My poor floor...

I've lost count of how many times I've mopped the floor recently. And I've only done it half as much as I should have.

This was what the table looked like at the end of my breakfast the other day. Well, his breakfast, too. He dumped the Froot Loops on the table before I even got started.


You can't see how much milk was in the floor.

Tyler fed me some Cheerios. When I was done eating, he proceeded to drink milk from the spoon. Despite the fact that he would turn the spoon vertical on the way to his mouth, I let him try to his heart's content. He'd scoop, tell me "gulk" (his pronunciation for milk) and lick the spoon. The milk had lots of sugar in it so he loved it.

I was hopeful he'd start to eat other stuff, like yogurt, off a spoon if he enjoyed playing with the milk. No luck so far.

He's also dumped sweet tea in the floor several times.

Today was the worst, though. I'll be mopping again shortly. First, he threw a box of Nestle Nesquik in the floor. Powdered chocolate everywhere. Then he threw a bowl of yogurt in the floor. Luckily he'd already dumped most of the yogurt on the table. And then there was the accident when he was running around naked. It could've been worse, if you know what I mean, but he was standing right outside the bathroom, for goodness sake!

Two Ink Pens = New Game

I always have 2 extra ink pens beside me when I do an interview. I've gone through 4 ink pens in one interview before, but these are pretty new, so I feel comfortable having two backups.

The problem is when I forget to put them up after the interview. We have a few stray blue marks on our red sofa. I also have a newly decorated Tupperware container.

But the funniest Tyler-pen episode occurred a few minutes ago. One of the pens rolled under the door to the basement.

Tyler says, "Uh-oh!" And sticking his little finger under the door, "Stu!" (meaning "stuck!")

So I used the other pen to flick the first pen out. It came rolling toward him and he just chuckled.

He pushed it back under the door and tried to rescue it with the second pen. This continued for 10 minutes: me pulling the pen out and him rolling it under the door to try to get it himself.

Maybe I should just give away the hundreds of toys all over the floor around us. In fact, he had to push two toys out of the way to play with the pens under the door!

Wordle

Thanks to Recovering Procrastinator, I discovered Wordle.

When I entered the URL from this blog, the site pulled text from the last few posts and created this word cloud:

Right in the middle, you see "Tyler loves climbing." How perfect is that?!

Die, Die, Die!

This morning, Tyler knocked over a glass of tea. I moved him off the chair, away from the counter and began mopping up the floor with a towel.

He grabbed a potholder off the counter and began swiping at the spilled tea, singing, "Die, die, die!"

(His daddy sings, "dry, dry, dry, dry, dry" every night when toweling Tyler off after bath time!)

To the Tune of "Free Fallin'"

It is Tyler's bath time, and I just heard Brian singing (and Tyler kind of humming) to the tune of Free Fallin':

Tyler's a good boy.
He loves his mama.
Loves Clifford
And Grandma, too.

There was more, but I didn't catch it all. So much fun to hear the things Brian comes up with to entertain Tyler! I wish I were as creative.

"If I can't see you, you can't spank me!"

This morning, Tyler started climbing the stairs again.

(As in the outside of the stairs**. He can't get past the baby gate, so he holds on to the banister railing and climbs as high as he can on the outside of the railing. The attraction is that he carries a toy up with him and then throws the toy down the stairs. I don't understand it. Do you?)

In my sternest voice, I said, "DO. NOT. CLIMB. THOSE. STAIRS."

He quickly stepped down and grinned at me. He then closed his eyes so tightly his whole face was wrinkled up and he started climbing again. Yes, with his eyes closed.

I stomped my foot. His eyes flew open and he jumped back down off the step.

--
** Apparently he's been climbing like this since December. Click here and scroll down to see the picture from the first time I caught him doing it.

Mean, Messy and Melt Your Heart

This is Trav's mean look!

Don't be fooled by the angelic looks. Herein lies a great temper and a mean streak.
Tyler is scared of her!

Carolyn loves shoes and hats!

Jenn dared Travis to kiss his sister.

His comment immediately after this picture: "Disgusting."
(Wish you could hear his pronunciation!)

Jennifer's bathtub is now permanently a lovely shade of red.
(Just kidding, but it took a lot to clean that ring around the tub!)

Tyler LOVES Honey. He chases her around, calling, "Nunny! Nunny! Nunny!"

Overshadowed by an Older Cousin

We're visiting my sister and her kids. Tyler's cousin Travis is hilarious. I've posted a few of the most memorable comments at Of Kids and Dogs. I can't wait 'til Tyler is saying things like this!

Don't get me wrong -- Travis' little sister Carolyn and Tyler are both precious and so funny, but there's something about the unexpected comments from a 5-year-old that are exactly what blogging is all about.

Here's one conversation with Travis.

Me: Let's rest a few minutes. I'm tired. Aren't you?

Travis: No, I'm not tired.

Me: Well, you're young. I'm old.

Travis: Yes, you're old. And you're tired because God is going to take you.

Me: What?!

Travis: Yes, I'll miss you.

Me: You'll miss me if God takes me?

Travis: Yes, because you'll be in Heaven. That's what happens when people get really old, like 100.

How old does he think I am? I assured him that I won't be 100 for a really long time. And then he started talking about the Earth collapsing. He was quite cheerful about it, so I didn't attempt to reassure him. I think he might have been upset if I'd ruined his little fantasy of people living in outer space after the Earth collapses.

Love the Slide!

Christy sent me this picture from Sarah's birthday party. He had so much fun on the slides!

You've got to be kidding me...

I posted about Tyler's new haircut on my other blog. Click here.

Tyler Tames the Roomba

Maniacal toddler giggling indicates trouble for the robots.

According to the perpetrator's mother, she was upstairs starting a load of laundry when the trouble began.

Mrs. Jaime X came downstairs to find that Tyler, 22 months, had trapped the family's Roomba in a hula hoop. The Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner that is vital to Mrs. X's sanity, was patiently and thoroughly cleaning a circle of the living room floor while waiting to be rescued.

Upon relieving the toddler of his purple and gold hula hoop, Mrs. X reports, he began a tantrum only to become distracted by a laundry basket, always a favorite toy for the toddler. Dumping a clean load of clothes on the dirty kitchen floor, Tyler began alternately wearing and throwing the laundry basket.

As Mrs. X was blogging an incident report, she caught site of a very lively laundry basket that appeared to be moving about the living room on its own power. Because the Roomba was prevented from cleaning under the sofa with its odd and uncomfortable-looking new hat, Mrs. X was forced to confiscate the laundry basket as well.

Sadly, Tyler resorted to chasing the Roomba around the living room empty-handed, and only giggling when the Roomba reached a corner and turned to "chase" the toddler.

In previous incidents, Tyler has been known to move one of the Roomba's control towers just long enough for the Roomba to move into a corner. If it was funny to see a Roomba trapped in a hula hoop, you should've seen it trapped in a corner where it didn't even have room to turn around!

I Foresee Broken Bones

Not that I wish any injury on my precious child, but I think I might need to start preparing. I might need a refresher CPR class, maybe EMT certification... or even a specialization in orthopedics.

Tyler's cousin Sarah had her 4th birthday party at Monkey Joe's, which has large inflatable jump-arounds and slides.

My little daredevil (just 22 months old) had a blast. He turned his nose up at the play area for toddlers — ages 3 and under. He went straight for the slides.

We started on a medium-sized slide, and when he got too comfortable and started trying tricks that almost landed him on his head, I let him move to the BBIIIIIIGGGG slides with the older kids, ages 6 and 7. He had so much fun.

He would slide feet first on his belly and lay at the bottom giggling. Then he would run over to me, yelling and signing "more, more!"

I forgot my camera, but when I get pictures from other people, I will post them.

On the Other Side of the Babygate

Yesterday, I put a pair of big boy underwear on Tyler right after he went to the potty.

We went into his playroom, where I often fold laundry while dodging flying toys and serving as a jungle gym.

After I'd folded one towel, twice, he started to take off his underwear. I scolded, twice, "No, Tyler, if you take it off, I'll have to put a diaper on you."

He pulled his underwear back up and grinned at me.

He then ran out of the playroom, shut the babygate and locked me in the playroom.

He grinned at me again, and he pulled his underwear off.

Lil' Slugger

He's growing up so fast!! For more pictures from our weekend at the lake, click here.

Eating Grasshoppers

What wold you say if I asked you to eat a grasshopper?

I just saw this post on the Food Chaining blog. The writer references this story: "Everything is a Grasshopper."

This is the best explanation I've seen to illustrate how Tyler can be scared of trying new foods.

(If you are a family member that babysits Tyler or if you are a person that has even thought about blaming me and Brian for Tyler's feeding problems, please read the grasshopper story. It will really help you understand Tyler and what we're going through.)

What if I put the grasshopper in front of you and told you that you have to eat it in 5 seconds? (Assume that I have some authority over you.)

What if you saw me eat a grasshopper? I dip it in chocolate or mix it in crackers or something. I obviously enjoy it and I offer you some of my prized grasshopper. You notice that it makes a crunchy sound like your favorite chips. You may touch it or even smell it. Eventually, you might be curious enough to taste it? Maybe? (Me neither.)

Anyway, if I made you eat the grasshopper, how would you feel the next time I called you to say dinner is ready?

I admit that I have had a few instances where I pushed Tyler, even tricked him to get something in his mouth. And he always regressed. He's what the grasshopper-lady calls a "cautious eater." He has to be comfortable with food before he tries it. And he has to be comfortable with meal time and the table setting. And he has to trust those of us that are feeding him.

It kind of breaks my heart to realize how difficult eating is for him.

But he ate a pop tart this morning. You should've seen him trying to say "pop tart." I told him that it had blueberry jelly in it. And he pointed at the middle and told me all about the bbbbbbb jelly.

2008 Olympic Diving Team

We're spending the holiday weekend at our friends' lakehouse. They're out of town and graciously offered to let us borrow their place.

Let me describe our digs: The 3-bedroom, 2-bath main house has a screened porch and overlooks the pool and the lake. There is a boathouse, a dock, a nice little yard perfect for chasing Tyler. There is also a separate 2-bedroom guest apartment over the detached garage. Seriously, life doesn't get much better.

When we first got here, Brian fell asleep. (He had gotten up very early and run the Peachtree. Besides, that is the kind of place this is: it just induces naps!)

He woke up about 6 or so, and we decided to take Tyler swimming in the pool. Tyler and I were out by the pool while Brian lit the grill.

And Tyler is so headed for the 2008 Olympic diving team.

As soon as he found the diving board, he climbed up on it. (Actually, he was very careful, and he didn't walk out to the part over the water.)

He'd already knocked his ball into the water. (A lightweight ball about the size of a soccer ball.) He was so cute, carefully laying down perpendicular to the pool and batting at the ball when it was at the edge. Then carefully moving down, laying down again and batting it back in the other direction.

Y'all, he was so careful that I got comfortable and I looked away for a split second.

And Tyler executed his less-than-perfect first dive into the deep end.

Can I just tell you how scary it is to see little legs disappearing into the water? I splashed in right behind him and grabbed a little leg as I was swimming back up. As we surfaced, he was crying, not coughing (which means he didn't try to breathe under water).

As you nominate me for Worst Mother of the Year, please know that I was within arm's length. I was right there.

He was probably underwater for 5 seconds, maybe even less. And he's such a spunky little kid. His daddy was walking out to the pool about the time I jumped in. Tyler held on to the edge of the pool until his daddy lifted him out. He calmed down very quickly, and after a few minutes of running around, Tyler let his daddy carry him into the pool. He played in the pool for about half an hour and loved it.

Since Tyler wasn't hurt and he isn't terrified of the water, it may have been the best thing to happen all weekend: go ahead and get the tumble into the pool over with so Tyler knows the limits at the beginning of the vacation. But it sure was scary to see him disappear into the water — and I keep seeing it over and over.

(Editor's note to her father: Daddy, I always thought you were mean to make us wear lifejackets on the dock at the lake until we were teenagers. Now, I understand! I mean, the pool is scary enough and the water is clear so I never lost sight of Tyler.)

Jail Break

Tyler has a great playroom. He even has his own TV in the playroom to keep him out of trouble when I'm in the shower or interviewing someone. Lots of great toys. Plenty of room to run around. And he has a toddler-sized comfy armchair...

which he is using to climb over the tallest baby gate on the market:


Yep, this is what greeted me when I got out of the shower this morning.

The frustrating thing is that I purposely removed all toys that he might try to stand on! We may have to move the armchair out of the playroom. But Brian says the gate will adjust a couple of inches taller, so we'll try that first.

Another DAY (sigh)

I'm still so busy with work this week. Odd since work is technically slow. I won't go into that.

I will go into the fact that my toddler finds trouble everywhere. Even in the totally baby-proof playroom where he is supposed to be totally safe for a few unsupervised minutes.

"Stu," he calls from the playroom. "Stu."

I recognize his pronunciation for "stuck." It sounds very urgent.

He sometimes gets his feet stuck in the very tall baby gate.

I run up the stairs, calling, "Mama's coming. Mama's coming."

He's not stuck. No, he's standing beside the gate holding a small red ball. Crying.

No hands or feet are stuck in the gate.

But wait, he's not holding the ball. It is stuck on his finger. He's very adamant now, "stu!" and crying.

This was a solid plastic ball with no holes in it, like the kind in the ball pits at restaurant playgrounds. We bought them because they were lightweight and all one piece, so he couldn't hurt himself.

Maybe he bit a hole in the ball and stuck his finger in there? Maybe that particular ball was slightly deformed and he picked at it until there was a hole almost big enough for his finger? I don't know.

But I do know his poor little finger was a little purple and had a deep indention. And I do know that I'll be packing up the colorful little balls until he's old enough for a ball pit.