Photo Friday

Mommy Says:

Daddy's little helper. If helping means getting into everything and touching wet paint.

Talking The Talk

Mommy Says:

I think I underestimated the power that communication gave to Tyson. I only saw how ridiculously cute he was when he started responding to our questions. Do you want milk? He runs to the fridge saying, "Ba!" Cute. Do you want to go night night? He goes to the stairs and starts waving, "nigh-nigh!" Ah-freaking-dorable. Bring me a diaper? He does. Cute and useful. Bring me a beer? Well....we're working on that.

While communicating and understanding seems to have it's perks (see above about the beer) I've now discovered the apparent downfalls that accompany it.

Last week, while Daddy was reading Tyson a book and talking about animal sounds he asked Tyson, "What does Mommy say?" His response-after some serious thought-was "No, no, no, no, no, no, NO,NO, NO!"

And, while I was happy that he didn't respond with "MOO!" or "Oink!" I was rather disappointed to know that he remembers me as the "No-No" parent. And tells other people about it.

Soon he'll be telling Daddy about how I sometimes swear at other drivers even though I tell him not to. Or he'll mention to Daddy how much I really spend at Target each week. Or how he'll tell daycare how we're teaching him to bring us beers...

Photo Friday

Mommy Says:

Caught in the act.....what the picture doesn't accurately depict is the 40 plus raisins he has stuffed in his chipmunk cheeks.

Does Anyone Know of a Book About a Vacuum?

Mommy Says:

I too have an obsession. It's not as deep rooted or as odd as Daddy's love for vacuums, but it's an obsession nonetheless. I love to read. I'm pretty sure I can trace the root of this obsession to my awkwardly shy pre-teen years and a certain Babysitters Club series, but that's neither here nor there. Now? Give me anything from a smut magazine to the most recent best seller and I'll devour it like a pregnant woman eats a Twinkie. Or pickles.


I thought it would be awesome to pass along my obsession to Tyson early in life. You know-before he reaches those awkwardly shy pre-teen years cause I totally don't know what the male version of the Babysitters Club is.

So I read to him. Lots. I read my books out loud to him while I was pregnant so he could get used to my voice. When I was breastfeeding, I'd pick up the nearest magazine and read aloud to keep us both awake. I've read books to him while we were rocking and while he laid in his swing. I've read to him on his playmat and in his room. I've read to him while he rolled away from me and then ran away from me. I've read and I've read and I've read. And then I read a little bit more.


Just when I thought that my neurotic attempts at pushing books on my kid was in vain, Tyson brought me a book and signed more please. And then he brought me another book and then another. These days we honestly don't do much else around here BUT read. Book after book, more please after more please. Hour after hour of reading! My mission? It's accomplished-this kid is a total book worm.

Now if we could only find a good book or two about vacuums we'd all be happy.

Photo Friday

Mommy Says:

He's not a Mommy's boy or a Daddy's boy...he's a Lala's boy.

Photo Friday-Inaugural Edition

Mommy Says:

Not one to pass up the opportunity to whore out pictures of our kid, I've decided to start a weekly entry where I post an adorably cute picture of Tyson each and every Friday. You're welcome.

Ridiculous, huh? Obviously the inaugural entry needed to be super special. Mr. Potato Head teeth and cute onesie courtesy of his Auntie Katie and Uncle Ryan.

Get In My Belly!

Mommy Says:

I know I may have mentioned it a time or two before, but our kid? He likes to eat. A lot. He's not picky either. Brussel sprouts, onions, avocado, shrimp, asparagus-he's had it all. In fact, he's shoved nearly all of it down his throat in remarkably fast fashion. There is not a food he's met that he doesn't like.

There are certain foods, however, that he likes waaay better than others. These foods get a much louder, "MMMM!" out of him than the others. They leave him messier and they have him asking "more please" with a look that reads, "I might hurt you if you don't give me another bite RIGHT NOW!"

Smoothies are one of these foods.

A few months ago, Jamba Juice offered us coupons to try out their new Jamba Juice Frozen Smoothie Kits and review it on the blog. Not one to pass up free food (especially when I'm feeding a toddler who eats like a teenager) I quickly took them up on the deal.

I found the smoothies in the frozen food section at our local Target. Each bag contained frozen fruit, non-fat yogurt, and an antioxidant boost-we just needed to add fruit juice or milk to get two 8 ounce servings.

We tried both the Razzmatazz and Strawberries Wild flavors. True to form, Tyson wasn't biased. He LOVED both flavors Also, true to form, his take charge eating technique:

Seriously lady. I asked for more. I said please. If you're not going to help me, I'll help myself.

Our family review? Two Thumbs up. Tyson and Daddy loved them and couldn't get them in their mouths fast enough. I loved the fact that they were really easy and healthy (hello, 100% daily value of Vitamin C.) Next time, we'll probably try them in sippy cups to avoid the inevitable mid-day bath that follows a really good snack.

14 Month Letter

Mommy Says:

Dear Tyson,

Today you turned 14 months old. If I manage to erase the 6 hours we spent together on the plane to and from Florida, this month was easily my most favorite month so far. If I can't manage to erase those 6 hours from my memory, then this month will go down as the worst ever. Just sayin.

Sometime between December 5th and January 5th you have learned to communicate and that has made our life together that much easier and more enjoyable. Last month you were all "MAMA (oddly said in a French accent) babble babble babble BALL babble babble DADA babble." You talked, but you didn't talk at appropriate times. You said "Dada" when you were eating and "Bath" all the time. Maybe it's because Daddy likes to eat and you like baths all the time. Who knows.

This month it seems as if you get nearly everything we're saying to you and you know the appropriate response back to us. Your new favorite word is no. It's usually said while shaking your head. At first it was so adorable. Now I'm beginning to question it. When you look at things you can't touch and shake your head while saying, "No" it's cute. When you yell, "NO!" to us when we're trying to give you more food or change your diaper it's not so cute.

You learned how to say dog and duck. Every duck, bird, goose and chicken is a duck. Every dog is a dog. Even Lola. Remember when you used to call her "Lala?" That was cute. You can go back to calling her that instead of "dog" now. She responds better to her name than to "dog."

When we ask you if you want "Num-nums" you go right to your high chair. Actually, you run to your chair yelling "Num-num, Num-num, Num-num." You do still love your food. I'm still looking into how I can subsidize the cost of feeding you as you get older.

When we say "Let's change your diaper" you bring us the diaper.

When we ask if you want to go "Night-Night" you head for the stairs.

You love to tell us "on" when you want the light on and "off" when you want it off.

Luckily, you still say "Mama" with a British accent cause that is just so freaking cute.

You politely ask "up" when you want to be picked up. If we don't pick you up promptly, you scream "UP!" at us like a deranged one year old who needs to be picked up right now. Can't you hear me you idiots? I said "UP!"

Your sign language vocabulary consists of "more please" and "all done." You totally abuse the "more please" sign. You know that patting your fingers together is pretty much guaranteed to get you anything you want so you use it to your advantage at every waking moment. We're working on "thank you" for the next sign. For some reason, I don't think you'll learn it as quickly as you did "more please."

I know I'm your Mommy and I'm biased, but you're a pretty smart 14 month old. I'd go so far as to call you a genius, but I don't want to lose the one reader of the blog that we have.

I love you buddy, happy 14 months!

Love,

Mama (please read aloud with a British accent)

Also...Daddy and Tyson are Crazy

Mommy Says:

Seriously...don't they know birds can peck your eyes out?

I'm Dreaming of a Warm Christmas

Mommy Says:

We were lucky enough to celebrate the holidays in Florida this year. I was overjoyed with the thought of saying goodbye to the white stuff and work for a few weeks, but I was dreading the thought of flying with a one year old. I asked parents for months before the flight for advice and they all guaranteed he'd be fine. I can't tell you the number of people who told me that they flew with their one year old and it went great. Delusionally, I thought that our trip would go off without a hitch as well.

It started off good enough.

Tyson loved watching the planes. He waved goodbye to each one and dazzled nearly everyone in the airport with his "Vroom-vroom" noises.

We boarded the plane feeling so proud of our cute little man.

But the cute little man act quickly turned into the ugly screaming baby play for the next three hours. We were lucky we got a brief intermission during Tyson's 20 minute nap. I'm certain he was just utilizing that time to rest up for his big finale. It was impressive.

Thankfully we had a full 8 days to wipe that experience from our memory before we had to board to come back home. Otherwise I'd still be in Florida.

We managed to salvage our sanity and our eardrums enough to enjoy Christmas if Florida.

We played in the sand. Tyson cried when he had to touch the sand (or strangely, the grass), so most of the sand castle building was done by Daddy and Mommy.

We saw Grandmas and Grandpas and Great Grandmas and Grandpas. Needless to say, Tyson was spoiled rotten. It's been a rough adjustment for him to realize that now that we're home there isn't someone staring at him 24/7.

We went swimming. Boy, oh boy did we go swimming. Tyson made a beeline for the "BATH!" within minutes of arriving. Despite the unseasonably cold weather, we spent a good deal of time in the "bath" each day further supporting my theory that Tyson will be the next Michael Phelps (minus the whole smoking pot scandal-of course).

On the last day, Tyson managed to forget his fear of the sand long enough for me to take this adorable picture of him walking the beach. He looks so cute that this picture made me forget my fear of getting back on the plane with him to come home.


Big mistake.