Groovy

Trey can appreciate all musical styles... and he definitely knows how to shake his booty! Who knew a cell phone ring tone could be so inspirational.

Little Puppy Dog

Forgive my delinquency in blogging about the fourth member of our household, a.k.a. "Puppy Dog," or "Little Puppy Dog," or "Olsen." Puppy Dog goes everywhere with Trey these days. This started back in January when we officially weaned Trey from his pacifier. He found another security object in Puppy Dog (as well as his blanket, a.k.a. "Monkey," but that's a subject for another post).

Puppy Dog goes everywhere with Trey. He's just a little basset hound beanie baby, but he is pretty cute, even to a non-dog lover like me. And since we have another basset hound beanie baby that is essentially the same dog in a larger size, this one is known affectionately as "Little Puppy Dog," while that one is "Big Puppy Dog."

As the weeks went by after Trey's initial attachment to Puppy Dog, I realized how traumatic it would be for anything to happen to the little guy. And, after one tragic morning when Little Puppy Dog woke up covered in urine that leaked from Trey's overnight diaper, forcing me to wash him and preventing Trey from taking him in the car that day, I realized we might have a need for a second Little Puppy Dog. So I bought a back up online (fortunately there is a full stock of Little Puppy Dogs out there, including some on Amazon for $0.01 + shipping). And whenever I couldn't find Little Puppy Dog #1 at a crucial time like bedtime, I simply swapped him for Little Puppy Dog #2 until the original could be located, and vice versa (this has caused some confusion on a couple occasions when Trey spotted both at the same time, but we simply explained that #2 was "Mommy's Puppy Dog." Yes, we are not above telling certain convenient lies to our children.) This constant switching led to Daddy's coming up with the clever nickname "Olsen," i.e. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who famously switched out for one another while playing Michelle Tanner on Full House.

Trey knows his puppy dog's name is Olsen, but he still always calls him Little Puppy Dog. He takes good care of Olsen, feeding him dinner and putting him down for naps several times a day. But the sweetest sight is seeing Trey fast asleep at night, curled up in a blanket, hugging his Little Puppy Dog.

Fire Trucks galore!

A few weeks ago, after Trey's swimming lesson, we stopped by the fire station just across the street from our YMCA and thought we would take a chance on them letting us take a look at the fire truck. The firewoman we saw was so nice and showed us all around the engine. She even let Trey sit in the driver's seat while she turned the lights on! All of us learned that there are two types of fire engines - ladder engines and those that carry water. This one was a water engine. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera (or even my wallet) with me since we'd just been swimming.

Ever since that visit, Trey has talked nonstop about the fire truck and the nice lady who turned the fire truck's lights on. And every time we drive down that particular street (at least twice a week on the way to swim lessons or gymnastics) he asks to stop by the fire station. So this weekend, I decided to take him to the Houston Fire Museum so that Trey could once again see some real fire engines up close and personal.

The museum was smaller than I expected, but Trey's admission was free and mine was only $3, and I'd say it was worth that. We saw a couple of really old fire engines, including one that was horse-drawn, which Trey found to be pretty cool. We also saw the old bunker for the dispatcher, which I explained to Trey was where the fireman slept (knowing he wouldn't understand what a dispatcher was), and he asked if they turned out the lights when he slept, and I said yes (which I assume is true). This apparently made an impression on Trey, because ever since he has talked about seeing where the fireman turned out the light and went night-night.

The toddler play area was one of the highlights. There was a birthday party going on in the area while we were there, and we felt a little guilty playing alongside the birthday kids (which we were told to do -- the party area is not private), but Trey loved it. They had the front cab of a real fire engine for the kids to play in, a locker area with real fireman gloves and coats, and even a fireman's pole, which Trey enjoyed sliding down (I didn't get pictures of that because I was using both hands to spot him!).

But the big highlight was when some real firemen came for a visit. This doesn't always happen -- we just got lucky on this particular afternoon. They showed Trey their fire truck (a ladder engine this time, which meant it had no hoses -- who knew!), and let Trey and a couple other kids climb inside the back part of the cab. Trey, having just done this a couple weeks ago, was far less impressed than the other two children.

But he did very much enjoy the tour of the exterior that the nice fireman gave him. He showed him their version of "blocks" and all the compartments around one side of the engine. Pretty cool!

And Trey got to take his picture with a REAL fireman. He talked for a long time afterward about how his gloves were yellow (you can see them in the picture above -- we got in trouble for taking them out of the museum), and the fireman's gloves were black (he had taken them off by the time I snapped these pictures). All in all, it was a great outing!

Haricut Fun

Who says getting a haircut has to be a chore? This past weekend, I took Trey to get his first "real" kid's haircut (previously he always came with me to my salon). You could tell these guys knew what they were doing. They plopped Trey into a monster truck-styled barber seat, stuck a lollipop in his mouth, and went about their business. I think Trey was more fascinated with the key to the truck than he was with the mango dum-dum.

My handsome big boy...

Checking himself out in the mirror!

Chatterbox

In the last few months, Trey's vocabulary has really exploded. He picks up everything now, and with most almost-2 1/2-year-olds, nearly everything that comes out of his mouth is so adorably cute.

With this development, it's time that I retire the "words" and "phrases" list I am months behind in updating anyway. Instead, I've replaced it with "Trey's sayings," where we'll keep a list of funny things Trey says. But for posterity, I've included his list of words and phrases here, otherwise I will far too quickly forget them.

Words
Hello
Uh-oh
Banana
Bubble
Bye-bye
Daddy
Apple
Ice
Cheese
Ma-ma
Ball
Dog
No
Car
More
Yes
Cracker
Shoes
Clock
Tree
Up
Down
Hay
Warm
Eye
Go
Oh no!
Hat
Yellow
Hot
Keys
Bus
Potty
Green
Blue
Cold
Water
Hi!
Boo-boo
Lady Bug
Frog
Moon
Night-night
Outside
Zebra
Elbow
Truck
Purple
Peep-eye!
Doggie
Please
Socks
Happy
Sky
Bee
Tractor
Trash
Trey
Mommy
Bath
Football
Milk
Duck
Papa (John)
Bicycle
Play
Baby
Plane
Nap
Red
White
Diaper
Rain
Orange
Circle
Monkey
Pumpkin
Toes
Kacie
Square
Twinkle
Black
Two
Six
Strawberry
Book
Heart
Eat
Teeth
Doctor
Play
Kiss
Table
Help
Home
Thank you
Party
Cook
Family
Chicken
Work
School
Cookie
Touch
Horse
Sheep
Snow
Coat
Church
Elf
Walk
Christmas Tree
Party
Santa
Touchdown!
Sit
Potatoes
Outside
Broccoli
Present
Hummus
Heavy
Color
Number
Mine!
Again!
Tricycle
Push
Pocket


Trey's Phrases
I don't know
I see you!
Bye bye football (when leaving a game)
Watch football
Brush teeth
More milk
Hello Daddy/Mommy/______
More cracker
Papa Work
Bye bye ______
Daddy Tom
Orange hat
Night-night Christmas tree
Bye bye eat
Andrew da-da-dow (Trey's friend)
More bus!
Two Christmas tree! (two = more than one)
Daddy sit
More milk please
No mess (after "cleaning" the floor)
Big boy bed
I love Mommy/Daddy
One more
Church shoes
Daddy potty; Mommy potty too
Baby Patrick
Purple balloon

Who Needs Toys? (Part 5)

Spiderman Sunglasses

I am behind on my posts about the material objects Trey clings to. Most of you know, though, that he is particularly tied to his "Little Puppy Dog" named "Olsen" (there is a back story there), his "monkey" (a.k.a. a blanket), and just this week, a new teddy bear named "Dave."

Of the non-cuddly variety, there's also his Spiderman sunglasses. Trey L-O-V-E-S his Spiderman sunglasses. In fact, he loves them so much that Daddy went out and bought two extra pairs just in case the original was lost or broken. Trey knows they are Spiderman sunglasses despite not having a clue who Spiderman is.

I think they are pretty cute, too.

Who Needs Toys? (Revisited)

Grass Trained?... or... Boys Will Be Boys

The potty training success has continued, thankfully, although I have held off on offering the Thomas underwear only because I know that once I do, I can never take it back.

After we got home this evening, and while Trey was quietly playing with his toys, I asked him if he needed to go potty. "No!" he quickly said. But then Daddy asked him whether he needed to go outside in the grass (ha ha). After realizing several seconds later that I hadn't heard a response, I went into the playroom to find Trey, and I saw the door to the back yard open. When I walked outside, this is what I saw:

Wrestle Mania!

On most Thursdays, we head to Chick-fil-A with a group of Trey's friends for dinner and play fun. Trey really looks forward to these outings, and he talks about it all the time. His love of Chick-fil-A is another subject -- but let's just say it's rare that we drive past one of these restaurants without Trey yelling out "Chick-fil-A!" And anytime we ask him what he wants to eat for lunch or dinner, the answer is always the same -- you guessed it, "Chick-fil-A!" (Believe it or not, the kid has had no more than one Happy Meal in his entire life, and that was when we were at the airport with no other reasonable options. But somehow Chick-fil-A seems to us like a healthier version of fast food.)

This lovely restaurant chain has even made its way into Trey's pretend play. Often he will pick up a bag or hop on a riding toy and announce that he is going bye-bye. When we ask him where he is going, he says "to lunch," specifically, at "Chick-fil-A."

In any event, there is no doubt Trey has positive associations with this restaurant and, in particular, with his play dates there. Our group changes from time to time and is by no means exclusive, but it usually consists of a core group of about 5 or 6 kids, plus baby siblings. Matthew R. is one such kid, and he happens to be one of Trey's best buds of late. Trey is always talking about Matthew, perhaps only second to his GF/BFF Anna. For some reason, on the evenings we gather to play at Chick-fil-A, Trey simply loves to wrestle with Matthew. Trey is really not an aggressive child, although he is tough, but he thinks beating up on Matthew is just so much fun. Matthew, likewise, is definitely not aggressive; in fact, some would call him quiet, and he's not usually one for rough-housing. But, as you can almost hear his mother say in the video, for some reason, Matthew thinks it's hilarious when Trey beats up on him. He gladly takes it and rarely dishes it out, which may seem a little unfair, but we figure as long as the kids are happy it's all in the name of good, clean fun.

Here is a short glimpse into the wrestling we tend to see on Thursday evenings.

Potty Training Update

We've been "officially" potty training for about 2 months now. It really hasn't been as slow a process as that suggests, but perhaps slower than it might have been because our busy routine isn't all that conducive to a "cold turkey" approach. For the past 2 months, Trey has been wearing only underwear at school, but he wears a pull up in the car going to and from school, and even though we're supposed to keep him only in underwear at home, he also wears a pull up when we're out in public, or at a friend's house, or even sometimes at home when we simply don't have the energy to worry about accidents. And, despite the marketing ploy that is pull ups and the fact that they are somewhat more conducive to potty training than traditional diapers, the reality is that pull ups really are another form of diapers. So they don't help the training process too much while they're being worn.

But despite our somewhat lazy efforts at home, Trey has been doing great. He will occasionally have one accident during the day at school, but lots of times it's during nap time (we give him a "pass" for those), and other times it's when he's having so much fun outside that he simply doesn't stop to think about needing to go. He's not quite as good at home, where he often forgets the need to go #1, but from the very beginning he's been great about #2, almost always telling us when he needs to go. I can really only think of 2 times that he's forgotten to tell us about #2, and both times that come to mind were when we were out and about, and Trey was distracted, and he was (conveniently) wearing a pull up.

For the first several weeks, we used the "take him to the potty every hour" method, which worked fairly well. But Trey has really started telling us when he needs to go the past couple of weeks, which has been great. In fact, this long weekend, I don't think we had a single accident (if you exclude the several hours on Sunday when Trey was wearing a swim diaper in the lake and surely relieved himself at some point, though we would never know). Even his pull ups stayed dry when he was wearing them.

So, the short and long of this is to share that Trey is doing great, and I really think we are very close to being officially potty trained. I have told him that if he can go an entire week without an accident he'll get to wear Thomas the Train underwear. And boy does he love Thomas the Train (not that the Thomas toothpaste makes him any more excited to brush his teeth, but that's another issue). Hopefully I'm not jinxing him by writing this and we won't be faced with several accidents tomorrow...

The Next American Idol?

Trey sings all the time these days. Often we overhear him singing in his crib in the mornings or before he goes to sleep at night, and other times he sings in the car. It's such a sweet sound, and we love it.

His favorite tunes are "Old MacDonald," "Happy Birthday, "Twinkle Twinkle," "ABCs," and "Baa Baa Black Sheep." But yesterday, after returning from a quick late afternoon outing to the park (and while still quite sweaty, I might add), and while playing with his choo choos, his song of choice was "Down By the Station." We happened to catch this one on video.

(Keen observers may notice that Trey starts off on the key Mommy was whistling, but then switches to a key that is a little more comfortable for his range.)

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! After a typical Saturday of swim lessons, errands, and play, we spent the 4th up at Lake Livingston with our friends, the Folsoms, who have a 2 year old boy in Trey's class and an 8 month old little girl. Trey had a great time and really enjoyed swimming in the lake, going on the boat (which he has been talking about ever since the last time he rode on the boat over Memorial Day weekend), playing in the sand at a little man-made island in the middle of the lake, and playing with Conner's toys. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather.

Our favorite part about Lake Livingston on the 4th is all the fireworks the residents shoot off their docks at night. We were able to enjoy a full fireworks display while enjoying a peaceful evening on the dock. Trey was a little scared because our neighbors were shooting off really loud (and obnoxious) rockets, but overall he enjoyed all the colors in the sky. He was just too pooped, though, to make it through the entire thing, and he fell asleep on my shoulder. It reminded me of when he was a little baby, which I loved.

Speaking of babies, Baby Sister enjoyed her 4th, too! In honor of the holiday, I'm posting my first official belly shot (at 25 weeks or so).

For comparison, here's a picture of me in the same dress around the same time while pregnant with Trey. Actually I'm a couple weeks more pregnant (and much more rested and tan) in this shot.

And while on the subject of other members of the Edwards family, I've decided to start a family blog to write about all of our adventures rather than just Trey's. The thought is to merge this blog with that one sometime around Trey's 2 1/2 year mark (which is pretty soon!). But I need help coming up with a name for the blog. If you have any suggestions, send me a message!

Edward Markerhands

Trey has reached an age that allows us to leave him unsupervised for a few minutes at a time. Earlier today, while Daddy was outside grilling, Mommy left Trey to color with his (washable) markers and Thomas coloring book while she did a little work on the computer (a.k.a. Internet shopping for Baby Sister). When we returned, this is what we found:

Trey continued his coloring, though not on paper...

...and then decided it would be fun to put the marker caps on his fingers.

Finally, he broke out into song.

Having a 2-year-old is definitely nonstop entertainment!