of the hottest days of the summer. We placed him in his crib for a short nap before we headed off to the reception... we honestly needed to shower it was so hot. When we went to wake him up, this is what we saw...how precious. Ty has a handful of MeMe's, his word for babies that bring him comfort. We have accumulated MeMe's as gifts from friends (some homemade) and a few from hospitals. The bear he is hugging was a gift from Shriner's in Chicago when we went for our consultation. His MeMe's are scattered throughout his crib and he throws them out when in the mood. Each day brings new sleeping friends. We hear him throwing his friends on the floor when we are downstairs. It is always an interesting sight to see which MeMe's are on the floor and which get the honor of sleeping with him. 
Ty attended his first wedding back in June when Troy married a couple from our house church network. It was an outdoor wedding on a very HOT and HUMID day. He managed to sit through 1/2 of the wedding before he got antsy, but got all his wiggles out dancing at the reception. As I have said before, this little guy recognizes beats and music instantly grasps his attention. The dance floor was very quiet during the reception while the music played, but Ty made his way to investigate several times. Finally, he found a partner to dance with him and the floor soon became filled with participants, mainly children.
Look at the smile on his face. Such pure joy and determination!
A little slow dance for you.
Happy dancing feet!
And more dancing feet!
