Tyler at Two-and-a-Half

Tyler turned two-and-a-half at the end of July.  Clearly I'm a little behind on updating this blog, but I didn't want to not do this post.  He's changed so much over the last six months, it's just astounding.  Here's a little about this amazing guy's changing, or really, emerging, personality.

He LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine.  He loves trains and cars and trucks and buses of all kinds.  He is 100% boy.   He has two best friends at daycare, Cole (whom he insists is really named Cole-y) and Zachary.  The three of them are peas in a pod - ALL boy.  Tyler is the oldest, but also the smallest...by a long shot.  He's tiny, but he doesn't let that slow him down.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he's not even aware that he's little, which is just fine by me.

He is one of the most stubborn people I have ever met.  If he doesn't want to do something, there is nothing on this earth that will make him do it.  Threats of timeouts or other punishments don't phase him in the slightest.  Offering bribes rewards doesn't help either.  He has a mind of his own.  It'll be a good thing as he gets older, but man, it makes getting dressed in the morning an ordeal if it's not his idea.  He is Mr. Independence.

He is one of the most thoughtful and funny people I've ever met.  He has a great sense of humor, and he seems to understand jokes that are far above his age.  One of his favorite games to play with me, is to eat me.  He'll mimic taking a bike of me, and then very emphatically chew.  He'll tell me that he ate me all up, and that I was yummy.  He loves to help out by clearing his dishes after dinner, throwing trash away, and putting his clothes in the hamper.  He's a natural cheerleader.  He yells, "Yay, Mommy!!!!" when I do something that he's been working on, like going potty.  LOL

He has remarkable gross motor skills.  He can ride a balance bike like no one's business.  And that's not just me being a proud mama.  At a recent bike race, they had an arena set up where kids could ride balance bikes around an obstacle course.  Complete strangers were stopping and commenting on his abilities.  Some were even taking photos and videos of him.  He really is good.  I think that, if he were a bit taller, he'd  be riding a pedal bike with no training wheels already.  But for now, his legs don't reach the pedals on even a tiny 12-inch bike.

He's whip-smart.  He picks up on the nuances of a game by observing, and joins right in.  He loves to sing and dance, and is always making up his own songs.  They're mostly unintelligible, but it's still really cute.  He learns new songs by just listening to them once or twice.  He's still a water-baby and loves to swim.  His favorite stuffed animals are his puppy pillow pet, and a stuffed tiger that I won in Reno when I was 19 and on a road trip.  It's his Tiger now.  He plays with a couple of other stuffed animals once in a while, but he tends to prefer cars, trucks and trains for toys over stuffed friends.

He's an awesome kid, and he's been so much fun getting to know over the last two and a half years.   I can't wait to see what the future brings for him.