Ty & Wes Time: Soup Drinking, "Bad", Puzzles & No More Highchair?

23 Months & 1 Week

Last Friday I had an epiphany. I really should start toilet-training with Tyson. He is the most regular kid in the world. Of course I am only thinking of poop at this point, but he poops right after breakfast, lunch, and dinner like clockwork. Even though he does say, “poop” and “pee” – he really doesn’t know what it means yet. So after lunch on Friday, I ran right up to the toilet and sat him on it and had books to read to keep him occupied. Wouldn’t you know it, he wouldn’t go on the big toilet. He was pretty scared. I don’t blame him – I was balancing him and I am sure he felt like he was going to fall in at any second! So I knew that wouldn’t work and I needed to order a kid’s potty. More on this…stay tuned for next week! On Friday night, Tyson was driving me crazy. In a span of 45 minutes, he emptied all my loose recipe papers and recipe cards and pushed them as far back as he could underneath our hutch, he dumped the trash can out and fed the trash to the dogs TWICE, he climbed up on the bar stools TWICE, he climbed on top of the kitchen table, he got his hands on a brand-new ink cartridge for the printer and threw it away, he took all of my decorations in our guest room and threw them on the family room floor, and he dumped the dog water all over the wood floor. All in 45 minutes, while we were trying to get supper ready. I had had enough. Heath had the gall to say, “Alison, I think you are losing your patience with him.” REALLY? Yes, I was. At the same time, you love him for all his crazy antics, but it can be down-right exhausting.

My rascal getting ready to get onto the table

On Sabbath I had to work and Heath & Ty went over to Portland to see Heath’s Aunt Sandy in the hospital. She had her surgery for her colon cancer and a lot of the family went to visit. After the visit, the family went to the ocean at Wells and walked around. Tyson, of course, ran straight into the water! He was completely soaked in no time. The unfortunate part was that Heath did not have any change of clothes for Ty. I had stopped putting extra clothes in the diaper bag for awhile, since he hasn’t had a blow-out in about a year, and the diaper bag is heavy enough. Well, that was a problem on Saturday night. Heath ended up buying a new outfit for Ty and then they went out to eat. I had a nice evening to myself, while they were driving back from Maine. Then I went into the shower at around 11 PM, came out, and called for the dogs. Heath scared me to death when he answered me from our bedroom! I didn’t know they were back and to hear a man’s voice, even for a nano-second before I realized that it was Heath – freaked me out!

On Sunday I worked and Heath had a turn at having Ty to himself at home all day. I ran to the pharmacies on the way home and got free Blistex, free gum, and best deal of all…Johnson & Johnson Natural shampoo/body wash that we use for Ty for $0.50 each. I was able to get two of them, and they usually cost $5.99 each. I had run out so it was perfect that they went on sale when they did. When I got home, Heath said, “Tyson is Dennis the Menace. I can’t do anything with him. He doesn’t listen to me. He gets into everything.” I couldn’t help but smile and ask him, “Heath, are you losing your patience with him?” Ha ha!

On Sunday night/Monday morning, Ty was up crying a few times during the night. He had been doing this lately and it all seems pretty behavioral. He didn’t seem in pain or anything, he just doesn’t want me to leave and wants to come to bed with us. So I made him cry it out during the night. He got the hint and went back to sleep, but it was not a great night sleep for him or me. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Ty (and me) slept in until 10AM! That never happens. But we both definitely needed it. It throws the entire schedule off for the day, but it was worth it. On Monday night, I had made chicken noodle soup and Ty loved it! It was so funny. I looked over at him in his high chair and he had the bowl up to his mouth and he was drinking the broth from the bowl! I said, “Ty, where did you learn to do that?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I looked over and Heath was drinking the broth out of his bowl!!!! Heath is teaching our son bad manners! What was really bad was that after Ty was done, instead of saying, “All done,” like he has finally started to do… he took the glass bowl and threw it on the floor, shattering it into a million pieces. Yes, I need to invest in some plastic dishes for Ty, obviously… but he has never thrown that on the floor before – usually it is just his food. Well, that was a mess. I told Ty that he was “bad” and he proceeded to copy me, and saying, “baaa” really loudly. That is now his new favorite word it seems like. He doesn’t say the “d” – so it is just “baaa”, but he will point to things that are off-limit (like the box fan) and say, “baa.” Pretty cute.

Drinking his soup

On Tuesday I had an OB appointment and had to take Ty by myself. Shannon had a job interview at a new hospital, closer to her new place and Noni was baby-sitting Finley. I was a little worried at how Ty would do in the appointment, since he is on the go at all times, but then I said, “Alison, suck it up. How do single mothers do it with multiple children? This is not a big deal.” And it wasn’t. I put him in the stroller and he was good as gold as I met with my doc. I gained another 4 pounds, my boy’s heartbeat was 148, and I am measuring perfectly. So she thinks I am in the clear with the fluid at this time and I can stop soaking in the tub!!! Thank goodness – that was starting to drive me bananas. We are going to check another ultrasound at 36 weeks (sooner if I am measuring smaller than I am supposed to) and my C-section date will be either November 19 or November 20, which is the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I hope it is the Monday, since if I have him on Tuesday then I will be discharged home on Thanksgiving Day, which will stink… but this Thanksgiving is a wash this year anyways. We won’t be going or doing anything, just enjoying our new baby! Can’t wait! I was so proud of Ty for doing so well at the appointment, but then he completely crushed me when we stopped on the way home at Joann’s Fabrics. I had to grab a couple of things and Ty was absolutely horrible. He was throwing fits left and right, chucking everything I gave him on the floor, and just screaming. It was one of the most embarrassed I have been in a store. It was so bad that when we were checking out… the cashier was interacting with him and finally got him to stop carrying on, and I overheard someone behind me say, “Thank goodness. Anything to stop that kid from crying.” You just want to die. Just have the floor swallow you up. It makes you feel like a terrible mother. I mean, I was trying EVERYTHING to keep him entertained and just nothing was working. It’s not like I didn’t care and I wasn’t trying. So frustrating.

Playing around on Tuesday... he flips his toys over to spin the wheels!

Seeing his reflection in the oven door

His new trick he does with raspberries

On Wednesday I worked and Noni had her day with Ty. I got a very excited report after work that Ty had a new skill. He can actually do the wooden puzzles now! You know, the puzzles that have the pieces that have a wooden knob on each piece that you fit into place. He plays with them, but all the pieces are all mixed together in a basket… so we hadn’t even been trying to do them – but Noni got him to do it! She made a joke and said they would be doing school work on Wednesdays pretty soon!

On Thursday first thing in the morning, Ty was excited to show me his new puzzle skill! It is so neat to see! If he isn’t getting the piece lined up correctly, I just say, “Tyson, turn it” and he does turn it until it fits! So proud of him! Oh, I forgot to say what he did when he first woke up in the morning. I was still lounging in bed and Ty was playing around in our room. All of sudden, I hear a noise and I look down and Tyson had flipped the dog crate upside-down – with the dogs still in the crate!!!! What a rascal. Poor dogs, they really suffer under Tyson’s regime! I ended up having another epiphany on Thursday. Ty has been giving me a little trouble finishing his breakfast lately, which he would always eat heartily. Well, he wouldn’t finish his french toast, so I took him out of his high chair and thought that he was done. No, he just wanted out of his high chair. He went right to my seat at the table, kneeled down on the chair, and then finished off all the rest of his french toast! He just wants to be a big kid! So I realized that I need to invest in a booster seat, as well as the toilet-training stuff! My little boy is growing up. He also is getting smarter. For so long, he has never paid any attention to my “candy cabinet.” I have this hutch in the family room that is filled with candy. Of course there are chokables in there, but Ty never would go over to it. It was good, because the way that the doors are – there is not a way to child-proof it. Well, all of a sudden… he figured out that it is a candy paradise in there. On Thursday morning, he got into the cabinet 6 different times! After trying to figure out the best scenario, I moved my canned goods to the hutch and the candy to the jelly cabinet in the kitchen (that has a lock on it). I’m going to see how this works, even though it is weird to have canned goods in the family room… it seemed like the best option. We’ll see… until Tyson starts throwing cans at the dogs (which I am a bit concerned about). But maybe it won’t happen. Keep your fingers crossed. Late Thursday morning, Shannon & Fin came over! We hadn’t seen them in about a week, so this was good. We ended up going to a couple of kid’s thrift stores. Shannon cleaned up but I didn’t do that great. But we had fun! On Thursday night Adam and us went back to the Mexican restaurant again. We just don’t get tired of that place! Hope you have a great week!