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This is too adorable to wait to share. I can't wait to get the rest of the pics, although I can't imagine one being more perfect than this one in the middle.

Birthday on the Beach

We spent Kyler's 3rd birthday on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama where my parents own a vacation rental condo. They bought us plane tickets for Christmas. It was Kyler's first flight. We kept telling him he would be three when we go on the airplane. So as soon as we were boarded he turned to us and said, "I'm 3 now?!?!" We told him it would be a couple more days until his actual birthday.

His ears bothered him on one leg of the flight. He suddenly started crying and said, "I have ouchie!!!" while covering his ears. Luckily, I had packed fruit snacks and chewing on them must have done the trick.

We had a connection in Atlanta and had to change terminals so Kyler was excited to ride on the train.

Ky absolutely loved the beach. He liked the waves, although he was maybe a little afraid of the big ones. 

He wanted to be buried again and again.

He was even trying to bury himself.

The beach was awesome. It wasn't crowded at all so we had plenty of room to dig and play.

Kyler had a hard time keeping sand off of his hands. He would rinse them off but then couldn't help himself and would pick up two fistfuls of sand.

One of the days we were there, my dad rented a pontoon boat. Kyler loved helping Papa drive. We stopped at a restaurant called Pirate's Cove for a burger. (Side note: it was delish and supposedly where Jimmy Buffet wrote "Cheeseburger in Paradise.") While we were there, this pirate ship went by. The pirate spotted Ky on the beach and yelled "Argggg." Kyler hid behind Uncle Ment (Brent). We saw tons of dolphins in this little cove too.

On Kyler's actual birthday, he chose to visit a Go-Cart track (The Track). They had some other kiddie rides like this airplane. He was able to ride as a passenger on the go-carts.

His favorite part was the bumper boats. He could pretty much control them on his own and would get mad if we tried to do it.

After the go-cart track, we went and had dinner at a place called Lulu's (Jimmy's sister Lucy Buffet's restaurant). They brought out a huge birthday dessert that we shared. There were sailboats going by on this waterway where we sat and they had a huge area with lots of sand toys for the kids to play. The live music was good, too.

When we got back to the condo, we celebrated with candles and a DQ cake. One funny thing at the condo was that Kyler was constantly yelling, "Oh Dane-O" trying to find Brent's friend Dane who came along.

We had a lot of fun on our last day. We spent it on the beach.

Papa and Kyler were feeding the seagulls right out of their hands. Several people stopped to watch Kyler do this. It was pretty neat to see a kid that small holding up a cheese curl and actually letting a bird get close enough to grab it.

Of course he had to be buried again. This time we did it up to his neck.

We gave Kyler one of his birthday presents on his birthday. It was a Delta airplane set that he played with in the airport while we were waiting for our plane.

When our plane finally landed in Kansas City and everyone was waiting to depart, Kyler yelled, "We're back. Woo hoo!!!" Everyone around us was laughing. It was a great trip and Kyler may have had the most fun of all! He says his favorite part was the airplane.

Truck Races

About a month ago, Brett got a pair of free tickets to the NASCAR truck series race in Kansas City. I told him he should take Kyler so off they went. It was a little chilly and windy but they had a good time and stayed for the whole race. Kyler even got to see some of his favorite race car drivers when they had the Sprint Cup series practice. Brett bought him a Kyle Busch M&M car to take home.

Kylerisms: Don't Worry About It

Kyler (putting on a batting glove): You wanna play baseball with me?
Me: I can't right now, buddy. I have to change Myelle's diaper.
Kyler (with a sad little puppy dog face): Okay. I will play by myself.
Brett and I exchange a look. We are about to crack up.
Kyler (walking out the garage door with a defeated voice): Don't worry about it. I will play by myself.

Kylerisms: I Smell Fart

I know. I have hit a new low writing a post about smelling farts. Mostly, it's to show Ky what a weirdo he was as a two-year-old. Also because I think it's funny (yes, I have the sense of humor of a 3rd grade boy).

Kyler has what seems to be a pretty sensitive sense of smell. That and a sensitive gag reflex. It's not a good combination. Many mornings he sits at the kitchen table to eat his bowl of cereal and starts whining and covering his mouth and nose saying, "I small fart."

This morning as he was eating his breakfast, I was feeding Myelle some baby cereal and applesauce. She started getting irritated and I was asking her what her problem was. Kyler said, "I think she has poop in her pants; that's her problem." I sort of rolled my eyes. I think I would know if she had poop in her pants. She continued to get irritated so I picked her up an sniffed her. It did kinda smell. So I checked her diaper and sure enough! How does he know these things? I don't know if he just guessed or if he could actually smell it. Maybe he heard her do her duty. Who knows.

Then as he was playing in the living room, he came and told me he needed a napkin. I grabbed a Kleenex and asked if that was okay. He said yes and that he needed it because he smelled fart. I explained that a Kleenex wasn't going to make it so he wouldn't be able to smell things. He has a cold so I tried to help him blow his nose. He got mad, took the Kleenex, and held it at the back of his shorts before throwing it away. (In case you're wondering, I did check his pants for a possible shart due to this weird behavior. Negative.) Apparently he believes that a Kleenex near the butt can absorb fart smell. Little buddy, I only wish that were true!

Preschool Open House

We had an open house at Kyler's preschool tonight. Ever since he was still in diapers we have been talking about him going to school. He was really excited to go see his preschool classroom today. Since he hasn't been in a daycare setting for over 6 months, I thought he would probably be really shy and not want to leave our sides. I gave him a little talk before we left about how he needs to talk to his teacher if she asks him something and not to tell the other kids what to do (sometimes he tells them to say hi).

When we got there, his teacher reached out to shake his hand and asked, "How are you?" He shyly responded, "How are you?" It was freaking adorable. Once we got into the classroom he looked around a little bit, his teacher showed him the pet frogs and tick, and he was off playing with his new classmates. He was having a blast. The teacher put on a slide show of pictures and he and another little boy went to the front of the room. He then started jumping up and down and laughing while pointing to different pictures on the projector. I had to have Brett go up and tell him to calm down.

So, I think he will be just fine on his own at school. I won't be surprised if we get some notes sent home about him being disruptive in class. But hopefully it was just his excitement and he will be a good little student. It's really cute but also crazy that he will be going to a real school in the fall right alongside the big kids (it's a preschool program that's part of the elementary school he will attend). It was a lot of fun to watch him interact, especially since he didn't even pay any attention to the fact that we were there. I am going to miss not being the one that hears and sees all the cute things he says and does all day.

Sick

Kyler has had a rough couple of weeks. Last week he had the stomach flu and was vomiting for a couple of days. He felt better for several days before getting a bad cold about a week later. Today I took him into the doctor because he was running a 103 degree fever during the night and has a nasty sounding cough. As a side note, the nurse asked Kyler if he looked like his grandpa. Kyler shook his head 'no' and said, "I don't have mustache." Anyway, the doctor swabbed his nose for Influenza B since there is a bunch of that going around right now. Kyler was not very happy about that (I wouldn't have been either!) and cried for a while. He kept telling me he is sick, that he got a really bad ouchie in his nose, that he needed a band-aid. Fortunately, he doesn't have influenza. But he does seem to have some bronchitis so we got a prescription for an antibiotic. On our ride home he told me, "my nose feels better now." Somehow Myelle has not gotten sick yet and we are hoping that Kyler is the only one to get any of this in our house.

We also had his physical done for preschool while we were there. His height is 3 feet 1.5 inches which is the 50th percentile. His weight is 34 pounds which is the 75th percentile. Other than that, he is pretty healthy. We did talk about his speech and the doctor suggested he see a speech therapist. We can either start that now or wait until he goes to preschool and do it through the school system. I think we're going to check with our insurance and see what the best route is. Basically, it is concerning that he does talk quite a bit but most people can't understand him. By getting him therapy early on, it can help prevent any delays in reading and phonics when he's in school.

Talking Tragedy with a Toddler

I am not the only one blogging about this topic this week, but I still wanted to share. If you are on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or are a blog reader you have likely seen this quote from Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers)...

"When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

Yesterday I heard on the radio that a couple of explosives had been detonated at the Boston marathon. When I got back home I turned on the news so my mom and I could see what was going on. Kyler was watching and we had to explain to him in a non-scary way what we were watching. We told him some people got bad ouchies. He immediately saw the fire trucks, ambulances, and rescue workers. We then focused on those very nice people who were taking the people to the hospitals. So, I guess maybe it's a mother's instinct to focus on the helpers. Somewhere along the lines while growing up, we tend to lose focus on that and look more at the bad guys and tragedy. But seeing those helpers is something that can help comfort everyone, young and old.

The other thing I seem to do in the aftermath of these tragedies is use it as a Christian teaching moment with Kyler. He is to the age where he understands good and bad and he knows that Jesus wants us to do good. He actually brings it up quite often. When he does something nice, he will sometimes say that he is like Jesus. It makes my heart smile. :) He talks about how the firemen and police are so nice like Jesus. I pray that he grows up to be as selfless as these helpers we watch.

He also knows that when people die, we pray for them that they will go to heaven to be with Jesus. It's not easy talking about death with a two-year-old but I really feel like he needs to understand it at least to some extent. We focus on heaven and life after death (and lucky for me he hasn't asked a whole lot of questions beyond that) rather than the sad/scary parts. He also understands what death means in terms of no longer living because of seeing and learning about dead animals (which he is okay with as he knows about the circle of life and has been exposed to hunting all his life). Anyway, as sad as it is, we have had to pray for those babies at Sandy Hook and we will pray for the Boston marathon victims as well. We pray for their families that Jesus will help them not be so sad and for the victims themselves that Jesus will take them to heaven.

It's not easy talking tragedy with a toddler, but I feel like kids need to be exposed to the real world. We don't give Kyler all the details or anything too scary (especially now because our boy tends to have nightmares already). But kids need to understand that there is good and bad, and that bad things can happen to good people. They need to find a way to cope with bad things happening. And one way our Christian family copes with this is with faith and prayer. When he is older, we will also explain to him the sad/scary parts, and talk about how the victims and their families feel. He will need to continue to have empathy for others in order to be the person we want him to become. A helper.

Easter 2013

The week before Easter, the kids and I spent the week at Grandma and Grandpa's farmhouse outside of Wichita. I think Brett missed us but it only seemed fair to give these grandparents some extra time with the kids. Kyler had a blast. He followed Grandpa everywhere and if Grandpa left the room without him noticing, he would get up shortly after yelling "Dampa Charlie!" He also had to correct me anytime I told him to get back in his chair or that something was on our bed. It was Grandma Tammy's chair and Grandma Tammy's bed.

Dada and Kyler with the flamingos at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Oops... Mama cut Dada's head off in this pic!

The grizzly bear was the funniest animal. He was enjoying the warmer weather by lying on his back in a pool of water. 

While we were there we mostly hung out at their house. One morning we did venture out to visit some friends. Kyler had a lot of fun with Landon who is just a few months younger. The weather warmed up so we were able to spend a lot of time outside. We even visited the zoo on Friday since Brett was back with the day off. Kyler got to ride on Grandpa's fire truck and four wheeler and for Easter the kids had an egg hunt. When we got back home, the Easter bunny had been at our house. We were very thankful for the nice weather and time spent with family. We definitely have spring fever now!

Kyler had fun feeding the giraffes. I was surprised at how good this photo turned out.

Dying Easter Eggs

Kyler colored Easter eggs for the first time this year. He had a lot of fun doing it but he wasn't a big fan of eating the yolk when we tried one.