A wonderful Christmas!

We just returned from a weeklong whirlwind trip to Palatine, northern Wisconsin, back to Palatine (with a short trip downtown) and back to NY again. We had a great time with family and Ty had a ball playing with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Some highlights and memories (to view more photos and videos, visit our new Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/teri.schmidt/Christmas2007 )

1. Our new nephew, Andrew Ryan Shripka, Jr. (Drew) was born on 12/26/2007. We got to visit him on 12/29 and Tyler LOVED him. Surprisingly, he was very gentle and did not get too jealous when mommy and daddy were holding Drew. The next morning the first thing Ty said when he woke up was "I want to see baby Drew!" Granny gave him a picture of Drew to take home and Ty carried it all the way to the airplane.

2. The fun we had putting out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa and water for the reindeer and telling Tyler that Santa would come down the chimney backfired as he was too scared to go to bed alone and ended up sleeping with mommy and daddy.

3. Santa brought Tyler a wooden pop gun. Ty had fun sneaking around the house looking for deer with Daddy, but the best part was probably when he decided to turn it into a fishing pole, catch a fish, pretend to eat it, and shout out (after some education from Uncle Andy)"Mmm, soo-chi."

4. Tyler loved playing in the snow at the Chernesky cottage in northern Wisconsin and, as usual, took some coercing to leave the outdoors and come back inside. He liked to grab snow, throw it up in the air, and say "It's snowing!"

5. Tyler's communication skills are improving everyday and he continues to suprise us. Mommy's favorite new skill that he's learned: saying "thanks" at the appropriate times without prompting (it happens about 50% of the time).

The end of skipping pages

Well, the end of expedited story reading is coming to an end. A few nights ago, I was reading a "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" from a collection of Laura Numeroff's books that my mom gave to Tyler for Christmas. When we reached the end of the story (which was located in the middle of the book), I closed the book and said "The End." Tyler replied, "It's not the end. Turn the page, Mommy!"

Our little holy man

Not only was he the one to top our Christmas tree with the angel, but for the past month, Tyler has developed a liking for saying his prayers. In fact, he won't let us eat without saying our prayers. A few weeks ago, he made me a PB&J sandwich with his toy lunch box set and handed it to me. I asked him if I should eat it, he smiled at me and grabbed my arm and said "Not yet...say prayers." I asked him to say them for me and he said "Dear Gawd, Mommy, peanut butter and jeyyy, Ayyymen."

His favorite things

Tyler has begun to have definite preferences and a clear mind of his own. Some of his favorites:

• Number: 6
• Color: Yellow
• Songs: Twinkle, Twinkle Little StarS (yes, he likes it plural), ABC's
• Christmas Song: Jingle Bells (he knows the whole chorus and really doesn't enjoy listening to any other holiday music)
• Cookie: Gingerbread--which he helped Mommy decorate*


• Holiday movie: A Charlie Brown Christmas (which he insists on watching every night)--just like Mommy
• Food: Although he used to eat any vegetable we gave him, he recently was addicted to Chicken Drumettes (from Trader Joe's) and now would be thrilled with PB&J at every meal

*A funny note about the gingerbread cookie baking: Before he went to take his nap, I told him that when he woke up we would be decorating gingerbread men. When he woke, I took him down to the kitchen where I had laid out all of the cooked cookies. He instantly started crying. Perplexed, I asked him why he was crying. He replied: "I want gingerbread." I had forgotten how literally those his age take everything.

27 months later...

Welcome to Ty's blog. After 27 months of his life, I've decided to join the rest of the world and start blogging about him. I can't guarantee I'll post every week, but a couple of recent events made me want to have a place to record some special moments we've had.