Five for Friday

Time is slipping by me again!  Work has been very busy and we're also in the middle of shave ice season, so a Five for Friday will have to do to help keep me current!

1.  My company designed a splash park for South Riding that opened this summer.  It took four attempts (the first three spoiled by weather or maintenance issues) for me to be able to take the boys, but we finally made it!  Afterwards we drove from the pool to our townhouse to give our renters the paperwork to get their own pool passes.  It's funny that it's the only time we ever went to a pool in our neighborhood in eight years, after it was no longer our neighborhood!  I really loved watching the boys enjoy something that I designed, and Timmy thought it was pretty cool that I built it!

2.  We found out why Sophia was a no show to Timmy's birthday party... her family moved to Colorado on short notice for her dad's job.  Luckily, I emailed her mom right after the party to try to set up a playdate, and her mom offered to have Timmy meet Sophia at Chuck E Cheese the day before they were moving.  They enjoyed each other's company and played some games together and did some stuff on their own as well.  I was more upset then Timmy, and that was a relief!  Timmy and Sophia had little ID cards made of each other and traded them, so Sophia has a card with Timmy's face that says he's an officer, and Timmy has Sophia's princess card.  He has mentioned her a few times since then, talking about how she has moved away.

3.  Tyler has reached the stage where he can prove how much his little brain is connecting.  On the way to a doctor appointment a week and a half ago, he saw an airplane, "Mommy! Bearplane!"  "Yeah... I see that airplane"  "It flies!"  "It sure does fly"  "Bird!"  "You're right! It flies like a bird!"  The next day, Tyler begged for a banana that he took a nibble of and then said he didn't want.  He was seated at the table with just a place mat, but I told him to just put the banana on his plate.  He made a funny face while looking at the table, and then told me, "There's no plate here."  These full sentences are still shocking me...  We were hopeful that he had gotten through his grumpy "stage", which appears to be Tyler's version of the Terrible Two's, but it has resurfaced!  He seems to think he can only love so many people at one time!  When we first moved in, he was always very grumpy towards Grammy, and Becky was one of his favorite people.  That has apparently been reversed for now!  At his 2 Year Appointment he was 28 lbs and 2'-10", he didn't cry too much over his shots.  I ordered training potty's today... wish us luck... my least favorite part of being a parent so far is potty training!  But, Tyler tells us all the time as he's about to go potty, and seconds later, when he's all done, so we're going to give it a shot!

4.  Timmy is turning into a frog.  Right around when we opened our pool I also got Timmy into a six session swim class.  It was good timing, as he usually spends the first several weeks of the summer being afraid of the pool and just wanting to play on the steps.  He started out at our house still being weird about getting in, but jumped right in and did everything his instructor asked him to at class, so we put our foot down at home and told him to stop being silly.  I didn't want to get him goggles because I didn't want him to feel like he always had to have them, but after seeing his red eyes a few weeks in a row, I finally bought him a pair.  You would think I bought him gills.  I don't think his face came fully out of the water his first session with them!  It really helped his swimming too, and at this point he can jump from one side of the pool and froggy swim under the water to the opposite side on the same breath!  He also gets dive sticks and can float on his back for almost 10 seconds.  I am planning to put him back in lessons this winter, but hopefully he'll be able to skip a few levels!  At his 5 Year Appointment he was 45 lbs and 3'-9"!  He did cry over his shots... for a long time.  The nurse even tried to help me calm him down by assuring him they were over, but Timmy kept saying, "I told you I wouldn't like the shots!"  I just kept telling him I never thought he would like them, but he had to have them if he wanted to go back to school!

5.  Tim's Birthday was last Saturday and we had a very nice day celebrating him.  As soon as we woke up we baked Tim a cake, and Timmy asked me how old Daddy was turning.  When I told him 32 he made a silly face and then said, "So, he has to have 32 candles on his cake?!"  And so it did.  We finally went to see Monster's University which was a really good movie, thank goodness!  Becky babysat for us and Chris DD'd for us that evening and we went to Dogfish Head Alehouse with Billy and Jeff to wrap up the day.

To Timmy, at Five Years Old

Timmy,

I don't know where to start today, you are just too much!  You are so many things simultaneously, and they shouldn't all fit together.  You are so sweet, so stubborn, so damn smart, so great with Tyler, so energetic, so handsome, so mean to Tyler, so aware of your emotions and full of empathy, so full of reasons not to go to bed.  You are so much.

Timmy at Birth, 2008

You are as sweet as can be.  You shower us with kisses and hugs and you love to be snuggled and still like to be carried.  You know that Tyler gets carrying priority over you though.  While you and Tyler are both still Mamma's boys, when Daddy can't convince Tyler to come snuggle with him, you happily go over and give Daddy your snuggles, hugs, and kisses without prompting.

You are stubborn with a one track mind.  Once you decide there is something you want to be doing, you ask over and over and over.  It is very hard to get you to change your plans!  You have started to try to negotiate with us, which is how Daddy and I frequently settle plans with each other, so this doesn't surprise me too much.  You are a quick learner.

Timmy at his 1st Birthday Party

You are so smart and you are really starting to figure out the way the World works.  You butter us and your grandparents up before asking for a favor, like to play with our tablets.  For your birthday party we arranged to have Teddy Roosevelt surprise you.  Except you weren't surprised.  When you saw him you said, "Hey Teddy, what are you doin' here?" but you weren't shocked.  On the way home Daddy asked you how you knew Teddy was coming.  You answered, "Well, you put his picture on the invitation, so I thought he might come."  Your vocabulary is growing as fast as you are, you are talking the way we talk, and using all of your new words correctly.

You are great with Tyler.  You encourage him to accomplish new things, like climbing up the slide.  You wake him up to come downstairs with you on weekend morning's, and you always let him watch Mickey Mouse, even though you've seen every episode multiple times by now.  When he gets hurt, you will come over and check on him, rub his back and say, "Ohhh, poor you," and Tyler will agree with you, "Uh-huh" while you give him a kiss.  You introduce him to people, "This is my little brother Ty-lur" and you protect him whenever necessary.  You love him with everything you've got.

Timmy on his 2nd Birthday

You never stop moving.  Even when you are laying down watching you tube videos of other people playing video games (your current favorite past time, and when asked why you like it so much, you said that you were learning how to play in case Daddy ever gets you those games) you are wiggling, bouncing your legs up and down, flopping from one position to another.  Your favorite activity outside is still running, though being in the pool will be rivaling that soon I'm sure.

You are so handsome and it's not just a mother's eyes that think so!  When we posted your T-ball picture, both Aunt Jenny and Nicole asked for prints so they could frame them!

Timmy at his 3rd Birthday Party

You can be out right mean to Tyler, which is what the big sibling is supposed to be, sometimes, I'm going to keep telling myself.  One minute you will be playing nicely, and the next you are grabbing whatever he's got away from him.  You tease and torment him and you escalate it until we intervene.  You are definitely toughening him up.  You better get it out of your system while you're still bigger then he is though, and that won't be forever.  Tyler has been known to knock you out of his way and holds his ground pretty well already.  You do go back to being sweet as fast as you started being mean most of the time.

I've seen since you were really little that you were aware of your feelings and of others' more so then most kids your age.  We thought that Sophia was going to come to your birthday party, but she didn't make it.  No one said anything about it at the party but when we got home and I had you to myself for a moment I asked you if you had fun and if we'd done a good job for your party.  With a big smile you said yes, but then you said, "I was really disappointed that Sophia didn't come.  I was really looking forward to seeing her."  It was such a grown up feeling and grown up expression of that feeling that it hurt my heart for you and showed me how grown up you already are.

Timmy at his 4th Birthday Party

You hate bed time.  If you could sleep in our room every night you wouldn't mind it.  But your days of sleeping in our room, now that Tyler wants to sleep with us when you do, are going to be fewer and farther between!  You two are wild animals in your sleep and Mommy and Daddy can't take it!  Some of your pleas to stay up have been getting wilder.  The Friday that your first round of VBS wrapped up you were in bed asking me if you could stay up later.  When I said no, you told me, "God made us for having fun and for being nice.  Especially parents to be nice."  Recently you had told me that you help Susan with the dishes every day.  That night, when you said goodnight to everyone, Grammy happened to be doing dishes.  From your bed you begged and pleaded with me to let you go help Grammy, "but I haven't done dishes all day!" you reasoned.

We are so in love with you.  When you were born you filled every void we didn't even know was empty.  I am in awe watching you make your way through the World.  Suzanne and I recently complained that everyone tells you about the terrible two's but no one tells you how difficult five year olds are!  I think that two and five are my favorite ages though!  They are both big years for change, which I dread and am in awe of simultaneously.  I can not wait to watch you keep growing and changing this year, especially when you enter elementary school!  When I look at you all I can think is, "Wow."  I love you Tim-Tim.

Timmy at his 5th Birthday Party

TBall Spring 2013

Timmy and Tim just wrapped up another season of Tball this weekend.  Caleb and Carter were on the team again, as well as Ethan, a friend from preschool.  It was a good group of kids and they really learned a lot this season.

Suzanne and I felt a little more prepared from the start of the season, since we at least managed to have a banner for the kick off parade!

There were a total of 12 kids on the team this year, Tim handled the mayhem really well and you could see improvement in each kid, from throwing better, to understanding running the bases, and where to throw the ball once fielded.  This was the first season that we got to play on real fields, with a real dug out.  Us spectators also got bleachers, which helped keep poor Tyler off the field.

Our first game of the year we had every player, I'm not sure that happened again at a game!

This adorable sight could be seen every week at practice.  Poor Tyler can hit as well as some of the kids on the team, but he will have to wait two more full years to play for real!  Thank goodness for Stella and the playground to help keep Tyler off the field!

We had a young team, one of the early games the other coach asked Tim to send over a player who could read to take the Tball pledge (yes, seriously)  Tim's response was simply, "I don't have a player who can read..."  Considering that the other teams had much older players, and kids who had played before, our team  of almost all first time players did really well.  We were at least through half of the games before we ever got an out, but they saved it for our big night game, which made it even cooler.  Timmy fielded the ball at pitcher and had a great throw to Oliver at first base who caught it on one hop, directly in front of the runner for a tag.  The next play Oliver actually made an unassisted out, so once they got the hang of outs, things really picked up!  Timmy is a solid hitter, here's one from the night game.

The kids were asked to sell coupon books door-to-door as a fundraiser for the league.  Each child is asked to try to sell 10, with earning a shirt at 15 and a bat at 20 coupons sold.  Timmy and I went around with him in his uniform for three evenings in a row and sold 20.  He was one of only two tballers to sell that many!  We are looking forward to getting his bat!

This season also brought us to our first end of year picnic which includes the All-Star Game (and this seasons learning curve for Suzanne and I, we have a whole list of things to do for next years picnic!)  The last few practices Tim ran drills to see who could throw the furthest and who could run the fastest to see who would compete in those competitions, and he also got to select two players for the game.  Timmy and Caleb were the choice for the game, and the players who won our teams competitions weren't able to come, so Caleb got to represent the Ironbirds for the fastest runner, and Timmy did the farthest throw.

Timmy's first At Bat as an All Star was a great one.

(All-Star team picture coming as soon as it is emailed to us!)

Tyler enjoyed spending the afternoon with Stella.  He ate the entire bag of chips this way

And the last thing we did on the way out was let Timmy try the dunk tank.  His final throw did hit the target straight on, but apparently not hard enough to drop the bench!  The coach in the tank was so nice that he jumped off the platform and dunked himself for Timmy!

Tyler Talking

Tim and I have each been blown away by how much Tyler is talking already at 25 months.  Monday night Tyler walked up to Tim, who had just sat down with a drink, and Tyler said, "I want some."  The same conversation contained "More, please,"  "All done," and "I did it!"

Over the weekend we were getting ready to get lunch and I told the boys I'd be ready in a few minutes and went downstairs.  Almost as soon as I shut my door I heard Tyler knocking and in a very sing-songy tone said, "Come oonnnn, I'm waitinnng!"  He did not say it as much with his pronunciation as with his inflection, but when I asked him, did you just say, "Come on, I'm waiting?" He said yes with a huge, toothy grin.  I sent him running to tell his dad the same thing!

Susan and Tim have taught Tyler a ton of animal sounds all of a sudden.

When asked, "What does Timmy say?" Tyler will answer, "Hi-ya!"  And while enjoying their first, freezing cold, dip in the pool last night, Tim happened to say the word "snake" while talking to Timmy.  Tyler suddenly went, "Sssssssssssssssss" tongue out and all!

Luckily I already had my camera out for the playground yesterday, because Tyler suddenly lost his fear of going down the slide without having someone catch him, and also successfully climbed up the slide for the first time.

More May

May went by very quickly this year!  Mother's Day was right after Tyler's birthday.  Tim, Timmy, and Tyler treated me to some beautiful flowers and some gifts before we headed out to The Cheesecake Factory for brunch.  When we got home, Timmy entertained himself for hours while the rest of us napped!  It was a very nice day!

Timmy and Joe started on a fossil dig.  It is a very time consuming effort so they will be breaking it up into several attempts!

Our Shave Ice season started off Memorial Day weekend, but we managed to sneak in a cook out with Jenny, Brett, Brayden, and Bryce before getting to work!  The cousins play so well together, I love it!