Man's Work

Tyson learned an important life lesson this week: how to shovel snow like the men of the Schween house do! Robin is always so great about shoveling our driveway and walks at night and in the morning when it snows (foreign concept to me, growing up in Seattle). Tyson got his very own snow shovel for his birthday from Grandmommy and Pappy, so this week with the massive amounts of snow we've been getting, Robin decided to show him how to help "shovel the walks." It was pretty cute. Of course, this was early in the morning when it was still pretty cold outside, so by the time Tyson realized how cold his hands were (he can't wear his mittens and hold the shovel simultaneously) he spent a few minutes crying inside before we warmed them up. Oh well, gotta be tough, kid. Aren't we just the nicest parents making our toddler shovel snow with no gloves on? ;-) What can I say, the kid loves to help!

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This is how I found them outside.

Ty would go start at the top of the driveway and shovel all the way down. Good job dude!

Then he would go back up to do it again...down the exact same strip he just shoveled, lol. Okay so maybe doing the same spot over and over isn't the most effective method, but he sure was cute working so hard!

BIG TROUBLE.

Today has not been the easiest day. Actually, this has not been the easiest week! Tyson is finally cutting all 4 of his two-year-molars. Oh joy. Poor guy is a puddle of drool and a crying mess - especially during nap time, of course. Jersey decided to have a growth spurt at the same time which means I feel like I'm ALWAYS feeding her because she's been waking up hungry so often for the last two days. Between the two kids...it's been an adventure, to say the least this week. Today was no exception...

Tyson has, what we call, "play alone time" every morning in his room for an hour. He can't quite be trusted to be alone in his room yet, so we put him in a play yard with some toys, a cheerio snack, and some music playing. He does great in there every day and usually plays quite contentedly for a good hour before I go up and get him. Well, this week I've been suspecting that he is "bored" of the toys that are in his room since he's had the same ones in there for months now and he has really outgrown most of them if we're being honest. But being busy with a newborn I just kind of ignored that "hunch" and kept up with the normal routine. That is the last time I will ignore a hunch about a toddler. He was obviously quite bored today, as you can see from the pictures below...

When I went in to get him from his play time, he had pushed his play yard up against his dresser, climbed up the yard and proceeded to take everything out of the top dresser drawer. That means he pulled out all of the baby wipes from the container, ruined all of the little plastic bags that we use for his diapers, and the grand finale of this escapade was that he got a hold of the tube of diaper rash cream - we're talking ZINC here, people. He wiped it all over his face, it was on his eye lids and in his lashes. All over his clothes. All over the carpet and his toys and stuffed animal. And in many of the holes and crevices of the play yard. He even reached some of the clothes in his hamper and got it all over them. I could not speak when I saw the mess. All I could do was grab the camera to take a couple of pictures to document the mess I had to clean up today. And now looking back, I wish I had taken more because these pictures do not do justice to the mess on the carpet and all over his toys!

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How I found him...

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get this greasy stuff out of clothes and carpet? Well, I didn't either, until today. It's hard. I can't even get it completely off of his hands and face, much less his clothes so far. Welcome to the mind of a two-year-old. Curiosity and boredom at their finest, I believe. Praise the Lord it's Friday...