Tyson - November 2013

It's actually been less than a month since my last letter - so yay!  Maybe I'm going to catch up at some point, although that's not SUPER likely as I'll explain as we go.

In my October letter I left out Halloween pictures.  You weren't super enthused about the dressing up idea, and since I accidentally washed and dried the good ol' standby lion costume I'd used for everyone's first and second Halloween and ruined it I wasn't all that enthused about the idea of buying something to dress you up in either.  Hence our first costume attempt of "cowboy."  It consisted of a pair of boots about 3 sizes too big, an somewhat "cowboy-ish" shirt and Logan's old straw hat.  Too bad I let you try to tackle a Slurpee later that day and ended up with a giant pink stain down the front.

Meridee had lent me a couple dog costumes to try.  I finally tackled you and put one on you, but you were NOT having the hat with the ears on it or any kind of cute black nose, so this is what we ended up with for you.

Trick or treating was a bit of an adventure.  You still weren't super happy about the costume and now I was making you go to people's doors.  You weren't much of a fan initially.  I couldn't get you to put your candy in your bag at first either.  The first few houses you kept it in your hand, but then you ran out of hands.  At that point you put the piece from one of your hands in the bag and kept the newest piece in your hand.  This went on all night with you not putting a piece in your bag until you had a new one to replace it.  I tried to get a good picture but you wouldn't let me get far enough away before you started running after me.  That's been a bit of a theme the last few weeks too.  Somebody is definitely a mama's boy right now.

This is a random picture that I had to throw in just because it's cute.  I gave you the bowl of cookie dough after I was done and you obviously were pretty serious about getting every last bit licked out before you were giving it back.

It seemed like right before I started working and all through the 5-ish months I was working you were the most adorable, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kid on the planet.  Then I quit my job (one of them anyway), and you are back to being kind of a punk.  You don't really let me out of your sight, and for some reason you have decided dad is not someone you want around.  Every time he comes out of our room you point at the door and say, "Go bed dad!" or just "Noooooooooooo!  Nooooooooo!"  It's lovely.  I know you are working on some teeth, but overall I've not been that impressed with all the grumpiness lately.  It's all I can do to get half my to-do list done during the day, and usually what I do get accomplished is done with you yelling at me or "helping" me.  It's a good thing you say and do cute things to keep us from shipping you off.  It kind of makes for a bipolar mood around here.  For example:
One minute:  You are calling snow snowman and just being adorable.
Next minute:  You are yelling at me to change the show on TV because you changed your mind in the last 5 minutes.
The next minute: You are giving Tessa a hug and telling her good morning.
And the next minute:  Screaming for a cup of water and then taking a drink and spitting the water on my feet and running away laughing.
And the next:  I catch you kissing the ornaments on the Christmas tree and leaning in and saying, "hug!"

This all happened today, so yeah.  Now you are telling me that you don't like the show you asked me to turn on for you 5 minutes ago and trying to climb up on top of my computer and kicking the mouse and throwing my foot pedal off the couch onto the floor.  You are such a terrible 2-year-old.  Did I mention you are my first child that I have ever had to take screaming out of the grocery store without buying anything?  Yes, you may be my third child but you are making sure you give me a bunch of "firsts."

But then there's this cute face on our trip to Zion with Grandma and Grandpa H.  Plus you call grass hoppers grassier hoppers.

And then there's this - being sweet while eating a pocs-icle.

And this may look cute and helpful, but it's not.  No one can wash the dishes without your "help."  If you are dressed (which doesn't happen often lately either because, fits) you end up soaked, so it's just as well that you were just in a diaper this time.

But then another time you randomly put the pot on your head and look adorable.

You also have decided that the best place to sleep is on the floor in the front room.  I crash on the couch, and you fall asleep at some point after that.  Then I wake up and take you to your crib only to have you wake up a few hours later and yell, "MOM!  MOM!  MOM!!!!" until I come get you and take you to the front room where you climb down off the couch and on to the floor with your butt in the air and fall back asleep.

This makes it tough for me to work in the front room early in the morning without waking you up, and at some point you wake up and bring all your blankies over to join me on the couch.  This sweet sleeping boy who fell asleep on my arm is the one who later that day threw the fit that made me practically sprint out of the grocery store.

Obviously it's not all bad.  You can be cute and sweet when you want to - and only when you want to, but I guess it's like anything and the bad Tyson moods make us so much more appreciative of the good Tyson moods.

I can't believe your next letter will be about your second Christmas and 2nd birthday.  I'm so excited for another toddler at Christmas where everything is so fun and exciting but not yet focused on what you're getting.  We love you bud and wouldn't trade you even in your worst moments.

Love,
Momma