SLO in Arkansas: December 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Tyson Loves a Tutu!

What a handful my son is!!! We were finishing up our Christmas shopping at Target tonight when he got fussy from being strapped into the cart. We let him down for a bit, and of course the first thing he did was push the shopping cart around for a while. Well we were walking past the kids clothing aisle and he spotted some sparkly pink tutu's for little girls that really caught his eye. He beelined for the rack and picked out two lovely ones, one for each hand. Then he just took off! The kid started running like the wind with his two pink tutu's around the store! Silas and I were both walking as fast as we could without running and still couldn't catch the sucker! He ran like crazy across the entire store before we finally cornered him in the home goods section and he relinquished his precious tutu's:) And if that were not enough, you can always count on your kid to draw as much attention to you as possible when you are shopping for fun things like underwear! That was our first item of business, and of course I am trying to be all discreet while browsing the women's panties and he finds some girl over in the next section to flirt with, and just keeps letting out these huge belly laughs every few minutes. Of course people start looking at him and smiling, and I'm over there all trying to hurry and find some undies and get out! But he was so distracting it took forever:) I love this kid! There is never a dull moment with Tyson around:)

I can't wait to post pictures this weekend of what Santa is bringing for him either. We are having our family Christmas this weekend before we head out to Nashville next week to be with my family.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Almost Christmas

We have been in full swing the past few weeks with fun and festive activities for the holidays. Unfortunately Tyson hasn't felt the greatest, so we have had a few rough days and nights. He has had a fever and lots of drooling, and refusing to eat like usual, so I'm banking on teeth coming in soon. Poor little guy. We have attempted to get a family picture by the tree, but he wasn't in the most cooperative mood, so this was one of the best we got!

Here he was on one of his sick and pitiful days. He loves watching Veggie Tales movies, so I wrapped him up on the couch and we vegged out (excuse the pun!) all day last week. We later had popcorn and apple juice while watching the show for the zillionth time. He has a favorite part in one of the shows, and every single time it comes on, he just chuckles out loud:) It is so cute, and now I know to wait for it, and sure enough, a little laugh comes out!

Tyson has watched Silas building fires for us every night, and has become a pro at the process. He wandered over to the fireplace with this piece of newspaper he found, and wanted to poke it in! Thank goodness for the wonderful screen we have. He just looks at it and says "hot". Speaking of saying things, his language is really picking up now. This week he has started saying candy, more, thank you, poo poo, on, off, blue, please, finished. There are probably some more but I can't remember them all. He is doing really well asking for what he wants, and is pretty good at pulling his paci out of his mouth before he tries to talk:) The most exciting thing he did all week was go up to Silas one afternoon and say "poo poo," and he actually had a dirty diaper! He has done it several times since then. I am hoping this is a good sign towards recognizing when he needs to go, or at least be changed:)

Here is a picture of our tree for this year. I am so pleased it is still standing and all the gifts are still wrapped and ornaments still on for the most part. He has done really well with listening and just touches things but doesn't really pull things off or bother them too much. He has been great! I can't wait for Christmas when he gets to open his stuff and see the fun he will have this year. We are heading to Nashville on the 24th to spend Christmas with my family this year. I am really looking forward to good food, catching up, and letting the cousins play. We have had an enjoyable holiday season and are looking forward to the next few weeks. I am still contemplating trying to get a picture with Santa or not. We will see how it goes!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Mama's Boy

I love this little boy! Tyson has been so much fun these past few weeks, and I just can't get enough of him! He continues to bless my life every day and I am super thankful for him:) He has changed so much, and is a little mini me! Everything he does, Silas sighs and says, "oh look, he does......(fill in the blank).....just like you!" This morning at breakfast it was, oh look, he tears his food up and pinches out the middle of the cinnamon rolls, just like you:) That's my boy! I love the pictures of me and my boy, and these top two are actually from earlier today. Please excuse Tyson's mangled face in the top picture. He has had several unfortunate run-ins with furniture and a wicker basket this afternoon, and will probably end up with a black eye.

One of his new things is to go between people's legs, and Silas caught him trying it on me today. He is very strong though, and pushes quite hard when he does it. I'm sure I will get knocked over before long!

Here is little mohawk man in the tub this weekend. I am so pleased we can do this with his hair, since I worried he would never get any for so long! I think he looks super cute and tough with the mohawk, though we haven't sported it out of the tub just yet:)

I think the thing I am loving more than anything right now, is that I am mama, and mama can fix anything, or make anything better. I waited for a long time to get to be a mom, and it has been so rewarding in this respect. When he cries, I am the first person he looks for and comes running to for some special lovin. A few seconds of snuggling and everything is all better. I love knowing that I can comfort him to the fullest with just a hug and a few kisses and I love yous. I wish it would stay that easy and simple forever, but I know it won't. I just hope he doesn't stop running to me when he hurts, no matter what it causing it. I have been so happy watching this little fellow learn and grow, and am humbled at the responsibility of helping guide and shape his character. He is independent and fearless and cheerful and full of passion, even if that comes out in a temper at times. I hope I can show him how to use all of these wonderful gifts to the fullest of his ability, and in good ways. I am also infinitely thankful that God has given him the best father in the world. Silas may not be perfect, but he is often wise beyond his years, and I can think of no better example for Tyson on how to be a good man. I know I have gotten all sappy on you, and I apologize. I have had an emotional week for some lovely reason and have to get all the mushiness out somehow!! I love my boys more than words can ever express and am thanking God for them:)

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Pictures

I love this picture! This is Tyson calling the Hogs:) He starts off by throwing his hands up in the air and going "...oooohhhhhhhh" and ends by waving his hands around wildly during the chant and then clapping. It's adorable if I do say so myself. It will be even cuter when he can actually say the words:)

Just a random picture of Silas and I having some fun at Thanksgiving. I will save this one for when Ty is a teenager to remind him that his parents are totally cool:)

This is Tyson's newest favorite place since we rearranged the furniture for the Christmas tree and he lost his box to stand on. He gets in his toy basket and then flings every thing out. He also uses it to get up by the TV and turn the DVD player on and put his movies in. He has a hard time getting out of it though, which is pretty funny.

We finally went out and got Tyson a hat for the winter since it has turned cold, and I am so pleased that he will actually wear it!! He seems to know it keeps his head warm and will keep it on for a while. He does take it off in the car at times, but I am just thrilled it stays on his head more than 2 seconds! And he is oh so cute in it too. Of course he had to go and be all tough guy on me and not smile for the picture though:)

I am also happy to report that we decorated the Christmas tree this week and so far all ornaments are still on it! He has leaned over and tried to eat several, and pulls on them, but has done exceptionally well. He loves the lights and tries to suck on them too, but no major damage done! I am using the lights to start working with him on identifying colors, and it seems to be working. So far he has learned "blue", and can say it and point to a blue light when you ask. Then we clap and cheer and he loves the attention. Our other new development is the decision to let him feed himself no matter what. He loves to do things himself and gets frustrated if he is not manning the utensils, so this week I decided to let it all go and let him go on his own no matter what we are eating. It has been very interesting already, but he loves it! He now has to eat with his shirt off so I don't worry about stains. He is doing great, and I am hoping more and more food actually gets in his mouth over the next few weeks:) I have a great picture from our spaghetti dinner tonight, but it's not on the computer yet. Other than that we are good. We are getting lots of rain today so Silas is excited at the prospect of duck hunting in the near future!

Monday, December 01, 2008

Texas Thanksgiving 2008

Well, we officially survived our long drive to Texas and made it back in one piece! We left at 7:30 pm on Tuesday night in hopes that Ty would go to bed and sleep the whole way there. No such luck for us, but it really wasn't that bad....except for the being sleepy part and all! He slept until 12:15 am and then was up until we got there at 3:30am. It took us until around 4am to get him settled and back to sleep. Silas and I took turns napping and driving which worked really well. Tyson watched his Veggie Tales while he was awake and that kept him pretty happy. We enjoyed hanging out with family on Wednesday and catching up on sleep. Thursday we all headed over to a relatives house for Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't eat too much since I wasn't in the house much (they had cats), but we all had fun riding go-karts around and racing:)

Tyson LOVED these things, and continues to reinforce to us that he is a motion junkie. If he wasn't riding, he wanted to be driving the thing! He had a blast riding around with his cousin Ellen while she practiced up on her driving skills so she can get her license soon:) Friday we had another huge family get-together with barbecue at Silas' parent's house. I think there were about 24 of us there this year. Tyson ran wild with all his cousins and had a great time, while the adults enjoyed catching up with grandparents, parents and siblings. We also had our family Christmas, which involved the kids opening bags of stocking stuffers from their cousins and grandparents. They had a great time as usual, and Ty finally got to participate in the present opening!

Here is a picture I loved of Tyson walking with his papaw out to the barn with the horses. He loved all the animals and had fun petting the horses. One theme of our trip was Tyson's constant eating!! I don't think I ever saw that kid not snacking on something! Of course he comes from a good long line of snacking families, so he fits right in:) He quickly learned that papaw manned the party mix container and was at his feet all the time for a handout. He ate and ate and ate all week long. He also ran a lot while playing with his cousins, so I'm not too worried about his ginormous food consumption! The kid played hard all day and then crashed at night. He had a fantastic time and got lots of good lovin in from his Texas family:)

I couldn't end without a fabulous picture of Mimi and Papaw tearing it up in the go-kart! I love their adventurous spirit:) Overall we had a great trip, and are so thankful for time spent with family. The trip home took almost 10 hours because Tyson only slept a little over one hour of that whole time, and needed to get out and run around several times to prevent major melting down. We stopped in Texarkana at the mall for about 30 minutes and let him run and play at the indoor playground there, which was great. He fussed a bit, but no major tantrums in the car, for which I am tremendously grateful!!! I was also super thankful that gas was so cheap and we were able to take the Expedition, which gave us tons of room to move around when we needed. It was a good trip, but I am also thankful to be out of the car and back at home for now. I can't believe it is already December and we are heading for Christmas! We have several parties and festive activities in the next few weeks that should help get us in the mood for the holiday. I am having a hard time getting motivated to work this week, but that will come I am sure. I have at least gotten caught up on laundry, cleaned a bit, and have a wonderful beef stew simmering in the crock pot for dinner tonight. Life is good!

SLO in Arkansas