A TALE of TWO TAILS
Today was a dress up day for sure. We went from dragon, to dog, to darth vader and then this two tailed-one-paw-dog-darth monster. Finally he settled on the dog costume for nap time. But before that we also had naked Scottish time where he only wanted to wear a Scottish hat--and nothing else. Then he also wanted to help me vacuum in his birthday suit. I did get a picture but thought I would spare you the details. :)

TRIP TO MCKINNEY
We made a quick trip to visit ti's cousins for Julia's 5th birthday. They have a pool just a half block from the house so of course that was a big hit with Tivon. The girls aka princess mermaids loved riding Uncle Josh as a dolphin.

Tivon is getting to be quite the daredevil with the water (which we have encouraged). That all may change now. While I had my back turned he decided to scoot into the deep pool without any help. He was so proud of himself so I didn't want to crush his excitement but clearly had to have a talk with him about how dangerous that can be. Oh, I don't know if my nerves are going to make it.

LITTLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!

"Mine"
"Mine"
"Mine"
"Mine"

You might think this is an argument between Tivon and a friend; however, it's actually a conversation between his little people fighting over who gets to ride in the dump truck. One way he solved the argument was having each person ride in his shoe-cars.

He has really started personifying ALL of his toys. Today, his basketball had to sit in timeout because it touched the lamp.

Yesterday, I was driving home and Tivon told me that the monkey, lion and gorrilla were all hungry. So when we got home, I fixed some snacks and Ti proceeded to "feed" the pretend animals in the air. Giving a nice roar or hitting his chest to show approval of the snacks. No lack of imagination here.

MUSICAL DUO

Tivon has shown a lot of interest in music (like most kids at this age) so our latest adventure has been the guitar. We got him a "kid size" guitar for his birthday and he loves to play it when I'm playing the piano. Good times.

Today

So when I entered parenthood, I never thought I would calmly say, "No, hon, you can't play with the tractor right now yet because you pooped on it." Oh how naive I was.

And potty training begins. . .

A Look Back

Before we venture into Tivon's second birthday pictures, here's a video looking back over his first 18 months. Enjoy. :) Some of you had a problem viewing the video. Here's the link to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwNVq5Cu56A

BIRTHDAY TIME

Well, we had quite the shindig for little ti man. Grandparents, family and friends came from far and near to celebrate his two years. Josh calls Tivon "lil monkey" and Tivon loves monkeys so we opted for a monkey theme albeit a simple idea that took a little creativity to execute. I had a great time figuring out a healthier cupcake--they weren't like eating carrots, mind you, but better than pure sugar and candy. :)





















As I am trying to live a "greener" life, we chose an outdoor locale so no decorations were needed (and no extra cleaning at the house too!). We had the party at the sprinkler park which has timed fountains and mini pools to play in for the dog days of summer. Although I tried to get away without having any party favors (again for green reasons), I had a nagging to do something. So we (grandmas and I) made monkey hats for all the kids out of some leftover fleece that I had. We used reusable plates and only glass or wood serving dishes--no paper plates in the landfill here! The one big thing I couldn't get around was plastic water bottles. I wanted to provide a drink but didn't know how to do it in a "green" way.
Oh, we also did a "no gifts" policy of which grandparents broke but I guess that's the joy of being a grandparent!













Olivia helps Tivon blow out the candles.

More pool time with friends.








We've discovered Tivon is more of a blues kind of musician. He now takes his "monica" everywhere with him.















Appropriately, we ended the month long birthday vacation and celebration with a train ride thin Zilker park. Tivon says, "Much peace to my peeps."

TRAIN RIDE















I almost forgot to post the pictures from one of Tivon's favorite things--a train ride in Indiana. It was on an actual train, very bouncey and you get ice cream half way through.







Tivon thought I hung the moon when I was able to push up the push pop to reveal more ice cream.











Tivon continues to make friends everywhere we go. His favorite part of the book "I'm taking a trip on my train" is when the main character waves to the people. Josh really doesn't know what to do with our little social butterfly.

Grandma Time

It was a treat to have grandma along for some of our weekly activities: we went to lots of parks, went swimming, and bike riding (what a trooper!), long walks and a personal favorite--the zoo!

Number ELEVEN!

Josh and I have officially known each other waay longer than we haven't known each other. Since we had free babysitting, we took the opportunity to celebrate in our own kind of way. First we got my most favorite queso and bottled coke. Then I cooked a special dinner. Finally, the next night took advantage of a free concert by the Austin Symphony where a little Duke Ellington and Copeland music was featured. We even danced a little east coast swing. It's been about ten years since we've done that so to say the least, we were rusty--and had the blisters to prove it.

The Longest Ride Home

Grandma Lee, Tivon and I loaded up all the presents and and new found treasures from Indiana and left for Austin. Along the way, Tivon rode his big wheel at the rest stops and ran around on the playscapes we found. Tivon made the amazing journey with few problems until the last 40 minutes. Then we had a complete meltdown on our hands at 3:30 in the morning. I think his legs had fallen asleep from being in the same position for soooo long. I might have been a little task oriented towards the end since I hadn't seen Josher for three weeks. So after a quick walk in a parking lot and some much needed snuggling, we hopped back in the car and made it to our home at 4 in the morning.

I came home to a spotless home where all the furniture had been rearranged--that's my husband. I can't vouch for what it looked like when we weren't here but I knew it would be tip top when I came home. He even had my favorite ice cream in the fridge! Tivon was super excited to see dada so they stayed up and played for two hours. Needless to say, Grandma and I fell asleep within minutes of entering the house.

Last Night in Indiana

We had to have serious tractor time and pool time before we had to leave. I took a million amazing pictures of the tractor ride at sunset BUT my camera setting wasn't right and few of them turned out. Oh well, the memory is in the mind.

I mean, I can only imagine the trouble these two will get into as they get older.

BIG DRAGON!

Grandma Lee found some costumes at a yard sale and the boys LOVED chasing each other (and anyone willing to run).

I have to admit, it doesn't get much cuter than this. They were soaking in sweat but kept running and taking the occasional break for a drink.

The Month of Giving

Another birthday gift. This was a direct offense to the gift giving rules of Josh and Bridget: no plastic, no noise, keep it small. Well, this three wheeler is a big, plastic moving sound machine. Nanna said that we could leave it at Nanna and Grandpa's house but after seeing how much he enjoyed it, the bike made the long trip back to Texas.

Who? Me? Couldn't be.

Tractor Time

I think Landon taught me how to stick out my tongue--thanks! My mommy loves it when I try to give her licks.

Cousin Time

I got to hang out with my cousins Landon and Colten alot and that was awesome.

I even tricked my cousin Landon into eating cat food--it was REALLY funny. I must take after my daddy afterall.

Fun at the Farm





I got to swim and swim and swim with Papaw and Grandma. As soon as I got to grandma's, I remembered the horses. I LOVE horses (not as much as trains but they are close).

Off to Southern Indiana

After lots of fun with Nanna and Grandpa, it was off for a 2 hour car ride to see Grandma and Papaw--mommy has a hard time keeping everyone straight but I know who they are. :)

Nun, nun, nun, nun, nun, nun--Batman!

What good is a trip to grandparents without starting a boyhood absession with Batman. My cousin Jacob introduced me to the late night wonder. Little did he know how much I love to dress up so this was right up my alley. I can even sing the Batman theme now.

My Great Grandma

My great grandma Apple didn't feel very well while I was there but I cheered her up by "pushing" her in her chair. I accidently pushed her into a parked truck too. Oops. :) I made her giggle though.

All the NEW toys

I basically had a hanakuh of birthdays. Uncle Junior got me a train and Aunt Joyce got me some books and new clothes. I also played on playgrounds every where we went.

My favorite toys were my mommy's old toys. Nanna keeps a treasure chest of little trinkets and I got to play with Uncle Brian's train--it's over 40 years old!! Ironically, momma thinks I look just like Uncle Brian in this picture with the trains.

My FIRST Ruch Co Fair

Nanna and Grandpa took me to the fair and boy oh boy did I LOVE the rides, especially the "beeeeeees"!

After mommy ran out of tickets, my cousin Emily took me the bees. Thank you!

Summer Vacation "more, more"

We took a trip to Chicago to see my cousins--we had a blast! I ate non stop while I was there. I loved playing with my big cousin Hunter--he showed me some cool "boy" toys like a shooting spaceship. Lots of fun. I also got new clothes--momma says, "Hunter gave this to you," and I get super excited to put on my clothes.

My Summer Vacation by Tivon Lee

I flew to Sarasota, FL to see my Uncle Bill graduate from medical school--while we were there, we stayed at a beach house and took walks on the beach and played with my cousins. It was so much fun, that daddy and mommy forgot to take many pics. I'm sure my aunts and uncles will send me some very cute pictures. ;)

Next daddy flew to Austin while mommy and I flew to Indiana. I fly on airplanes really well except when it gets bumpy. Our landing almost made everyone sick. Mom even had to get the barf bag ready. Then because of the lightening, we had to sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half! Finally I got to see Nanna and Grandpa. We did lots of fun things:

Teeter Totter (momma liked to make Nanna nervous since she is afraid of heights)

and pretend to feed the animals carved in the tree.

And "driving" a tractor.

My favorite was eating Pizza King pizza in honor of Daddy's birthday--too bad he couldn't be here to enjoy it. :)