Toddler Ty: March Madness

For mom's final days in Washington, she spent as much time as possible with Tyler. He had fun shopping in the race car and playing in the toy plane at the park. Another little boy thought it looked so fun he wanted to ride too.

The top right pic is how we often find Ty in the morning surrounded by all his animals. The left pic was from one Sunday at church when Ty decided he wanted a drink of water. He pulled out a chair from the room across and helped himself at the drinking fountain. He could seriously play with the drinking fountain all day long.

One day Tyler decided to reorganize our kitchen. He'd recently learned how to bypass our babysafety magnet locks by banging on the drawers until the locks broke permanently. Apparently Tyler's cutlery now goes on the floor, the silverware now goes in the bucket, and the beaters now go on the drawer handles. 

Ty loves his little piano passed down from my former visiting teacher and the toy box he got from Uncle Mike and auntie Shan.

King Tyler enjoys his burger

On March 5th, my birthday, we left to drop mom back home in Utah. When my Utah family last drove up to see us in late March/early April of 2012, they hit terrible snowstorms going over Snoqualmie Pass and southern Idaho. Mom was concerned about that since we were leaving in early March, but fortunately we had perfect, gorgeous weather our entire drive and our entire trip. Utah was unseasonably warm, so much so that my summer allergies hit me big time.

The drive went reasonably well, minus the speeding ticket Oscar got on Snoqualmie Pass. Oscar is extremely cautious about his speed, but he'd never driven mom's car on the freeway before, so he wasn't yet used to how much pressure causes how much acceleration, and she doesn't have cruise control. It happened in a rare moment when he hadn't even realized he was speeding and would have likely figured it out quickly and slowed back down if the cop hadn't pulled him over. I guess it makes up for Oscar's less cautious year when he drove 100 miles an hour for over 3 hours in Idaho.

Ty had fallen asleep for about 10 minutes before we got pulled over, and unfortunately the car stopping woke him up. We had books and toys in the car, but he's used to car rides being much shorter, so he was getting a little upset. We stopped off for lunch at a Burger King in Kenmore with a large kids play area. It said it was for kids 4 and up, but Tyler was climbing all over it and went down the enormous slide several times.

Ty watching cartoons on the ipad. This kept him happy but never for long since he'd eventually figure out how to grab the ipad and start touching it and tapping the home button. The cartoon would go away and after a minute or so he'd get bored and throw it off.

After Ty's belly was full he fell asleep for the next several hours and remained happy enough that we didn't have to take another stop before getting to Boise. We'd decided to spend a night at a hotel there instead of making the entire trip in one day. Turns out it was pretty crowded at the hotel since they had state high school basketball championship games the next day. I'm surprised we got such a good rate at our Super 8 motel when it was that busy. They provided a pack and play for Ty and mom put him to bed while Oscar and I went out to eat at a local wine bar/restaurant for dinner. The waitress asked why on my birthday I was only having water, and when I told her I wasn't a drinker she still seemed skeptical. I then told her I was also pregnant and she replied "oh, okay, that's the real reason." The service was terrible (and not just for the probing question), but the food was great, and they gave us a free yummy peanut butter mousse dessert for my birthday.

Ty always struggles to sleep in a new environment, and since he hadn't used a pack and play for about 6 months, I was concerned he would have middle of the night wake ups. Fortunately he slept perfectly and we were waking up a bit before he did the next morning.

Having the sun shining on the object you're photographing gives pictures the best lighting, but it's hard to keep your eyes open when you're staring into the sun. Mom and Ty weren't up for the challenge.

The next day we made a planned stop at Shoshone Falls. Mom had never seen it, awe knew we'd need to make a stop to give Ty a bit of a break, and it was a good mid-point between Boise and Kaysville. Unfortunately most of the waterfall had been dammed for irrigation, so it wasn't nearly as impressive as when we've visited it before. But they did have a lot of space to run around in and Tyler was worn out enough that he fell asleep once we got back in the car.

A couple hours later we made it to Oscar's parent's house in Kaysville. His mom and dad were thrilled to get to see Tyler and play with him again for the first time since early August.

That evening we met up with my family at Tucano's to celebrate my birthday. Mike's kids gave me a huge hug when I walked in, and later they gave me homemade birthday cards. I'm a loved auntie!

Ty was amazingly well behaved and super cute at restaurants this trip. He ate a lot of different foods, and he lit up when the waiters came around to sing and play the Brazilian birthday song.

Mike and Shan were taking their kids to see Disney on Ice the next day. We opted out of this since I didn't think Ty would get much out of it unless we were on one of the front rows, those seats were about $70 a piece plus we wouldn't have been able to sit near Mike's family, and it was scheduled when Ty would normally be taking a nap. We chose to go back to Kaysville after the dinner at Tucano's so Oscar's parents could have some additional time with Tyler. He had lots of fun exploring their house and getting into mischief. We went on a walk with Oscar's dad up to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hatch. Going there with Ty was incredibly difficult last trip since they have so many things he could break or mess up, but it was much better this time. He's more obedient now, and he's not as quick to get into things. I was afraid he was going to pick up and throw the Christ statue within his reach, but instead he just pointed at it and said "Jesus." Too cute!

Fortunately this trip to get mom back timed out perfectly with my friend Rachael's mission homecoming. We went out to dinner with her and her family at Sizzler on Saturday night (where Ty made a very interesting mix in his water cup yet continued drinking it), and the next day went to her homecoming at her church. She gave an awesome talk on how faith grows and how she observed it in people on her mission.

After Rachael's homecoming we went back to Mike's house and had a barbeque in the yard. Mike and Shan taught us a fun frisbee game you play with laundry baskets. The kids and I jumped on the tramp and Ty had fun discovering a football. We've often been told Ty's so solid he's going to be a football player. Looks like he's starting young!

At 5 we met up at Oscar's parents' house for family pictures and a triple birthday dinner. My birthday is the 5th, Phil and Sharlie's little boy Troy's 1st birthday was on the 7th (he was actually due on my birthday but was a little late), and Oscar's dad's birthday is the 13th.

Martha-mom let me pick the menu - roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, salad with homemade poppyseed dressing, grandma's rolls (which she even recruited grandma to make) and poppyseed cake with buttercream frosting and Root Beer floats for dessert. Ty thoroughly enjoyed the food, particularly the grandma rolls.

They attempted to get some grandparents with grandchildren pics, but the kiddos didn't want to cooperate.

Ty likes big open spaces and really enjoyed running around in their yard. When Emily's daughter Mary was told "Tyler will be there" she said "he stole my juice." She'd actually remembered when Tyler had taken her sippy cup in mid-July. Fortunately she didn't seem to hold that against him for too long since she started playing with him later on.

Oscar had fun throwing Ty up in the air, which Ty always loves. This motion pics make Ty look like he's coming down in slow motion.

Blowing out the candles on my cake! She did 3 on each side, for 33. It was delicious! I kept eating the leftovers during the next few days. There was also a large chocolate sheet cake, so we had plenty of cake to go around. 

Since Mike had work and his kids had school the next day, we stayed the night and just hung out in Kaysville the next day. Martha-mom made us breakfast and lunch, we got our laundry done, and Tyler played the piano.

My little Mozart!

After Ty's nap we met up with Mike's family, uncle Mitch, and aunt Kathy at a fun park.

Ty loved playing on the swings with grandma. It's the first time he's ever enjoyed swinging. In the past he'd always cry and want to get off.

Mike had brought his frisbee game, so Oscar and I played that against Mike and dad. It was fun, though the wind and looking into the sun definitely added some new obstacles.


That evening Oscar drove up to hang out with his older brother William while the rest of us went to Brick Oven for dinner. I love Brick Oven, particularly their homemade Root Beer, and was delighted that there's now one in West Jordan. I used to have to go all the way to Provo to eat at one, then they put one in Layton, which is nice since that's close to Oscar's parents, and now there's one not far from my brother's house. They're obviously catering to me, so the next choice is to put one in Everett, Washington, right? ;)

Mike had an adult sized Elmo snuggy, which I put on since Ty loves Elmo. Mike said it had been a gag gift from a friend several years ago and let us take it home with us. Ty enjoyed sleeping with it. Sweet little guy!

The next day Oscar and Ty drove up to hang out with his family while I met up with Rachael. We went to Taco Bell and saw "Into the Woods" at the dollar theater. Man I wish we had cheap theaters nearby! In the evening we met up with Pam and some of Oscar's siblings at Golden Corral, and later on my friend Rebecca came over while the kids played. 

Rebecca snapped these cute pics of Ty. The one on the right is from when Tyler just kept piling more and more stuffed animals on dad.

Mike and the kids didn't get home that evening until Ty was about to go to bed, but I let Ty stay up late since I wanted to give him one last chance to play with his cousins. Ethan was born a little over 9 months after Oscar and I got married. If we hadn't been through infertility and had been able to have Tyler as soon as we started trying to conceive, he and Ethan would have been the same age. At 6 and a half years apart, I couldn't imagine they'd really play together. I was delighted to be proven wrong! The two of them went nuts playing with this ordinary balloon, and later on Tyler and the kids had a big giggle fest over a dirty sock. Who would have thought a balloon could entertain an 8 year old and a 21 month old so thoroughly! Ty crashed eventually, but the kids really made the most of their last playtime with him. The next morning Ty hadn't woken up before Ethan had to go to school, so he told his mom to say goodbye for him. So sweet!

On our final day we had breakfast with my family (except Ethan) at Penny Ann's in Salt Lake City, then said goodbye before heading up to Kaysville. Ty had some fun with grandma, took a nap, and then it was off to the airport. Our flight was very delayed, so entertaining him in the airport took up much more time than we'd intended. He kept running around and into people. The flight itself wasn't too bad. Ty watched the ipad for a bit, but like on the drive, eventually started tapping it and erasing the movie. I was worried that he'd be going nuts squirming around, but since it was so tight, he didn't have much room to squirm in. He seemed confused though, since his sleeping white noise is airplane noise, so hearing actual airplane noise was sending him the signal that it was time to sleep. He didn't sleep since he'd just had a big nap, but at least it kept him reasonably calm. Our home teachers, the Casons, picked us up and we all went out to Azteca for dinner before heading home. By the time we got back at 9pm, Ty was zonked!

The next day Ty was incredibly fussy and grumpy. I think he was going through extended family withdrawals. He'd gotten too used to having relatives doting on and playing with him all day long. Mommy alone at home just wasn't good enough. It was cute, though, when I walked in after he'd woken up to see him trying to embrace all of the stuffed animals in his crib. He sure missed them!

But soon Ty adjusted back to our normal routine and realized he could still have fun with just mommy and daddy. A couple weeks ago he and Oscar made some tasty cookies (video to come once I can get it to upload properly. For now try this link). 

And during the rest of March Ty got some new Elmo jammies, ate some tasty cupcakes, and found one of Grandma's pens in the guest bedroom dresser. He drew all over the windowsill and the sheets. The terrible twos are coming! 

As for baby Hunt #2, the doctor had a hard time finding the heartbeat at my last appointment, but not for any scary reasons. The baby was just squirming around too much for the doppler to pick it up for very long. The max we heard it was about 4 seconds. Looks like this one's going to be a real mover! I told the baby "enjoy your space now while you've got it!"