Nats Fest 2014

Last weekend we took the boys to Nats Fest 2014.  It was a really fun event that we all enjoyed.  We got to go in a little early since we are partial season ticket holders, so we got to do a few things before it got really crowded.  Timmy and Tyler demanded that we go straight to the batting inflatable, and they took a few turns each!

 From there, Tim went ahead to get in line for pictures with players.  I waited with the boys to have balloon hats made, and then Timmy took some batting practice from, we are assuming, some minor league players.  He thought it was so cool that he got a few hits off of "real baseball players"!

The boys got to take a picture with Doug Fister and Danny Espinosa.  The players were really nice, sitting down on the bench so Timmy and Tyler could actually be in the picture!

Timmy had asked if he would get to run the bases, and I was happy to see they had a set up of 3rd to Home.  They took a few turns each the first time we went.  Later, while Tim was waiting in line for our autographs, they went literally dozens of times!  Both people starting and timing them commented every time they came through.  Timmy was in heaven!  He did get Tyler to race him one time; Tyler, ready for his nap, had a melt down before he was half way down the line because Timmy was already done, I had to go pick him up!  They went a few more times individually, before Timmy asked Tyler to race him again, but promised to go slow.  Tyler agreed and Timmy went at a snails pace!

Tim headed off to hear people talking about the organization...

So I took the boys over to "Story Time with the Players" to see what it was like.  It was awesome.  Bryce Harper was sitting there reading Corduroy to the group!  I maneuvered the boys up to the closest empty bean bags and we enjoyed listening to the first book.  After he finished, he asked for volunteers to pick a second book.  I had brought along copies of our Christmas Card from 2012 with the hopes of having them autographed if Bryce was in our session, after seeing him ask for volunteers, I took one over to Timmy and told him that if he got picked to choose the next book, to give him our card.  Timmy passed this job off to Tyler, and then held Tyler's hand in the air through the entire second book!  Bryce read, "The Berenstein Bears go out for Baseball" and it was pretty entertaining.  He laughed at several parts of the story, and towards the end substituted the team name "Orioles" for "Nationals", and then admitted what he had done.  It was cool to see his personality showing around the kids.

Top right and bottom left you can see Timmy holding Tyler's arm up!

Tyler was indeed selected to pick the third book, and he successfully delivered our Christmas card to Bryce!  I checked after he left, and he did take it with him!

Joe was working the event and after story time we found him to say hello for a few minutes.  Then Tim headed off to the autograph line and the boys did all of their base running!  We joined Tim for the last stretch of the line and got autographs from Danny Espinosa and Tyler Clippard.  Espinosa recognized them from the photo session, asking if he'd taken pictures with them earlier.  We were supposed to get one autograph per player, so Tim had given one ball to Timmy and one to Tyler, and told them who to give their ball too.  Luckily, after signing Timmy's ball, Danny reached for Tyler's as well, and Clippard followed suit, both signing both balls.  Tyler excited told Clippard that his name was Tyler too.  Both players were very nice.

On our way out Tim went to the shop and the boys and I wandered over to see where we were hearing music from.  Two musicians who frequently play at the park were there giving demonstrations and letting the kids check out their instruments.  They both loved playing the Baseball Bat (!) and the organ!

Tim was shopping for a Dug Out Line Up card for himself, and found one he liked and then noticed it was from his own birthday!  Looking a little further, he found the line up card from Tyler's actual birth date!  So they were both added to his memorabilia collection.

Tyler at 32 Months

Tyler is torn right now between being a big boy and being the baby of the family!  In some ways he's so big; he's usually very independent, speaks in complete sentences (though he's not always understood) and he keeps up with Timmy most of the time.  On the other hand, he wants me to carry him around, still sucks his thumb, and refuses to go anywhere near a toilet most of the time!

Every time that Tyler gets hurt or almost gets hurt (ie, falls off the climbing structure, jumps from the 6th stair to the landing, gets knocked over by Timmy) he gets a huge grin and says, "That was AWETHOME!"  Come to think of it, Tyler says almost everything is 'awethome' including burping, tv shows, video games, and sucking his thumb.  If everything is awethome then everyone is "Silwy."  He says this very cutely, and it is a big improvement over the first word he started calling everyone, "Stupid."  I don't know where that one came from, but I'm glad he's now understanding that he can't use it!  His other big phrase, and this one has been around even longer, is, "See, I told youuu!"  Now partnered with "Silwy" on the end.  It does not matter if he actually told you something or not, if he sees something that he likes, he told you, even if you first told him something!  That situation can be turned into ten minutes of, "No, I told you!"

My favorite, favorite things he says pretty regularly, upon first seeing me when I get home, or sometimes even if I've just been out of sight for awhile, is, "Mom! You my best!"  The first time he said it he seemed to know there should really be another word on the end of his sentence, because he looked a little confused.  I don't mind him leaving it open ended though!

Here are some videos of me prompting him to say all this stuff, so you can hear his pronunciation yourself.

Tyler plays with Timmy almost constantly, sometimes much to Timmy's dismay, but usually they can figure out something to do together.  When Timmy is having homework time, Tyler will either ask to do homework too (color) or will get in some good independent play time.  His independent play and play with Timmy is becoming more sophisticated.  Tyler really loves playing with the duplos and the blocks, building towers and knocking them back down.

I just had Tyler's parent teacher conference last week and was told that his cognitive play has taken a big step forward lately, and that he's even working on puzzles with his friends Jasir and Sebastian and they are talking to each other about the pieces.  Ms Sue says Tyler particularly loves when she brings out something new, and that he always wants to help with baking and art especially, and every chance to go outside.

For all these growing up strides, Tyler is still my baby.  He is perfectly capable of walking up and down the stairs by himself, unless I'm in the house.  The other night he actually walked up the steps, then realized I was standing at the top of them, and started walking back down demanding that I come pick him up at the bottom!  I grabbed him and ran up the next flight of steps before he could get away!  I am constantly hearing, "Mommm! Pick me up..." in a pathetic voice.  He also tries to tell me, "I can't" and, "I no know how" either is followed with, "I need you help me."  This is regular response to requests as simple as helping Timmy clean up, to stop crying, or to tell everyone goodnight!  He's luck he's so cute!

Whenever we see Tyler sucking his thumb we tell him to stop.  He mostly does it when he's tired, and he will immediately pull it out and either give a sheepish grin or be frustrated (with himself for forgetting, I think...) and grunt and kind of hit his fist into his leg.  If it happens a whole bunch of times in a row, or if he really just wants to suck that thumb, that is when he'll say, "My thumb awethome..."

We have had a few instances where we thought Tyler was getting ready to potty train, extending all the way back to last summer.  One morning a few weeks ago when I saw that his diaper was still completely dry, I convinced him to sit on his little potty.  He sat for a few minutes and two little drops came out, he sat up straight and yelled,  "I did it!" and then declared himself done and demanded his diaper, which was of course full just a few minutes later.  We did do that whole excited thing, told every family member we saw for days, gave him a pee prize toy and everything, but he hasn't gone near the potty again since!

Tyler is still pretty serious.  He does like to tease and laugh, but even when he's pretending he speaks very seriously.  For a while now, whenever it's just him and I going somewhere, as I get him out of the car he tells me, "Mom, I'm Batman.  You're Robin.  Let's go get the bad guys."  There's no follow up to this announcement, he's just stating a fact, though sometimes he's Superman or Spiderman and I'm Wonder Woman.  Recently, especially at bedtime now he'll say, "Mom.  I tell you something. (one of his favorite tactics for not getting into bed or otherwise doing what we've asked him to do)  I'm not Batman.  You're not Robin.  I no know how to be Superhero."  The first time he let me in on this realization I told him, "That's okay, I like being Mommy, do you like being Tyler?"  His reply was, "No.  I want be Superhero."  He's too cute.