Tyke just keeps getting more and more fun. He loves to play with his cousins and he's lucky enough to get to do so Monday's through Friday's. Tyke loves playing with his trucks, tractors, four wheeler and blocks the most. He is constantly climbing in and out of his "Little Tikes" pick up truck. He climbs in and leans out the window to wave before honking the horn, turning the steering wheel, and climbing back out. He will play like this for a good 30+ minutes before moving on to the next obsession. He also has fun loading up the bed of the truck with toys and then throwing them out. Tyke is a curious little guy and studies everything. He will push the buttons on his cars and tractors and then flip them over quickly to study where the sound and movements are coming from. He's fascinating to watch. You can see his brain working through the look in his eyes as he studies the mechanics of things. His just like his Daddy in that way!
We are finding toys in the darndest spots. Tyke likes to carry them around and stash them in random places. His favorite hiding spots are in the surround sound speaker (we've only been able to rescue a few, the rest are a lost cause) and behind the couch. He usually hides his shoes behind the couch too. He likes to throw toys in the garbage cans so we are constantly checking them before we take the trash out. I've also found toys in the laundry bags that stay in our bedroom closet. The other day when I was doing laundry and dumped the colors into the washer three blocks fell out with them.
Tyke has a battery powered four wheeler that he loves to ride when we play outside. He doesn't quite know how to steer it but he knows that he has to push the pedal with his foot to make it go. He smiles the biggest smiles when he's outside on his motorized toys! Every time we walk out into the garage he heads straight for his truck that Nana gave him and starts pushing buttons that make noise. The nice thing about that truck is it's remote controlled so we can put him in and drive him around. The bad thing is that there is a switch to turn it on and off and the little bugger is constantly turning it off as we're trying to drive him around. He thinks it's a game and giggles so hard every time we run over to turn it back on. Tyke loves playing outside and throws huge fits when it's time to go back inside. We almost always have to just pick him up and take him in because if we grab his hand to have him follow us he drops to the ground and is dead weight. I can't believe how fast he learned that naughty little trick! We're excited for spring and summer so we can spend as much time as possible outside, for now it's still a little on the chilly side most days.
Tyke is getting to be quite the dancer. Whenever music plays we wiggles and shakes and head bangs so hard he almost tips over. He has also started to spin in circles. It's more like walking in circles for him, but it's enough that it usually makes him dizzy and he falls down. It's funny to watch. Like I said, he has us almost constantly laughing.
Tyke is pro at walking and for the most part he speed walks. He's gets where he's going fast! Sometimes too fast! If the fridge/freezer of pantry doors open he's in there in the blink of an eye getting what he wants. In the freezer he loves to grab himself a chocolate chip and then look up at us with a happy, pleased grin. In the fridge he reaches in and opens up the bottom drawer to grab himself a juice box. He pulls it out, closed the drawer, helps us close the fridge door and then rips the straw off the box and hands it to us. He's very helpful like that! In the pantry he goes straight for the treat bucket even though he never finds anything worth eating in there. We keep all of his food and treats up higher than he can reach so we usually have to grab them for him. He's very picky about what he wants when he wants it. The other day I kept offering different treats and he kept shaking his head no in disgust until I found the right one, animal crackers, and then his face lit up and he squealed and reached up at me for them. It's fun that he communicates so well now!!
Tyke likes to be in the kitchen, at our feet, while we're trying to cook meals. He follows us closely and we're almost always tripping over him. He likes to help and is most happy when we pick him up so he can see what's going on at the stove. He likes to adjust the knobs to the stove and either cooks our food on high or turns it off. He's a handful and we're always getting after him to NOT touch the stove or oven but he thinks it's a game. Almost all of our baby proofing that we've done he's out smarted. He can get into the drawers no problem even though we can't. He likes to play with the spatulas and scatter them around the house. I found one in the bath tub the other day courtesy of Tyke! He can also pull the outlet covers out with no problem at all. He's too smart for his own good!
Tyke loves his bath time and refuses to get out, even after all of the water has been drained. He'll sit in the empty tub and play with his toys and ignore us. I'll tell him it's time to get out and he'll duck his head and shake it no while mumbling at me. We do this back and forth four or five times before I finally just pull him out and stand him on the bath mat while I wrap him in his towel. He droops his head and hangs his arms in front of him like it's something tragic, which I suppose it is, because he knows what's coming next and it's always a huge fight. Lotion, diaper, clean ears and nose, and jammies, his least favorite thing of the day to have to do. He screams and tries so hard to get away from this torture (which is how he got his first set of stitches by the way). Some nights it takes both Chad and I to control him. He cries and cries until it's all done and we put him down to go and play. It's frustrating but what do you do?
Tyke is finally eating like a champ again! He does so well with all of his meals now. He drinks a lot of milk through out the day but that doesn't stop him from having a huge appetite for solid foods. He'll usually eat a whole thing of instant mac and cheese for lunch (his favorite food). He's almost like a bottomless pit, if you feed him he will eat. For dinner time we dish him up his own plate of food and give him his spoon. Sometimes he only likes one of the food groups in his dish and will dig out everything else until that's all that remaining. For example, the other night we dished him up some plain browned hamburger. He was so excited until we topped it off with noodles covered in spaghetti sauce. He immediately got to work digging out every last noodle and sauce covered hamburger until it was just plain hamburger and then he ate. After he was done with the hamburger he did finally give in and eat the noodles too. Silly boy! He refuses help from us and does really good feeding himself. We still have plenty of messes to clean up but he hits his mouth 9 out of 10 times. Sometimes in between bites he'll throw a piece or two at us and laugh. He hates to have his hands dirty with food and will freak out until we clean him up. He also gets mad when he can't get his food to stay on the spoon. Tyke is starting to like to have a little "dipper" for his foods now. Aunt Jenny taught him the joys of that! After dinner and bath time, some nights we have a bowl of ice cream. Tyke loves ice cream! He snuggles right up on his daddy's lap and lays back and opens his mouth, ready for the next bite. Chad gets in trouble when he runs out of ice cream.
Our little guy is growing like a weed. He's quickly losing the baby look and looking more like a little boy. We have finally retired a lot of Tyke's baby clothes. He's now wearing a lot of 18 month clothes, a few of the 12 month still fit him. His issues with clothes fitting him are his height and the size of his head. Tyke is in a size 5 shoe and does really well wearing them. He doesn't pull them off like most kids do. Occasionally he'll get mad and try to pull them off but needs help. His feet get super hot and sweaty some days so taking off his shoes is a quick fix to his tantrum. Tyke is currently in size 4 diapers and we're trying once again to find a brand that we like. Some fit too tight and the one caused a bad diaper rash that we're still trying to fight. Tyke has 7 teeth, one of them being a molar that's still causing him misery. He won't let us look to see if there are any more coming in but he's started fever and drool a lot again so we think more are coming.
We love this little boy so much! He's so much fun and brightens our days. We are very proud parents and so glad that Tyke continues to grow, learn and be such a happy little guy! He's the best!
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