Ryan...almost 2!

Ryan is only going to be a one year old for the next 13 days.  Two weeks from today I will have a two year old.  This little perfect being that Tim & I created has existed for almost two years.  When Tim looks at old pictures of us he always says "This is before Ryan existed," or "Did you ever think back then that we would have Ryan & Jake?"  Our lives have changed so much in just two short years.  I would never be able to put into words how in love I am.

Here Ryan is trying to dress himself.  He's always trying to dress himself and then gets stuck.  He gets frustrated when he can't quite figure something out.  One day I bought Ryan a bunch of clothes and I kept sticking the plastic part of the tag in my mouth to bite it and rip it off.  Ever since then, every time there is a tag on the shirt- Ryan bites at it.  He bites the actual paper.  He doesn't know how do to it right, but he tries.  He gives up and then gives it to me to take off- but he still always tries.

Ryan LOVES being outside.  What kid doesn't?  We actually went on three walks today.  I let him walk around all by himself all three times.  He loves the freedom.  He always has to walk in front of me and frequently turns his head back to make sure I am still there.  When he sees Jakey's stroller inching closer towards him, he starts speed walking until he is back in the lead.  I constantly stop and go because he makes me laugh to watch Ryan try to speed up when I do, and stop and wait when I'm too slow.  He has to be the perfect distance away from us.

We love to explore, whether it's in the back yard, around the neighborhood, or at the park.  Ryan loves pointing to all the new things he finds.  He loves to point out trees, flowers, rocks, and airplanes.  He walks around from one object to the next.

We've been taking him to the play place at the mall at lot lately just because it's nice and cool.  There is always a ton of other kids for Ryan to run around and play with.  The other kids are always trying to play tag with Ryan but he just doesn't grasp the concept.  If another kid is running towards him and tags him, Ryan starts running and turns around to make sure they are chasing him, which they aren't because they are now running away from Ryan.  One day he'll learn to play tag, for now he loves thinking someone is going to get him.

Ryan's laughter is the sweetest sound.  He is becoming so friendly to everyone.  He loves people and his shyness is going away.  He loves waving hi and bye to people.  He loves to give hugs and kisses.  Especially to mommy, daddy, and Jakey.  He gives hugs and kisses without asking and it melts our hearts.

Ryan has Tim wrapped around his little finger.  I always thought I would be the softy but it's the other way around.  Ryan has the capability to get Tim to give him whatever he wants.  They play together all the time.  Ryan always climbs us on Tim's lap and just sits with him.  They are best buddies.

I recently introduced Ryan to cereal.  Part of me was still hoping that my toddler was a baby and wouldn't be able to eat milk with a spoon.  This child is definitely his momma's baby.  Cereal is probably one of my favorite foods- I eat it almost everday.  Ryan loves to eat cereal.  He eats his bowl of rice krispies and will want more when he's done.  At grandma's house, Ryan knows where she has cereal and he'll go open the box and pull out the bag and munch on her frosted flakes.

His language is really starting to come along.  He was a late sitter, a late crawler, a late walker, and now a late talker.  He is now repeating a lot of words we say!  In the few weeks he has learned to say cheese (cheee), rock (raw), flower (wow-wer), tree (che- he says it almost the same as cheese it's just shorter.), please (eeeese), thank you (ca ca, ha), more (moe), ball (baw), Jakey (Jae-key), cookie (keekee), stinky (tee-key), sock (saw), shoe (she), no, nose (no).. That's all I can think of.

I've been working on sign language with him.  I never really though much about it before, but thought I'd give it a try since he is behind on his expressive language.  He can successfully sign "please," "cookie"- totally the sign for "eat" but I say it's cookie, all of Ryan's snacks are "cookies," "more," and "thank you."  He signed "please" yesterday when he wanted something without me asking him too :)  Tonight when I had crackers he signed "please!"  I'm now trying to get him to sign "shoes" and "milk."  He hasn't signed them back yet but he will soon enough.

His older words are mama, dada, baby, papa, hi, bye, woah, yes, yea, up, here you go, ni-night, yay, ready set go, uh oh.. I hope I'm not missing any. 

He can make animal sounds.. mooo, neigh, baa baa, & woof woof.

Ryan has gotten 3 new teeth in the past two weeks.  He had his top 4 and then his molars- he got the one on his top right (our left) to make 3 one on side.  Two days ago his got his 3rd on his top left (our right)  and the second one on his bottom right.  The third one on his bottom left is about to pop through.  You can see it, but it hasn't broken through the gums yet.

Ryan is always lining stuff up (see picture below!)  He lines up his toys, books, containers- you name it.  If he can get his hands on them, he will line them up.  This cabinet below is Ryan's favorite.  He sticks his toys in there and will climb into the cabinet and shut the door.  He hangs out in the dark cabinet for a little while, pop his head out to check on us, and close it again.

He is so mischievious.  He had got into my wallet, I took it from him and put it on top of the couch.  A little while later I went into the kitchen and when I looked at Ryan he was sitting on the couch going through my wallet.  If he's into something he shouldn't be, he always scrambles when he hears our feet coming.

This little boy completely lights up my life.