Little Helper

Today was such a beautiful day, so Tyler and I played outside while Tim mowed the lawn. Tyler loves to play with his excavator ("eck-uh-den") in the dirt--he's such a boy! He also helped his dad take some sticks to the yard waste bin and pretended to sweep the driveway. Daddy told Tyler that he can do all the yard work in a few years since he likes it so much. How generous, huh? =)

Getting Ready for Baby

It's been a busy week around here trying to get ready for the baby's arrival. Last Friday we traded in my Saab and bought a certified pre-owned Saturn Vue. The Saturn has lots more room, which we definitely need since I'll be toting around 2 little people very soon. It's the biggest car I've had for myself (before the Saab I drove a Honda Civic), so it's a little different for me. It's about the same size as Tim's car, though, so I was already fairly used to the bigger size. When I strap Tyler into his carseat, he always says, "new car". I think he enjoys being higher up off the ground because he has a better view of everything as we're driving down the road.

Before we traded in the Saab, we let Tyler take it for one last spin. He loves to pretend he's driving. He's always asking if he can "dife".

We set up the crib this week in our bedroom, which is where the baby will sleep for at least the first month. Eventually we'll move the crib into Tyler's room, but we want to wait until the baby is sleeping for longer chunks of time at night so he doesn't disturb Tyler too much. It was only a few weeks ago that we transitioned Tyler to the toddler bed, but it seemed more like months since I'd seen the crib. It looks different because we set the crib mattress at the highest level, and it hasn't been that high since Tyler was 3 or 4 months old. Also, we haven't used the mobile or the crib skirt for ages. It's hard to imagine how tiny the baby will look in such a large crib since we got so used to seeing Tyler in it. I guess we won't have to imagine for too much longer...

Farm Animals

The video and photos are from a week and a half ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting them since we've all been pretty busy around here. Tyler has a John Deere tractor with a farmer and some animals that he loves to play with. I recorded him naming the different animals, but in case you can't understand his pronunciation, here are some of the translations:
"peep" = sheep
"pawm" = farmer (now he says "paw-muh", so he's getting a little closer)
"hace" = horse

We haven't figured out why, but Tyler consistently puts the horse in the driver's seat. Kids are so funny. You never know what's going through their little minds.

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Two Monkeys???

Tyler's lovey is a monkey who he affectionately calls "Ooo-hoo" (like the sound monkeys make--at least in his mind). We have 3 of these monkeys, which are all identical, so that there's always at least one that is clean. Well, a couple days ago he found one that had just come out of the laundry downstairs and took it up to his room, where he found another one that he'd slept with the night before. I walked into his room to find him sitting happily on the ottoman, rocking back and forth, holding a monkey in each hand. When I asked him what he was doing, he excitedly said, "Two!" He carried both of them around for about half an hour and I had to be very sneaky about hiding one while he was busy playing later. When he asked for his other "ooo-hoo" later on, I explained that he only gets to have one at a time, which seemed to work...for now. I guess I should be glad he didn't find the third one, too!

"I Wub Woo"

Every night when I put Tyler to bed, I tell him that I love him. A couple months ago I started having him repeat, "I....love....you," after me. He would say each word after me the best he could. In the past month, when I would say, "I...", he would follow with, "wub woo". Just in the past week, he has started saying it all together and it slowly comes out, "I wub woo." I love you, too, buddy.