Pretend City and the Movie Theater!!! (Week 112)

Whew, it has been ridiculously hot here lately. I am SO not a fan of the heat - I like to stay inside and blast the air conditioning. Thank goodness for a/c!

This was a fun week that we had - Tyler is super silly as usual - and even (if possible) more obsessed with gummies. Note to self - must limit the bribery that goes on with them. But, it really does work wonders! Here's Tyler eating some bok choy the other day. He's not a huge veggie fan - likes (canned) green beans and broccoli. That's about it. But with the dangling of a gummy, mmmm - bok choy!
Tyler got another hair cut as well! This was his first time going to the lady who cuts Will's hair, and not one of those kid-friendly salons. No need for a plane chair this time! I thought it was really cute that his feet barely hung over the ends of the booster. Tyler did great - didn't need any coaxing - he just sat there and watched her cut. He did look a bit concerned in the beginning though, but was still really calm. Yay! Funny moment - whenever hair would get on his arm - he would say 'Uh-oh!' and hold his arm out and wait until we brushed it off. He does NOT like hair!

Here's a video of Tyler getting his hair cut..very seriously.

The last time Tyler got his hair cut, he started complaining in the car that he was itchy. His discomfort was caused by the loose pieces of hair on his neck and down his shirt. This time we had them rinse out his hair - it was pretty funny to watch. Tyler usually hates getting his hair washed in the bathtub because the chance of water getting into his eyes. He really liked the salon method though! He squeezed his eyes shut and was totally fine. :)
Whoohoo, new haircut! I like his hair short, especially with it being so hot. Will didn't mind it long, but I'm sure there will come a day (hopefully not too soon though) when Tyler will want the surfer dude long hair (hey, we DO live in the OC!)
We even went out to dinner with friends- quite a rare occasion. :) Destination - Shik Do Rak - yum yum! Tyler was on pretty good behavior but didn't eat much. He has a good memory though, as soon as we got there, he asked for Yogurt! - he must have remembered that they give the dessert frozen yogurt when you leave. :) Here's Tyler with Auntie Trina.
Mmm. Here's Tyler with Auntie Mariam and his yummmmy yogurt!
And lastly, group picture! Now that Tyler's getting older, we're not as strict as we used to be with his bedtimes. We used to be pretty firm on it since Tyler getting to bed late meant a grumpy Tyler the next day. Thank goodness he's more flexible now. Hopefully this'll mean for normal-timed dinners out with friends, instead of our usual early-bird-dining-with-senior-citizens-5:30pm meals. :)
This weekend we also decided we were going to take Tyler to see a movie - in a real movie theater! I was very excited, especially since we were going to the dollar theaters here in Irvine where I wouldn't feel like $$ was wasted if we had to leave. I told Tyler we were going to see the big turtles they had in the plaza. I was wrong though, they actually have frogs... you'd think Tyler wouldn't notice but when he saw the frogs he kept saying, "where's turtles?!". sigh.
We decided to watch Pixar's Up! It was either Up or Ice Age 3 and I had read that there were some scary scenes in Ice Age so we opted for Up! Tyler was ALLLLL about the popcorn. I think the last time he had it was at the circus and he was so excited. I was planning on pouring some out in a box for myself and have Tyler hold the bag. Tyler did not agree. He got really upset when I poured some out, and pointed at his (nearly full) bag and started whining that he wanted more. REALLY?! Ugh! Yes. I poured most of mine back in just to keep him quiet. sheesh. I did get a chance to pour some out later on though, when Tyler was distracted. :)
The movie went great - Tyler was pretty good - aside from the scary parts (yeah! there were scary parts in Up!) that he would whine a little. Oftentimes he would yell out, "what happened!?" or crawl up and hug me while he watched a part. It was really cute. :) Plus that theater is PACKED with families on the weekends, so there were lots of little kids and enough noise that I didn't worry about Tyler.

Afterwards we stopped by a park - a nearly empty park because it was so ridiculously hot. Tyler is such a thrill seeker, he likes to do things that almost give me a heart attack. Here he was hanging on the monkey bars and thought it would be exciting and hilarious to let go and jump off. Good thing Will was right there (of course) and ready to catch him.
Sunday was a VERY exciting day also. We headed to the Grand Opening of a new kid's museum in Irvine called Pretend City. It really is an awesome place for kids - they can dress up and pretend in situations like a doctor's office, post office, restaurant, gas station, farm, etc. I think what made it even more awesome were the people that worked there. They were great at engaging the kids in the different activities, and they seemed like they genuinely cared about what they were doing! We are totally going back soon!

Here's a photo as we were walking in. It's the town square. There was so much to see!
I'm trying to get better at taking a family picture more often. Tyler was so occupied with playing that he wasn't interested in taking a picture...until we took one without him! haha!
We're in front of the fire station and police dispatch station here.
There was so much to see! Tyler was actually pretty shy in the beginning. We went at the members only time of 9am so it was pretty empty (love it!). The people there would try to talk to Tyler but he would just hide behind us. Hmm.
He didn't start to loosen up until we got to the marina area. Here you can play in the water, race sailboats, catch plastic fish/turtles/etc and shoot a water gun that makes this thing go round. Tyler loved it! Also, they had little smocks for the kids to wear to not get wet. I thought Tyler was so cute in his blue smock- haha!
Here he is shooting the water gun, and also after catching some turtles in his net. The top of the second photo shows the different sailboat paths for the races.

Here's a video of Tyler playing in the water area.

Everything was kid-sized there. What was awesome is that usually kid-sized is still too big for Tyler, but here it was great! Here he is making a phone call.Next stop? A restaurant! This was actually, I kid you not, a Vietnamese Restaurant! The special that day? Spring rolls! hah! Tyler had a tray and started putting food on it - of course he decided to get strawberries. :)
Here he is cooking some eggs and pizza on the stove. He actually would move the eggs and pizza between the stove and the oven, and then he would tell us: "Very Hot!!".
They even had these cute little aprons. He wasn't feeling the chef hat though. Here he is putting the pizza back into the oven. (that little girl behind him was SUCH a brat. She bullied Tyler and kept yelling "You can always have your turn LATER!". BRAT!)
As the pizza was cooking, Tyler decided to do some quick sweeping with his kid-sized broom. He takes after mommy! :)
After the pizza was ready (?), he grabbed some jam and served it to Will who was waiting in the dining area of the restaurant. Yum. Pizza and Jam!
Next stop - the farm! He started with digging for some veggies. Strangely, he came up with an orange...
And then it was time to pick some apples! HAHA - I put him in a cow costume for fun. How cute is that! hahah. One of the farmer ladies had a basket of fruit and asked Tyler if he wanted to help put the fruit in the correct baskets. Tyler's response? No... and then ran away. He is so shy with girls!
He even got to ride a tractor!
Next stop - the gas station (located next to the beach). Here we are chilling in a BMW that's there for repairs. He really liked sitting in this car, and then had me switch places with me so that I could drive. It was quite a tight fit!
Then he filled up another car with some gas, and cleaned the windshield (and hood). The mechanic even gave him a cloth afterwards to do some drying. When Tyler finished, the mechanic gave him some paper money as a tip for his hard work. :)
Off we go!
Next stop - a model home being built! Tyler loved this one because he got to use tools! He is always trying to 'help' Will when the tools are out at home, he loves screwdrivers and hammers, but never really gets to play with them. He was in heaven here - he spent a good chunk of time just tinkering away with the tools here. :)
He even put together some piping.
There was even a bathroom in the model home with a mini toilet. Tyler thought it was fun to flush the toilet. :)
When we first arrived, they gave each child a time-stamp card. The idea is that you stamp it at each station that you are at, and then you can go to the ATM to get payment for your work. (They're pretending they have jobs like mommy/daddy). Tyler really liked the ATM machine! He loved watching the money come out - but then would try to stuff it back in...(oops the photos are in the wrong order below).

Here's a video of Tyler checking out the ATM Machine.

Next stop - the theater! This part was pretty cool - they had lots of costumes for kids to dress up and sing/dance/perform on stage. Tyler wasn't interested. He was all about the light controls though. They had this whole setup with buttons that would actually change the different lights that were aimed at the stage - I'm talking movement, blinking, different colors, etc. You could really make it look like you were at rock'n'roll concert! (There's that bratty girl again, hmph! - she kept reaching over to press the buttons on Tyler's side!)

You can see how cool the lights are that the kids can control in this video:

Afterwards they had a guy singing really cute children's songs with a guitar. That was really nice - gave us a chance to slow down a bit. The performer even started asking Tyler different animal sounds as he sang about them - Tyler was totally into it and would make them!And Tyler's favorite part. The cars. First there was the firetruck, ding ding!

Then the Mercedes.

Here's a video of Tyler in the sports car. These all have peddles in them but he was getting around by just using his feet on the floor. Favorite part - when he says "excuse me mama!" since I'm in the way!

Don't forget the police car! He's patrolling here, and then picking up a newspaper. :)
After a couple hours, we were pretty tired. Tyler played around in the area they have set up for really little kids. We got there at 9am and left around 11am - it was starting to get crowded and we were hungry! I'm really excited for us to go back soon!We had lunch at Fukada, one of Will's favorite Japanese restaurants. It's like just a couple blocks away! We stopped by the Burger King drive-through to get some chicken nuggets for Tyler. I look away for one moment (at the menu) and Tyler decides to put sunblock all over his face with his sunblock stick! Yikes! Some fun videos from the week.

Here's Tyler hard at work peeling a clementine. He really likes these because they're a perfect sized for him - plus we practice counting with them. Side note: he gets really disturbed with the fiber, and has to remove all that he can before he'll eat it.

Tyler's gotten better at 'reading' books. And by reading I mean remembering somewhat what that page said and repeating it back. His favorite bedtime stories are "Five Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", "Pat the Bunny" and "The Lorax". Seriously - he'll ask for the Lorax by name! Here's Tyler "reading" the monkey book. If you listen (hard), you can hear him saying: "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"


This was a really fun video of Tyler totally rocking out to some music on TV. I love that he loves music - I get a kick out of watching him bang on the piano while singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Let's see, he'll start with piano, some violin on the side, and from the looks of this video - maybe even some guitar! ... I'm just kidding. Really! Poor Tyler.

Whew what a week! Here's hoping to it cooling down soon!