Tyler Knows How To Get My Attention ...

Tyler is home sick today because he has had a fever since Saturday night, although (crossing fingers), it seems to have broken now. I have been doing my best to stay on top of my work by giving Tyler various activities to keep him busy. He watched Mickey Mouse this morning and then did quite a bit of coloring while I was on a conference call.

Needless to say, I have been multi-tasking all day. Tyler, on the other hand, does not appreciate the fact that I am *working* from home and when he calls for me with his ever so sweet, "Moooommmmm", he expects me to reply right away, and a "hold on one second, sweetheart" is not sufficient.

This was the conversation this morning:

Tyler: Mom!
Me: What do you need sweetie?
Tyler: Mom, come here please.
Me: Hold on just a second, buddy, I will be right there.
Tyler: Mom
Tyler: Mom
Tyler: Mom

(pause)

Tyler: Anne!
Me: Ok, buddy, I am coming!

Just so you don't think that I was neglecting my sweet angel, he was calling me over for critical items like dropping a marker (that he didn't want to pick up himself!).

Hearing my children call me by my first name is just bizarre!

Oklahoma City

Doug and I snuck off to the fun and exciting destination of ... Oklahoma City!

We left last Friday and came back on Sunday so that I could compete in a training race for Ironman Florida, which is now 6 short weeks away. These weekend trips are hectic, but I always come home thankful for the quality time that I have gotten to spend with Douglas. We jam to music in the car, chat about the most random things, explore new cities, eat lots of good food and he spends hours (literally!) watching me compete and being my biggest fan.

Set aside your preconceived notions about OKC, it was actually a great town! It had scenic drives, easy access to Route 66, fun food, and an AMAZING memorial. The only thing I didn't like was all of the OU red people were wearing given OKC's proximity to Norman.

The boys got to spend the weekend with Mom Mom and Peepaw and had a blast, as usual

Here are some photo highlights from our trip:

National Memorial








Part of the original construction fence where visitors left momentos


Get your kicks on Route 66


Pops on Route 66 -- they sell 500+ varieties of soda pop

Proud as Punch

I am so proud of Andrew! We get a daily folder from school that holds a calendar and each day his teacher marks the calendar with a face that corresponds with his behavior for the day. This is similar to last year when we got a green / yellow / red report each day. Let's just say that the green days were few and far between ...

Anyhow, Andrew got smiley faces (green equivalent) 3 (THREE!) days in a row this week. As a reward, I let him pick his dinner and dessert (and a special treat!) and he picked what most children would pick … you guessed it … macaroni and cheese!

Once I knew what Andrew wanted for dinner, I asked Tyler whether he would eat macaroni and cheese too (knowing full well that he would not because he won’t touch the stuff), but I thought his response was too precious not to share.

Conversation with Tyler:

Me: What do you want for dinner? Andrew is having macaroni and cheese, would you like that?
Tyler: No, chicken nuggets, please.
Me: What vegetable would you like with your dinner?
Tyler: No, thank you, Mommy.

So polite ...

Second Child Syndrome

Being the second child has its advantages and its downsides -- and I should know, because I am one!

Advantages -- parents worry less, child gets away with more and gets to do more sooner because he is chasing his older brother … and he has a built in best friend! (Just to name a few)

Disadvantages -- hand me down clothes and split focus from parents (as compared to being an only child).

I refer to this phenomenon as second child syndrome. I firmly believe there are more advantages than disadvantages to having siblings, but I do feel guilty sometimes that Tyler doesn't get the undivided attention that Andrew did at this age.

To counter balance this we try to have some one on one time with each of the boys and I really cherish these moments. We let Andrew stay up later than Tyler on the weekends for special cuddle time and on weekend mornings/nap time Tyler will often get up before Andrew (because Andrew goes to bed/nap later), giving us some good one on one time. Also, on occasion during the weekends Doug and I will each take one of the boys to run errands, go to birthday parties, etc. so we get special time with them that way too.

The best part though, for me at least, is that after a bit of one and one time with us, both boys start looking for and asking about the whereabouts of his brother. Cue the built in best friend!

Tyler Story
This weekend while I was at a birthday party with Andrew, Doug and Tyler went to get my car inspected. They were playing with 4 Lightning McQueen cars at the shop, rolling them back and forth to each other. At one point, Tyler counted the cars, -- "one, two, three" -- and then said, "oh, oh, one is missing!"

Today after Tyler's nap I brought him downstairs and he counted each step on the way down. I was floored. I knew he was starting to count at school and we have been counting at home, but these examples from this weekend were the first times that he applied the skill on his own and in context. My little smarty pants was talking in his crib before bed too ... what was he talking about? He was counting :)

Andrew Story
Andrew sometimes wakes up early on the weekends and he will play quietly in his room until he is ready to come downstairs. When he is ready to come down, he will call out for Mommy or Daddy and that is our cue to go and get him (we keep a gate up for safety so that the boys will not try to come downstairs during the night. This is wonderful because it usually means that we get an extra 30 minutes to 1 hour of sleep while he plays quietly in his room. This morning however, instead of calling out for us by name, when he woke up he started saying, "Mommy, Daddy, I am hungry. I'm hungry. I'm very hungry." It made us laugh and definitely got our attention. It was not like he didn’t have a good dinner the night before but he happily ate his waffles, yogurt and strawberries for breakfast!

What is a Boy?

I meant to share this back around Mother's Day and came across it this evening as I was going through photos. Click on photo to enlarge.

Andrew's 5 Year Old Photos

Eeny Meany Miney Mo

Sunday Picture Share

We went to a pre-k picnic last week and one of the mom's got these photos with my and my little men. I love them, so I had to share!

Sharing is Caring

My boys are entering that competitive phase. What Tyler has Andrew wants. What Andrew has Tyler wants. They are also good little negotiators, well Andrew negotiates and Tyler manipulates with his puffed out lower lip. They both make me laugh and smile every single day.

This morning as we were getting ready for school Tyler went pee pee on the potty (yeah!). For this rare feat, Tyler got a treat (no rhyme intended) ... two M Ms. As I was getting the M&Ms out for Tyler, Andrew declared that sharing is caring and so he too should get a treat. Ladies and gentlemen, that is my little negotiator!

The competitive streak has its advantages too -- for the first time in years Andrew asked for milk. Andrew had a milk allergy (supposedly anyway) as a baby so he drank soy milk from age 1 to 2.5 or so when he started refusing it entirely. He has always loved cheese, yogurt, and all other things dairy, so I never worried too much that he wasn't drinking milk (and because he eats so much dairy, I pretty much discount his former allergy). Tyler, on the other hand, loves milk. So one night earlier this week when Tyler asked for milk, Andrew (being competitive) decided he wanted some too. He drank it all and said he loved it. Go figure!

An Apple for the Teacher

It seems unfathomable to me, but a year (a YEAR!) has passed and Andrew is starting his second year at SCS. He completed Early Pre-K last year and had a wonderful time and made lots of new friends, so he was really excited to go back to school for Pre-K on Tuesday. The transition back has been seamless and much less stressful compared to last year since we all know the ropes!

Check out photos of my big boy on his first day:





(not my best self portrait ...)

My Boys Are Mama's Boys

Would love to know which one(s) are your favorites -- leave a comment to let me know! Thanks to my honey for helping show the boys how to make muscles ... Tyler kept saying, "Mommy, I strong, I got muscles!"