Never a dull moment...

No pictures today, but wow! What a day it's been! (and it's only 4:17!)

This morning started off normally- I baby gated Tyler in his bedroom (which, for those interested, is completely Tyler-proofed. Or so I thought.) and went to take my shower. Same as most mornings. I always pull out his toy bin and he sits and plays happily while I get a few minutes to myself for a peaceful shower. I was shaving my legs when I hear a THUD, followed by silence. I asked if he was ok (right, because my 14 month old is gonna say "Yea Ma, I'm great!") and heard him talking to himself and so assumed he was fine. I figured he threw a toy over the gate. Then a second later the bathroom door flies open and in waltzes the crazy monster! He flung the shower curtain aside, as if to say "Here I am Mom! Watcha doin'?" Once I got out of my cut-way-too-short shower, (Let's just say I am half-shaven. lol) I went to investigate, and found the baby gate still firmly in place. This means he has learned how to climb over it. Nothing is safe anymore. Ugh.

We continue through our morning. Breakfast was uneventful. Followed by playing and reading and playing and reading and playing and... you get it. Then was lunch, uneventful except that the dog got a whole hot dog and I had to make Tyler another one. This happens often though. Nap time was good. And then he woke up. (insert scary music here)

Ok, nothing else like jumping baby gates happened today. But something pretty hilarious (I think) did. When he gets up from his nap I usually put him on his little couch to watch a movie with a snack. Today was a Disney Sing Along. I was cleaning up in the kitchen, when suddenly "The Circle of Life" was cut short. No biggie, he often turns the TV off when he's bored of it. But then a minute later I hear the beginning notes of the theme song to FAMILY GUY. Are you freaking kidding me???? He changed the DVD??? He's 14 months old! It took me years to figure out how to use the VCR, then DVDs came out and it took me more years to learn that! Oh my goodness. I don't even know what to say. And his choice of TV shows is not very reassuring. It scares me. ;)

Let's Go Feed the Ducks!

Last night my mom called me and asked if Tyler and I wanted to meet her at a pond to feed some ducks today. Of course we do! So this morning after breakfast, we headed out to Hill High Orchards. It's a small country store-type place that sells amazing pies, but to be honest I have no idea if there are orchards there. lol Anyway, there's a pond right next to it where people are always feeding the ducks.

We arrived armed with bread and cameras, only to find that the ducks were missing! We went down to the water anyway hoping that if we threw some bread around we might lure the ducks to us. Ha, not so much. They were nowhere to be found! BUT as soon as the bread hit the water, dozens upon dozens of FISH came up and started fighting over it... and Tyler started laughing! Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. ;) So we parked ourselves on a blanket and started tossing our bread and hot dog buns to the fish. Tyler got jealous of the fish after a while, and started eating the bread himself. (left)

Check out those eyes!
(I know I say that a lot, but can you blame me??)

Once he got bored of feeding the fish- which took a while actually!- we went inside the store for some ice cream, which is always a cure for boredom. Here's his "cheesy laugh." I guess he was excited about the ice cream. lol

Even though we didn't find any ducks to feed, we still had a very fun time! ~And now he's sound asleep. Being outside wears us out. It's a good thing. ;)

14 Months and 10 Days Late

That's how long Tyler has been with us, and I've yet to show off his "nursery." The reason? Because I'm a horrible mother and did nothing to it for the first year or so! It had a crib, changing table... and that's all I think. But at around a year I decided that he needed some sort of theme in there. I chose my favorite blanket as the theme for the room. (which was made for him by his grandma's good friend Barb)

The Inspiration

(Frog themed, blue/green/yellow, rag quilt)

Where The Sleeping Happens
(Please ignore the mess and the toddler... I had it all cleaned up before the picture. Honest)

The Tower of Stuffed Animals
(I love the under-the-crib storage!)

Where the Dirty Stuff Happens
(I had fun looking for all sorts of frog pictures.)

Where the Rocking-to-Sleep-After-Waking-Up-In-The-Middle-Of-The-Night Happens
(Tyler wanted to show this one off himself.)

***Yes, the pictures are haphazardly placed. Since we are renting, I just used holes that were already there. Once we move, it'll look oh so purdy. :) AND I'll be able to paint the walls. SO excited!***

Frying Pan Park

Yesterday Tyler and I got up and I decided that I was sick of being sick and stuck in the house, so we headed out to Sterling. I'd found out the day before that Zach was in town! (Coast Guard brother who lives in CA) He's going to a 3 week school in Norfolk, VA and will be home on weekends, so we decided to go see him. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of the two of them. I'll try another weekend soon. Tyler is still not sure who Zach is, and kind of wary around him. This time we gave Zach a handful of M&Ms to attempt to bribe Tyler over. It worked a little.

We played for a while at their house, and then Tyler, Mom and I headed out for lunch and a visit to Frying Pan Park- a farm where you can walk around and see all the animals. The first thing we saw when we got there was this giant pig. I was in awe. Really. lol As you can see by his death grip on grandma, Tyler was a bit unsure of the pig. (left) We walked through the barn and saw a cow (either sick or pregnant, I couldn't tell!) some goats (they didn't scare him quite as much as they did last week), sheep, more pigs, and two huge gorgeous black horses. I wanted them. ;) Tyler was more interested in the shovels, ropes, and wood than the animals.
We then went outside to see the turkey and other dinner items... I mean poultry. (I'm a chicken fan myself.) Tyler seems to prefer the winged creatures over anything else. We spent most of our time watching the chickens and ducks and turkey and peacock! (See right) We walked out to see the goats and cows in the fields, but Tyler wasn't interested. He was in a hurry to get back to the chickens. Which is just what we did of course. :)

Me and my baby watching the pretty peacock.

Playground Fun

We took the kiddo the playground on Saturday evening- when it was finally not too terribly hot. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Tyler's great-grandparents in Florida sent him an adorable little outfit. The purpose of this playground trip was to get a good picture to send them. I think this one will work!

He's a photogenic lil' guy, even when he doesn't smile. ♥

Tyler got a kick out of being up so high... then Daddy took off running through the woods like this, giving me a small heart attack, but making Tyler laugh hysterically. I'm getting used to their antics. ;)

Tyler spends time with the grandparents!

On Tuesday night (about a week ago) I suddenly got really really really sick. I mean really sick. It was one of the hottest nights we've had yet, and I was shivering under quite a few blankets. Blech. Anyway, Wednesday morning came and I could hardly swallow, still had a fever, headache, couldn't stand up, etc... Basically, I was unable to keep up with my toddler for the day! So I called in reinforcements in the form of my mom, who drove the hour fifteen out here to spend the day with the kiddo. She brought me meds and soup and yogurt and ginger ale, and gathered up Tyler's stuff and headed out the door, leaving me with strict instructions to sleep and drink a lot. :) They went grocery shopping, and to lunch, and the playground! She said he had a good time and was an angel. (Duh!) She kept him until naptime, and Tory was able to get home before he woke up. That was day 1 of sick Mommy.

Wednesday morning came and I was worse. (Did I mention that I never get sick? Seriously. NEVER) So I called in reinforcements again, this time in the form of Tory's mom. She came out in the morning, hung out here for 20 minutes, and then gathered up the kiddo and his stuff and took him the hour fifteen back to her house for the day.
Tyler had such a fun day! Grandma and Grandpa took him to the petting zoo!

Walking (or running?) around the zoo!

I hear he loved the baby kangaroos, but the "hot" zebra trash can was his favorite. Go figure. lol Apparently he was terrified of the goats! I admit that I laughed when I heard this! His dog is many times the size of goats and Tyler will feed him and crawl all over him with no problem, but show the kid a goat and he won't let go of grandma. Poor guy.

Leaning as far away as possible from the evil goat!

Playing with Grandpa at the house. This is the wind chime
that Tyler thinks is one of the funniest things ever!

His daddy was working in Waldorf MD that day, so he swung by Sterling to pick Tyler up on his way home. They got home around 7pm, and Tyler was exhausted! He didn't nap all day even though I sent the Pack n Play along. Instead he ended up falling asleep on his grandpa while he held him walking around outside. ♥ As sweet as that is, it's nowhere near as restful as a good nap, so he was asleep the second they got home and didn't stir all night.

Friday came and so did Tory's mom... again. She drove out here yet again to watch the kiddo for a few hours out here. They played at our house for a while, and she also took him out to lunch.
Fortunately, by Friday afternoon I was starting to feel a bit better.

I must say, without Tyler's grandparents, I don't know what I would have done! I was truly miserable for a while there. But now here it is Monday and I am good as new. Finally!

So thank you mom, and Mom H. for making the horrible drive out here so I could get some much needed rest!

Out to lunch and a new toy!

What a good day we had! Tory took the day off work, so we headed out pretty early for some errand-running. Our first stop was Petsmart, which is where Tyler and I like to watch the fish and the kittens that are up for adoption. We left there (kitten-less, even though I asked Tory for two of them...) and headed to Target. Have I mentioned that I love Target?? We walked through and by some stroke of luck ended up in the very back corner of the store, and found a back endcap that said 75% off. We got the little man some new wheels! Regular price was over $50, and we got it for just under $13! (Pics will come, in chronological order. Lunch was first. lol) I have told Tory a dozen times today how excited I am about this deal! :)

We then went to Five Guys for some lunch. At Five Guys, we have to find ways to entertain Tyler for a few minutes because we sit down before the food is ready. We gave him a few peanuts since yes, he can handle them. But then he attempted to swallow a few too many at once so we opted out of giving him more. We then discovered a new game. A hilarious game if you ask Tyler. It's called Hide-the-Peanut-Under-the-Napkin.
The title pretty much explains it. The pictures show his joy while playing this game... I just adore his laughing face! He's so proud of himself for "hiding the peanut!" ♥
The food came, and we immediately started tearing our food apart in an effort to cool it off before little hands grabbed and got burned! He always loves both the burgers and the fries there.
This time, I decided it would be ok to let him dip his own fries. This is a very scary thing for a mother to allow her 14 month old to do. ;) He was a pro! Why did I doubt? He didn't even make much of a mess.
After lunch, we stopped at a yard sale... yes, a yard sale. Blech! We've been wanting a high chair to keep at my mom's house, and saw one at the yard sale, so I told Tory to stop. We ended up buying one that is in decent condition and wasn't too gross. The guy told Tory it was $15, but Tory said he'd give him $10 and the guy agreed. So we got two deals today. :)

We headed home to put a very sleepy boy down for a nap, then Tory "built" the new wheels... and by "built" I mean jammed the handle down and screwed on the seat belt. Took all of 3 minutes. lol I disinfected the high chair- and complained to Tory that I needed his moral support for such a task. I am such a wimp, but other people's germs are yucky. ;) We got the whole thing cleaned and disinfected and wiped down about 3 times over. lol

THEN (Yes, there's more) Tyler woke up from his nap to find his brand new car in the living room. It was an instant hit. Here's his "wow look what my awesome parents bought me" look.
We all went for a short walk, and Tyler attempted to get my keys out of the hood of the car while buckled in. (Did I mention that it has awesome storage space?? lol)
And heading home. It was hot and sticky out, so we decided to make it a short walk. Tyler doesn't care. He likes playing inside just as much as he likes walking. :)

A Visit from Grandpa

Tyler's Grandpa came out to visit today! He brought a new toy for Tyler- which I must say was a big hit! (No pun intended. haha) After a good 15 minutes spent getting the packaging off, Tyler finally got to play. Who'd ever think they'd be so worried about a toy being stolen! It's not like someone could take it out of the box and hide it in their pocket! Good grief! LOL Anyway, the kiddo loves his new loud toy. I think Grandpa picks out noise-makers on purpose...



After playing for a while, we all went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Yum! Tyler was, of course, an angel the whole time. A talkative, screeching angel. He was so loud, but nobody seemed to mind. He flirted with all the waitress, who loved him. Go figure. I think it's those big blue eyes. After his meal of chicken, tomatoes, baked potato, sweet potato, bread, squash, Bloomin' Onion, and whatever else he could reach, he decided to be even louder than loud. That was when I took him outside to play while the other guys waited for the check. Below is a tamed down version of the cheesy grin he gave everyone who looked his way. ♥

Thank you Grandpa, for my new toy and for such a yummy dinner!

Poor Dexter

I never talk about him on here. But in my defense, it's not my fault he's such a lazy, boring dog. (see right) He needs to give me something to work with! lol
He and Tyler are still best of friends. They like to play fetch and tug o' war together! I think Dex gets annoyed sometimes though that Tyler's idea of throwing is dropping the ball so it rolls a few feet- not so much a good game of fetch! So he'll tolerate it for a few minutes, then bring the toy to me or Tory for some real playing! haha

They also like to keep watch over the neighborhood together. This happens a number of times a day. :)

He blows kisses!

Check out that toothy grin!! -->

So I feel silly, because it didn't occur to me until recently to teach the kiddo how to blow kisses. D'oh! (<--can you tell Tory's been watching The Simpson's?? lol) Anyway... I showed him today what blowing kisses is, and he did it! The first time, I showed him what to do with his hand, then clapped for him. Then he did it by himself a few times. Then he got bored and tired of Mommy's silly new game and went on to bigger and better things. lol Soooo... while I'm making lists (see previous post/entry/whatever these things are called for the small list of words) Here are Tyler's non verbal communications:

blowing kisses (woohooo!!)
clapping hands (He does this any time he thinks he's done something good and/or funny. He also claps for me at times)
"more" (ASL sign, he knows what it means and does it for more food, drink, or reading.)
waving (Hi and bye. He waves to Dex when we leave the house. ♥)
pointing (He points to anything he might find remotely interesting and wants me to look at)
gives five (there's nothing to say about that... lol)

Hmmm... I can't think of anymore. Bummer! I thought he was a genius, but here I can only come up with 6 hand motion type things that he does. :P

A new word!

The little man has added another word to his minuscule vocabulary: HOT! lol This morning I was telling Tory something about it being hot, and Tyler looked up at me and said "hot?" Kinda with a question at the end. I said "yes honey, hot!" Aww! We then practiced the new word at breakfast with his pancakes and bacon. :)

"Hot" joins his other words:
Mama (which he says, but I don't think he knows it means me!)
Dada (which he does know means Tory. Lucky Dada. If Tory's been out of town Tyler will walk around the house calling for him. So sweet!)
dyyyye or dyedye (bye, said while waving)
aaaah (hi, again, usually joined with a wave)
DA (Dex, always said when pointing to the dog).

P.S. Check out those gorgeous blue eyes!! ♥