Posts Tagged ‘Tyler’
Dora the Toilet Seat
August 19th, 2008 / posted by Jake
When Lindsey returned home from Southern California around July 4th, we thought it would be nice to potty train Tyler but were unsure how to determine when the right time would be. Some are able to potty train their kids at 2, while others are potty trained when they are 3 even 4. I don’t think there is a right or wrong time considering the fact that each kid is different so we decided at 2 1/2 we might as well give it a shot.
Because of his obsession with Dora the Explorer (gag), we bought a Dora the Explorer Potty Training seat which fits over the standard seat. 
We went this route instead of a little kids toilet for selfish reasons – the idea of simply flushing is a lot better than physically empty out a bucket. The first week was a learning experience – we had to try and guess as to when he had to go. When we though it was time, we’d run and fling him on the seat. Lindsey implemented a sticker reward system so that after every successful experience, he would run and slap a sticker on this chart followed by high fives, loud cheering, and a redbull.
Tyler is very smart about when he needs to go. Anytime we are in a public location and pass by a restroom, or anything resembling a toilet (buckets, shoes, boxes) his knees buckle, he starts to dance, and screams, “uh oh pee-pee…” What takes place next often resembles a kidnapping scene at least from a bystander POV. We drop everything, grab him, and RUN. Now Tyler has also learned that him having to go “pee-pee” is a get out of jail free card. Anytime he’s in a situation where he’s bored (nursery, shopping with mom for shoes) he pulls this sacred card knowing we’ll have to stop and take him. We always do but sometimes it’s really hard. In the middle of the night we still have him wear pull-ups just in case. At about 2:00 a.m. each morning he wakes everyone up, announcing that it’s pee-pee time. My first instinct is to say, “yo dude. 2:00 a.m. It’s ok to go pee-pee in the pull-up between the hours of 10:00pm – 6:00am.” But alas we encourage him to utilize Dora… even at 2:00 a.m. Only no sticker celebration until the morning.
He doesn’t wear Dora the Explorer underwear. Just CARS, and yes, maybe next month when he hits 3 month of being potty trained we’ll try to get him to stand up and go. That will be interesting.
Como?
June 21st, 2008 / posted by Jake
Tyler is obsessed. With what?
It’s not Friends (overrated), Seinfeld, Star Trek (phew again), Desperate Housewives (worst acting ever), Lost (yawn), or even Prison Break (has sucked royally these past couple years). It’s not a reality show (which eliminates 90% of all other possibilities). It’s DORA THE EXPLORER!
Since having served and lived in Holland (aka Netherlands, home of Amsterdam), I was able to learn Dutch. I always thought it would be pretty dope to have my kids learn at least a bit of it so that we could make fun of other people and they wouldn’t understand us. Unfortunately, I haven’t taught him any Dutch which is probably due to the fact that I never have an opportunity to speak it. Except this one time in Tijuana. Ya, of all places… so anyways, thanks to the 8+ hours of Dora he receives daily, Tyler has been learning spanish. He actually uses the word ‘gracias’ now in place of thank you which is interesting but sometimes he switches it up and reverts back to ’shanks’. Either way, the kid is obsessed with Dora and I’ll admit – it drives me crazy at times.
I currently have a laminate card in my wallet on which their birthdays, full names, my anniversary, my age, and other important stuff guys forget about are written. Well I had to make an addition to the laminate by adding lots of spanish words so I can better communicate with my son. Matter of fact we’re going to have to take him out of nursery on Sundays and place him in an “english as a second language” class since the other kids in nursery just stare at him when he speaks espanol to them. Oh and let me not forget about how we sing the hymns in spanish even though our ward is english speaking. Awesome.
When Tyler is not learning spanish from Dora, he is learning how to count numbers. Wait, they count numbers in spanish. Sigh. I guess raising him on Knight Rider and the Cosby Show just won’t be the same with english sub-titles.
I have at least managed (through a translator of course) to convince him to support Barack Obama.
We’re Alive
February 24th, 2008 / posted by Jake
We’re alive.
Tyler talks and has a few favorite words now: “Oh geez”, “EWWWWWWWWW”, “Yuck” and “hey dude” are my favorites. For whatever reason he is obsessed with garage doors and their intricacies. Anytime we drive by or walk by a garage, he points to it and says “garage”. I am unsure if this is a sign of intelligence or an early sign of ADD… Either way, I chop up ritalin pills and put it in his redbull every morning just in case.
Here are a few great videos of Tyler. The first one was taken one night while he was eating dinner. We turned cartoons on his TV and let him eat while we cleaned the kitchen. Next thing we knew, he was asleep with food in is mouth. View the video here.
Tyler LOVES to dance. This video is of him dancing with hes friggin-sweat striped turtleneck (sarcasm). Eat your heart out Britney Spears, or I’ll also settle for you shaving your head. Anyway here is Tyler M. Jackson.
You can determine the dexterity of your child
October 27th, 2007 / posted by Jake
Recently, we decided that Tyler needs to be a lefty just like his Uncle Brett and Grandpa Ashlock. Why? Because the world is full of boring rightys. Being a lefty would make him that much more unique and, if we made the correct decisions on his behalf, (we) he could profit.
Plus, think of the benefits of being a lefty. They get their own scissors, baseball gloves, knives, computer-mouse, guns (haha), golf clubs and much more. Just think of how much easier it would be to handle your food at a drive-through. No more near-face-punches with your right hand as you shift around in your car trying to take the food with the right hand. Simply reach out with your left, and bring it in. For this and many other reasons, we made it our goal to have Tyler become lefthanded. Some of you might ask why not have him become ambidextrous? Well that’s simple – we don’t want him to have an eating disorder like all the ambidextrous super models. Duh.
For those of you interested in how we MADE him a lefty, let me tell you it was a grueling process. We tried taping his right hand to his ear, but he eventually figure out how to remove the duct-tape. Zip-tying his right hand to his leg also proved useless because he started sucking on his right knee. Lindsey wanted to tie a bag around his right hand, and had I not interjected, she probably would have followed through, causing his hand to be sweaty and gross for the rest of his life. How exactly did we force him into the beautiful world full of high-iq lefty’s? A poem should explain:
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”Four little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped her head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”Three little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”Two little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped her head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”One little monkey jumping on the bed,
He fell off and BROKE HIS RIGHT ARM.
Mama called the Daddy and the Daddy said,
“uhh… you’re kidding right? Great, just what we need. A stinky cast.”
For those of you have never seen a lefty pick their nose, play left-handed hide and seek, swing in a left-handed swing, or throw a left-handed temper tantrum, look at the pictures.
