No More BINKIES!!!

Tyson has always taken a binkie. It was heaven sent when he was a baby because he had reflux and was rather colicky! He use to have it all day every day until he was about 10 months I put my foot down (well we gave in sometimes) and he could only have his binkie for naps and bedtime.
I was terrified to get rid of the binkie completely because he would find it at night or during naps and put himself back to sleep. It was great!! Well, lately his breath has been getting bad when he wakes up in the morning or from naps so we decided it was time to bite the bullet and get rid of them once and for all. The first night he cried for a little while, so being the good Mom that I am I went in and talked to him and bribed him! He was excited for the bribe and went to sleep. He has gone to bed twice now and taken two naps without the binkies!!!!!!! YAHOOOO!!!!
The second night when Brandon put him in bed, he reminded him of my bribe...

Tyson: "Dad"
Brandon: "What"
Tyson: "Tomorrow do I get to go to the store and get a racecar?"

Brandon came out from Tyson's room laughing and reminded me that Tyson gets a racecar.

This morning when Tyson woke up I went to get him (he is still in a crib.. amazing for a 2 1/2year old!)

Tyson: "Mom, I'm done snoozing, can we go to the store and get my racecar?!"
We came home with a box of 5!

Missed Dad!

Brandon was out of town for work for three days and when he got home Tyson was excited to spend time with him. The shared chips and salsa, ate Oreo's after dinner and went upstairs to watch sports. I went upstairs to do laundry and this is what I found...

He wanted to do everything Dad was doing!
CUTE!!

Tyson's Swimming Lessons

We signed Tyson up for the Mom and Tot swimming class and he loved it! I wish it wasn't over already, but at the same time I am glad it is over. We had class everyday for 10 days. It would have been nice if it was something like 2-3 days a week for a month. Regardless, we made it all 10 days and loved it! At the beginning Tyson wasn't too sure about going under water or floating on his back, but by the end he was a pro. (With some bribery help!;) There was one day the instructor asked if any of us had advice on how we encourage our kids to go under water or float on their back, etc... She had mentioned to give positive feedback to the kids. Well no one else would say anything, so I said, (I know, shy Shay actually saying something in a group of people I don't know that well! When you marry into the Russell family you learn how to speak up and not be shy!:) I show Tyson I am really excited when he does something. Then Tyson piped up and said "I get popcorn if I am good!" So I had admit that sometimes you just have to bribe them!

This was my favorite thing they taught the kids... to climb out on their own.
Tyson is no featherweight so my arms would get so tired lifting him out of the pool!

Tyson jumping and going under water.
His favorite thing to do!

Ready, set, here we go............

So I finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon. The more I read others blogs, the more I wanted to start. I am horrible at keeping a journal or scrap booking, so I figure this is the next best thing. I don't promise to update often, and I promise some postings will be ultra boring, but I am going to do my best! Hopefully I can figure this out! Wish me luck! ( I also plan on making Brandon periodically post his thoughts!:)) I hope you all like the festive Christmas picture! It is the most recent picture of all three of us together!