Formerly "Redefining The Birds and The Bees". They have been redefined! This is our journey through infertility including a vasectomy reversal, 4 IVFs and finally pregnancy via an FET with our last little embryo. The journey continues as we venture our way through parenthood.
Tyler's 2 year old professional photos, taken on July 16, 2012 by Jenny Lindsey Photography.
All of our previous photos shoots were challenging, it was so much work getting Tyler to look at the camera and smile. He was always into what he wanted to do and nothing else mattered. Oh the stuff we did to get him to laugh... I have a vivid memory of us jumping up and down acting like gorillas on the side of a road with cars going by.
This session was different, day and night different. Tyler was a complete ham and was basking in all the attention. He not only smiled and looked at the camera, he actually posed and worked the camera, and for the entire 2 hrs in the heat! ~ Happy parents!!!
Judging by this photo, you would think that my child was a walk in the park at his well visits. Ummm... NO!!! Prior to this he had a complete meltdown just because the nurse wanted to listen to his heart. iPhone to the rescue once again!
What's new with Tyler?
He's always making sure we do the same things. If daddy takes off his shirt after work, he says "Ty Ty, shirt off too?". If we put socks on him, he wants us to put socks on as well.
He prays before bed with the cutest prayer ever. Dear Geez-e-us, bank you for me, bank you for mama, bank you for dada, bank you for mimi, papa, gma, gpa, mom-mom-mom and mama Betty, in Geez-e-us name, AMEN!!!. Occasionally he also says he's thankful for cars and milk.
Learning Skills:
Sign:
He doesn't have the fine motor skills to be able to sign the alphabet yet, but he shocked me that he knows the entire alphabet when I sign it, even out of order.
He knows all his colors in sign.
Alphabet:
He's known the upper case letters for awhile, but now he knows all of the lower case letters as well.
He can recite the entire alphabet.
Counting:
He can count to 20. He can't say 13 yet, so he says 14 twice.
Reading:
He read his first word, stop, and not on a stop sign. He recognizes the word everywhere.
Most used sentences:
How are you?
See you later alligator.
Hi Homey!
Sleep:
Finally, at 2 yrs, he's sleeping through the night!!!! It never felt so good to get a full night's sleep. I just basically had to have anyone but me go hold him when he woke up in the middle of the night. If he couldn't have me, he didn't want anyone, so he would just point to the crib and say night night. After 2 weeks, he gave up and started sleeping through the night. < singing hallelujah! >
4th of July:
We celebrated the 4th of July with friends at an amphitheater. Savannah and Tyler had a blast dancing to the band. The band was pretty loud so many times I couldn't hear Tyler when he was trying to tell me something. After awhile he resorted to signing to me! Other than a random sign here and there, he really doesn't sign much anymore, so it was so cool to see him in action. He has quite the memory.
At dark, he experienced his first firework display. He was mesmerized by it and for weeks would say "boom boom, boom boom, see fireworks?".
Tyler-isms:
Whenever he gets hurt, or when he just wants a kiss, he points to a knee or whatever and says "kiss it!" We kiss it and then he says in the cutest toddler voice, "all better".
He says "thank you" every time he hands us something. A little backwards, but super cute.
We took Tyler to his first outdoor concert. There was a family sitting on a blanket diagonally from us who had a 6 year old playing with monster trucks. Tyler could not stop pointing and starring at those trucks, he wanted them so bad. I told him to go show the boy his toy motorcycle and see if they could play with each other's toys. He slowly walked over and showcased his motorcycle, spun the wheels and played it's revving sounds. He was really selling it! For awhile it seemed as if the boy was going to ignore Tyler, it was so heartbreaking, but Tyler kept displaying his motorcycle until the boy was intrigued. They ended up swapping toys and Tyler played with the monster trucks all night. He was quite the salesman.
One day he looked at my chest while I was getting dressed and said "Hello milk! How are you?". I laughed so hard! Speaking of milk, I finally threw out my 9 frozen bags of breastmilk I had worked so hard to collect back when Tyler was a wee little one. I was sad to throw them out, all that effort collecting when I barely had enough to feed Tyler, and I didn't even use it!
One day the nanny was changing his diaper and he pointed to his "part" and said "big tee-tee!". I about died! That same week, he told Mimi that "daddy has a big tee-tee!". I guess he's become more aware of his anatomy this week.
This month in photos:
We sadly had to say goodbye to our super nanny after a wonderful year.
Tyler giving his Tildy a hug goodbye
Bye bye Rachel
A sweet kiss goodbye
This is how I found my child! Looks like he's ready to workout to Richard Simmons!
Hanging out with his Gpa
This month in video:
Video: In the real world, the lion would eat the cow.
In Tyler's world, the lion helps himself to a drink of milk.
We were given The Book of Birthday Questions. Each birthday you video them while asking them a list of questions for that year. While I seemed to have caught him off guard by throwing so many questions at him, I can see how this will be so cool to look back on when he's older.
Please excuse the nose picking and ignore the fact that we are bribing him with Puffs.
Video: The Birthday Questions part 1
Video: The Birthday Questions part 2
(I just noticed he signs motorcycle, pillow and go)
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...)
