Tyson 3 Years Old!

Our little buddy Tyson is officially a 3 year old! Tyson is a whirlwind of a boy! He is full of personality, charm, and mischief all at once. Tyson has grown up a lot over the last year and he's had some big changes in life as well!

 

In the last year, we moved into a new home which means new neighborhood, ward, and nursery leaders. We also had Ellie. So Tyson's had a lot of changes to adjust to. In some ways, this year was rough with Tyson. He is a big, strong boy and he's had some problems being too rough or even aggressive at times. It breaks my heart seeing him be rough with others and I look forward to this phase of life to completely be done. Its worn on my patience a lot. He finally seems to be getting better with it though and is learning to verbalize his feelings rather than show aggression physically. He still likes to rough house though. I don't know if that will go any time soon.

 

Its also been stressful for me with Ellie and how rough the big kids are with her. When she was 5 weeks old, Tyson picked her up to carry her and when I screamed in fear, he dropped her. Luckily it was a soft fall and he's not too far from the ground but it scared me. Every day, I'm grateful that she's gotten stronger so she can survive the bigger kids. Tyson really adores Ellie but sometimes he gets excited and wants to play with her and she's not quite big enough for that yet. She loves him too though. She gets the biggest grin on her face when Tyson and Kayla play with her.

Tyson loves playing with cars. He's slightly obsessed with Lightning McQueen and Mater. He also plays really well by himself for long periods of time, which is nice. When he plays with Kayla, they are very imaginative in their play. They are always making up adventures to go on together. They love gathering everything they can find and moving it into a pile in a corner for said adventure, much to my dismay. As soon as they're done and I ask them to clean it up, its "too hard!"



Tyson is a great eater. He eats almost anything I cook for him, although I think he likes to give me grief because Kayla does and he gets attention for it. But he will almost always end up eating dinner. He loves hot dogs, pb&j, pizza, spaghetti, and now prefers hamburgers or chicken nuggets. His favorite restaurants are Pizza Pie Cafe and Freddy's.



He can talk up a storm. He repeats (and imitates) everything Kayla says and does. He can carry on the funniest conversations and is now coming up with dramatic play and giving directions for the games. People often comment on how well he speaks for his age and how vast his vocabulary is. He is very expressive and loud. He has a horribly high pitched squeal that is awful and we're working on that. I'm constantly reminding him to use an inside voice. He also thinks its funny to make a really loud monkey sound any time he sees Ellie has fallen asleep. Lately he's started saying, "That's disgusting!" He proudly told the doctor that his feet were gnarly at his 3 year check up. (he's struggled with athlete's foot). I never know what to expect out of his sweet and often loud little mouth.



Tyson also potty trained this last summer. He did a great job and was really quick to catch on, but every once in a while, he gets too distracted or doesn't want to stop what he's doing. When he got hit sticker chart filled up, he earned a Mack Truck and he LOVES it! He also likes to have one of us come watch him in the bathroom. I know he just likes the attention. We taught him the proper names of anatomy, which has been entertaining to say the least. He ran outside once without underwear on. I quietly guided him back in and Kayla ran outside and yelled, "Sorry everyone! He just wanted to show you his penis!" She said that because another time at my Uncle Tony's 80th birthday party, Tyson was in a little playhouse with several little girls. He had just finished potty training. All of a sudden, all the little girls ran out screaming followed by Tyson waddling out with his pants around his ankles. He was saying, "I just wanted to show you my penis!" ha!



Our little buddy gives the best hugs and loves to have either Brett or I snuggle with him at night before he'll go to sleep. He loves giving kisses and hugs to Ellie. He'll give all of us a closed-lip kiss like normal, and then open his mouth on our cheeks and say 'Ah-Va!'. He calls those kisses his Ah-Va's. Tyson does everything all the way. He loves hard, he plays hard, he screams loud, he runs fast, and he pushes limits. I'm so excited to see where he'll go in his life. I don't doubt he'll do big things. We sure love this buddy buddy!

 

Tyson 2 Years

 Our little buddy is two years old. Its starting to hit me that he really is a toddler now! He's one of the happiest kids I know! He is genuinely full of joy!

Tyson is curious and loves exploring. He climbs up on everything he can! I find him on the kitchen island more often than I should! He loves to run outside and racing is one of his favorite past times. I can get him to do anything by putting it into a race. He'll hear the word and race and stop in his tracks, say, "ready, set, GO!" and he's off! He loves helping me with whatever I'm doing. He mops all the time and grabs rags to scrub the walls and whatever else he can reach. 

Kayla and Tyson are frienemies. They either play together like the best of friends or make each other scream a lot! Kayla tries to by a mommy to Tyson, which he doesn't love. She is the one that can make him scream in anger like nobody else. He loves playing in her room with her toys but when she's not home, he goes straight for his room. I think he just wants to be with her.  

 

Tyson recently got his seat turned around and loves it! He already recognizes the direction we're going and will correct me if we go the wrong way or somewhere he doesn't want to go. He loves pointing out mommy's work and McDonalds. He's a great sleeper! He takes a 3 hour or longer nap every day (unless Kayla wakes him up) and sleeps from 7:45-8:15 or so every day. I love that he sleeps in! He definitely got that from me, :)

He loves walking with his hands in his pockets, but his hands get stuck, haha! He loves rocks, sticks, etc. He opens the fridge constantly and wants to be a big boy. On the morning of his birthday, he crawled out of his crib and marched out of his room all by himself, proud as can be. He still climbs out occasionally, but he'll stay in when its time to sleep. 

Tyson loves his daddy! Whenever either of us pick him up from anything (babysitter, nursery, etc.,), he joyfully runs to us and crashes into our legs. He has a hard time going somewhere if Kayla isn't with him. So far, they'e had nursery together, but next year, she'll be a sunbeam so hopefully he adjusts without her. She definitely takes good care of him when its just the two of them. 

Tyson talks constantly. I LOVE listening to all the new words I never knew that he knew! He repeats everything Kayla said, which is almost always a good thing. His favorite show to watch is BabyBum on YouTube and because of it, he knows his ABCs, can count past 10, his shapes, and does pretty well on colors, although he likes to say most things are green or yellow when first asked. He may actually be better at his letters than Kayla.

He got a lot of cars for his birthday and his favorite are the emergency ones with sirens. He pushes those around all the time. His favorite movie is Toy Story. He likes Cars too but Toy Story is first request every time. He loves Woody and got one from Grandma Betsy for his Birthday and carries it everywhere. He's terrified of the vacuum and constantly opens the closet to look at it. I don't know if he's facing his fears or what but its funny. He squeals with joy when he's happy and its loud, but its the best sound. 

His favorite book is the Truck book followed closely by an Elmo book. He finally can sit still long enough to enjoy a book or two. His favorite food is peanut butter sandwiches and he's just now starting to get a little picky about his food. He used to finish anything put in front of him - he was bottomless! Now, he'll eat one good meal and putter through dinner. I think he's hitting the toddler appetite phase. He loves apples, bananas, crackers, cheese sticks, clementines, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, peas, and carrots.  

He loves saying he is 'STRONG!' And he's right! He is in the 95% for weight and 90% for height, which is where he's been from birth. He doesn't look huge, but he's a talk when you pick him up. His hair is growing long and thick. It sticks straight out at the neck when it grows so he needs frequent haircuts. 

He calls kisses hugs and gives big, open mouth kisses. Every night, he and I say his prayers, sing a few songs (he always requests the Daddy song, the mommy song, the Tyson song, and the Kayla song), then I ask him a series of questions. I ask him if he knows he's strong, sweet, silly, smart, and special. He grins and answers yes for each and then tells me that he is happy again, and kisses me on the cheek. Its my favorite part of the day with him! I always want to remember this little moment for us. 

Some of his funny things he says are, "Carry me daddy!" For a long time, he would say 'UnUh' for yes and it confused everyone. On his birthday, he magically started saying, 'yeah'. I kind of miss it a little bit. He constantly rattles off our family names and can list off people that we're going to see. He has a very good memory. He will grab my face and say, 'Mommy, look at me!" Whenever we take Kayla anywhere, he says, "Out now!" He hates getting left behind from pre-school or anything else. 

Kid's Photos by Melissa Humble-Sage!

The other day, my best friend came to stay for the weekend. I was beyond ecstatic to have her come get some updated photos of my kiddos! Melissa is a master at capturing our beautiful kids and their individual personalities. 

Kayla is 3.5 and Tyson will be 2 in a month. 

The problem is that I had to choose my favorites! She sent me so many amazing photos. Take a glance at my favorites!

Thank you Melissa! Your skills never cease to amaze me.