Our little guitar hero

Our little sweetheart

Last night, in the middle of playing with Ty, he ran over to me and gave me a hug. Then, leaning back with his arms still around my neck he smiled and said, "I'm so glad you're playing with me, Mommy."

This morning, as I was leaving for the train, after telling me he loved me, he said, "Drive safely!"

Positive reinforcement from a 3-year old

Ty has a new pastime. He likes to "teach" us how to do something and then say "Okay, great. Now try...." For example, last night he taught me how to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" the correct way (apparently you have to pronounce "...what you..." more like "whatch you"). After I did it correctly, he responded "Great. Good Night!"

Tonight, while watching Dora, I said "Map!" when directed and it came out of Dora's backpack and Ty said, "You did it," held up his hand and said "Give me five!'

The nesting effect...on our blog

Well, we have just over 7 weeks until we become a family of 4 (or 5 if you want to include Seger), and I'm starting to feel the need to get everything in order. The first step? Addressing the blogging dilemma that I mentioned earlier (see previous post). So, what was once Tyler's Times has now become The Schmidt Saga. BTW, saga="A book that covers several generations of a family, usually starting in historical times and ending in the present." Yes, it's a little ambitious to use that word, but maybe it will give me a little motivaton to blog more frequently (and expand my scope a little). Plus, the alliteration works...

Spreading a little bit of cheer in an early morning TSA line

It's been a while since I've written...but not because Ty hasn't been growing, changing, and cracking us up with his new comments. The observation that I've probably had the most in the past month is Ty's ability to make friends with all kinds of people (especially since I was known for hiding behind my mom's leg and refusing to talk to anyone at his age) He's befriended older women in the doctor's office, cashiers at Target and Trader Joe's, and today--a TSA representative.

Rarely do you see many happy faces in the TSA line at an airport...especially before 7am. Today, Ty tried to do his part to change that. When the friendly TSA worker looked at him and said, "Hey!," Ty immediately responded "Hay is for horses!"--sending a ripple of laughter through the line.

For some pics of our short trip to visit Granny and Grandpa in Clearwater this weekend, click here.

The Popeye trick

Not sure how long it will last, but we finally found a trick to get Ty to eat his vegetables (for more about our past challenges, revisit a post from last April). I told him about Popeye and how eating spinach gave him big muscles and now he's much more excited about eating vegetables and does the following pose for us every time he takes a few bites.

A week-long celebration for his 3rd birthday (Sept. 3, 2008)

Ty's 3rd birthday celebration included a school party, a trip to the "Choo-Choo" restaurant with Granny and Grandpa, a joint celebration with Nana (who shares his birthday), the Burke's and Chernesky's, and a treasure hunt back in NY--quite a way to begin his 4th year. For pictures of his birthday and some videos (and a few bonus pictures of a recent trip to a church carnival and a fun trip to the city with our friends Julie and Dave), click here.