Pirate Party!

Tyler had been asking for a dragon party for months, and I'd been researching dragon cakes, dragon decorations, dragon activities...Then suddenly he switched things up and started asking for a pirate party. Since I hadn't actually purchased anything, that worked out well. Long ago, I'd taken my god-daughter, Amber, to a pirate party at her classmate's house, and had enjoyed it so much, I'd always wanted to throw a pirate party myself some day. Here was my opportunity! Sweet! I was able to take an afternoon to scout out Reid Park and map out a scavenger hunt.

I attempted to make a pirate ship cake. Emery was in the midst of her comps (comprehensive exams) so wasn't able to assist. I was left to my own devices. Scary. For some reason, this year I actually had a hard time with cakes falling apart. I don't recall having this problem in the past. I stubbornly refused to give up and buy a cake from a store. Finally, Tyson reminded me that in previous years, I lined the cake pans with parchment paper. Oops. I had to rush the cake decorating as a result.

Tyler's party took place on his actual birthday this year. So his first gift of the day was something he'd need for his party.

Tyler had already outgrown his pirate costume from Halloween. He was so excited to get this one, with so many accessories!

We arrived early to the picnic site. I was relieved that Shawn came early, with his superawesome dog. I'd never met this dog before, but immediately fell in love with him. A Great Dane. Somehow, Shawn and his dog eluded the camera.

Shawn helped Tyson prep the food while I decorated. At Tyler's previous three parties, we've found that whatever time we scheduled the party, most guests arrive at least 30 minutes late, closer to an hour late. Not this year! The first guest (besides Shawn) arrived 10 minutes early! Meanwhile, Tyler had fallen asleep on the drive to Reid Park, and was still crashed out in the car, with Grandma patiently waiting for him to awaken. Fortunately the guest's dad was able to take her to the playground to play until more kids arrived.

Sure enough, most of the guests this year arrived closer to the official start time. By 11:20, we started the scavenger hunt. I used to be a pool party coordinator, and also used to run the activities for Paula's kids parties. But those were in contained environments. I found getting the kids coordinated at the park to be much more challenging. I'd go to the playground to round up kids, but newly arriving kids would follow me, and start playing on the playground, while I was leading the other kids back to the party! I resisted the temptation to ask Tyler's teacher for help - it didn't seem fair to ask her to work on her day off. I summoned my old lifeguarding voice and rallied up as many kids as I could.

The first stop on the scavenger hunt was a tree, with a box full of pirate gear. The kids got to choose from pirate bandanas, necklaces, eye patches, hats, clothes, maps, and even a couple of swords. Tyler stuck with his homemade sword from Halloween. Good call, bud.

The second clue led us to the duck pond. By this point, Emery had arrived - an ally! Between the two of us, we managed to keep the kids on task, and prevented any falls/pushes into the pond.

Deciphering the next clue took some time, and led us to a drinking fountain.

After the water fountain, the kids learned they had to walk the plank, and Noah and Ruby discovered the final clue hidden under the bridge.

You can't see it, but the kids are collecting treasure from the treasure chest - candy pearls,  candy gold doubloons, non-edible gold doubloons, and jewelry.

Meanwhile, Tyson was rocking the grill scene, with Kevin and Tiffany keeping him company.

Tyson has the public park grilling scene down. He wore disposable rubber gloves, and persuaded me to buy heavy duty cleanup wipes, just this once, for food safety purposes. Much more reliable than hoping for soap and running water, let alone warm water, in the public restrooms!

Kevin loves pirates, too. It was especially touching to see Gigima conversing with Kevin and Tiffany while voluntarily wearing a pirate bandana.

I need to remember to take a picture of the cake early, in case it gets hot out. In this case, it got hot, early, and the cake didn't hold up to the heat. But the kids still said it was cool.

With all the excitement, it was difficult to get Tyler to focus on eating food. Gigima and Auntie Paula helped out.

Tyson and I were suprised how much food we served. So many kids, so many families! It was awesome. Finally everyone had been served and Tyler had refueled, so we were able to serve the cake. By that time, it was so windy, we decided to skip the candles.

I made twice as much cake as last year, and yet it was barely enough! I think this is the difference between attending a preschool versus a daycare. With daycare, people are dropping off and picking up kids without interacting with each other. At preschool, there's more sense of community, stability. It was fun to see how well all the kids got along.

Tyler continued to have difficulty focusing on food. This time, Grandpa and cousin Christopher helped him out.

I eventually realized the parents were standing around, looking like they were ready to leave, but were expecting something else to happen. Emery explained it to me - they were waiting for Tyler to open presents. I love how kids always help the birthday boy open presents! Leo and Auggie were so proud of their gift - real tools!

Happy birthday, Tyler! We love you!!! Thank you to everyone who made this such a special day!

Christmas 2013

A few days before Christmas, we joined the Bushmans for an afternoon at the Maker House. The highlight was the firetruck ride with Santa.

We rode the fire truck all around downtown Tucson.

Auntie Em had to work on Christmas, so she and Gigima came to celebrate Christmas a little early. We were so happy to finally have enough seating for guests on our new couch. I don't cook or bake very often, and none of the grandmas bake very often (ever?) so homemade cookies are a special treat in our house.

Auntie Em gives the best hugs!

Waiting for the Christmas Eve service...

Christmas morning! Tyler and Vader eagerly anticipated opening gifts. That pesky photo op clearly exceeded their attention spans.

We continued our tradition of inviting Vader to open the first gift.

Dragons were definitely the theme of this Christmas. So exciting!!!

Every boy needs a Viking Hat and his very own hatchet! At this point, Tyler switched from thinking about training dragons to chopping down Truffula trees. He did NOT receive a super axe hacker, so he is not able to chop down four trees in one smacker. Just one at a time, pal.

Every brewery needs a good flight set. I thought it was time for Broken Glass Brewery to have a couple sets of its own. Can't wait to have people over to taste our beers! (Now we just need to brew four different batches...)

Thank you, Grandma A and Grandma G, for spending Christmas with us!

Pure joy. A moment to be cherished.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ramping Up

Here's a couple of pictures of Tyler's first hike. It was Veteran's Day holiday. Tyson planned to work that day, until he heard I'd made plans to spend the day with the Bushmans. Suddenly he decided it was okay to celebrate this holiday after all.

Ruby is one of Tyler's favorite people. He was so happy to spend the day with her!

We made it to our destination, this house. It wasn't as old as we expected, but it was cool nonetheless.

I remember Tyler enjoying Christmas last year, but I sure don't remember him being so excited about it. This year, this kid is PUMPED. For one thing, he listened carefully when we explained the order of the fall/winter holidays - Halloween, wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving, Mama's birthday, then finally Christmas. We know he paid attention, because when asked what he was thankful for at school the day before Thanksgiving, he answered, "Mom's birthday." He really likes cake.

This year, he's been into the Christmas movies on Netflix. Remember when we were kids, you'd happen to catch Charlie Brown's Christmas Special, or maybe Rudolph Claymation on TV,  and count yourself lucky? Now he gets to choose from several movies, and can watch on demand. Foreign concept to me. He likes one about some reindeer, and he loves the Curious George Christmas Special.

Just before Christmas we got our new couch. It occurred to us at some point that it really was ridiculous to have only one two-seater couch and a broken rocking chair as seating for our living room. So we got a sectional, and we worried that it would seem too big and overwhelming to such a small space. On the contrary, it somehow makes the living room seem bigger, and definitely more inviting. Tyler played bumper cars with it, running into one side, then the other, back and forth and all over the place. He ran all over it, jumped on it...so much energy! Eventually we got him to calm down, but today he was all over it again. Vader's more tentative, he waited until we were gone to try it out. When we got home, we could tell from the sheet we'd layed over the couch, he definitely spent some time on the chaise lounge. Who can blame him?

Truffula Trees and Halloween

This fall, I loved having Tyler in his new school, so close to my work. Three days a week I would run from work to his school,  pushing an empty stroller, pick him up, and run back to work to get our car. Some days Tyler would run next to me, racing me, until he decided it was time to climb in the stroller. Occasionally he'd ask to walk. He'd walk about 8/10ths of a mile before climbing in. And as he rode in the stroller, he'd speak endlessly about the "the trees, the trees, the truffula trees! All my life I'd been searching for tress such as these!" He'd point out the different palm trees, and get particularly excited about ones with "barbaloot fruits" hanging down. Some days he'd discuss his plans to chop down ALL the truffula trees, other days, he'd inform me that it was a "bad idea" and that he only wanted to chop down one. Or five. Five has been a favorite number for a long time.

I've loved spending the time outdoors together. Tyler's funny, in the car ride home, he divulges very little information about the day, prefering to zone out or to play his LeapPad. But in the stroller, he'll chatter away and through the chatter I can figure out what went on during the day.

For Halloween, Tyler requested to be a pirate. He was just starting to get into "Jake and the NeverLand Pirates". He was so excited to go to the costume store. And yet the first pirate costume he tried, he got very upset and couldn't wait to get it off of him. The sales lady and I were so surprised, and tried to get him to see how cute it looked. I helped him escape the confines of the costume, puzzled, and thinking "are we just not going to dress up this year?" Then it occurred to me that maybe he didn't like the one-piece aspect of the costume. I perused the costumes again and sure enough, the more expensive, officially licensed Jake costume had the shirt separated from the pants. Reluctantly, I asked to try it. Sure enough, he loved it. Halloween was solved! He was so excited to have a toy dagger. On the car ride home, I pretended that the dagger cut me, and Tyler scolded, with an accent he'd picked up, "whaaaale, you gotta be careful!" He immediately broke the dagger and began crying. I am a horrible mother, because I cannot stop laughing even when he is in tears.To think, he was scolding me, and then he himself broke the toy! I promised him Tyson would either fix it or build him a new one. Tyson built him a new dagger out of cardboard and tin foil, at Jonell's suggestion. Surprisingly, it didn't get much use after Halloween.

Trick or Treating was great fun, with Tyler running from house to house, though he wasn't as reliable at saying Trick or Treat this year. We broke him of the habit of blowing out people's jack-o-lanterns, since he wasn't a firefighter anymore. But Tyler must have grown from when we bought his costume, because suddenly it was too small!

We intended to go to Dia De Los Muertos/All Souls Procession with some friends the following Sunday, but we got word that their daughter was sick. Tyler came to his own conclusion about her illness - "Tyler, Ruby can't come play today. She has a tummyache." "Yeah. She has a tummyache because she ate too much candy." Hilarious. We don't think we'd ever mentioned getting a stomachache from candy before, and we certainly hadn't explained that she would have had access to any candy. This was the first time we'd ever heard him draw a conclusion about something he couldn't see first-hand. Many more conclusions and assumptions to come, but this first one was exciting to me.

Award Night

[Articles are edited to omit the name of the award, just trying to stay off the search engines]

Award Will Honor US Representative Ron Barber

by Hot Off The Press (Release) on Sep. 06, 2013, under Press Releases

The Recovery Award was introduced in 2007 by Susan, after her son Daniel died by suicide while receiving treatment for schizophrenia. The Recovery Award recognizes local individuals that have inspired hope and who signify the determination and passion it takes to advocate, educate and support those living with mental illness as well as an individual that personally represents the path of recovery.

Criteria for the Recovery Award is based on 10-core principles of recovery, as determined by the National Consensus Conference on Mental Health Recovery and Mental Health Systems Transformation. These principles are self-direction, individualized and person-centered, empowerment, holistic, non-linear, strengths-based, peer support, respect, responsibility and hope. More information about recovery principles can be found here: http://www.samhsa.gov/pubs/mhc/MHC_recovery.htm

In 2012, three additional awards were added to recognize an advocate, direct service provider, and educator in for their contributions. This year’s awardees are:

Advocate - The Honorable Ron Barber, Congressman, 2nd District, Arizona

An advocate is a person who speaks and/or writes in support of or on behalf of a person or cause. Congressman Barber will receive this award because of his long-time, steadfast advocacy for investing in mental health services and reducing stigma associated with mental illness. His lifetime advocacy efforts were exemplified by his introduction of the Mental Health First Aid Act in Congress, January 2013.

Direct Service Provider – Hazel Heinzer, La Frontera

As a person who facilitates and/or coordinates services to promote the well being of another, Ms. Heinzer is being recognized for her persistence and patience seeking to promote the well-being of her clients from their clinical treatment to their involvement in community activities into adulthood.

Educator – Cheryl Glass, Camp Wellness, University of Arizona

A person that shares information and knowledge with others, enabling them to increase understanding or skills to enhance their lives, Cheryl Glass was selected because under Ms. Glass’ leadership, not only did Camp Wellness thrive and flourish but has become a shining example of an empowerment based recovery program embodying all the values represented by the Award.

2013 Awardees Announced

by Susan Moreno on Sep. 15, 2013, under Health

...In 2012, three additional awards were added to recognize an advocate, direct service provider, and educator for their contributions. This year’s awardees are:

Advocate – The Honorable Ron Barber, Congressman, 2nd District, Arizona
An advocate is a person who speaks and/or writes in support of or on behalf of a person or cause. Congressman Barber will receive this award because of his tireless effort to reduce stigma and create an environment of effective, accessible treatment..

Direct Service Provider – Hazel Heinzer, La Frontera Clinician
As a person who facilitates and/or coordinates services to promote the well being of another, Hazel Heinzer is being recognized for continuous support in treating the entire family in various roles in shelters, homes and clinical settings.

Educator – Cheryl Glass, Camp Wellness, University of Arizona
A person that shares information and knowledge with others, enabling them to increase understanding or skills to enhance their lives, Cheryl Glass was selected because “She has played a key role in helping hundreds of people with a serious mental illness to find meaning and purpose in their own lives and come to the realization that not only is recovery possible but that it can be a reality.”

Usually this blog is about Tyler, but I'm  making an exception...

I love my team! Eric, a former employee, and Julie Mack, who hired me to be a tobacco prevention specialist, and later hired me again to be a tobacco research specialist, nominated me for this award. My team knew I was nervous about the whole award/ceremony/publicity thing, and supported me through each step - from choosing to give up their Friday night to come clap for me to taking my picture and cropping it at the most flattering angle. Then on Friday morning, when I arrived at work, my office door was ajar and I found these:

The camp nurse brought me these. This was especially touching to me, because she herself attended camp, got well, and returned to work. She described coming to camp as "everything around me was dark, but when I walked in those doors, there was light." Pretty awesome.

I worked late and picked Tyler up a little before six. I brought in his fancy shirt and pants, thinking I'd dress him and ask the preschool teacher to get a picture of us all dolled up. But alas, he could see the jumping castle for First Friday outside, and when I told him we couldn't play on it that night, it became obvious he wouldn't be getting dressed anytime soon. I packed him into the car, with great difficulty, then asked him if he wanted to go to Wesley's birthday party the next day, and did he think there would be cake? Suddenly all was right in the world again. I called Tyson to warn him that I would need his help in the parking lot of the country club.

We dressed Tyler in the parking lot, but still forgot to get a picture. He looked snazzy, just like his dad.
The awards ceremony was held at Skyline Country Club, up high in the Catalina Foothills, with a stunning view of the city lights. When we entered, we were given a program for the evening, here's part of it:

Ron Barber couldn't make it. (Tyler, this was during a government shutdown, where all the congressmen fail to make a decision, or because they're stubbornly trying to block a decision made by the president, and so government employees like your Uncle Art are forced to take an unplanned, unpaid vacation until those congressmen finally make up their minds)(please note, there is no such thing as a parental shutdown.) His wife Nancy accepted the award on his behalf. This was special to me, because when Tyler was a few days old, I brought him to Nancy, a lactation specialist at the birth center, and begged her to help me, because he wasn't eating. She was so soothing and helpful, got us situated, and all was well. I never got to thank her properly until this night. 

I was in denial about having a give a speech, so I didn't write one. The other recipients, on the other hand, wrote out multiple pages. The program ran very late, Tyler behaved perfectly throughout, and was falling asleep when it was time for me to accept the award. I had planned to bring him up there with me as an easy early escape route, but he was cozy on Tyson's lap, and I feared moving him would inspire blood curdling screams. I stumbled up there by myself, muttered something along the lines of having a great job because I actually get to see people recover and get well everyday, and that my team is awesome, because they're the ones doing it. I held up the award to them, said "This is us!" and booked it back to my seat.

I had the pleasure of meeting Daniel's mom, Susan, who also works in the behavioral health field, specializing in youth. She was a joy to meet, charismatic, warm, and very huggable.

I have to say, thinking of this as a team award, it is very cool to get recognized for the hard work that we do, and that people truly get well! Our program turned out to be bigger and better than I ever expected, and while our goal was to help people improve their health and wellness, the unintended consequence of helping people return to work, and form this amazing, supportive, health-oriented community was more than I ever dreamed. Recovery rocks!

And I just can't get enough of these flowers!

Preschool

Tyler started his new preschool at the end of August. It is so different from daycare. So much structure! So many activities! When Tyler gets into the car at the end of the day, he sits quietly, staring off into space, for much of the ride home. I realized I have to stop asking him questions, and just let him chill for that time. On the days that I run with the stroller to pick him up, then run with him in the stroller back to work to get the car, he chatters, but only to tell me about the Truffula Trees. At night we try to get more information out of him about his day.

We were invited to an open house for his school last week, and we got to see him in action. First, I learned how very, very important it is to attend these events - when I arrived, a few minutes late, I could tell he had been crying, and a staff member explained, "He thought you weren't coming." Ouch! We sat next to a little girl whose parents didn't come, and my heart was breaking for her. At daycare, parents were invited to events, but I could tell from the pictures, only one or two would ever show up. But at preschool, parents are THERE. 

I hung out while Tyler ate his snack (apples and cheese) in the lunchroom, then watched as he was directed to dispose of his trash, push in his chair, and stand with his hands behind his back and wait until he was called to line up. It seemed a bit militant, but I realized, it likely prevents fights caused when kids poke each other and the teachers can't monitor as closely. 

Upon entering his classroom, he has to slide his picture out of an envelope on the door, and post it in the right spot on the door, to show that he is present for the day. I saw a binder with his picture on it, opened it, and discovered artwork about the letter A, the letter for the week. The teacher then went over the calendar with the kids, singing a song about the days of the week, first in English, then in Spanish, and then the months of the year. She then helped them identify the specific day, date, and month. She went over their job list for the week. Tyler's role was "Door Holder." Then they spent time with the letter A, identifying words that start with A, and reading a book about occupations that start with A. Next they danced to some music - a freeze dance. Tyler's mode of dance is jumping. And wow is he happy doing it! I saw he's very good at freezing on time - something he struggled with all summer in sports class. Next was a book, then another dance, an elephant dance, walking around in a circle swinging their trunk. 

Then the kids were told to line up again, and headed off to the "computer lab." There were two computers. While two kids at a time work on the computers, the other kids are divided to sit at tables, each table with a different project. The first table we were assigned to was the robot construction table. It was tough! The next table was much easier, stringing plastic keys onto a keyring. The third table was puzzles - and then it was Tyler's turn to work on the computer. He played a game to release letters, hear the letter sound, then click on objects that started with that letter. 

After that, he returned to the puzzle table, but both Tyson and I needed to get back to work. Most other parents had already left. We were surprised to see the lower lip jut out, and despite our efforts to "rip the bandaid off quickly", we could hear him wailing after we left. But he doesn't cry each morning when I drop him off, and he's not crying in the evening when I pick him up. He engages more quickly in the mornings here than at the previous school, and just seems to be having so much fun. The "tricycle yard" is bigger than the play yard at daycare, and there's also a sand yard with playground equipment, slides, tunnels, which I know he gets to play in too, but they use that after lunch and towards the end of the day, but are always back inside by the time I arrive to pick him up. He had his first Chapel experience, they have chapel once a month, and this month's value is "Friendship." Yesterday, a magician visited, but all Tyler will say is that he brought a white bunny.
 At the end of the day when I come to pick him up, there are several families hanging out, letting their kids play on the grassy lawn (a novelty in Tucson.) We're so excited for Tyler to get to have so many new opportunities!

Truffula Trees

I was warned that Threes are more terrible than Twos, but so far this has not been the case. At one point this summer, when I was trying to woo my sister into meeting me for a conference by saying not only is Sedona beautiful, but Tyler is supercute right now, she noted, "You're awful sweet on him right now, aren't you?" I remembered then, that my nephew Cole was supercute at 3, and 3 was the age that I met my good friend's son, Ashton, and he captured my heart right away, too. There's just something magical about the age of 3.

Truffula Trees are a great example. Melanie (who happens to be the mother of that previously supercute Ashton, who has most likely graduated from supercute to supercool by now) gave Tyler a big Dr. Suess book (compilation of books) back when he was a wee little elf, and I was sad that Tyler never got into it. He loved Fox in Socks, and went through a Cat in the Hat phase, and loved Green Eggs and Ham, but that big book of Dr. Suess, he just wasn't having it. One night, I heard through the monitor Tyson reading to him from that book, reading "Yertle the Turtle" and Tyler was complaining and crying about it, asking for a different book, but Tyson just kept reading anyway. The next night, through the monitor, I heard Tyler ask for the book again. Tyson read Yertle the Turtle, then read "The Lorax". I was impressed with Tyler's attention span for two long stories in a row. I had no idea how magical The Lorax would become.

From then on, each night, Tyler has asked for "the book with the trees." Eventually, he began asking for "the Lorlax." Now, finally, "The Lorax." As we drive to school each morning, Tyler spends the entire 35 minute commute talking on and on about Truffula Trees. Except he's the "bad guy" - he wants to chop down the Truffula Trees! Some days, he tells me he's going to chop down one. Other days he wants to chop four. Other days five! That's more than the Once-ler could ever chop down at a time. When we go running, he sits upright in the stroller, and as we pass palm trees, Tyler points at them, and describes the color of the Truffula Tufts, pink or purple or blue or green. I hear him talking to his teachers about Truffula Trees. It's non-stop. Of course, because Truffula Trees are what everyone, everyone, everyone needs!

Part of the supercute factor is that Tyler is so affectionate right now. His vocabulary and speech have increased so much, and conversations are quite entertaining. He shows his silly side more often, and is bouncy, like Tigger. He likes to climb on Vader like a motorcycle and bounces on him, too. 

Tyler's favorite things are still his train set, which is played with nightly, and books. He watches some YouTube videos of trains most nights on my iphone, and plays Angry Birds, Cookies, Spanish, and Letters on it as well. We've cut back on movie time. I heard Tyson tell Tyler, "On the nights when you and Mommy go running, you get home too late to watch a movie." I felt a pang of guilt, then remembered - I'd far rather Tyler go for a stroller ride with me and look for Truffula Trees than watch a movie every night. 

Also, at some point I felt rather distressed that Tyler only ate hot dogs, fish sticks, grilled cheese sandwiches, and quesadillas. I remember lamenting to my sister about this - how could a health educator let her son eat such a horrible diet? She reminded me, there's a reason kids' menus in restaurants across the country serve hot dogs, fish sticks, grilled cheese sandwiches, and quesadillas - because kids eat them. That was when I remembered, "That's right! We couldn't get him to eat anything at all! We were desperate to get him to eat! That's how we landed here!" She gave me permission to be more patient and forgiving of myself.

And then we began the rule of, "If you want a hot dog, first you have to eat your vegetables." Painful at first, but now, most nights, it's expected. While we were in San Diego, Tyler was so overstimulated that it was easier to get him to try new foods - chicken/pesto/parmesan pizza, for one. When we returned from vacation, we made it a point to just keep serving him the same food we're eating. He's been having a harder time this week with a roast, but otherwise, he's been great at eating the foods we're eating, especially chicken. Much healthier than hot dogs and fish sticks! 

The other habit we broke was eating in front of the TV. Again, how did a health educator let her kid eat in front of the TV? Because a) our kitchen table is a high table, and being strapped in a tall chair for safety turned mealtime into a prison sentence, and b) this kid could outlast Ghandi in a hunger strike. But he loved his movies. So we'd let him eat while watching the movie, and if he stopped eating, we'd pause the TV until he took a bite. Horrible, I know. But it was an act of desperation. Until, as I was working on my continuing education credits, I was reminded how damaging watching meals in front of the TV is to our ability to regulate our appetites, notice hunger and satiety cues, sets us up for obesity and diabetes...And a conference seminar I attended on epigenetics discussed the value of human touch, but also the value of eating meals as a family at the dinner table as a way to impact our phenotypic expression when genetically predisposed to chronic diseases...So, we're eating at the table now. Tyler is tall enough to climb in and out of our nice tall chairs with ease, he's using the placemat Grandma Glass bought him for his birthday, and although Tyson may be doing schoolwork at the table while we eat, at least we're together, and I give Tyler my undivided attention. It is painful though - he takes up to an hour to eat. (Saying "I"m gonna pause it!" is meaningless now!") I'm struggling with the ability to trust the principles of intuitive eating when it comes to Tyler - he went on hunger strike the moment he was born, and I have always had difficulty with appetite and hunger cues (lack thereof, I mean), so I haven't been able to let go and figure, if he's hungry, he'll eat, if not, let him get down. Struggling with it, but I know we'll find our way in time. I think I'm going to try setting the timer for 30 minutes. Or find out what other people have done.

At any rate, the three year old version of Tyler is supercute, even if he does want to chop down all the Truffula Trees.