Rainy Day

Today, Tyler and I went outside to play while Dylan took a nap. I have been letting him play barefoot because he always ends up turning on the water, and I would like at least one pair of shoes to last more than a month (don't worry, we live in Southern CA, so it is usually pretty warm). Today it was a bit cold, though, and I felt like an irresponsible parent when the neighbors spotted him running around without his shoes. To top it off, it started to rain on us. So I hurried him inside making sure to voice my "concerns" for his health loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

Once we were inside, I knew I had to come up with something fun to make up for lost time outside. So, we did a little painting. Here are a few of Tyler's masterpieces. We have titled the collection "Salade du Jour":

Brotherly Love

How can I teach Tyler and Dylan to be friends and stick up for each other as they grow older? If only there was some guarantee. For now, all I can do is try to encourage them to love one another and take pictures to remember that at one point, they did really feel this way.

OCD

My family tends to tease my sister about her obsessive behaviors. When we were roommates in college, we would have arguments about how I forgot to put the "winter" clothes on the dark hangers and the "summer" clothes on the light hangers. Even with 2 kids, "Junk Drawers" do not exist in her home. She will kill me for posting this, but it is the sad truth. Oh yes, and don't get me started on our weekly car-cleaning routine involving Q-tips. Unfortunately, I think Tyler is beginning to demonstrate a few of his own obsessive traits. On second thought, I could probably use this to my advantage once he is a bit older...

Age Comparisons

I am sure nobody but Arthur and I will be interested in this post, but I am going to publish it anyways. I wanted to compare the boys at each month. As a note, at Dylan's 4 month appointment, he weighed about 19 1/2 pounds. This is more than Tyler weighed at his 1 year appointment! I am actually surprised that it is not as obvious as it should be by 4 months. I guess it would have been better if I had more pictures showing the thighs and stomach.

1 month



2 months


3 months



4 months

Christmas 2006 Gallery

There are quite a few pictures of Christmas. Tyler loved his match-box cars (pictured opening with Grandma Shields) as well as his new train set. Santa spent many hours trying to set the train track up perfectly and within 10 minutes the entire track was demolished. Tyler was less enthused about receiving a potty chair from Santa. He could not figure out what he had done wrong this year. Dylan was just happy to have received something to chew on. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2006

We spent Thanksgiving day in Moraga at Uncle Harley and Antie Angie's house. Although we drove through the night, Tyler had plenty of energy to play with Jason's dart gun. I think next year, he will realize that it doesn't make much sense to be both the target and the dart retriever.

Arthur and Dylan, on the other hand, were too tired to get in on the fun. The next day, we went to Dim-Sum and Jack London Square where Tyler had fun chasing birds. Then it was off to Sacramento to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Shields. Kellen gave Tyler a ride in his car and Tyler experimented with riding on a tricycle.

Self-Portraits

One of Arthur's favorite things to do is the self-portrait. Personally, I think he really has what it takes to compete with "Blue Steel". Here are a couple of samples (the first 2 pictures are when Tyler was a baby and the rest are with Dylan). As you can see, I recently got in on the fun...