soul coffee: Ty is TWO!

I know I promised an entire post dedicated to Ty, but I just had to share that we are 35 weeks today, and only 29 days or less from meeting little miss Ellie!

A few shots from an attempted photo shoot...

Smart. Creative. Vivacious. Loving. Cute. Busy. Funny. Sweet.

I could go on and on describing what an incredible little boy Ty has become in the last two years. He amazes us everyday how quickly he learns new things, he makes us laugh daily, and gives the BEST hugs and kisses. He has forever changed my life. I never knew a love so fierce as a mother's love. I would do anything for this little person.

Ty just had his 2 year check-up, and even the nurse couldn't believe he was already so big. He stands on the scale now like a big boy to get weighed and measured. He weighs 28lbs (65th percentile) and was 33 inches tall (18th percentile)...both great gains for little man! He's so busy all day, running around and getting into things, that he's started to lengthen out and lose some of the baby chub. He's still short, and sporting 18 month pants, but easily filling out a 24 month or 2T top and jammies now. He wears the big boy jammies now, with the t-shirt and pants...no more footies for him (sigh). Everything looked great at his check-up and he was very well behaved for the doctor as she checked his eyes, ears, heart and throat. I've been a bit concerned that he still only has 11 teeth (the average ONE year old has 8!), and he hasn't cut a tooth since December, but she wasn't at all concerned. She said they will come in when ready and the important thing was that he already has his top and bottom first set of molars that he needs for chewing. She did say that two was a good time to start seeing the dentist. He had to get one shot, with which he cried following the stick, but as soon as it was done, he stopped, looked at the nurse and told her he wanted to go bye bye. We were sent for routine blood work afterwards (we hadn't done that since he was 9 months old, outside of a finger stick when he was sick back in March...so I wasn't looking forward to this). The blood draw was way harder this time. He is extremely strong when he's upset or mad and trying to hold him down and still with a needle in his arm while I have very little lap left to hold him was quite a challenge to say the least. They were good and fast though, even though they needed 2 vials of blood. Of course Ty got so upset that he held his breath and turned blue (not unusual for him), but I was just praying he wouldn't pass out. After she was done he grabbed a big breath and cried it out for a few seconds. Then he got over it, looked at the gauze on his arm and again told the nurse bye bye. He wouldn't let me take the tape off of his arm all day long. Funny kid.

new big boy jammies

We did find out yesterday that Ty's hemoglobin levels are low and he is anemic. Made me feel like a major mom fail. I blame it on the pregnancy...I was so sick at the beginning and haven't had an appetite now for months that I feel like I haven't been eating the best lately, therefore he hasn't been eating the best. Time to change that! I'll be on a strict elimination diet after Ellie is born so I can breastfeed without giving her tummy troubles, so Ty will be eating healthy like me...may as well start now. They have him on an iron supplement (poly-vi-sol with iron drops he took while he was breastfed too), and gave me suggestions for his diet. What is it about getting a kid to eat something green (other than a popsicle or fruit roll up) that is so dang hard?!? I spent a lot of time on Pinterest yesterday researching kid-friendly iron rich meals and snacks. I came to the conclusion that I will provide him an iron-rich food at each meal, but will also start to puree some snacks for him like I did when I made baby food. He hardly takes those pouches anymore, but when he does, he'll eat the kind with spinach, peas, etc with no complaint. Its usually masked with a sweet fruit like strawberries or mangoes. I recently found some freezable pouches to put homemade baby food that I wanted for Ellie anyway, so I'll be making some green smoothies for him. This morning I steamed fresh spinach leaves, strawberries and bananas, then added plain greek yogurt for texture and protein, blended and poured them into popsicle wells. I'll let you know how that goes. He LOVES popsicles, so maybe a high protein, high iron popsicle will help get the greens in his system. We already had a broccoli fail at lunch today despite the fact that I steamed it, chopped it up, mixed it with new potatoes and covered it in cheese. He totally called me out. I'll keep trying...

Ty's birthday party was this past weekend. I scaled the party WAY down from last year, just neighbors and close family. At almost 9 months pregnant, I just didn't have a big party in me this year. We still ended up with quite a crowd, but I think it went well. Ty is obsessed with Bubble Guppies on Nickolodeon. He doesn't pay much attention to the TV unless Bubble Guppies or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on, but his "bubbles" as he calls them demand his undivided attention. Its has bright colors, lots of songs, always a lesson, and there is a theme that goes along with every show. I approve. Its the least annoying kids show I know. We had the Bubble Guppies all over the house and on the cupcakes. Of course there were bubbles outside too! He was fun this year playing with all of his friends and cousins that came over. He was able to open his own presents this year too! Although the classic toddler ADD kicked in and after one present, he just wanted to play with that one. Fortunately, Nicole and Rupert were sitting near me and had Ty pass them his gifts as he opened them so they could take them out of boxes, put in batteries, etc to get ready to play while I had him keep opening. He smiled so sweetly as we all sang him Happy Birthday and blew out his own candle! Then he proceeded to lick the icing off of 2 cupcakes. I was terrible at taking pictures this year! I assigned my dad to my camera during the gift opening and cupcake eating, but other than that, its all I got. Boo. Ty was blessed with so many new, cool big boy toys. In fact, we've spent our days at home this week rearranging his room and the living room to accommodate the new toys and bring some of Ellie's baby things in. I'm happy with our organization for now.

opening presents

trying out his new drill

taking toys to Uncle Rupert to open

singing Happy Birthday

blowing out his candle

icing...yum!

On his actual birthday we took him to Chick-Fil-A for dinner (the only place out to eat he's guaranteed to eat...he loves the grilled nuggets and fruit bowl!). He got a special drink of chocolate milk too! He got to go climb and play with the big kids for the first time. Then we went out for frozen yogurt where he got his very own bowl!

So, what does Ty do these days? Oh my, this little boy is nonstop. He LOVES to run and try his best to keep up with the big kids. Almost every weekend that results in new scraped up knees as his head gets going way faster than his little legs. He cries, we kiss the bobos, and then we show him how cool it looks. He doesn't use band-aids, as he likes to proudly show everyone his bobos. At night we just clean them well in the bath and coat him with Baby Aquaphor before putting on his pajama pants. Being outside is his favorite. He likes to dig in the dirt (and luckily he got a dump truck and a couple other digging toys for his birthday), collect bugs, mow the grass, draw with sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, and of course play in the water. Many evenings we just fill up his water table and turn on the sprinkler in the backyard for him to play. After watching him play with our old kitchen toys at both of our parents' houses, Cooter and I decided to get him a kitchen for his birthday. I got the old school wooden kind and if needed, his folds up into a 6 inch form. He got some food and pots and pans for his birthday and everyday he cooks something for me. Yesterday it was a fish and apple stew, and today he sauteed some bread for me. Its so fun watching him pretend. He is still the best little helper (although his helping is usually somewhat of a hindrance to what I'm trying to do, but I love watching him learn). As soon as he sees the broom, he runs to get his own broom and dust pan, usually flinging my nice pile all over the kitchen. He helps me stir, mix and pour while I'm cooking and always has to get ice out of the freezer for me (and one extra for Laila's water bowl). When I put lotion on after my shower everyday, he has to have some too. He even hikes his little leg up on the side of the tub like I do since I can't bend over anymore. It goes both ways though, every morning he wants shaving cream on his face just like Daddy. He does all of his puzzles independently now and can get his crayons out on his own. He knows how to pick up too. We always clean up before nap time and bed time. Yesterday he wanted a snack so I asked him to clean up his toys in the living room and he did exactly as he was told! Not that it works like that every time, he is a two year old boy after all, but I'm just proud that he's capable of doing so. His vocabulary continues to grow in leaps and bounds. He says new words all the time and incorporates them into his daily use really well. We are working on his ABC's, colors and numbers right now. He won't sing his ABC's with me, but he will clap when I'm done, everything is always blue if you ask him, and when you ask how many, he always says 2...but its a start! We still do lots of reading and snuggling too. I can't believe how much he's grown.

Are little boys just bred to play with trucks and tractors?!?

some of our many adventures outside!

drinking from the sprinklers

popsicles!

every boy loves a good pile of dirt!

water table fun

Despite seeming like the most easy-going, well-mannered kid on the outside, he is strong-willed, stubborn, and challenging on the inside. The biggest issue right now is the pacifier. He asks for it all the time, and call me crazy, but I actually think he's more whiney when he has it in his possession. I try to take it when he eats breakfast, he gets it back for naptime, take it when he wakes up for snack and he gets one after bath. I can't take it cold turkey, its too much of a soother for him, and with the baby coming in 4 weeks, I can't do that to him. SO much of his world is about to drastically change. The downside to him thinking he's such a big kid sometimes is he tries to act like one, which gets him in trouble. We are already working on manners (he's been able to sign please and thank you since he was 9 months old), how to behave in public, etc. At home is another challenge in itself, but he's still so young. Meals are a chore sometimes when he wants to get up and down constantly. For the reason, he seldom gets to eat at his own little table. He also wants to pick through his food and ask for more of that one thing, but we are making him continue to try new things, even if they are funny colors. Most annoying to me is this growling noise he makes when he doesn't get his way or gets angry with me. Oh the look on his face when he does it is just plain mean! He's been disciplined for it repeatedly, and although it still happens on occasion (he did it to me this morning in fact), its a habit that is fading and I'm proud that we stood our ground. I do realize he is just beginning to push our buttons and the discipline train isn't even out of the station yet. We take baby steps too though!

I've been trying to prepare Ty for Ellie's arrival at every chance I get. Unfortunately for him, most of the kids we are around are older than him so he doesn't deal with babies much anymore, and if he does, he usually just doesn't deal with them. I guess boys aren't as interested in babies as girls are. We have 3 big brother books so far and read them all the time, relating the story to him (are you going to help bring Ellie her diapers, will you share your toys with Ellie, etc). Every night before bed he kisses my belly and tells Ellie night night. When we are in her room, he points out all things Ellie...her bed, her clothes, her hair bows. He has stuffed animals sitting in her swings and he likes to sit in her bouncy seat. I'm just going to have to watch him while she's on the floor or in one of her seats since he likes to help so much...he might squash her with hugs or give her whiplash. Lol.

Major photo dump ahead...

This little boy loves his dog! As close as he is with Laila, I can't wait to see the relationship between him and his sister!