The Big 1: Part 1

Ty had a very busy and exciting first birthday, so I hope you're ready for a super long post! Grammy flew in Wednesday and stayed up with Tiffany, then on Thursday they came down for the day to play with Ty. We started the day with playing at the playground at our apartment.For lunch we went to Chuck E Cheese's. Ty loved dancing to the music and playing the games. There were a couple of times when he'd run off, but we kept watch on him by the balloon bobbing up and down.

After Chuck E Cheese we went home for nap time, which unfortunately didn't last as long as it should have. Then around 4:30 we went to Pump It Up. It's a building with a bunch of inflatable jump houses and Ty had a blast.

Sorry Lee, these next pictures aren't very flattering, but it shows how happy Ty was.

Even Grandma, Grandpa, and Grammy joined in the jumping fun!Granpa took Ty through the obstacle course after Lee and I wore ourselves out.

Tiffany went through the obstacle course once with Bennett and didn't want to do it again.

One of Ty's other favorites at Pump It Up was the car.

After Pump It Up, it was time for dinner, cake, and ice cream. I'm so grateful for my mom's help with the cake. I tried making a robot and this is how my attempt came out.And here's my mom's redo.We went over to Lee's parents for dinner and cake. Here's Ty waiting for the cake. He was kind of out of it because he had just woken up from a nap.

Unfortunately, having just woken up from a nap, the birthday song didn't go over very well.

After calming him down, we put him back and let him go at his cake, which sadly had fallen over and lost most it's frosting. He pretty much just poked it, then took small bites.

We decided to try giving him a fork to help, but that became "stab the cake, then suck on the fork". He still hasn't mastered how to keep food on the utensil.Overall, most of the cake survived. After having seen Bennett's first birthday where he devoured the cake, I was surprised at how little Ty touched his. It made cleanup a lot easier though.Ty seemed more interested in eating tomatoes. They're his favorite snack over at Grandma and Grandpa's.

After getting him cleaned up it was time for presents before Tiffany and the boys had to leave.Ty loves this dinosaur that Weston got him and it matches his pjs.

Ty also got 2 new toy laptops for his birthday. One from Grandma and one from Grammy. He now has a total of 4 laptops to play with. If only he preferred those over mine and Lee's.

Stair Master

During choir practice today, Ty decided his time was better used trying to learn how to go down stairs. For me that meant dropping my music and running over to make sure he didn't fall. Luckily, the hand rail was low enough and he was able to take the two steps off of the stand. I still stayed close by, which was good because he stumbled once and I had to catch him. After that, he found a set of four steps and got pretty good at those. After getting home and taking a nap, he went for the stairs at our house, trying to follow Daddy. I'm really impressed with how well he does going down stairs after just one day. Of course, I'm still not comfortable leaving the stairs unguarded just yet.

Sleepy

This is what happens when your child decides to skip their nap, then has a full dinner.

World Fest

Lee and I live in University housing, which is filled with mostly international student families. Apparently each year they hold a celebration of the world's cultures. That happened to be today. from 12 to 2 they had a children's carnival with some fun free games. Ty got to throw balls through holed, go fishing for swedish fish, toss birdies in hoops, and go bowling. He still doesn't seem to completely understand what to do, but he was good at listening when I pointed to the hole. Each game we got tickets, that we then were able to use for prizes or food. Ty now has his first slinky. His favorite thing is to stretch it, then let it snap back.
Later in the day they had entertainment put on from people living in the apartments and from others. We got to see cloggers, some of which were from our ward, and there was a "fashion show" of different outfits from the different countries, and many different musical numbers. Ty loved bouncing, clapping, and dancing to the music. They even had a dinner provided with foods from all over. It was interesting being able to try so many new foods, some of which I really liked, others... not so much. Ty really liked the couscous they had.