Believe it, or not, the posts that you once read about a newborn baby boy, who warmed our lives and hearts like no other, just celebrated his THIRD birthday!!!! No words can describe how fast it has gone for us. Especially now that we have 2 young kids, life is constant chaos, and racing right before our eyes.
A NEW ATTITUDE: Say good-bye to those "Terrible Two's" and say hello to the "Troublesome Three's" Ey-yi-yi! I will say this...we never did really get a full-on dose of 'drop to the floor, kicking, screaming tantrums', BUT (and I say that ever so reluctantly) we have certainly had our fair share of attitude, temper and time-outs. I guess it's give and take. Every kid has their own "devil sitting on one shoulder" parts about them and I'd have to say the stage that tried us the most was the "NO" stage. Everything was "NO!!!". It was to the point that even if you asked Tyler if he wanted a cookie, he would yell "NO!". So glad we have way outgrown that stage. For the most part, we have gotten past most of the temper, too. There are still times that he is grumpy, but those tend to be the days that he skips the nap. As a whole, we really can't complain. He is maturing more and more daily, and as that happens, the temper is seemingly less and less.
On to bigger and much more fun topics...
POTTY TRAINING: We're just about there at being 100% potty trained. As we speak, we are on day 7 of not having any accidents. Peeing on the potty (or, preferably in the bushes for him) is not a problem at all. Pooping on the potty is still a battle, but with every day, it becomes easier and easier. The chart that Aunt Leah got him for his Birthday has been SUPER EFFECTIVE!!! Every time he goes #2 on the potty, he gets to put a sticker on the chart. And, of course, it's Ligthning McQueen, so to Tyler, it's the best thing since sliced bread! Thank you, "Aunt Eah" and Uncle Jeff!
SWIMMING: There's no ifs, ands or butts about it...This boy is a fish! I can count on 2 hands the number of private swim lessons that he had and can firmly attest that he is a product of persistency. Practice makes perfect. Our friend Kami taught him the basics of survival and the basic techniques and his practice perfected it. He now has no fear and will jump in and swim from just about anywhere in the pool. Our next task is to learn to take breathes. I guess we better get a move on, since winter is quickly approaching.
SCHOOL: The dreaded day of the first day of school. Maybe more so for Mommy than Tyler. We are currently on the market for a new home and when we find it, school will be the next thing on the list. I would like to get our roots re-planted first, so that the school is conveniently located for both David and I. Tyler already talks about going to school (since Maddie just started) and I feel so guilty about not putting him in now because I know he's ready, but the last thing I want to do is to enroll him somewhere and then have to move him in a short time. So, we wait. Hopefully by the next post, we'll be posting pictures of school projects and photos!
BIRTHDAY: As you all know (if you read Riley's blog) we had a SUPER, DUPER First Birthday for Sissy this year. For Tyler's Birthday, we decided to skip the big party and opt for something a little more intimate and enjoyable for him. We decided we would take him to a theme park instead. So, the plans were made. Since his birthday is so close to Labor Day, we decided to take a mini-vacation and extend the Labor Day Weekend thru Wednesday. We planned to take the kids to Cypress Gardens during that week and experience the water park that they had. We thought it would be so convenient since the park is only 25 minutes from our house in Lake Wales. Well, little to my knowledge, Cypress Gardens is closed right now for remodeling. No big deal...change of plans. We were then headed for Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park. We wanted to keep it water oriented, only because it is SO hot around the time of his birthday. As with any other vacation we have ever planned, Tyler got sick. He ran a 103+ fever for a day and a half, he was very lethargic, he didn't eat much for 4 days and his cough was horrendous! Needless to say, instead of being at Aquatica for his birthday, we spent the day at 2 urgent care centers and a Pediatrician's office in Lake Wales. He was diagnosed with a Sinus Infection and put on some strong antibiotics. Poor thing. I've never seen him so bad. The simple fact that he didn't even want to wake up to open his birthday presents was a dead giveaway. We did finally talk him into opening presents and then he went back to bed shortly after that. It was at that point that David and I looked at each other and knew we had to take him to the doctor. Needless to say, we are still planning on taking him back to Aquatica soon.
Since he didn't really get to celebrate his birthday, we decided to do a small, immediate family gathering at my Mom & Dad's the following weekend, so that we could spend some time with family and Tyler could open his gifts. He was in much better spirits by the weekend and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed the nice, low-key gathering. It was something out of the ordinary for us, but a nice change. Tyler had such a good time and still to this day asks me "is my Birthday over?" He's the best! To see pictures of all of his Birthday Celebrations, CLICK HERE.
There is so much more to touch on as so much has happened over the last year. It's way too much to sum up into one post, so we'll cut it short and sweet. Sometimes it blows my mind to think about how fast the last 3 years have gone. What we really find astonishing is to hear some of the things Tyler says and to see the way he interacts with his little Sister. Our "baby" is all grown up. He is well on his way to being a child, as his "toddler" days are just something in his rear view mirror of life. With each day, we learn from each other. With each day, we share with each other. With each day, we love our Little Man more and more. HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY, TYLER LANE! WE LOVE YOU! To view photos from 2-1/2 years old, until now, CLICK HERE.
And so it goes...
