September Tyler Tales

Stashing things: Tyler has taken to stashing things all around the house - much like a little squirrel does with acorns before winter. One minute he is playing with his cars and then next they are all being shoved under the china hutch. Missing library books have finally been found under his dresser. Legos are under the entertainment center. Crayons are more fun to roll under the kitchen island than to color with. My mixing bowl beaters end up in the toy box after he helps me unload the dishwasher. The most exasperating is when we catch him about to do this stashing act (like rolling a marble under the stove) and he does it anyway with a look of defiance and pleasure on his face. He has also started stashing himself in places around the house now too - when his idea of what to do next and Mommy or Daddy's do not agree - like hiding under the slide when it is time to change his diaper, or under the table when it is time to wash his hands....makes Mommy feel like hiding in her room some days! :)

Contradictions: One minute he wants us to help him and then next minute he is pushing us away saying NO, I do it, me do, I get it. Lately he has started grabbing our hands after dinner and pulling us into the living room saying, "Momma, a play cars wif me," or "Daddy, a play balls a me!" We tried potty training for 3 straight days when he seemed interested all of a sudden but his interest was short lived so we are back in diapers with only using the potty a few times a day when he is in the mood. The other day we were going to eat and then go to the park, but Tyler stood up on a chair and loudly demanded "A drink, a park, a NOW!

New Words...or Whole Sentences: Besides "Momma, a play cars wif me," he is also using sentences like "Oh YES, a go park and go wheee (slide)," and "Momma, where at?" or "Momma, are you?" when I am out of sight. He usually gets out of bed/his room on his own after nap time but last week I heard him saying "Momma, all done night night" over and over until I came to get him up. Words are also maturing like "broke-ded" has now become "broken"...a word he hears a lot...hmmm!

Trains: To get Tyler to do anything these days, like get in the car when we need to go, all we have to do is just mentions trains! He has gotten more excited about trains lately and we have read almost every library book on trains in the toddler section! Living in Boone encourages this passion of his with trains going right through town every half and hour, the train museum, going to see Thomas, his Thomas DVD, and the library has had train decorations and train books set out to celebrate Pufferbilly Days in Boone this month - plus their 2 toy train tables Tyler plays with each time we visit. He has to loudly point out each train and its "moke" (smoke). He says choo-choo and whooo, whoo now and also thinks he sees train tracks in everyday things, like muffin cups, fences, rugs, pictures with lots of lines in them, the xylophone picture on the side of his wooden block, etc.

Empathy: Adam has had a cold for a week and each time Tyler hears him coughing or sneezing from his office upstairs, Tyler stops what he is doing and says "Oh NO! Daddy A-choo'n!"

Thomas and Kelsey and one busy Saturday!

This past Saturday we took Tyler to the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad for A Day Out With Thomas - that's Thomas the train...who Tyler LOVES! (Thanks to Grandma for the tickets). It was wet and cold, but Tyler could have stayed in the toy train tent all day if we would have let him - even though he had to share the trains with tons of other Thomas lovers!

We asked if he wanted to ride the train and he said "OH YES!"
Here we are waiting in line to board the train.

And waiting for the train ride to start.
Dad did really well despite having a bad cold!

A quick rainy photo by Thomas.
We had to pry Tyler away from the toy trains to have a quick photo with Sir Topham Hat before we left, which is why he is crying in this photo...and he cried most of the way home saying "more train", "train that way". Poor kid! Why is it that the most fun things to do always go by so fast?!?
After Thomas, lunch, and a long nap, Tyler was ready to head over to Grandma & Grandpa's to watch cyclone football and play with his cousin Kelsey! They only held still long enough for me to get photos of them when they were eating!
After Kelsey went to bed, Tyler stayed up to pump some iron!
He likes to lift them up and say "Heavy!"
Showing off his new Thomas shirt!

Dinner with Friends

Two of our friends have birthdays in September, so we try and get together to celebrate and give our kids a chance to play with each other. This year the Grabers invited us to their house in Ankeny for dinner. Adam and Justin helped feed Justin & Amanda's new twins.

Tyler even got an early birthday present - a book he had fun opening!

Here is a fun photo of the older 4 kids playing under the staircase at
Dustin & Sonya's house. They look pretty cozy in there!

Here are the dad's and the kids - 7 kids in all!

ISU Football Games

Tyler likes watching ISU football games with Grandma and Daddy!
Here is a photo taken last fall (11 mo. old) during the Iowa/ISU game...

...and here is a photo taken this fall during the game (23 months old).
One year's difference - he is growing so fast!
And he still likes to pull his socks off!

Pufferbilly Days

We celebrated the Boone Pufferbilly Days by attending the downtown parade after Adam ran in the 10K. After the parade we headed to Ames to watch the ISU vs. Iowa game at my parent's house. Tyler was excited for the parade!

Waving at the tractors....

Didn't like the loud sirens much!

Showing off his stash of candy!

We got lots of compliments on our ISU Football jerseys too!

Haselhuhn Cousins over Labor Day Weekend

Aunt Nicki came home from Pennsylvania to see her new nephew so we decided to all drive to Knoxville to spend some time with her. The Cousins had a great time as usual - they run, jump, climb, play, beg grandma for snacks, and chase each other all day, which is a great break for their parents! About the only time they hold still is when the cartoons are on...and then it is only when they aren't fighting over who sits in which chair to watch!

Tyler loved helping his new baby cousin Jacob - from holding his bottle...

...to holding him! Mostly because he saw his big cousin Sarah holding Jacob and so when he found his opportunity, he climbed into the chair, held his arms out, and said "baby!"

He sat really still, mostly because his favorite cartoon had his attention!

All 3 of the Haselhuhn grandkids!

Playing with play-dough

Aunt Nicki supervising

Playtime outside - teamwork in the rock pile that is part of a landscaping project

After all that messy fun it was bath time!

They even had to both brush their hair together!

More Tyler Tales

We moved Tyler across the hall (the former spare bedroom) and into his new room decorated in the Disney Cars theme and into a big boy bed! He has made a pretty easy transition. We even left the baby monitor in the nursery and told him to come to our room if he needs us. He loved the independence of being able to get out of bed on his own in the mornings! Usually one of us is up by 6:30-8:00am when he normally cracks open his door, but one morning something woke me up at 5:30am and I went to check on him...his door was open and he was not in bed and I started to panic, then I heard a whimper from the top landing of the staircase and found him sitting there - broke my heart! He was wide awake, however, and demanded breakfast - we were both ready for a nap that day!

Tyler stays in bed very well at night once we have red him books and close the door, but nap time has been more difficult. One day I had to put him back in several times and I finally came in the find this....

Tyler has been taking his climbing skills to new heights in our house recently...

He has also found a new hobby in stashing his toys under things that are hard to get them out of - like under the stove, fridge, and china hutch - no matter how many times we tell him not to.

Words have been pouring out of him lately, and numbers, and people's names he hasn't said before, he also likes to point out each stop sign we drive up to by saying "Stop...and GO!" Letters were a surprising achievement. I got some crackers at the store that have Scrabble letters on them and during his snack he walked over to me and held one out and said "O". I thought he was just trying to share them with me, but he insisted on showing me that the cracker had an "O" on it - then we went through the rest of the crackers and he got most of them right - and I haven't even been teaching letters to him - I guess our IPTV viewing is entertaining AND educational - who'd have known!

Here is one last "photo with a story to tell" that I wanted to share...

I was upstairs with Tyler putting clean laundry away and I heard Tyler pull his laundry basket out of his closet and I heard him walk back down stairs to watch the end of the movie we had left running. However, I did not hear the thump of the basket going down the stairs...so I was surprised to find this when I came down the steps! Not sure how he managed to get it down the stairs, up on the ottoman, and crawl into it - but he did! Then he intently watched the credits from his own "car" while I took a picture!

Summer Camping Trip #2

The extended Stephens family gathered for another summer camping trip in August at Lake Icaria near Corning. The weather was PERFECT - warm to ski, but breezy so we weren't too hot and slept well, and the bugs didn't bother us. We had a relaxing morning and Tyler got to play with puppies and second cousins (and Daddy)

Our only worry came on Saturday morning. While the weather was still cool we gathered around the campfire circle (above) to eat breakfast and warm up. Here is Tyler sitting by the fire..

By the time we were ready to gear up to ski the campfire was mostly warm ashes (thankfully)...but that is when Tyler backed up and fell backwards into the fire pit. It was not as bad as it could have been as Aunt Martha and Adam quickly pulled him out, but It scared us all. He was fully clothed, which helped, but the back of his hair got singed, his right lower arm and his back right above his diaper where his shirt pulled out had blisters from the heat. He is a trooper, though, and still wanted to go on the boat after we put Disney Cars band aids on the blisters. They are mostly healed now 2 weeks later.

Before we got on the boat Tyler had fun tossing some rocks into the lake - he preferred the BIG rocks!

Adam skiing
Traci skiingTyler driving the boat after the 3 of us rode on the tube again
Just another relaxing weekend at the lake making great memories!!

Cousin Kelsey's Visit

Cousin Kelsey came to stay with us while her Dad was busy at the State Fair. She got to sleep in Tyler's crib overnight since Tyler has GRADUATED TO HIS BIG BOY BED!!
We spent time enjoying the weather outside by spalshing around in our pool. Kelsey looked so cute in her swimsuit!Her favorite things to do was throw all the toys out of the pool...and then put them all back in...and then do it all over again!

Cousin Jacob's Birthday

After a day at the State Fair on August 18th we were very excited to go see our brand new family member - Tyler's first male cousin and our new nephew! He is a beautiful 6lbs, 3oz, and 18.5 inches long. Welcome to the World Jacob Ryan Haselhuhn!!!

2010 Iowa State Fair (by Tyler)

So, my daddy took the day off in the middle of the week to take Mom and I to the State Fair. They tell me I went last summer too, but I don't remember - not sure what all the excitement is about, and I feeling kinda grumpy this morning, but off we go anyway! Here is what we did at the fair...

After FINALLY parking and walking to the fair, I got a stroller ride to see baby farm animals inside a big building. Ducks, calves, pigs, chickens, goats...I was NOT happy that we were only allowed to look and not touch - what fun is that?!?

Then Mom & Dad decided to make me work on the farm! I picked vegetables and apples and harvested corn and beans....

...then I even collected eggs! The sign said I had to be taller than 2 chickens to ride the tractor - I thought I'd better lift my hat up a little to be sure I was tall enough, because the best part of being a farmer is riding the tractor, don't you know!

Now this is FUN - watch out, here I come! I just find something fun to do and then my parents tell me we have to stop and they drag me away!

At least I get a Popsicle for all my hard work!!

The Midway was next! Dad said only two rides and we finally found two that I was tall enough to ride on (in my opinion height is overrated anyway)! I got to drive a car AND ride a horse - around and around and around! It was fun - and then I got dragged away again! This fun just doesn't last long enough - I just want "one more!"


We visited the Varied Industries Building so dad could get an ISU tattoo and look what I found...a model train!!!!! I wanted to stay here the rest of the day, but my parents made me go get a diaper change instead...I screamed all the way in protest! Being 23 months old is so rough!


Off the the 4-H Building next and look who we found...ME! My babysitter took this picture of me "watering" the whole back yard. The photo even got a blue ribbon! She called it "Future Firefighter." Mom says her future firefighter likes to run up her water bill, but I'm not sure what the big deal is!


Cool a giant slide - so much fun! What do you mean we only get to go down once?!? I just find something fun again and you drag me away again!


Well, this is a good consolation prize, I guess. Mom let me play in this giant water sprinkler with my clothes on! It was a BLAST! I played and played and my mom is so nice, she even brought dry clothes and a towel!


We ended the day with a ride on the sky glider! I had fun pointing to all the things I could see from way up in the sky! I was even able to spot Dad on the ground before Mom did. I liked the fair, but I think I should get to plan the itinerary for the day next time we go!