Soccer

Tyler recently started playing soccer. Tyler's team, the Barracudas, mostly consists of children who have already played soccer for a few seasons. Tyler's the youngest one on the team, and he's most definitely the comic relief for all parties watching the game. He has NO CLUE what he's supposed to be doing.

Tyler wants nothing to do with the large mass of children chasing the ball. He prefers to stay right by his coach's side and mimic everything Coach Eric does. If Coach gets down on one knee, Tyler gets down on one knee. If Coach stands still to watch the team, Tyler stands still to watch the team. If Coach picks up the ball, Tyler picks it up next. No clue.

Rather than kick the ball during the game, Tyler prefers to kick the ball during time-out when no one else can challenge him or when the teams are lined up waiting for the whistle to blow. Tyler has no use for whistles. The ball is there, untouched, and he goes for it. The poor ref has to explain to Tyler at least 5 times every game that he can't kick the ball until the whistle blows. I can only imagine Tyler's thought process when the ref is trying to explain the rules to him...."Uh, whatever. It's a ball. I kick the ball. I run. What whistle? That guy doesn't know how it's done."

While the other players are swiftly trying to score goals, Tyler amuses himself (and us parents) by walking on the field lines like they are balance beams, swinging from the top of the goal (they're short for the little players), and sitting indian-style inside the goal when he gets tired. For some reason, he also like to pull a Michael Jackson and hold his privates when he gets real excited during the game.

Hopefully, Tyler will learn the ways of the game and enjoy soccer just as much as he does now. He will ALWAYS be my comic relief, my crazy one, and my special little man.

Moments of Adorability

As a mom, there are so many times during the day when I think, "Oh, I need to write that down...that was adorable," and then I never get around to it. With two toddlers, two jobs, three dogs, and a baby on the way, I hardly have time to even use the bathroom.

Just yesterday, I walked into the hall bathroom only to find Piper sitting next to the open cabinet with a roll of toilet paper on the floor and scraps of it stuck to her mouth and fingers. She looked like she had just plucked a chicken! That sweet baby will literally put ANYTHING in her mouth.

Tyler and I have some "mommy and me" time every morning before I go to work since he's such an early riser. The other day, we were just sitting in the rocking chair enjoying our special time when I whispered, "I love my Tyler." He promptly responded with "I love my mama." An inner warmth swept over my entire body. Honestly, Tyler usually just repeats what I say instead of reciprocating an appropriate response, so this was very exciting on several levels. Not only was he displaying a more socially acceptable way of communicating, he was completely and voluntarily expressing his love for me.

I love my children and every minute I spend with them is such a blessing.

Tyler's Funnies

Tyler spends his days either making me roll on the floor laughing or wanting to run screaming from the house. He's either hysterically funny or so crazy bad that I don't know what to do with him. He's a nut, and I adore him, even when it's 11:00 at night and he wants to wrestle instead of go to sleep even though he hasn't had a nap for the day. He's unusually energetic, unusually stubborn, and unusually hilarious for such a tiny little three year old.

Today, I choose to focus on the funny side of Tyler. Here are some of the things that have come flying out of Tyler's mouth lately that crack us up.

- Yesterday after Mark left for work, "Mama, can we go on a date? I want to eat cake."

- Aunt Gloria gave him new pajamas with skullheads all over them. He calls them his "man jamas," and he literally asks to wear his "man jamas" every 5 minutes. He doesn't understand that Mommy does not (and has no desire to) do laundry everyday.

- I got Tyler some babylegs with skullheads to try to appease him on the days his pajamas are in the washer. He calls them his "baby-yegs mans."

- The ketchup bottle squirts and makes a tooty noise....Tyler says with a big grin on his face, "It's poopin'."

- We're getting ready for church. Tyler turns my face to his and says, "Listen to me. We can't go church. Gotta go mall. Get chicken."

- When I stroke his head or hug him, I tell him I'm "loving him." That's how I also show him to "love" Piper gently. I was stroking his head last night,and his annoyed response was, "stop lovin' me."

- As my brother is trying his best to scare and intimidate Tyler over dinner (to get him to behave), Tyler simply responds with, "Uh, you don't scare me."

- We asked Tyler a question last night, and he said "no," so Mark said, "so no means yes," (to confuse him I'm sure). Tyler's response - "Uh, no, I don't say 'yes'." How true!!!