18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months

I'm a few days behind on the 18th post, but the weather has been so gorgeous the past few days that I've been enjoying playing with my 18-month-old and not so focused on blogging about him.  (That, and our quarter ends this Friday, so this teacher mama has had other priorities)

It's been fun documenting just a taste of what life is like around here with our spunky, "funny" (that's what daycare called him yesterday), brilliant little boy.  There's so much more, but even as I did the 18 days, some of the things I posted about changed.  New favorite songs.  Surprising us by singing those songs (rather than asking us to sing them).  New quirks that make him so special (and odd).

It's been hard keeping up with this one, figuratively and literally!

Thanks for reading, folks!

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Equal Opportunist

Cheating and posting two of the 18 days on the same day

Tyler has a quirky habit that I find adorable -- if I request a hug, he'll give me one (and make hugging grunting noises, hilarious!)... then, he'll find Jason and say "Daddy, huuh!" and give Jason a hug.  Then, he'll hold his arms against his body and say "Ty Ty [that's what he calls himself] huuh!"

Yes, my child is an equal opportunist.

It's not just hugs, either.  Kiss Mama's cheek, kiss Daddy's cheek, then puts his hand over his mouth and makes kiss noises for the self-kiss.  Give Daddy fives, Mama fives, then clap his hands (which I've never thought of, but is basically giving yourself fives).

I think it's sweet that he wants to equally share his love.  He'll do it with other family members, too.  Last time we saw the Selfs, EVERYBODY got a hug whenever anyone asked for one.

Some of it is also him learning about the world.  When we're trying to convince him to eat something, (sidenote, accidentally typed "someone" instead of "something" at first.  That would have been bad!) we point out to him that Mama is eating it and Daddy is eating it.  When we're trying to get him to put on his shoes (or hat or coat), we show him that we have our shoes on as well, and that they're needed to go outside.


The other day, I took out my contacts and put on my glasses.  Tyler started whining a bit.  I asked him what was wrong, and he said "Daddy glasses.  Mama glasses.  Ty Ty glasses."  He was sad that Jason and I had glasses, but he didn't!  He also noticed about our watches ("clock tick tock tick tock").  So, um, I made him a watch.

Sometimes this quirk takes an odd turn.  When it's time for bed and we're all standing together saying goodnight, he'll tug on Jason's ears, then mine, then his own... and Jason's hair, my hair, Tyler's hair... and our eyes (your toddler poking you in the eye while you're holding him and don't have use of your hands.  Precious memories)... and our noses.  You get the idea.  He keeps going and going!  Maybe we have a future geneticist in our midst?

Or a nut job.  Time will tell.

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Language

I am astounded by Tyler's language skills.  While we still have a lot of "only Mom and Dad know what he's saying right now" moments (and a lot of "not even Mom or Dad know what he's saying right now!" moments), I'm super impressed with what words he knows.

Back in January, to keep myself from going stir-crazy while administering state exams, I tried to write down all the words that Tyler knows (uses on a regular basis without us having to ask "Can you say [blank]?").  I stopped when I reached 100.  100 words!  Well, that was a month ago.  If I tried to make that list now, it would be well over 200.  That kid is a word machine!

I wonder just how much he has retained that we haven't tapped into yet.  Other than Stompy the Bear, Tyler's favorite Caspar Babypants song is Bad Blue Jay (lame video, but great song).  In the song, there are responses.  A few days ago, Jason sang the song to Tyler (instead of listening to it), and TYLER KNOWS ALL THE RESPONSES.  No, he can't quite manage "no, you can't grow corn" (though he does mumble several words, so I think he thinks he's saying it), but in response to "Do you make a lot of noise," he proudly says "chainsaw!"  "What will it take?" "birthday cake!"  I just... that kid astounds me.

He's gotten really good with books, too.  He can "read" the last words of each rhyming line in his rhyming books, particularly One Fish, Two Fish and Goodnight Moon (Every little kid book should rhyme.  Just saying).  He loves his word books, and can tell you nearly every thing in some (including one from my childhood that has things like "candle" and "stamp" in it, things he doesn't know from real-life experience.

I promise I'll try to capture some of these things on video.  It's just hard because (in true kid fashion), he clams up around a video camera, or tries to grab it and play with it.

He regularly communicates with us.  Jason went to get him from bed a few days ago, and Tyler had pulled back the curtains.  When Jason came in, Tyler said "cars!"  I guess he had been car-watching out the window!  He tells us what he wants to do (usually involves "tv" *sigh*).  He calls his friends by name (Elmo, Gordy, Howdy, Di Di).  Oh, you thought I meant people?  Well, he calls his friends at school by name, too.  When he leaves, he turns, flails his arms, and says "Bye bye, Davis!  Bye bye, Rachel!  Bye bye, Chloe!" and on and on.

He's also to that "listening to your conversation" stage of development.  Just a few nights ago, Jason and I were having a conversation about the mail during dinner.  Tyler stopped eating and yelled "mail!"  This isn't bad, except he's always listening.  I told Jason to watch Tyler while I went to pee.  Tyler said "Mama pee!"  Hmm, another gonna-be-fun-around-company moment for the Selfs!

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Bath Time

A rundown of bath time:

After dinner, Jason asks Tyler what time it is.  Tyler says "bath time!"  Then, he rushes into the living room, picks up Elmo and Gordy (his stuffed giraffe), and we all excitedly go upstairs.  Tyler and I go in his room and get him ready.  Jason goes and prepares the bath.

Tyler loves bath time!  He loves splashing, playing with his toys, eating bubbles... yeah, it's gross, I discouraged it, but Tyler loved when Jason would say "ewwwww!"  So he picks up a handful of bubbles, does this weird little giggle, and slooooowly brings his hand towards his mouth.  I finally had to put a stop to it, and Tyler decided to come up with another fun bath time activity -- drinking his bath water from his bath toys (eww eww eww eww!).  Nope nope nope!

Um, so Tyler's toy privileges have been temporarily revoked.  We're back to old school -- splashing and playing with his bubble bath bottle.  Yes, he loves his Elmo bubble bath.  He'll make the bottle dance around the tub while Jason or I sing the "La la la la" Elmo song.  Jason took this picture months ago (it also features an awesome hairstyle).

After bath time comes Tyler's two favorite parts.  One, he LOVES his dinosaur hooded towel.  After we wrap him up in it, he insists on seeing himself in the mirror and roaring.  Sometimes, it's a family affair:

... I'm starting to suspect we're a bit weird.

He also loves to have his teeth brushed.  Hmm, let me clarify.  He loves playing with the tube of Elmo toothpaste (Tyler's bath time is brought to you by the letters P B S).  He loves the taste of his toothpaste.  He DOES NOT actually like having his teeth or tongue brushed.  He just clamps down on the brush and tries to suck all the toothpaste off.  *sigh*  Sometimes having a good eater is not a good thing.

So that's bath time around here.  A family event full of bubbles, unhygienic habits, dinosaurs, and Elmo. 

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Little Explorer

Tyler is interested in EVERYTHING (except things you want to notice... like a squirrel on our deck, or snow, or that thing he's about to run into!).  I took these photos the other day during the snow/ice days in the span of about two minutes:

rocking on his Chris-moose

checking out the bookcase

reading Mama's Crappy Pictures book

He loves my Harry Potter collection, which is in a commemorative trunk that he opens and closes

checking out what's under the stool

going at it from another angle

and turning the light off and on (only switch he can reach on his own)

Never a dull moment with this guy!

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Mostly Wordless Wednesday

We were doing everything we could to stay warm during the snow/ice days.  He stayed in his elephant pjs all day, but I was worried that wouldn't be warm enough, so I got a one-size-up shirt for him to wear on top.  Stealing Mama's hat?  That was all him.

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- the "Mel" and other Tasks

No pictures today, just words...

Tyler LOVES getting the mail (or "mel" as we call it... yes, we're screwing up our kid).  Now, any day that's decent weather, I wait until he gets home to go out and get the mail from the mailbox.  He eagerly waits at the front door, turning the handle, trying to get the party started.  (Note to self: KEEP FRONT DOOR LOCKED AT ALL TIMES!).  I help him down the front stairs, and then he runs down the sidewalk and driveway (with me right there beside him... mom, don't send me emails about my kid running into the street).

At the mailbox, he eagerly bounces up and down, saying "Up, up!" until I pick him up and he opens the mailbox door.  The result?  Either "Yay mel!" or "Nooo mel!" (both results met with excitement).  If there's mail, he'll gladly hold onto it and proudly bring it back to the front door to show Daddy.

He's very proud of the mail, until he sees a nut.  Or a stick.  Or a leaf.  Then, he drops the mail, leaving his assistant to pick it up and bring it to the house.  Eh, we're working on it.

There are a few other tasks that Tyler meets with enthusiasm.

1. Clean up -- when he's done with a toy and wants to move onto something else, he can (usually) be convinced to clean up first.  He particularly likes putting his Legos back in their bag.  Thank goodness, since no one enjoys stepping on Legos!
2. "Can you bring Daddy the [blank]?" -- He's gotten REALLY AWESOME at bringing us items.  This is helpful for lazy parenting (bring me the thing you're not supposed to be playing with), as well as "I can't play with you right now, but I'm going to distract you from that fact by asking you to take something to Daddy, which seems like a game to you."  Just being honest here, folks.
3. Laundry -- he's obsessed with the laundry room (probably because it's off-limits 95% of the time), so he sometimes helps me transfer socks from the washer to the dryer or helps me bring clean clothes into the living room to fold.
4. Turning lights off or on -- As a kid, I was absolutely horrible about turning lights off once I left a room.  "Who's in the bathroom?" would be yelled through the house.  "No one!"  "Then why are the lights on?"  When we're done with bath time or we're done playing upstairs, we make sure all the lights are turned off.  Tyler loves light switches (learning that whole cause and effect thing), so he likes the responsibility of making sure the lights are off when we're done.

Such a good helper!

18 Days to Celebrate 18 Months -- Expressions

Want to make my little guy smile and laugh?  Tell him you're sad, and make a sad face.






Yeah, you read that correctly.  He thinks sad faces are hilarious.  If I say something makes me sad, he'll say "Mama sad" and laughs when I make a sad face.  This does not bode well for future interactions with his peers.

One of his favorite books (he has about 100 favorite books, or it feels that way at least) is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (a personal fave of mine as well).  He loves this page:

In case you can't read it on your screen, it says "Some are sad.  And some are glad.  And some are very, very bad."  He turns to me when I'm reading this and enjoys each of my expressions.


He not only enjoys expressions, he's quite the expressive guy himself.  Here, I asked him to "smile."

Hmm, gonna have to work on the smile.  At least he's got "show me your tongue" downpat.

My little guy -- so expressive.  Where does it come from?

Oh yeah, he gets it from his daddy!  Seriously, I took these two shots within about 10 seconds of each other.  They couldn't see each other, but they were making nearly the same face! 

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Precious Prayers

Keeping this one short and to the point (yes, I am capable of that once in a while!)


Tyler's always been a big fan of praying because it usually means he's about to eat.  Back in November, he started saying "Amen," so we started letting him finish the prayers.  Now, he's a regular contributor to our blessing:

Heavenly Father, thank You for this ["day!"].  Thank you for ["Mama"] and ["Daddy"] and ["Ty Ty"].  Thank you for this ["fooooooo"].  Let it be used for the nourishment of our ["body"] and us to Your service.  In Jesus' name, ["Amen!"].

At night, when I put him to bed, I used to sing to him.  That was, until I started praying over him.  Now, Jason turns off the light, Tyler asks to be put in his bed, and to pray.  When I finish praying, he asks for more prayer, but I say that we're done with prayers for the night, and he says "All done, pray."  Melts my heart!

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- TV

I must confess, my kid watches a lot of tv.  When he gets home from school, he immediately rushes over to the remotes and asks for "TV!!!!"  We don't let him watch then, but he does get to watch later in the evening when I start preparing dinner.

He still watches Dora, Peppa Pig and Bubble Guppies, but also loves Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Mike the Knight.  He picks what he wants to watch.  He names the characters both while he's watching and when he's in the car (especially when we're trying to keep him awake and/or keep him from fussing).

Jason asked Tyler the other day who his favorite Paw Patrol character was.  He said "Ruhrull" (Tyler-speak for Rubble).  Jason asked him what color Rubble was, and Tyler immediately said "Yewwoh."  Then, he proceeded to tell Jason all the other characters and colors (though he said the pink dog Skye was purple).  Seriously, son, you continue to amaze us (and worry us that you're watching too much tv!).

He sits in his little chair and watches quietly or plays while watching.  And holds onto his hairbrush.  You know, normal things. :)

...orrr he awkwardly stands in a trance while watching 

He's not always a zombie.  He does stand up and dance during Mickey Mouse's Hot Dog Dance.  He claps along to Dora's "Come on, Vamanos" song and helps her and Boots out whenever they need it.  When an episode ends, he requests another show, then gets SUPER excited when it comes on (like he's honestly surprised, even though he just requested it!). 

And just as a bonus, I snapped this shot when trying to take pictures of him watching tv:

"Mom, why do you keep taking pictures of me?"

Oh, I forgot to mention, he calls any non-kid shows (aka "Mama/Daddy shows") the neeeeewwwws.  I guess we do tend to watch a lot of news around him (both in the morning before school and at dinner).  Wow, Jason and I are officially old.

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Eyes

Tyler has a book where one of the pages says "Count your eyes -- one and two.  What color are they -- brown, green, or blue?"  We've always added in: "nobody knows."  I know little kids' eyes change for a while after being born, but we honestly couldn't figure out what colors his eyes were!

Seriously, look through these pictures.  Now granted, Jason does tweak them in PhotoShop, but still!  He doesn't (purposely) change Tyler's eye color.  Tyler changes Tyler's eye color!

light blue/gray?

green?

blue-green?

Well, I *think* we have a winner -- hazel.  I think Tyler has hazel eyes.

Christmas:

Mid-February:

And end of February:

What do you think?  

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Music

Tyler (like most kids) loves music.  On our road trip to New Bern, we listened to some of his little kid music (Caspar Babypants, highly recommend) in the car.  After certain songs, he would clap his hands and say "Yay!"  If he really liked a song (like "Three Blind Mice"), he'd request it over and over and over!

Stompy the Bear:  one of his faves from the trip.  (if the video doesn't load, you can watch it here).

One of his favorite car games is when we whistle or hum a song and he names the tune.  I know very little about what kids his age can/cannot do, but he can seriously name a least a dozen songs, sometimes after just a few hummed notes!

He participates in "If You're Happy and You Know It," clapping, stomping, and yelling "Amen!"  During diaper changes, he requests "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and has gotten pretty good at the hand motions.  He contributes to the lyrics of "You are my Sunshine," "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "Jingle Bells" (just the "hey!" part), "Munuh muh nuh" song, "Jesus Loves Me," and "Old McDonald."

His two favorite songs (right now, changes regularly) are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "The Wheels on the Bus."  During Baa Baa, he will throw down whatever he is playing with, stand up, and do this crazy bee-bopping dance (best way I can describe it).  Now that I think about it, he does the same thing (except with a foot-stomping dance) with "BINGO."  Maybe it's something they do during music time at school?

He loves "Wheels on the Bus" so much that we've had to come up with extra verses.  Now, you may know that the wheels go round-and-round, and that the people go up-and-down.  You may know that that babies go "Wah wah wah" and the Mamas go "Shh shh shh."  But did you know that the Daddies go "Heh heh heh"?  Did you know that there were monkeys on the bus?  Or peacocks?  (Tyler does a pretty mean peacock impression).  Well, on Tyler's bus, there are.

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Snow

We somehow survived two weeks of snow-induced cabin fever this February.  This was not Tyler's first (or second, or third) snow.  Here are some pictures of Tyler from last year's snow:

He tolerated it, but was not really keen about the white stuff.  I mean, I don't blame him.  It was cold, he couldn't really sit up yet (let alone walk around in it!), and his parents kept plopping him down in it.  I'd be a bit perturbed, too.

Well, a year later, and those 365 days made ... no real difference!  He went out on the 24th (our first real snow), and tolerated it, but wasn't particularly intrigued.  Definitely worth it, though, because Jason got some really great pictures.

Note the big smile on his face *sigh*

I have so many favorite pictures of Tyler, but this is definitely in the running.  It's actually the background on my phone right now.

Our outing in the second snow (the 6-ish inches or so that we got on the 26th) was not as successful.  Tyler didn't like how deep it was and refused to walk around in it.  He insisted on being carried (we'd set him down, and he'd just say, "Mama, up!  Mama, up!").  He also refused to play with it, slide down his slide (which he had happily done on his snow-covered slide two days earlier), or really do anything else.  Who knows, maybe he was just in a foul mood because he couldn't go to school... again... and Mama and Daddy wouldn't let him watch Dora because the "power" was out (whatever that meant) and he was starting to hate the snow.

Jason had his camera again, but I (not-so-politely) requested that he not take pictures since Tyler and I (who was getting crankier by the minute) were not in the mood.

Good thing we had that first snow!

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Personality

Personality -- this guy has got it in spades.  The difficult part is getting him to be still enough to capture it!  By the way, all of these photos were with absolutely no prompting, just hanging out while Daddy took some photos around Tryon Palace.

Then, Daddy came over and joined the fun (so these photos are Jason's)

He just has THE BEST personality.  He's a hoot!  One of the toughest decisions each day is when to reach for the camera (or iPhone) and when to just savor the moment as a family.  A struggle I'm sure most parents face.

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Food

Tyler has always been a great eater -- from birth, really!  Much to my dismay, he was constantly hungry when I was nursing.  I was eager for him to switch over to solid food, and so was he!  Our first attempt at solid food (that cereal/oatmeal mush stuff) was a huge success.

Most new foods are met with a moment of hesitation, then are quickly devoured!  Here, an iPhone pic of him eating shrimp and grits and fried okra

Finger-eating good!

He likes to know what he's eating, so I point out the different foods when I give them to him.  He's learned in the past few months that he's more likely to get what he wants if he says "more crackers" rather than vaguely saying "more."  Smart boy.

A few weeks ago, Jason asked Tyler what he had eaten for lunch at school.  Tyler emphatically said "Pizza!"  Jason told me about this, and I checked the menu.  He had not had pizza.  Jason asked him the next day, and Tyler replied "pizza!"  I think he's trying to tell us something.  Yesterday when I was writing this, Jason and Tyler were in the living room yelling "pizza!" back and forth to each other.  Apparently it's hilarious.

Not pizza, but he sure did enjoy spaghetti:

I just bought him his first forks.  He's actually done pretty well with them, only trying to stab himself in the head once so far.  He's also WAY into dipping.  His favorite is ketchup, though he also likes mustard, bbq sauce, garlic butter, and hummus.  If he gets to dip, he's happy.

trying out the fork (that's scrambled eggs and grape jelly "dip" for a biscuit, in case you were wondering)

already a pro

...though sometimes the fork takes too much effort

We're pretty hardcore snackers around here.  A long time ago, I implemented the snack blanket, a blanket solely devoted to snack time (and keeping some of the crumbs from getting ground into our rug).  It works pretty well, especially when combined with Dora or Paw Patrol.  This picture was from back in December.

Yes, I occasionally snack with him

The other day, Tyler was walking around chewing on his hand.  I asked him if he was hungry.  He yelled "snack!" and ran for his snack blanket.  It's so great to have a kid that is learning to communicate!

mesmerized while watching tv

18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- Colors

Tyler is really into colors right now.  He knows his 6 basic colors, as well as white and gray.  He can also occasionally identify brown, black, and pink.  When we started talking about colors (which really started when he got his ball pit/tent for Christmas), it was neat to see him realize that those colors were all around him.  Not to get all meta or anything, but it was like watching his eyes open to the wonders of the world for the first time.  Ok, I admit, that was a little meta.

It's a perfect distraction when he's doing something we don't want him to or is starting to get fussy out in public.

T whining
Me: "Tyler, what color is that sign?"
T: "Geen!"
Me: "What color is that shirt?"
T: "Pupple!"
T (pointing to things all around): "Whiy!"  "Yewwow!"  "Reh!"

Aaaand, scene.  Works (nearly) all the time.

He's getting better about pairing colors with nouns ("blue horse," "green ball," etc.).  (In case you're wondering, "blue horse" is a real phrase from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?)  He's getting particularly good with his guys he got for Christmas.  These:

picture (and guys) courtesy of IKEA

The other day, he was missing his "yellow guy," so we walked around looking for his "yellow guy."  It's so nice when he can tell me what he's looking for!  He calls them all by their color: yellow guy, red guy, black guy... Hmm, I foresee potentially awkward moments around guests in our future.


Tyler also got paints for Christmas.  He really likes playing with them, but more for the fun of twisting the paint caps off and on rather than actually painting.

   

One more color-related tidbit.  He walks around repeatedly muttering "Yellow, red, blue.  Yellow, red, blue.  Yellow, red, blue."  Not sure what that's about...  Lil weirdo.  :)