The Power of Outside Play on a Warm Weather Winter Day

With 70 degrees predicted for the high today, I decided to get my rambunctious 2-year-old OUTSIDE to play. I set up a water tub and a sand tub in our garage (it was still pretty windy outside) with lots of toys. I put him in play clothes that could get dirty, and then I sat back with my camera to capture the messy fun that 2-year-old boys enjoy so much!

Sand in the garage only intrigued him for so long...then the melted snow puddle in front of our garage beckoned him. He tried floating a boat like Curious George does in the morning cartoons he watches.

Then he spent a LOT of time in the warm sunshine
finding rocks to throw into the puddle.

I figured this would happen eventually - he did really well most of the morning walking around the puddle, but he couldn't resist anymore.
He told me he was a frog.

I tried to get him to smile for the camera, but he said he was too busy playing. "It be fun, mom!" he told me. He might have tried to stay out there all day, but the last of the snow along the fence caught his attention and he tried walking (sinking) through it against my wishes. He eventually lost a shoe in the snow and sat down crying in defeat.
He was ready to go inside for a bath and lunch...so was I!

It is hard to tell from this photo, but he has mud splashed all the way onto his face and hair! He was soaked to his knees.

Playing in the Park

I had lunch plans with a friend on Wednesday, so Adam kindly took time off work to play with Tyler while I was gone for a couple of hours. The weather was nice and the snow at the park is finally melting, so they took a wagon ride to go play outside. Tyler really enjoyed it and thankfully it wore him out enough that he took an afternoon nap for the first time in 3 days!

Valentine's Day 2011

On Valentine's Day I made Tyler a special valentine breakfast, but I think the novelty of the special treat was lost on my 2-year old son...
Here is the BEFORE shot - he seems excited enough

But as soon as I turned my back...

He poured the juice over his crumbled chocolate chip heart pancakes and smeared his yogurt over the rest of the tray. I never found any evidence that he actually ate any of my/his creation.
Here is the AFTER shot.

He further showed his love for me by refusing to take an afternoon nap
on Valentine's Day (meaning Mom didn't get one either).
So, we made cookies instead. Chocolate chip oatmeal.
He got to lick the beater after we were done with the mixer.

Success!

ISU Women's Basketball Game

Tyler recently went on a parent-supervised date night with his friend Julianna. Well, so it was actually a Basketball game & dinner out afterward with our friends from church (the Lutz family), but Tyler sure was excited to see his friend!

He held her hand all the way up to our seats.

Julianna is a member of the Cy's kids club, so she got a birthday
cupcake at the game and was able to invite a friend to enjoy one too!

The enjoyed sitting by each other,
cheering on the team, and watching for Cy

The dad's & the kids

Proof I really was there

Keeping Up...

So, I have failed at my attempt to try and update the blog on a weekly basis. After the craziness of the Christmas holidays, it has just been pretty quiet around here with nothing new to really report on - nothing exciting that is.

Tyler is definitely acting more like a 2-year old these days and has made life a bit more challenging. He has a mind of his own, a time frame on when to do things that is all his own, and a strong will of his own! He has decided that naps are not really necessary unless he can fall asleep at 4:30pm and wake up at 6:00pm and then stay up until 10:00 at night. Even if we read a ton of books, rock, sing, lay down with him, etc. starting at 1:00pm - he still won't sleep until around 4! He has found all sorts of onery things to do in his room while avoiding nap time too, like pull all the sheets off his bed, pull stickers off the wall, move all the books & bears around, jump on and off the bed repeatedly, find the chapstick and smear it all over himself and the bed then stick the empty container under the door as proof of what he has been up to!

Besides nap time conflicts, we have also been attempting to potty train again. We finally found a type of pull-up that he will allow us to dress him in. Stickers have been a huge hit over M&Ms for progress here, but heaven help you if you ask him to try and go potty while he is in the middle of watching Curious George!!

On the bright side, he has really enjoyed going to the Y with us in the mornings, going to the Library to put puzzles together, and playing in the snow when it has been warm enough. The new phrases he says on a daily basis blow us away. For instance, he loves to hear noises in the house and then say "what's that sound?" The other day he thought he heard a noise and informed us that it was someone knocking on the door, that it was a someone to come and play with him and we had to let them in. He wasn't happy until we checked both doors that there was really no one there. At church on Tuesday to run an errand he walked in and said "where is everybody at, they are all gone." clear as day. He used to say "I wanna go play in the snow" but now he adds that "it's FUN!"

Here are a few more of his recent "fun in the snow" photos.
Adam built him the tunnel to crawl through in our front yard:

This is an attempt to get a grandchild photo for my Mom's Valentine's Day cards.
At least the dog was looking at the camera! :)

I have found a new group that just started again in Boone - MOPS, Mother's of Preschoolers. It is a great christian group of mom's who meet twice a month. I am looking forward to more Mom time to commiserate about nap times, and potty training, and tantrums, and pregnancy aches & pains! I know I have nothing to complain about really, I only have one kid so far and I really do love him, but between the toddler tantrums and the baby kicking - I feel pretty beat up some days! ;) Maybe I am just REALLY ready for SPRING!