Nyle the Smiling Menace

Nyle is the cutest baby.  We can't get over it.  The kids now say that all the time too---"isn't Nyle the cutest baby?"

He likes to smile big at me and then bit my nose or press his forehead against mine.  Something very playful.  He also loves to chase and climb all over Tyler.

Nyle has been learning to say so many words lately.  The other day I was carrying him around and he got excited about the family picture on the wall.  So I walked up to it and he pointed---"Tyer" (Tyler)---"IIya" (Lydia)---"Daddy"---"Baby" (himself).  When he talks, he does those long sentences of non-sense as he's making wild facial expressions.  Sometimes he'll end them with an actual word.  (I remember when Lydia did that).  He's gotten very good at calling for Mommy.  And when he says "not" he means "want."  I always think he's forbidding me from eating things when he points at me and says "not yogurt" or whatever else I'm eating.

Nyle is very good at following protocols.  He usually gets himself into the carseat when he knows we're about to leave.  He puts garbage in the garbage can.  He gets in the bike trailer when it's time.  And he even lays down in bed when he knows its inevitable (after a short struggle while we're carrying him there up the stairs).  Oh, and I almost forgot the funnest part.  Nyle sucks on his tongue to fall asleep.  He's been doing that for a long time, never really needing a pacifier.  He looks so cute, as if he's doing a monkey interpretation, but usually with the tongue off to one side.  That's when I know he's forfeited and willing to sleep.

I've noticed a severe stubborn streak in Nyle the last few days, but both times he needed sleep.  We've known he can be stubborn, but he threw some serious tantrums and wouldn't stop contorting his body and screaming at me for five minutes of so---as if he can win that game against me.  He's sometimes even look me in the eyes as he's screaming and trying to beat me.  Today it happened when I took him out of the bath when he wasn't done playing.