Tyler: 24 Months

May 24-June 23, 2012 (23 to 24 months old)

What's new with Tyler?

• Tyler painted his very first masterpiece.  He thought that was really cool and kept saying "more colors".  We gave it to Dada for Father's Day.
• He's really mimicking us.  He repeats what we say, stands how we stand, squats when we squat and postures his arms/hands how we have ours.

• He did his first front roll on his own.
• He can now hang from a bar.

• His Mimi has truly spoiled him rotten by giving him a new car every time she sees him.  It really is so cute, he gets so excited he jumps and squeals when she walks through the door.  But now the first thing he says to her is "new car?".
• He started to show an interest in bugs.  He likes to smash or stomp on ones that crawl.
• So far no signs of the terrible twos, knock on wood!

Language:

New signs:

• Grapes
• Peach
• Potato
• Cereal
• Banana
• Colors
• Red
• Day
• Brush
• Comb
• Yes
• No
• Zebra
• Giraffe

While he has an extensive list of words he can sign, I was absolutely astounded by his sign comprehension.  One day out of the blue while eating lunch, I just started signing word after word to him, at least 100 words and mostly ones I've never seen him sign before.  To my complete shock, he knew every single one of them.  The only one I stumped him on was the one I signed incorrectly.

Funny pronunciations:

• Foe-lear-lear (4-wheeler)
• Car-bozzies (kraut and kielbasa)
• Pee-leo (pillow)

Things Tyler says:

• He started calling me Mommy.  He melts my heart!
• He loves it when I'm looking for something, he says "Ty Ty shoes, where are you?", "Wipes, where are you?".  Then he follows it up with "there it is!" when we find them.
• I've been trying to get him to say please when he asks for my iphone.  I say, "can you ask nicely?" and he responds with "nicely phone?".
• He's obsessed with the UPS truck.  Every time it arrives, he races to the window while yelling "ups, ups!!!" as in the direction up.  After I bring the box in, he always says "beeeg box, beeeg box!".  One morning I walked out and found him up and playing.  I said "well look who's up!".  He got super excited, ran to the door while yelling "ups!  ups!  ups!  beeeeeg box, beeeeeg box!".  He thought UPS was here!  I now have to be careful using the word "up".
• He really bosses us around all the time.  "Mama sit", "Mama stand", "Mama walk".
• When I yawn, he says "Mama tired".
• He started saying "one more time" when I inform him we're all done.
• He's pulling the distraction technique on me!  I'll say something like "Tyler, eat your carrots" and he'll respond with "Play cars?  Puzzle?  Milk?  Cheese?  Outside?" to avoid doing what I asked of him.
• He says the most random things the second he wakes up, "bean soup!", "fork, poon", "cars!".
• Every time we grunt while picking him up, he says "sooooo big!".

Most used sentences:

• Yeah, I did it!
• Are you ready?
• Mark, set, go!
• Bye bye [insert name]
• Night Night [insert name]
• Where are you?  There you are! or There it is!
• I got it!

Alphabet:

He's starting to recite the alphabet.  So far he's got A-E down and then the rest is just random.

Counting:

He can count 1-10 and then skips to 14.  He doesn't quite get the concept of counting yet.  When counting things, he counts items multiple times and always counts way more items than are actually there.

Singing:

He started singing.  He started off with ya ya ya ya ya yaaaaaaa and now it is la la la laaaaaaaaa.  He does laaaaaaaaaa's in different octaves to Kerry's pitch pipe.  So cute!

Chatterbox:

OMG this kid is a chatterbox.  He talks and talks and talks.  We had our first not so fun experience where we needed him to be quiet and he just didn't understand that.  We took him to the planetarium at the science museum as he loves the moon and stars.  They had tranquil music playing and it was so relaxing, for a short time.  Then it started, "MOON!!!!", "STARS!!!!" Tyler exclaimed very loudly.  I think we spent the entire time saying "shhhhh".  He would say back "SHHHHHHHH, LIGHTS!!!!!, SHHHHHHH STARS!!!!".  We ended up having to take turns watching while the other stood outside the doors with him.  He was so adorable but just at the wrong time.

Sleep:

We've started letting him sleep on the couch in his bedroom on occasions where picking him up to put him in his crib would wake him up.  I thought for sure it would be a disaster.  Surprisingly he did really well.  When he wakes up, he just sits there and calls for mama.  Maybe the transition to a toddler bed won't be so bad.  No intentions of moving to that until he can climb out of his crib, but nice to know that it may not be as daunting as I once thought.

Teeth / Bedtime:

After trying everything, I found a solution, maybe not the best one, but a very effective one.  While we had made some progress, brushing his teeth was still a battle we dreaded every night.  Our conversations towards bed time started sounding like "hey, if you'll brush his teeth, I'll mop the kitchen floor".

So we resorted to the iPhone.  He sits on the counter and plays his educational apps while we brush.  Every time he doesn't open his mouth, we take the phone away.  It wasn't long at all before it became a breeze to brush his teeth.  Now each night, we hand him the phone and he walks straight to the bathroom and we're done in 2 mins.

Afterwards, I carry him to his bedroom, with phone still in his hands, lay him on the changing pad, change his diaper and put on his pjs.  He then hands me the phone on his own and we read him 3 books.  He then asks for milk and then says night night and reaches for his crib.  Piece of cake!

Thank you iPhone!

Pumping:

I cannot believe I had to type that word again.  Tyler got an ear infection and cried for 3 days straight.  It was a heart breaking 3 days where he sobbed crocodile tears while begging for milk.  It must have hurt too bad to nurse because he would immediately pull off and cry.

In the middle of the night on day 2, he was begging for milk.  He would not, could not nurse.  I became painfully engorged and had to dig my pump out of storage and dust it off.  I told Tyler to wait in his room and that I would be back with some milk.  A few mins into pumping, he opened the door to the bathroom and oh the horror on his face!  There I sat on the toilet, a pump on each breast and a machine making obnoxious rhythmic sounds.  He burst into tears, ran out and slammed the door.  It was as if he caught his milk having an affair with the pump.

It was so strange to be pumping again.  It felt so unnatural and I was really sore afterwards.  I now believe all those issues of severe, painful blocked ducts I experienced so many times in the first year was from pumping.  I haven't had a single blocked duct since I stopped.

I tried to offer Tyler the milk through a cup and straw and he wouldn't have anything to do with it.  I don't think he could make the connection that it was the same thing.  That was an exhausting, heart wrenching 3 days and I'm so glad it's over with.

Tyler-isms:

• Every time he falls, even if it's a very minor tip over onto the carpet, he says "bandaid, bandaid!".  I'll put a bandaid on his knee and he will admire it all day.  This kiddo loves bandaids!
• We went to Kohl's to do a little shopping and as soon as we walked through the doors he starts saying "cars, where are you?".  He now associates shopping with getting to drool over the car aisle.
• You can't peel this child from the window when the lawn guy is mowing the lawn.  He says "oh lawn mower" the same exact way I would say "oh chocolate".
• He picked his nose and then said "I got you booger!".
• Tyler's grandmother was changing his diaper and it looked like he was about to pee and so she said to him "don't you pee on me" and he said "I pee on you!".
• My mom asked me what word we were going to teach him for his private part and I said Kerry already taught him tee-tee.  My mom then asked Tyler where his tee-tee was to see if he knew.  He ripped off his diaper, lifted his shirt, pinched it and said "there it is!".  So yep, he knows where it is mom!  We laughed so hard!
• Tyler was nursing and asked for the other side.  I asked for a kiss first and he refused, so I told him no other side until I get a kiss.  He then kissed me and said "now other side?". 

This month in photos:

Tyler and Gma

Generation iPhone

This month in video:

Video:  Tyler counts to 10

Video:  Counting Blooper!

(I handed the camcorder to Kerry, asked him to record Tyler counting and specifically requested that I not be in the video as I looked horrible.  He counted perfectly.  I watched it and was mortified that I was in the entire video.  I made him redo it without me in it (yes, he still got me in it!) and this was the result...)

Video:  Rebels on the playground

(The sign at the ends says no adults please)