Phew! It's been a crazy couple of days around here with birthday activities galore! We spent Tyler's actual birthday on Friday hanging out with friends at the zoo. Lots of fun was had by all...we rode the train and the carousel, had a picnic lunch, and of course saw a few animals. The elephants were by far Tyler's favorite of the day!
Then yesterday, we had just a few friends over to celebrate with lunch and cake. I'm glad I decided to keep it small this year...it was plenty chaotic with the very short guest list that we had! :-) The kids had lots of fun with stickers and bubbles and just playing in general. Everyone except the birthday boy enjoyed cake and ice cream. Do I have the only toddler on the planet who refuses to eat cake and ice cream?? Then it was time for presents! Tyler got some great books and toys, and his big present from Mommy was a shiny new tricycle! His feet don't quite reach the pedals yet, but they will soon, and in the meantime he's enjoying pushing it around and climbing on and off. :-)
The pictures from the birthday festivities are here: 2nd Birthday photo album.
There are also some new pictures up in his 18-24 month album, the last ones before we switch to the new 24-30 month album! These pictures include a visit to the play area at the Cherry Creek mall, the 2nd annual Mountain Mamas Memorial Day bbq at Becky and Andrew's house, and my favorite of Tyler's activities:
READING! :-)
Did somebody say BACON???
And, as promised, I thought I would write a little bit about what Tyler's up to and what he likes/dislikes at the ripe old age of two. He continues to talk more and more. He's not really putting sentences together yet, although I can occasionally get him to say xxx, please. He's got pretty good manners, saying please and thank you most of the time (with prompting). He won't actually SAY thank you, but he signs it, and that's good enough for me! As he learns more words, it seems like it's actually a little harder to figure out what he's trying to say sometimes. His favorite word seems to be "Help" although he leaves the P off, so it sounds like he's cussing. ;-) He recognizes numbers and can sometimes correctly identify them...when in doubt, everything is 8! He knows his colors fairly well, but when he gets confused everything is blue/green. He's starting to pick up a few letters here and there. He identifies a LOT of animals and knows what sounds they make. He still is VERY picky with eating. He will usually eat waffles/cheerios/toast, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, quesadillas, raisins, and macaroni and cheese. Fruits and vegetables are out (except for the occasional random devouring of blueberries or bananas), and he doesn't seem to have much of a sweet tooth. He'll nibble a cookie every once in a while, but he'd usually much rather have crackers or pretzels or chips! He is the only toddler I have ever known who not only is willing to let you wipe his nose when it's runny, but ASKS for it...and is quite insistent if you don't do it quickly enough!
Some of Tyler's favorite things to do at the moment:
*Baths (and any kind of water, really)
*Sliding and swinging at the playground
*Reading! (yay for reading!)
*Throwing balls and everything else
*Being outside
Colors he knows: blue, green, red, yellow, purple, orange
Animals he knows (and the sounds they make):
*Cow (moo)
*Sheep (baa)
*Horse (neigh)
*Lion/tiger/bear (rar!)
*Frog (ribbit)
*Duck (kak kak)
*Cat (meow)
*Dog (oof)
*Pig (oink...sometimes)
*Monkey (ah ah)
*Elephant (waaah)
*Snake (ssss)
*Chicken (ka ka)
*Bird (tee tee)
*Hippo
*Zebra
And probably a few others I can't remember right now!
I continue to be amazed at the new things he picks up every day. He's such a cute, fun, intelligent little boy, and I'm proud to be his mommy! I can't wait to see what fun new adventures being TWO brings our way!!!