February 22-28

Well I have not had much to post this last week because Tyler and I have been sick and pretty much homebound. We are still coughing and now it seems like poor little Mia has finally succumbed. Needless to say, I will be going to bed right after I post this because it might be a long night.


We are still having snow and cold weather with more snow on the way. This is the endless winter. We have had a good time these past few days in spite of not feeling too great. Mike and I started painting the inside of the house last weekend so I am working on that a little bit each day and Tyler has been "helping" me clean out closets and cook. We have baked muffins, cookies and made baby food for Mia. We have played every game, done every puzzle, painted, colored, done crafts and workbooks, played computer games, built forts, used Mommy's bathtub as a swimming pool and acted out countless animal rescues. Mia just likes to watch her crazy brother. But she been up to tricks of her own, her greatest new feat is clapping. She just did it accidentally but caught on once I started cheering her on. Tyler is trying to teach her to talk. "Mia, say 'Mamma', say 'Dada', say 'Ty-Ty"." He is really good with her for the most part except trying to pick her up and today he fed her a grape. Yeah, that almost gave me a heart attack. I looked over at her and she is giving me this very weird expression and I see that she has something in her mouth. Thank goodness I was able to easily fish it out. Tyler talked to Mike and Grammy C on the phone right after it happened and said, "Don't feed Mia grapes. She is too little." So hopefully the message got through. It is confusing for him because I am always stressing sharing and then I say, "But you can't share grapes!" I can see the little wheels in his mind working but I am the first to admit it's hard to for a 2-year old to grasp what a baby can and can't have.

If you give a baby a banana... She will smear it all over herself (from head to toe), all over her highchair, all over the floor and you will still find banana 12 hours later when you give her a bath.

February 20

Go Diego Go! LIVE!


Tyler has been eagerly anticipating this day for many weeks now. When he woke up this morning I told him today was the day and that after he took his nap we would be going to see Diego so starting at about 9:30 he kept saying, "I'll go take my nap now." We had about a 40 minute drive so I let him watch one of the Diego dvds on the way so he was primed by the time we arrived and immediately when you walk in they have every piece of Diego merchandise you could imagine. It was hard for Tyler to decide what to get but $30 later we were proud owners of a new Diego t-shirt and one of the swirly flashlights.





We didn't really know what to expect but the show was extremely well done. It was 90 minutes including a brief intermission so you could go buy more Diego merchandise. Diego and Dora were actors in costume but not like a mascot just like someone on broadway would dress. The animals were beautiful puppets. He didn't have any trouble associating the cartoon characters with the actors on stage. They made it interactive for the kids by giving them Baby Jaguar masks and having them participate in the show. We have never seen Tyler so well-behaved. He literally sat on Mike's lap spellbound for the entire show. Mia sat on my lap dancing and yelling right along with the other kids. I think it is something Tyler will remember for a long time. In fact, I am sure he will wake up tomorrow and ask when we are going again.

February 18

Life is good when you are 6 months old.

Mia is at a really good age right now. She is all giggles and smiles. Loves to eat expecially if it is something her big brother is also eating and pretty much everything makes her laugh. Her and Tyler interact more each day and she still adores her brother. I know the day is coming that the two of them are going to plot against me. Tyler is very good at helping me make sure she doesn't put any of his small toys in her mouth. I think Mia is going to be my child that sort of hangs up back more and is content to survey the situation and take it all in whereas her brother jumps in feet first, actually more like a cannonball.

February 16-17

We had our dear friends over the dinner Saturday night. It is a great match because we have kids close in age and Maddy and Tyler have very similar personalities (strong-willed) and Jen and I are both pretty laid back. So it works out well. Jen cooked a wonderful dinner and I made the mistake of thinking chocolate fondue would be a good idea for 2 year olds - lesson learned on my part and they did have fun. Maddy and Tyler were my helpers in making the salad.

Today I asked Tyler to tell me a story. Here is a snapshot of the conversation:

Me: "So tell me a story."

Tyler: "Once upon a time there was a witch." Long pause

Me: "What kind of witch?"

Tyler: "A pretty witch who lived in the ocean."

Mike: "Did she have a boat?"

Tyler: "A speedboat." pause "Don't be scared Daddy."

Mike: "What else about the witch?"

Tyler: "The witch eats hot dogs, peas and ice cream."

THE END

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Last night I created a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt for Tyler. I cut out paper hearts with clues on them and hid them all around the house. Tyler is really into hide-and-seek so I thought he would enjoy figuring out the clues and finding his gift. Since Tyler and Mia BOTH decided to give us an early wake-up call today - 5:15 am to be exact we got to do our scavenger hunt quite early in the morning. Tyler had fun and thinks we should do one everyday now. The clues eventually led him to the clothes dryer where he was rewarded with a new puzzle and Curious George Bubble bath. Mia was mostly captivated with the red tissue paper in her goody bag.








Here is my little determined-to-do-whatever-her-brother-does baby eating her first cereal bar. We were making brownies for a friend of mine yesterday and she threw an absolute fit when I let Tyler lick the spoon and wouldn't let her. Today, she saw Tyler eating a cereal bar and I decided to let her try it and she ate the entire bar.

Feb 7 - Feb 12

Mia had her 6 month check-up this week and all is well. She is my cute little butterball at 25" - 70th percentile and 17lbs - 35th percentile. I hope she enjoys this time of her life. It's the only time in your life that the rounder you are the cuter you are. Her favorite food by far is yogurt. She just can't get enough and now Tyler is eating YoBaby again. He also enjoys feeding her but we are still working on his finesse with the spoon. Poor Mia gets gagged about every other spoonful.

Mia's favorite toy these days is the red car Grammy Collins bought Tyler when Mia was born. She literally cries when she can't reach it.

Mia's first hair cut and literally it was just a hair or two but we are still going to count it for the record books.

Not sure if you can tell from this picture but Mia and her cousin Carly have the exact same eye color.

Tyler going on a trip with his new luggage (compliments of Aunt Lori) although I am not sure he is going to get far because it is -35 degrees and he isn't wearing any pants.

Jan 31 - Feb 6

This past week has brought snow, more snow, thunder snow (this is the newest term our highly skilled meteorologists have thought up) rain, ice and blizzard-force winds. In case you are wondering Chicago is on track for the snowiest winter ever so it has turned out to be a good year for us because Mia likes to stay at home and sleep and Tyler likes to run around in the nude all day or maybe in his Spiderman underwear if I am lucky. If you have been following the potty-training. It's done! Tyler is fully potty-trained. He wears a pull up at night but he wakes up dry so we can probably cut that out as well. I just know my son and know that if he isn't wearing a pull-up the nighttime manipulation tactic to get out of going to bed is going to be, "but daddy I have to go to the potty again.". Those smart two year olds. Now when I tell a tiny white lie (and those parents who say they never lie to their kids - well yeah right) anyway, if I say, "Oh that is not on tv right now." Tyler will say, "Well let me see." Where does he come up with that?!

Preschool enrollment is very competitive here in Chicagoland. More competitive than perhaps college since you practically have to enroll a year in advance. And, I can't believe I did this, but I actually set my alarm clock on Sunday night and woke up at midnight to call in and get Tyler into the program we liked the best. Then, being the helicopter parent (another new media-coined term) that I am, I went on Tuesday and met with the Director for a little face-time so I could make sure I saw her put his name in the computer in the right class. How ridiculous I have become.

Right now, the countdown is on for "Go Diego Go Live." As you probably know by now, Tyler adores Diego and saw a commercial for this show and said, "look Mom, Diego is coming to Chicago!" So Mike is going to leave work a little early on the 20th and meet us at the Sears Center for the action-packed live show. It was between going to see Rush or Baby Jaguar (tickets practically cost the same). Actually this is going to get us out of having to go see the Wiggles so Mike is all for it.

Also, if you wonder why Mia is never smiling in her pictures, every time the orange flash lights up she just freezes so I only get good pictures when it is really light outside and I don't need it.

Funny Tylerism. The other day I was changing Mia's diaper and he keeps reaching his hand up the back of my shirt and the first couple of times I just wasn't really paying attention and then I finally asked him what he was doing and he said, "Just scratching your back for you Mommy."

Mike teaching Tyler guitar-hero.