Tyler- 2 and a half

It's funny how when you have a new baby you feel the need to update their "progress" in life every few months and record every little detail.  Maybe it's because they change so much every day and basically go from a blob to a personality filled walking machine that first year. But I find myself feeling that way about every stage my kids have gone through so far.  I just want to bottle it up and remember everything....mostly I just want to stop time so I can really enjoy it, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.  I am starting to learn to savor little moments with my kids more lately.  Dishes can wait, laundry can wait, everything can wait really. My days are so much better when I put them first and not rush the little things like stories and bedtime. So here's what I want to remember about little Ty at 2 and a half....

Tyler is just a character. He does so many little things that make me smile.  Such a big personality comes out of such a small little guy and I just love it.  He sure does give us a run for our money though (the boy can throw a mean temper tantrum) and lives every day like the world revolves around him (but I guess is how it should be when you are 2...and yes, the world does revolve around him most of the time!) We'll see how he adjusts to becoming a middle child soon :)

He's my cuddly boy (opposite of Brayden) and always wants to snuggle in close or have me rub his back or hair.  And lately he's been full of constant "I love you's" all day long.  He'll just randomly come up and tell me and it melts my heart. If you're sitting down he will find a way right next to you or in your lap! I also love how he's got the arm rotate thing down when I rub his arm. I'll start just doing the top side and he will continually rotate it so I get all sides...it's pretty funny.

I'd have to say his favorite foods right now are pancakes, "sticks" (french toast sticks), string cheese (but you have to peel down the tops to make it look like branches), clementines, and applesauce. He eats other things too but he is the world's pickiest eater and it's a battle to get him to eat more of a variety of foods (anyone have any suggestions??) Is that normal for this age?

100% his "draw"toy, as he calls it, is his favorite right now. He takes it everywhere and even sleeps with it every night.  If he doesn't have it with him and realizes he can't find it, you would think the world was ending by his immediate freak out. We have to scramble through the whole house to try to find the darn thing.  It's funny though because he doesn't really play with the letters and stuff on top....all he does is draw on the little screen.  Lately he's all about making smiley faces and he bugs all of us to draw pictures for him on it too.  In fact Brayden often comes in our room at night when they are going to sleep complaining that Tyler keeps making him draw things for him and he can't go to sleep.

He loves nursery at church, but getting through sacrament meeting with him is a nightmare.  As soon as we walk in the door he only wants to go to nursery (can you blame him?) and freaks out when we sit in our row.  Yes, it's a fun hour!

He is really attached to his crocs. They are the only shoes he will wear.  I just got a whole bunch of Brayden's old shoes out of the storage bins and he wouldn't even let me try them on him.  "No, only these are my shoes!" He will have a hard time if we move somewhere cold!

We can get him to do almost everything by threatening the time out corner (corner by the front door).  He spends quite a bit of time there and really will stand and face the corner the whole time, which I secretly think is pretty funny. He is always quick to say sorry once he's done and does it in the sweetest little voice that you really would think he wasn't capable of doing anything wrong!

He sure misses Brayden like crazy while he is at school.  We talk about Brayden all day long and he'll come to me during the day with his little "packpack" on and tell me he needs to go to school too. So I try to get out a little workbook or something for him to color and we pretend he's at school.  Picking up Brayden is his favorite part of the day and they are inseperable all evening.

He is truly all boy and will just come up and tackle Brayden for no reason at all.  It makes me smile... Brayden not so much! He really is a tough little guy and can hold his own against his 5 year old brother!

Some of my favorite things he says right now that I can think of: "Thank you much," "Oh maaaan," "Follow me, we march...," "Yes my does" or "Yes my am," "Pwess pway" for movies, "How you know that," "'scuse me, pardon me," "I toot," "Naaah" instead of no, "duck, duck...MOOSE," "Here my come, weady or not" "That makes me mad" (followed by extreme pouting), "I weally hungwy," "You my best friend," " (I could go on and on but I'll stop there!)

He's started really using his imagination when he plays and it's hilarious to spy on him in the playroom.  I  secretly video tape him all the time when he's got the toys out and are making them talk to each other. So funny.  At the same time, it's been an adjustment for him to learn how to play all by himself now that BB is not home all day.  He asks me every day to come play with him or at least sit in the same room while he does...it's a good thing he's going to have another brother soon :)

He loves to go on walks in his little red car, color pictures, pretend he's a scary dinosaur, shark, snake, lion (doesn't matter what, it just has to be scary), carries around his thomas sheet as a blankie, climbs up high on everything, everywhere (he might be my child we take to the emergency room), shows off and tries to be silly when he knows we are watching, walks around and "tries" to make his belly big like mine by sticking it out (it's hilarious), and just wants us to do everything his way (2 year olds are bossy!).   He's a crack up!

Gosh, we just love this boy.  He's a perfect fit in our family and I'm so grateful I get to hang out and be his buddy every day.