Adventures in Tylersitting!

Granny, Grandpa, and Tyler came to visit us for a second time on Saturday before taking off for Utah. Unfortunately Ty deteriorated on the way. He threw up at the hotel, and he rarely throws up. Martha thinks she might have given him more snacks than his little system could handle. Then to add insult to injury, he reached up to grab a woman's recently poured coffee and scalded himself. Marcus came running with him back to the room where they promptly iced it and Marcus gave Tyler a healing blessing. For how badly the burn seemed, it cleared up nicely. They went to church the next day then continued on to Utah where Tyler slept in a cute white toddler bed handed down from Oscar's sister Emily. He'd brouht his Elmo and Cookie Monster with him, so he was good to go.

Ty stayed up in Kaysville and played with cousins the next day, but my family had claimed him for the next day. This ended up working out nicely for Martha since Oscar's brother William had an extra ticket to a play, and without needing to keep an eye on Tyler, she was able to attend it with him that night. Mom arrived at Martha's after a horrendous rain storm. She brought in 6 bags of clothes she'd purchased for baby Allison while Tyler finished off his nap.They peaked in on Tyler after organizing all the clothes. He woke up immediately and ran over towards them. It'd been a long time since he'd seen grandma Jinks, but he definitely remembered her. She went over and started playing and tickling him while he laughed and screamed for joy.  Martha had to uninstall the carseat and put it in mom's car, which was already difficult from the latch and even harder with pouring rain.

Mom and Ty drove back while singing and talking. Ty laps up that kind of one on one attention. She was nervous from the pouring rain and hit a few scary spots. One was so bad it almost spun them out. Her wipers couldn't keep the rain off and it became to dangerous to continue on the freeway. Ty was oblivious to all the danger and just squealing for joy.. Once they got back to Mike's house, he came out to greet them with an umbrella. Mike chased Ty around the kitchen and Shannon played with him before picking up Ethan, Emma and Sophie. The kids were super excited to see him and Grandpa Bob came over to play too.

While the kids were doing homework, Ty played in the backyard since the sun had come out. He hadn't cared for the tramp the first time he used it in March but he loved it this time. The cousins came out to join him when they were done with their schoolwork. Then they decided to go to Jungle Jims Playland and hopped in the Infinity with grandma and grandpa.

 Ty was totally mesmerized on the merry-go-round. All the kids wanted to ride with him, so dad had to keep track of whose turn it was.

They all were able to go together in the spinners.

They then did the bounce house and the ride that always shoves whoever's on the outside into the corner. This would scare a lot of kids, but not my Ty guy. Ty is bad with lines so they just went on whatever had the least line.

Ty liked the swings so much they did it 3 times.

They took him into the arcade games where he sat at a racing game and didn't want to leave (even though he wasn't actually playing). The others did air hockey, but the table was too high for Ty. He instead enjoyed whack a mole and hungry hungry hippos.

That night they all went to Brick Oven pizzeria. They have all you can eat there, which is great for Ty since he likes eating little bits of lots of stuff. Oscar hadn't packed any pajamas for Ty, so they found him some of Ethan's old ones that ended up coming home with him. The boys all hopped up to watch football on Mike's bed. We very rarely watch football, but sometimes it will be on when we turn on the TV, and he always yells out "football!" Ty added talking Ernie to his Sesame Street collection for the night..

They'd set up a mattress for him to sleep on at my suggestion, but he didn't want to get on it. He ended up curling up on the recliner with mom and stayed there for most of the night before moving to the couch. The kids woke up before he did the next morning, and woke Tyler up to play before school. He watched Mickey and played in their playroom before mom and dad ran him back up to Kaysville to play with his cousins on daddy's side.

I love that he got the chance to see and play with so much extended family. I hear he asked about us occasionally but never seemed to have separation anxiety for us. He must have been having the time of his life! I'd insisted on getting at least one picture a day while he was there so I could know he was having a good time.

While Tyler was in Utah, I did not wish he was home. I love my little man, but he is handful, and in my condition he would have been an enormous burden (and was when he returned). I kept thinking how glad I was that he wasn't there, which made me feel tremendously guilty. Here I was lapping up the sweet snuggles of low key baby Allison and feeling relief that my much more demanding child was not around. I felt like a terrible mother. I'd cry when I'd see these pictures from Utah. It helped assuage the guilt and reassure me that I hadn't stopped loving my Ty guy. It was better for him to be where he was so I could get a nice headstart on my recovery before dealing with the challenges he would bring. Being spoiled by extended relatives for a week before returning to a home with a new baby and a mom with extremely limited mobility definitely brought some difficult days our way, but I wouldn't change it. We were able to bond with our new baby without being distracted by parenting a spirited child, and he got to have an unforgettable week. He'll obviously forget it because he's too young to remember it, which is part of why I'm writing this post. I want him to know he was absolutely doted on by grandparents and cousins the whole time and couldn't have been happier.

On Friday he got to see cousins again and even see great-grandma Hatch.

Ty must have LOVED playing in the Hunt's sandpit. He's in heaven anytime I take him to a park with a sandpit.

The Hunts had been planning on leaving for Washington on Friday evening, but they put off their drive so Tyler could have a day at Lagoon with my family. Martha dropped Tyler off at Lagoon with a stroller and mom brought him to the Day of the Dead entrance to meet up with the rest of the family.

Their first stop was the children's spook alley across from the Tower of Terror Ride. Mike played and snuggled with Tyler in line, partly to stop him from running out of line. Once inside they trick or treated and the fireman gave them firemen hats.

Ty brought all 4 of the hats and his bag of goodies home with him.

Next they went over to the super fun straw maze and Mike brought back some kettle corn for them to munch on while they waited in line.

There was an engineer who told them all about trains and gave them a train whistle.

After that they went back to the merry go round area for dinner. Ty wanted a corn dog but insisted on pulling all the corn off of it. Silly boy!

Julia and Luke saw the family there and came up to say hello and get some pics of Tyler.

Next Ty went on the boats.

Ethan accompanied him on the helicopters. They were really noisy, and Ty thought it was the best thing ever, especially since he's obsessed with helicopters and all things that fly right now.

Ethan also took him on the cars and Emma went with him on the planes.

Dad, mom, and Ty went on the train while everyone else went off to the bigger rides. He loved seeing the animals and saying the names of each one.

After the train they met back up and the twins took turns pushing Tyler while they took some more pictures. Mom then brought Tyler back to the front where Martha picked him up for the night.

Ty playing with dandelions the next morning before they took off.

 Playing at McDonalds

Playing with the water fountain at one of the rest stops.

And getting ready for bed at the hotel.