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We've had some absolutely gorgeous fall weather recently. Tyler and I have been trying to take advantage by getting out and doing some hiking and biking. We met some friends up at Reynolds Park a week or so ago. Reynolds Park is one of my absolute favorite spots, and while the fall colors weren't quite there yet, it was a lot of fun with some picture-perfect weather. I went up a little early to test out the backpack and see both if Tyler was still willing to be carried and if I was able to do it. Good news, the backpack still works, at least for now! I got a good hike in carrying Tyler and then we met up with our friends for some toddler hiking. The kids did great, we actually had to call it quits because the MOMS were hungry! Checking out the leaves with Abi
Hiking! 
Last week, we hiked at Meyer Ranch, which is just drop-dead gorgeous when the aspens change color. I got a great hike in carrying Tyler, but unfortunately our toddler hiking got a little curtailed by an unexpected storm that blew in over the mountains. Aspens at Meyer Ranch
Fall hiking rocks! 
Yesterday we visited Rock Creek Farm up in Broomfield. This is a great place to visit the pumpkin patch. They also have a hay bale maze for the little ones, a great photo backdrop setup with cornstalks and pumpkins, and farm animals for the kids to see. Tyler had a great time running through the pumpkin patch, although he wanted me to pick every single pumpkin there. Every time I would cut one off the vine, he would move on to the next one and tell me "This one!" He and Carter and Tana had a fantastic time chasing each other through the hay maze. There was lots of giggling, some hay throwing, and just a general good time. Thanks to Hillary for organizing, and for making the yummy caramel corn. :-) Picking out our pumpkins
Some serious pumpkin bounty 
Hangin' with Carter
Tyler, Carter, and Tana running crazy through the hay bale maze
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This just in... Tyler ate vegetables for dinner! And not just the pseudo-veggies potatoes and corn either. He ate mixed vegetables. Ok, so he picked out the green beans, but he ate the carrots, peas and of course, the corn. Woohoo! I'm pretty sure I've just jinxed it by proclaiming it to the world. ;-) Back to your regularly scheduled programming...
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No words necessary. Or forks, apparently! :-) 
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Allow me to transcribe (more or less) today's lunch. On the menu, macaroni and cheese. Tyler: Hot?
Me (from the kitchen, making my own lunch): Blow on it.
T: (blows on it, takes a bite)
T: Hot?
Me: Blow on it.
T: (blows on it, takes a bite) Repeat. At least 75 times. Nevermind the fact that by probably the 5th or so time of asking if it was hot, it was no longer anywhere close to hot. Then add in (when Tyler apparently got tired of stabbing his own food with the fork):
T: Help!
Me: (stabs a forkful of macaroni and hands it to him)
T: Hot? And last but not least...fork dropping is quite the event at mealtime these days, and today's effort cracked me up. Tyler (looking at me the whole time to make sure I was watching him) dropped the fork through the back of his chair. Immediately after it hit the ground, he looked at me quite disapprovingly and said "NO!" He knew darn well what I was going to say and beat me to it, the little booger. Just try not to laugh at that one (thereby reinforcing the behavior, of course!)...
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Tyler and I are back from a crazy, hectic nearly two week tour of Ohio, and I think we need a vacation from our vacation! I'm TIRED. We covered most of the state, put over 1000 miles on the rental car in a week, and saw lots of friends and family. We started off our visit by flying into Cincinnati, where Grandma Lois was ecstatic to see Tyler. She was so happy to see him that she (and Aunt Amy) let him climb in the pool in his pajamas! We also got to visit with Grandpa Paul and Judy where Tyler had a ton of fun feeding the fish (and trying to climb in the pond) and playing catch. I was thoroughly disgusted by the cicadas that are currently having an emergence in Cincinnati...what disgusting bugs! Creepy, beady orange eyed, squawking, nasty creatures...I was plenty ready to get away from them. Yuck!
Our next stop on the grand tour was Aunt Amy and Uncle Dan's house near Columbus. Unfortunately, on our way out of Cincinnati, not 5 minutes from Grandma Lois's house (hadn't even gotten on the highway yet!), we got rear-ended in our rental car. What a headache! Fortunately, the damage was pretty minor, and other than a few days of headaches for me (and a slight mental breakdown), we were fine. After getting a police report filed, we were able to continue on our way with only a slight delay. Amy and I took Tyler and Kallie to get their pictures taken together at JCPenney, and they were somewhat cooperative. Or at least as cooperative, as you can expect two toddlers to be, I guess. We also took them to see the Blooms and Butterflies exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory. We were just in time to see them release the newly hatched butterflies. Tyler was fascinated. He had a great time running around and exploring, checking out the waterfalls, and pointing out the "Flies!" everywhere. I had fun testing out some of the features of my new camera! The main purpose of this trip was that my mom was throwing a surprise 75th birthday party for Jim (my stepfather) in Cleveland, so up the highway we went. The plan was to surprise him in front of the Great Lakes Science Center, so we were all standing there waiting for them to arrive. When we saw them starting to walk toward us (Jim hadn't seen us yet), I (half-jokingly) told Tyler to "Go get Grandpa!", not expecting him to do it for a second. Much to my surprise and delight, off he ran, straight up to Grandpa, even letting him pick him up! Grandpa was very surprised, he had no idea that we were coming to visit. We spent the rest of the day first taking a tour of the steamship William G. Mather, then back to the hotel to celebrate Jim's birthday. Cousin Cole and Tyler had a fabulous time playing together! Cole was so disappointed when Tyler and Kallie had to take a nap that he kept asking if he could go wake Tyler up yet. :-) Sunday was spent watching the Indians play the Padres, Tyler's second major league baseball game. The game was during naptime, so we had some crankiness, but he liked watching the ball get thrown and hit around, and he really liked clapping with the crowd. I think his favorite parts of the game, though, were trying to get past Grandpa in the tunnel, and having a waterfight with Grandpa! No trip to Ohio would be complete without a Fancher (my mom's family) get-together. We got to spend an evening at my cousin Sarah and her husband Nick's house with the whole family. Sarah's little girl, Laura, is just about 2 months younger than Tyler, so we had a 2 year old, a 22 month old, and a 17 month old, all together! Just TRY to get them to sit still for a picture. And to try and get a picture with Great Grandma? Forget about it! Nick taught Tyler how to bump knuckles, an important part of every little boy's development, and Tyler tried his best to give himself a concussion falling and tripping on things! And of course, we can't take a summertime trip to NW Ohio without a visit to a car show with Grandma and Grandpa's popcorn business, Popcorn on Wheels. Tyler is absolutely fascinated by the popcorn popper! I also got one of my favorite photos from the whole trip, Tyler with Grandpa. I think it would look fantastic in Black and White. With the northern portion of our journey concluded, it was time to head back to Cincinnati for a few more days with the Beckman/Fehr portion of the family. Thank goodness the cicadas were starting to die off a little bit! Tyler took his first ride on a John Deere with Great Uncle Jim. I got a much-needed girls' day out with my friend Laurie...pedicures, lunch, and shopping. Ahhh...heaven! We spent our last full day in Ohio at Uncle Kevin's new (to him) house. We had fun grilling out (and moving the grill to the garage when a thunderstorm moved in). Tyler had a blast getting good and muddy after the storm! I think his toenails may still have some dirt in them. We finished off the day with a trip to Graeter's for some ice cream (which of course, Tyler wouldn't even try). Speaking of Graeter's, by the way, those of you in Denver can now get some of Cincinnati's favorite ice cream at King Sooper's! I was so excited to see it when I went to the grocery store yesterday (and I now have a pint in my freezer)!
It was a fun, but busy, trip. We're so glad that we got to spend some time with all of our loved ones, just wish it could have been a little longer. We're trying to get settled back in to the routine of being at home, and I'm hoping Tyler gets totally adjusted back to Mountain Time soon! Waking up at 6 am is unacceptable! ;-p All the pictures from our trip are up in the Ohio Trip '08 album. I will try to get the ones of just Tyler up in his 24-30 month album soon (so you don't have to look at everything from our trip if you don't want to), but Brian tells me that he's going to try to upgrade the website this weekend, so I'll probably wait until after that. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
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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!!!
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Tyler is TWO today. I can hardly believe that my baby is officially a little boy. How on earth did THAT happen??? We have plans to meet a bunch of friends at the zoo today for some animal-watching and lunch. Tyler's not feeling 100%, though, so hopefully he's ok to go...I'm waiting till the last possible minute to decide. Other than that, we don't really have any big plans, just having a couple of people over tomorrow for lunch and cake. Look for a post later this weekend or early next week with lots of info about what Tyler's up to these days at the ripe old age of TWO, as well as pictures of his birthday!
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Tyler and I had a very nice Mother's Day together yesterday. We went up to Boulder so I could register for the Bolder Boulder and since we were there, I decided to go hike a little bit of one of my favorite trails up there. I carried Tyler part way in on my back, then let him down to hike out. He did an absolutely phenomenal job of hiking! He held my hand for the first bit and hesitated at every rock, root, and log. Pretty soon, though, he gained his confidence. In no time at all, he was practically running down the trail! It's pretty rocky in spots but he did a great job. I was really impressed! We stopped for a little bit close to the trailhead to play in the stream that runs alongside the trail and Tyler had an absolute blast splashing in it. I posted a few pictures in his photo album, and I'll post links to a couple of videos I took at the end of the post...sorry they're sideways, but I can't figure out how to rotate them! ;-)
Tyler has been picking up new things all over the place lately. I'm constantly being amazed at the things he says and does! He knows most of his animals and what they say, does pretty well with colors (when he doesn't think everything is either blue or green), and is even picking up a few letters and numbers. He *loves* to read these days...the little booger talked me into FIVE bedtime stories tonight! He decided that he liked blueberries on Friday (remember, this is the kid who refuses all fruits and vegetables!) and ate a pint and a half on Friday!! We were at Whole Foods, and as always I offered him some of their samples. He ate one blueberry, then two, then three...so I grabbed a pint and kept feeding them to him. I actually had to turn around and go get another one since he had almost finished the first before we even got out of the produce section! He's still eating them, although not quite as quickly, so I have hope for more dietary improvements in the future...
Ok, here are the videos I promised:
Tyler splashing in the stream
Hiking and checking out the flowers
Going the wrong way
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Tyler and I went on the inaugural bike ride of the 2008 season this morning with some of our friends. We call it "Bike with your Bambino." It was a beautiful morning for a bike ride, as four moms and five kiddos rode the Bear Creek trail. It was really nice to get on my new(ish) road bike and really start figuring out how to ride it. It's so pretty! I may have to take a picture and post it one of these days...it really is pretty! Oh, but wait, this is Tyler's blog, not mine, so I guess I should talk about him a little. ;-) The little man was just cracking me up pretty much the whole ride. There was a constant flow of chatter from the trailer, a lot of which was not at all comprehensible. He spent a good portion of the ride yelling "WHEEEEE!!!!!" at the top of his lungs as we flew down the trail. With the addition of a "WHOA!" here and there as we would occasionally hit a bump. (By the way, this is also a new favorite word in the car whenever mommy has to hit the brakes a little hard...always nice to have commentary on your driving from a toddler...lol). The end portion of our ride was spent yelling about "BUNNIES!" Now, I don't know if he was talking about his stuffed bunny (whose oh so original name is Bunny, but Tyler usually adds an S on the end) or his bunny crackers, but it was nonstop for a good 3 or 4 miles. Never a dull moment with Tyler along for the ride! I do have an exciting new development to report...this morning as I was checking my email and a couple of websites, Tyler was sitting next to me eating his cheerios and drinking his milk. The website I was looking at had a banner ad up at the top that had animals in the graphic that changed every so often. As I'm reading the website, all of a sudden, Tyler points to the ad and says "fish." Sure enough, there was a fish (well, actually, I think it might have been a bee, but it did look like a fish!). Then it changed and he points to the ad and says "elephant!" I was so impressed. This was the first time that he has identified and said the name of animals without me prompting him. Pretty cool! He continues to amaze me every day. His word counts are increasing, too. We're now up to almost 50 words, which is what the pediatrician said they like to see by age 2! Now if I could just get the kid to eat something besides a carb...(words Tyler says include waffle, toast, cracker, bunnies--for bunny crackers, cheerios, and oh yeah FRIES... he may be a bit obsessed!)
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Things Tyler did/learned this week: * The word "gross". Thanks to his dad for that one. * How much fun it is to roughhouse with mommy. Mommy's still not sure about that one, but the giggles are so freaking adorable, I may just have to get over it and deal with the pain of a toddler jumping on me! * Started eating yogurt again. Woohoo! The secret, you ask? Shh, don't tell anyone, but...it's a STRAW. He might possibly eat just about anything if he can suck it out of a straw. Next up...pureed broccoli! Just kidding. Maybe. * How to bounce a ball off a trampoline. The kid is having an absolute blast during my physical therapy appointments, let me tell you! * How to go down the slide ALL BY HIMSELF! Up until now, he's required some mommy assistance for getting into position (ie. sitting down) at the top and a little push to get started. Today at the park, he figured it out! Yay! Ready...  Set...  GO!!! 
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I know I just posted pictures a week ago, but we had so many fun things happen this week that I had to post some more! Tyler went on his first ever toddler hike on Thursday. It was the Spring Fling for Mountain Mamas, so I thought it might be a good chance to test him out. Plus, I had to run 5 miles beforehand, so I really didn't want to carry him on my back after that! He did pretty well. We went between half and three-quarters of a mile, and it took us about an hour. A big change from Baby Hikes! The baby hikers finished the two mile loop faster than we did our short out and back. There was a lot of stopping in the middle of the trail for no good reason, and some unhappiness when he wanted his water, which I had left in the car, but other than that, it was good! We'll definitely be doing more toddler hikes soon, although probably not until after I'm done training for the half-marathon. We spent Saturday morning dying Easter eggs. Tyler loved dropping the eggs in the cups. He did not love when the water splashed up and got on his hands. Mr. Prissy strikes again! He was also not happy with me when we ran out of eggs to dye. Sorry kid, but it's going to be tough enough for me to eat all of the dozen that we did dye! Overall, it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait till next year to do it again. Today's Easter festivities were a lot of fun, too. I made up an Easter basket for Tyler with some goodies (plastic eggs filled with Bunny Grahams and raisins, a finger puppet, and crayons and a coloring book). And I "hid" the eggs we dyed in the living room and dining room. He had a great time looking for the eggs, and especially putting them back in the carton after he found them. He found all 12 eggs, with fairly minimal parental assistance! He absolutely loves his new coloring book. It's a giant book, so there's plenty of room for him to scribble. He still managed to color on the coffee table a little bit, so it's a good thing I got him washable crayons! Well, that's the recap of our Easter festivities. Check out all the pictures here (starting about halfway down the page)! Oh yeah, and Tyler says "GO MIAMI!!!!!" (It's hockey tournament time, baby!) 
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Our friends Amy and Allie tagged us not too long ago, and I've been putting off responding, because I just wasn't sure what to write. I still don't know what to write, but we're going to give this a whirl anyway. So, without further ado, here are a few things that you may or may not know about Tyler: ~Tyler has a special friend named "Bunny" (I know, original!). We actually have four Bunnies because Tyler likes to suck poor Bunny's face and bite his eyes off! We are on our third set of Bunny eyes...yes, that's per Bunny.
~Tyler actually ate a vegetable tonight!!!! It's a momentous occasion, the first vegetable (edamame) he's eaten in probably 2 or 3 months at least. ~Tyler's absolute favorite thing these days is just being outside. He's obsessed! Every opportunity, he asks to go out ("Side?"). I bought some sidewalk chalk a little while ago and he loves drawing with it. He also loves going to the playground, and just walking around the sidewalks in front of the condo. He's even happy to just wander around out on the balcony, although he got a little upset when he accidentally dropped his sippy cup off the balcony tonight! (The sippy cup miraculously survived the fall, I think it landed in the landscaping!) ~Tyler's language has really started taking off over the past couple of weeks. He's constantly saying new words that I didn't realize he knew. New favorites are "bubbles", "money", and "cheerios". ~Tyler may just be the prissiest toddler known to humankind. He doesn't like having anything unfamiliar on his hands. He's had freakouts over dirt when he falls (better now that he learned how to brush his hands off!), bubbles in the bathtub, and finger painting. On the one hand, it makes it fairly easy to keep him clean; on the other, he's a TODDLER, aren't they SUPPOSED to be dirty?? ~Admittedly, I'm biased, but Tyler has got to be the cutest, smartest, funniest kid on the planet. I am thankful every day that I was blessed with such a fabulous child! Ok, I think I've done my duty now. We don't really know many other kids with blogs, but we'll tag the ones we do...Rachel and Garrett Penner, TAG, you're it!
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We took Tyler to Breakfast with Bunny yesterday at the Y. He seemed to have a pretty good time! He was slightly interested in the Easter Bunny, although he didn't want to sit on his lap. Still, it was a big improvement over our Santa experience! He enjoyed the egg hunt a lot, too. The eggs were "hidden" in plain sight for the toddlers, and he was very proud of himself every time he found one. You can see some pictures here.
Tyler seems to be talking more lately. I'm starting to pick up more words here and there. Yesterday he pointed at his piggy bank and asked for money! He's also picked up a couple more signs, including "yes". He asks to go "side" (outside) constantly. He got quite upset with me last night when I wouldn't let him go out on the balcony after dinner (it was cold, and his coat was down in the car!). He loves going to the playground, walking around the sidewalk and driveway out front, and playing with sidewalk chalk. Unfortunately, we've got a major winter storm on the way, so we might be stuck inside for the next couple of days!
Another new favorite thing is the fork. I decided to let him try using a fork a couple of weeks ago, and he loved it. And he's actually not too bad with it, either! He's so proud of himself every time he stabs something and gets it into his mouth. :-) We went to Panda Express for dinner one night and the only thing he wanted to eat was fried rice. With the fork! He managed to stab a few grains, but I had to help him scoop and guide it into his mouth. Pretty darn cute. But then again, most things he does are!
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Tyler and I took advantage of the beautiful spring weather today to get our first zoo visit of the year in. Our friends Becky and Andrew were able to join us, and we had a great time! Tyler took his first carousel ride...he liked it at first, but after the first 30 seconds or so, he wanted off the jaguar he was sitting on. NOW. Luckily, he was ok with being held by Mommy for the rest of the ride, and even managed a few "whee"s. Tyler and Andrew both enjoyed exploring the zoo on their own (as in let me outta this stupid stroller, mom!). Of course, their favorite parts had little to do with the animals...Tyler was fascinated with every rope he saw, and they both loved the crossover paths that cut through the medians in some of the walkways. Who needs animals at the zoo anyway??? I uploaded a bunch of pictures from the zoo to Tyler's 18-24 month album, as well as a few that I thought were pretty funny from last night. When I was at the dentist last month, they let Tyler pick a toy out of the treasure chest. He picked out a pair of pink sunglasses. Last night, he found them in his basket and put them on. He thought he was SO cool and refused to take them off!
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