Farm Country

Today was my birthday and I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun since Andy was suppose to be working all day. (He ended up getting the morning off) So I invited some family to go to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country in the morning. Its a great place for kids and I appreciated that it was more contained and smaller than the zoo. Tyler seemed to show more enthusiasm for the farm animals than at the zoo but was still cautious about approaching them.
Here he is refusing to feed the goat. He liked watching Andy do it though.
Initially he told us he did want to ride one of the ponies. (It was one of those rides where they just walk slowly in a circle for a few minutes) But on approaching it, changed his mind. I love the look on his face here as he assess the pony ride situation and if its really something he wants to do.
He did like the ducks though and told me he wanted to go swim with them. He probably would have had I let him.
He also liked the wagon ride around the park.
He liked watching this Clydesdale horse too until it turned around and started to walk towards him and he saw just how big it was. Tyler slowly backed away from it then.

The Zoo and the Puppies

Last Saturday we decided to take Tyler to the Zoo before the baby's born and I was "too pregnant." (Walking around the zoo at 36 weeks actually proved more difficult than I thought on a hot day with swollen feet and hands). Some of Andy's family was able to join us and on the way up we stopped at my sister-in-law's parents house to see the new batch of puppies her parent's dogs had just had. I had a feeling my "cautious" son would not take well to holding or touching the puppies. . .
Tyler politely saying "no" each time I tried to encourage him to hold one. He's hard to convince once he's made up his mind about something. We're not sure where he gets his cautious nature from....Andy's convinced its my side of the family.

Even once we'd arrived at the zoo Tyler was very serious about being around the animals. I think he was afraid we might enter the pen and make him pet the animals there too. Maybe in a few years he'll warm up to them.

Tyler's Last Month as an Only Child

I haven't been very good about doing posts lately and figured I'd do a bunch now while I have time before the baby's born. We've been able to get out and do some fun things as a family lately and spoil Tyler for the last time as an only child. So here's a blog post about what Tyler's been up to this past month. (He looks so old to me in this top photo . . . time flies)
He loves to be a big help to mom. If I channel his energy in the right direction he does help me a lot. In this picture he had set the table for me all by himself.
He also loves to go out after dinner to help mom water the flowers. I think getting wet is really his favorite part.
He also loves to play with his bubble machine in the backyard, especially when Dad's home in the evening to have some play time.
And lately he has become a big music fan. He likes to listen to my MP3 player. He's a Jack Johnson fan just like Mom.

Here are some funny quotes/ comments from Tyler recently:

1. While driving home from IKEA after a 2 hour shopping trip I complemented him on how good he had been in the store. He looked at me very seriously and said "I want a dog." I guess he figured it was a good time to make the pitch.
2. While riding in the stroller to the park on a breezy day "Mom, Can you turn the heat on?"
3. Tyler's favorite morning cartoon is "Super Why on pbs kids.org"
4. At breakfast in the morning "Mom, Dad got me this apple juice for 20 bucks" (I think he paid too much)
5. Andy and I also really enjoy Tyler's "free association" prayers at dinner. Here's a recent one "Heavenly Father, thank you for quesadillas, pancakes, and pizza. Thank you for watching a video. Thank you for giraffes, hippos and tiger. Jesus name. Amen."
6. Tyler often mixes up "from" and "for" and when to use them correctly. When we were packing lunches for Farm Country "Mom, I want some snacks from the road." Andy "Oh like roadkill." Tyler "Um....yeah."
There's a million more fun Tyler moments I could write down but thats whats the freshest on my mind. I can't wait to find out what kind of a personality our next child will have!