The Life of Bug

I've moved

2006-07-26T17:13:00.000-04:00

It seems that I've abandoned this blog and will be posting Tyler antics and other ramblings on my *shudder* Myspace page. I think you're able to read the blog even without having an account, though I think that you need to have an account to comment.

This child drives me INSANE!!

2006-04-24T01:34:00.000-04:00

Tyler got a new toy the other day - he saved up his money for it. For a week, he said he wanted a "nutcrasher truck," whatever that is. But I knew what store he saw it at, so he saved up his money and decided to get this instead of the talking toolbench he's wanted for weeks.

I've been having a lot of trouble with allergies lately, and have been taking 2 Benadryl each evening for the past two weeks or so. As most everyone knows, Benadryl can knock you out - in fact, the generic Benadryl is also used in over-the-counter sleeping pills.

So, I was pretty groggy this morning. I set him up with some yogurt and went back to bed, letting him play quietly while watching TV as I sometimes do. However, instead of playing quietly, he takes the yogurt over to his little avalanche playset, lines up a ton of Matchbox cars on the coffee table (the one he covered 1/3 of in red nailpolish three weeks ago), and PUTS YOGURT ALL OVER THEM! I guess the idea was to make it look like there was "snow" on them, because it was done pretty carefully and only over the cars!

I cleaned up the toys with the yogurt on them, but there were still toys all over the living room. Craig came over, so we left it as is and went out for a bit. When I got home, I turned on the TV and noticed that the child apparently got a few spots of yogurt on the television. I cooked dinner, and then we cleaned up all the toys and vacuumed. I put Tyler to bed, and went back to clean up the TV. The spots wouldn't come off, so I kept scrubbing thinking that for some reason dried yogurt was impossible to clean off. Then I scraped at it with my nail and realized.....it's not yogurt. THEY'RE CHIPS IN THE GLASS!!!

I was fuming, but Tyler was already in bed so I couldnt find out what was going through that crazy child's head. He wandered out of his room while I was still staring at the screen in disbelief, so I asked him what he did. He told me he banged "Rocky Rock" against the screen! I yelled at him and sent him back to bed.

A few minutes later, I hear him shuffling around in his room, so I went in to tell him to get back in bed. He tells me he's sad because I don't like him. I told him he's still "my best friend" (as he says), but I was sad that he broke my TV. He got all panicky, put his hand gently on my face and said "Please don't cry. Don't be sad mama." He's gotten really worried the few times he's seen my cry (from migraines). I told him I wasn't going to cry, and he says "Good. You can cheer me up, because I'm sad"! He then told me that he was watching Sesame Street, "my favorite show", and there was a hole (on the screen). He tried to put the rock into it. I guess after 3 tries he realized it wasn't a real hole! lol

How could I be mad with such an adorable explaination? But I think these holes in the screen are going to drive me nuts. As it was, I only looked at them for about an hour and they were annoying - and that was when I thought they'd come off. Nevermind trying to watch a movie knowing that the pencil-eraser sized black mark in the center of the screen, and two smaller ones below, were caused by a child trying to throw a rock into the screen!

On the bright side, now that he's ruined the TV, put nailpolish on the coffee table, and scratched the surface of my desk, I think that anything else he's going to ruin is cheaper!

I'm terrible

2006-04-02T03:17:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written anything! My schedule has been rearranged so I should actually have a full day and a half off back-to-back, so I'll be writting more very soon. I've got lots - this kid is a riot!

The Life of Bug

2005-08-31T22:34:00.000-04:00

Tyler was trying to climb into his toy and got stuck. It was absolutely hysterical - he just kept saying "Somebody help me!" So like any good mom, I got my camera. :-) I was sitting on the couch next to him the whole time. He actually stopped saying "Somebody help me" long enough to ask to see each picture!

AOL Sucks!!

2005-06-20T02:16:00.000-04:00

This is such bull - I tried to send email and AOL won't let me to certain people, saying that one or more of the links I sent are generating complaints - I linked to a NASA site and to metafilter.com I tried it again without the link showing where I heard about this moon thing and it still didn't work. Click on the "AOL Sucks" title and it'll send you to the error I got. Apparently, AOL doesn't want NASA links being sent - they're keeping you from getting too smart, I suppose. lol Wonder if it would let me send an "anti-AOL" link. Yet snowball fights and angel hugs are ok.
Anyway, this stuff is too cool for me to let AOL keep you from hearing about it. So I figured I'd just post on my blog and email you guys to let you know to check the blog. Unreal.
Here's what I wanted you to see - Moon at its lowest point in 18 years
You can find the time of moonrise here Moonrise Times

Ok - so I just called AOL - I wanted answers and couldn't let it rest. lol Turns out, I didn't remove the metafilter link entirely, and that's why it was bouncing back. Still not a good reason as far as I'm concerned - really, metafilter, a really cool, interesting and usually intelligent website gets complaints, but hamsterdance is allowed to run rampant??! Hooter cancer indeed! I've actually emailed the admin at metafilter to let them know - yes, it's trivial and I know the site owner has a lot better things to do, but AOL must be stopped and any way I can help that, I will. lol (wow, I'm not as crazy as I sound, just anti-random-censorship).
Further update - a discussion of this on Metafilter's discussion forum, MetaTalk

The Life of Bug

2005-06-02T01:47:00.000-04:00

Hippie
You are 0% Rational, 71% Extroverted, 28% Brutal, and 28% Arrogant.

You are the Hippie! Characterized by a strong sense of extroversion,
irrationality, gentleness, and humility, you no doubt frolic through
fields preaching peace and love to all! You are probably either very
spiritual or needlessly paranoid about "the man", like most hippies, as
a result of your focus on intuition and feelings over cold, brutal
logic. You are also very, very social. And like any hippie, who would
have no qualms about hitchiking across the country just to meet some
interesting people, you too love to interact with others, even complete
strangers. Because we know most any hippie is peace-loving and humble,
it stands to reason that you, as well, are terribly gentle and humble,
almost to the point of revulsion. Your carefree attitude of peace and
harmony is probably very, very sickening to realists or cynics or
anyone who isn't a hippie, to tell the truth. In short, your
personality is defective because you are overly emotional, extroverted,
gentle, and humble--thus making you an annoying hippie. And you listen
to psychadelic rock and smoke a whole lot of pot. Okay, maybe not, but
I wouldn't be surprised if you did.

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational.

2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted.

3. You are more GENTLE than brutal.

4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

Compatibility:

Your exact opposite is the Sociopath.

Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Hand-Raiser, the Televangelist, and the Robot.

If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you
could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42%
Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is
close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well.
Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can
determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored
near fifty percent for certain traits.

The other personality types:

The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

This test tracked 4 variables. How the score compared to the other people's:

Higher than 0% on Rationality

Higher than 71% on Extroversion

Higher than 21% on Brutality

Higher than 20% on Arrogance

Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline on Ok Cupid

He's in his bed again!!

2005-04-27T02:48:00.000-04:00

Well, after his first night in his bed, he reverted to his crib. I didn't want to push him so I let him in his crib. But tonight, I set up the mattress in his bed again and I let him tuck me in. Then he grabbed a book, cuddled up next to me and said "Geen Ham" (obviously, "Green Eggs and Ham"). So we read the book, which he loves because it involves a train and he was happy. I gave him his bottle and headed to the living room, and about 15 minutes later he came out of his room, rubbing his sleepy little eyes looking like a kid in a commercial. I explained to him that he had to go back to bed to go to sleep and he started crying, saying "No bed! No bed! Mama Up!" and cuddled up on my lap. I let him for a couple of minutes, then told him that even if he just played quietly in his room, he had to go back in there and go to bed. He wasn't going on his own, so I put him down, took his hand and led him back to bed. He was a bit upset but got settled in with no problems and fell asleep quite quickly. After about 30 minutes I was sure enough that he was asleep that I was dancing around the house singing "He's asleep in the big boy bed! I'm such a good mommy!". lol
He also got a haircut today. He was such an angel! He sat in the chair all by himself and didn't fuss at all, even when they brought out the buzzer. Yes, the buzzer. All his beautiful little curls are gone and he has a haircut just like Daddy, complete with the little wave in the front! We were originally going to just get it trimmed, but he was being so good in the chair, and Craig pointed out that the shorter we cut it the less often we have to do it! :-) He looks like such a big boy now - all this growing up in such a short time! I can't handle it!

First Night in a Big Boy Bed!!

2005-04-23T03:05:00.000-04:00

I'm practically bouncing off the walls I'm so excited about this!! Earlier today, I put the mattress into his bed and told him he'd be sleeping in it, as I do from time to time. This time, I had the courage to lay down in it and surprisingly, I didn't break it. Tyler tucked me in, kissed me and said "Goodnight Mama".
He took a 3 hour nap with me on the couch after we got home from the park with Daddy, and when he woke up we played together. We turned off the tv, I stayed off the computer and we just really interacted the whole time. So, by bedtime he was really tired. I gave him his bottle and since I hadn't moved the mattress back, I told him he had a choice, he could sleep in the crib or in the bed. He kept insisting that he wanted to sleep on the couch! lol So I tucked him in bed, gave him his bottle and fully expected to have to guide him back into bed at least 3 times. But to my great surprise, he was out in 10 minutes! I just went in to check on him - unfortunately it's really dark in there, but I could make out an adorable lump. :-)
He had a great time in the park today. In the span of 2 minutes, the kid threw sand in his face (which he does to get a laugh, strangely enough), licked a pole, and ran around in circles going "ha ha ha"! Craig and I thought it was pretty funny, and were hysterical when I overheard a 6 year old say "look at that baby over there, running in circles going 'ha ha ha'"! A few minutes later, they came over and engaged Tyler in a game of chase. Craig and I always joked about having a strange kid doing exactly those things, but we didn't expect it would really happen! Tyler has gotten the chance to play with a bunch of kids lately - last week he had a blast with his cousin Jack, and yesterday he met a 4 year old boy named Zack at the bowling alley. Zack immediately invited Tyler to join in his bowling game and they played very nicely together - Zack even won a stuffed animal for Tyler in one of the video games there. :-)
It's now 3 hours later, and I can't believe he's still quietly in bed. I've checked on him twice, and he hasnt moved. He's due to cry in about a half hour or an hour, so we'll see how he handles that. I'm still debating whether I should sleep in bed or sleep on the couch. I'm kind of nervous that little independent mister will decide to play quietly in the morning instead of coming to wake me up, and wait until the house is destroyed before coming into bed, putting his face inches from mine and saying "No nigh-night! Wake! Up! Ma-ma!" like he does while I'm laying on the couch!
He now sings all the verses to "The Wheels on the Bus".......if you ask him how the wipers on the bus go, or the money, or the people, or the baby, he responds correctly. The cutest thing is if you ask what the mommy on the bus says, or the daddy on the bus says, he answers "I love you!"
And, thanks to Spongebob, he knows Mary Had a Little Lamb, though his version is not the correct one. I just discovered he knew this tonight, and was hysterical. In the Spongebob episode, Patrick is copying Spongebob because he wants to get an award like Bob has. So, Bob tries to trip Patrick up, and they start reciting "Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as........." and then, Tyler will yell (attempting to say like Bob) PICKLED FISH LIPS!! He really just kinda yells loudly in the same cadence as "pickled fish lips", but it's really funny when you know what he's saying! What a day this kid has had in terms of new things! :-)

Potty Training Progress

2005-02-22T03:30:00.000-05:00

Potty training is going along great! Of course, we've been in "training mode" since the summer, but since he's only 2 (28 months), we're really doing great. I figure it's best not to push him. He's been great with telling me when he needs to go, and in fact went all by himself today! I was laying in bed, and he came up to me saying "pee pee potty". Since he was already naked and I didn't feel like getting up, I told him he knew where it was and to go ahead. So he did! He came back in a couple of minutes all proud of himself. He even got some IN the potty! lol He finally figured out doorknobs on 2/14, so he actually opened the door and then went! Two accomplishments in one! :-) Mommy was quite proud, too.
I started a group on yahoo for graduates of Northport High School from 1994. I've gotten some really enthusiastic responses and expect more once everyone gets back to work. But I had to mention one comment that really made my day - Julie Flinn told me I'm going to make a great PTA mom. That made my day, and probably even my week! :-)

"If They Can't Make It, Who Can?!" Part II

2005-01-13T04:12:00.000-05:00

There's hope. Dear lord, there's hope. Perhaps it was just another effect of the tsnuami tilting the earth off its axis. Maybe this crazy world will straighten itself out. Maybe I shouldn't blog after taking Nyquil. Goodnight, everyone! lol

"If They Can't Make It, Who Can?!"

2005-01-11T10:34:00.000-05:00

Indeed! I know this blog is supposed to be all about Tyler, but surely you all understand that this story is hitting pretty close to home. So when Tyler asks why Mommy and Daddy split up, I'll say, "Well, honey, if Brad and Jen can't make it in this crazy world, who can?!"
Honestly - people are really saying this?!
Update 2/22/05 - I wasn't thinking - the link doesn't last forever. It was a crazy story about how upset people were that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston were splitting up, and how it's affecting people and making them question their own marriages, since nobody ever thought they'd split up. I'm sorry the article isn't around anymore - it was quite funny.

Photo Contest

2005-01-05T03:13:00.000-05:00

My friend Lauren has entered a photo contest.....everyone should vote for her because truly her picture is the cutest one on the site! You have to sign up to vote, but I enjoy getting the newsletters, you can decide not to get the newsletters, and if you accidentally do, you can email them to get out of it. They are a real, reputable company and will take you off their list.
I've voted - everyone else should too! :-) You get 5 votes per day - I'm not sure if you're allowed to vote for her 5 times, but I"ll find out and I'll post here again and let you know. If anyone else figures it out, please comment.

Tyler's First Nightmare 12/29/04 - 12/30/04

2004-12-31T03:53:00.000-05:00

It seems that Tyler had his first true nightmare last night. He had a hard time sleeping, and would wake up every half hour or so. I gave him some Tylenol, thinking that he may be coming down with some sort of bug that's been making everyone sick. But nope, that wasn't it - a half hour later he woke up screaming. I went in and asked him if he wanted Dino and Dozer - his two construction trucks that he loves and usually sleeps with. He said, through his tears, NOO DINO! and actually made me take his Dino (an excavator) and bring him from his crib into the kitchen, as far away from him as possible! I then brought Tyler into my bed, and asked him if he wanted Dozer. He started crying again, saying "NO DOZER! NO BULLDOZER!". It took a little bit, but I was able to calm him down and we snuggled up and fell asleep together. Poor kid. I don't know what got him all worked up, but he didn't seem to play with Dino and Dozer as much today, and he didn't once ask to watch his Mighty Machines video with the construction site. Maybe they were fighting in his dream. At least he did play with Dozer a little though, so he wasn't too scarred.

The Life of Bug

2004-12-31T03:14:00.000-05:00

Two adorable pictures from Christmas

McDonald's Playground 12/19/04

2004-12-23T03:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm still behind at work, but I can't believe how long it's been since I've written anything here that I figured I'd take a bit of a break and let you guys know about a very significant moment in my mommyhood. Craig and I tried to take Tyler to see Santa on Sunday, but the line was way too long and we didn't have enough patience to stand on a line like that to sit on the lap of one of Santa's helpers who looked like he had a bit too much eggnog at some underground pub. So, instead we headed out and tried to figure out what to get to eat, when Craig suggested he was in the mood for McDonald's. I wasn't, but since Craig was and he brought up that they had the playground, I went along with it. Tyler ate a bit of his happy meal, and then he was off! He had a blast running around in the little baby Habitrail! There were a bunch of 6 or 7 year olds in there playing tag, and they were wonderful with Tyler. At first, Tyler stuck around by Daddy, playing with the steering wheel that was inside one of the tubes. But once I got there, he was comfortable enough to run around a bit, and next thing you know, he's up in the top tubes that go along the ceiling! The older kids helped him get up there. There were windows so we got to catch a glimpse of him every so often. He was so cute! He had such a smile on his face! And every so often, one of the kids would come around the corner and yell "Boo!" at him, and he's scream gleefully! As Tyler was having such a great time, I sat there watching with amusement, pride, and terror. My heart was in my throat the whole time - what if something happened to him? I couldn't get to my baby immediately - I'd have to go through the tubes. It was then that I realized those annoying worrying moms who used to watch me do backflips on the top of the monkeybars weren't so crazy afterall. Nevermind the fact that everything was soft and padded - still, my baby wasn't with me, so I'm sure there was a possibility of him getting hurt. It took a while, but I was able to unclench my fists and enjoy him running around, though my heart continued to race. I was amused by that as well, as was Craig. Tyler played in there for about 20 minutes - I was hoping to get some pictures, but everything was enclosed in Plexi-Glass, so I couldn't get any pictures that didn't have a glare on them. Once Tyler came around towards the slide, I called his name up the slide, and either he came down or one of the kids "helped" him down, but down he came, all sweaty with a huge smile on his face. He was done playing, and willingly put his jacket on. He and Daddy have started this thing where they jump up and down while they're holding hands on the way to the car, or wherever they are going, and he did that to the car. And that was the last bit of energy the little Bug had. He was in the car at 5:30 pm, we got home and Daddy changed him - Tyler slept right through it. He didn't wake up until the next morning! What wonderful dreams he must've had!

Sorry for Not Blogging

2004-11-12T04:50:00.000-05:00

I've been behind at work, so I haven't had the time to post any new entries here. There are some new pictures up on the site, and after a month of being behind I'm finally caught up with work, so there will be new entries about Halloween and all the cute new things he's doing. :-)

Self Portraits

2004-10-24T05:39:00.000-04:00

It's 5:30. Tyler woke up at around 2:30 when Daddy stopped by. Usually, Daddy pops in and changes his diaper, gives him some cuddles and Tyler goes right back to sleep. But, since Tyler had been sleeping since 8pm, he was a little bit awake and wanted to show daddy his brumm brumms. We humored him for a bit, then put him back to his crib. Unfortunately, he had a hard time settling down, and then once he did, he had taken off his diaper and peed, so I had to change the sheets. While I did that, I gave him a bottle and let him watch "Rockman" - his favorite part in the movie "The Point". He would go play with a truck occasionally, but mostly stuck to the couch drinking his bottle. So, after a bit, I cuddled up next to him and watched the Rockman part once again. Just as soon as we got comfortable, he jumped up and ran to the computer desk, grabbed my digital camera and said "Cheese", then climbed back onto my chest. So, we took those ever-so-wonderful self portraits. These came out so adorable!! Tyler actually pressed the button on a couple of them. He insisted on checking each one out, and all of those were met with giggles of approval. After these pictures were taken, Tyler climbed off my chest, took his bottle, and stood by his crib, saying "Up, mama, up mama". I guess he just wanted to get a few quick pictures before he went to sleep!! :-)

TYLER'S 2ND BIRTHDAY!

2004-10-18T15:42:00.001-04:00

I have put up some pictures from Tyler's birthday party. It seems I only took five digital ones. Tyler had a great time, and he's been playing with his toys all day! Thank you all for coming. :-)

Pumpkin Picking!

2004-10-17T02:32:00.000-04:00

Craig and I took Tyler pumpkin picking at Schmitt's Farm today. He had a blast!! He loves "punkins", and to see a whole field filled with them was just too wonderful! He ran around for about a half hour, looking at the pumpkins, sitting on them, picking them up. He also loved playing with the kids! In fact, at one point he ran up to a guy who had a baby in a stroller, grabbed the man's hand and said "truck", pointing to the hayride we came in on. Then he tried to make the baby smile, by saying "Hello baby" and "beeping" his nose. It was adorable, but unfortunately the baby wasn't in the mood to smile. He moved on and found plenty of other people to smile at! I've posted a couple of pictures from the day on my photo site. Unfortunately, my batteries were dying so I only got a couple of pictures. But Tyler had so much fun, I want to go back next weekend with my video camera and just let him run around.

Posting Comments

2004-10-10T18:34:00.000-04:00

I've changed the settings, so you no longer have to register to post a comment. When you click on the comment bubble, you can either type in your user name and password, or underneath it click "post anonymously". You can do it that way, and just sign your name, and this way I won't have to be driven insane trying to figure out who wrote which comment. :-)
I'll be posting a couple of cute stories in the next day or two, but right now I'm trying to be good and get my work done. :-)

Photo Page

2004-09-28T02:28:00.000-04:00

I suppose I should make it easy for everyone and mention that all the Tyler photos are at Bug Shots I suppose now I can post here as new ones are posted.

He's so cute and happy!

2004-09-28T02:05:00.000-04:00

Today, we went to the Huntington office at around 4:30pm which means lots of traffic. Tyler absolutely loved watching all the "brumm brumms", so I took the opportunity to teach him the difference between a "school bus" "truck" and "car". He picked up "school bus" very quickly, and I was quite impressed! He seems to prefer "brumm brumm" to "car", but that's okay - I think I prefer his way too, for now.
He's spending the night at Daddy's tonight, and I went over there to play for a bit. He wanted nothing other than to cuddle with me. He kept climbing onto my chest and saying "nigh-night mama". I was loving this, until I blew his mind by blowing a bubble with my gum! We'd say "Ready. Set. Go!", I'd blow a bubble, and he'd pop it by smacking his forehead into it, then leaning back with the proudest look of glee on his face! Finally, Daddy had to step in and declare bedtime. Tyler ran into daddy's bed, and pulled my head down next to him, again saying "nigh-night mama". He tried to fight getting into his pjs until we started pretending to sleep - Tyler actually made little snoring noises with me! It's so much fun to watch his imagination and sense of humor develop.

My Intent

2004-09-26T04:37:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Life of Bug! I keep a journal each day about the little, cool things that Tyler does. I've been meaning to set up a blog to keep everyone up to speed about it, but have been putting it off for over a year now. Finally - here it is! I have to get some work done tonight, but either tomorrow or the next night, I plan to put up my first entry and perhaps a picture or two.