Of course...

The other morning, when I was going to drive Ty to school, he said that he wanted to take the school bus. We compromised by finding a way to turn our car into a school bus (which, in case you're interested, involved three steps: 1) saying "Abracadabra" 2) singing the last line of "You are my sunshine" substituting the word "awake" for "away" and 3) singing the entire "You are my sunshine" song--again with "awake".)

He seemed to enjoy it so much that when I picked him up from school later that day, I asked him if he wanted to turn the car into a school bus again. Suprisingly, he said "No." When I asked him why he replied, "We need to turn it into a 'home bus'."

A wonderful alarm clock

This has to be one of the best sounds I have ever awakened to: This morning through the monitor, the first sound we heard in the morning was Ty singing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands..." in his sweet three-year old voice.

It also helped that it was after 7:30...a luxury that we won't be enjoying for much longer.

A future teacher?

This morning when Ty got up, Jeff and I went to his room to play with him. A few minutes after waking up, he was already directing us around. He instructed us to sit in particular places on the floor so that he could read us a few books.

Well, he may be bossy, but at least he believes in positive reinforcement: When I sat where he told me and Daddy didn't, I pointed out how I followed his instructions. Ty immediately jumped up, ran to give me a hug, and said "I'm so proud of you."

The difference a night can make

Ty has always been fairly good at going to sleep at night. We've had him on a pretty set routine since he was less than a year old: story, prayers, running hugs, a family hug, he closes the door and turns off the light (in my arms) and then I sing him a combination of "You are my sunshine" and "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and one more "You are my sunshine." Usually I then leave and he's quiet and falls asleep.

Well, the last couple of weeks, I made the fatal error of adding extra songs into the routine. This was probably caused by my exhaustion at that point of the night and thinking it was easier to just sing one more song instead of reason with a 3-yr old about why I couldn't. Last night I paid for my mistake, as Ty got me up to about 8 songs and was still screaming when I left.

I was dreading tonight when I was going to try to get him back down to 3 songs. Imagine my happy surprise when Jeff and I got to the end of the last song, said "Good Night" and all we heard back from Ty was "Good night, guys."

Fun at the Long Island Children's Museum

While Jeff was travelling this weekend, Ty and I got a chance to visit the Long Island Children's Museum. Ty had a great time playing in bubbles, sand, pretending in a toddler-sized town, making noise in a music room, and playing with many other manipulatives. Click here to view some more pictures.

Gratitude

Tonight Ty, Jeff and I went out to dinner. Nothing special, but a nice time for the three of us.

On the walk back to the car, Ty looked up at me and said, "That was a nice dinner."

Then he said, "Thanks for the oranges and the french fries. Those were special treats." Funny how playing up the little things can make them so extraordinary.

He ended the conversation by repeating a comment he heard a month ago: "Granny said french fries have a lot of flat (fat)."

Argh!...A happy Halloween

To see more pics of Ty's Halloween adventures (carving a pumpkin, a school party and parade, and trick-or-treating), click here.