Delinquency in Blogging!! Part 2: Ryan

So my baby Ryan is now 2 and a half!! It just occurred to me that the last time I posted was almost exactly 1 year ago. Something must happen in late July early August that reminds me to write!!

Little Ryan is such a delightful little guy. He gives the BEST hugs and is super easy and laid back about 95% of the time- he can throw a nasty temper tantrum if he wants to though!! Ryan officially and FINALLY has all of his teeth now! He got his molars and his canine teeth at the same time which had to be hard for him. He had his hands in his mouth a lot!! We love seeing his toothy grin. He is talking up a storm now. Despite a somewhat delayed start, he seems to have caught up nicely.

We have been potty training for a while. He has been going poop in the potty for quite a few months which is LOVELY- no more stinky diapers at our house!! The peeing is an interesting twist. He does fine when we are home. We don't use pull-ups or diapers during the day and he does great 99% of the time. WE are still using pull-ups when we go out because for some reason he almost always pees in his car seat, and he isn't always good about telling me he has to go. He is getting better, but is in that stage where playing is more important to him then wet pants. Reid was so easy that this is different for me. I have let the worry go and figure he will get it eventually. There isn't really anything else I can do.

I helped Ryan make the decision to get rid of his pacifier recently. He paid for a new train at Toys r Us with his pacifiers. He did this willingly. We had a difficult week but then he was over it. It's great not being pacifier dependent anymore. Here was his new train "Hank".

Ryan really looks up to Reid. He shares all of Reid's interests in trains and they play together quite well half the time and I am trying to save them from killing each other the other half of the time. Ryan just started showing interest in movies. He got really obsessed with Cars which he calls "Racey Cars". He loves playing with all his Cars toys and he reenacts scenes from the movie. Now he is branching out to Wall-E and Finding Nemo. We actually took him to see his first move a few weeks ago- Toy Story 3. He started crying when we got into the lobby of the theater, then he started crying when we got into the theater. He sat through the movie fine albeit with a death grip on me, then when the movie was over he cried again. Overall: not so much of a success. Maybe we will try again when he is 3 when Cars 2 comes out.

Ryan knows 2 knock knock jokes. The first one he learned from his Poppy: "Knock Knock", "Who's there?" "Boo", "Boo who?", "you don't have to cry about it". So Ryan's version of the punch line is him standing there with his shoulders shrugged and his hands out and says "cy bout it". The cuteness can't be adequately relayed through this medium, but it has brought us great joy. The other joke was taught by Uncle Rollin it goes: "Knock Knock", "Who's there?", "Canoe", "Canoe who?", "Canoe come out to play?". He does this one pretty well too- soo funny.

As I mentioned before Reid had swimming lessons this summer. We chose to hold off on giving Ryan lessons as the cost is pretty high. Ryan REALLY wanted to get in that pool with Reid and the only way he could be distracted was with a lollipop. Well last week I took them to the pool with some friends and Ryan jumped off the bottom step to me and started kicking his little legs!! He wanted to do it again and again and would even jump off of the side and swim to me. It was pretty impressive to me that he did what I just paid over $200 to teach Reid to do. Of course Ryan is insatiable in the pool. He jumps and swims over and over again until we tell him it is time to get out. My little guys are both swimmers!! Pretty cool:)

Ryan is still in his crib. Erik and I have been in negotiations about getting a big boy bed. The consensus is to wait until January around his 3rd birthday. The urgency to move him up isn't there with no baby on the way!!

Ryan is starting school in the fall too. He is going to be doing 2 days a week on Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12. He seems excited as he has seen Reid do this for the past 2 years. I am going to cry like a baby on his first day. I can't believe he is not my baby anymore. 2 and a half years has gone by in a flash (sure didn't feel that way for the first year and a half though!!).

Delinquency in Blogging!!! Part 1: Reid

Wow, I am slightly shocked that it has been about 8 months since I last blogged about us. I guess I have some catching up to do!!

I will start with Reid who will be 5 in less than 4 months. He is still totally in love with trains, although now he is learning more about "trains with no faces" and is less into the Thomas trains. Erik has recently been taking the boys to the Library every Saturday and they have checked out every book about trains the library has. One of his favorite things to watch on tv are his "Extreme Trains" documentaries. The other thing he does is ask to get on You Tube so he can watch videos of trains on there. He might be slightly obsessed!!

Reid is also learning how to read, which is amazing to me. We have some Leap Frog phonics books, which are great since they have mostly 3-4 letter words. I was pretty surprised when we sat down with the first book and he actually read! In related news, Reid can also read numbers with 3 digits- he learned this by looking at pictures of trains that had identifying numbers. Finally he can write all of his uppercase letters. I have not been as diligent at having him practice the lowercase letters.

This summer Reid finally got some quality swim instruction, so he is now a little fish. He LOVES it. They want them to be able to flip from their front to their back and Reid has a bit of anxiety about that, so we are still working on that particular skill. It is so nice having a swimmer!! I feel like I have been avoiding the pool for the past 4 years.


Reid starts VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) in the fall. He will be going to school 5 days a week from 8:45 until 1. We are so blessed to have such great friends in our neighborhood, and we will be carpooling with 1 of them!! I will do 2 days and my friend Christy will do 2 days, then we will alternate Friday's. I am very excited about this plan:) It is amazing to see some of the kids only a few months older than Reid actually starting kindergarten and riding the school bus in a few weeks. I am feeling very grateful for Reid's early birthday since I get my boy for an extra year.



Reid played soccer for the first time this year. He had a blast and as an added bonus so did his Daddy!! He even scored a few goals and got 2 on their play-off game. He is playing again in the fall and can't wait.

In other news Reid had his last day of Gymboree this week. Shockingly, I didn't cry:) It probably sounds funny to be sentimental, but we have been going there since Reid was 4 months old. Gymboree saved me from my isolation as a new mom and introduced me to some great friends. It will always hold a special place in my heart.




This picture is of Reid posing with Hiro his new train. He got him as a reward for writing all of his uppercase letters.

Naked Reid

The other day, Reid came out of his room after being asleep about 2 hours for his nap. He was completely naked- although he had just been in underwear for his nap. I said, "Reid why are you naked?", he didn't answer. I asked again, "Reid, where is your underwear?" He informed me at that point that he needed fresh water. As I was filling up his water, I asked again "Reid, where are your underwear?" when I turned back around, he was in his bed. I have never seen that before. So I left him alone.

Later, after he woke up after sleeping for about 30 more minutes, I asked him why he didn't have his underwear on. He said he had taken it off because he was looking at the trains (it was his new birthday train underwear) and they got inside out so he couldn't get them back on.

I found them later in his covers.

Silly guy...

Reid is 3 and a half!!!

Meanwhile, Reid is going to be 4 years old in 4 months!! That floors me, 4 is officially nowhere near babyhood anymore:(





Reid is VERY interested in trains right now. We of course have the train table, which he LOVES and plays with everyday. In addition, anytime we go anywhere that has a train table we have to go play there too. He still watches a show called Extreme Trains a few times a week which is a documentary about different kinds of trains. So we know all about steam trains, freight trains, refrigerator trains, etc. We have also taken to putting on You Tube and we look for different train videos. Consequently, Reid knows how to use a mouse with the computer, which terrifies me!!





He is still rocking out on his guitar. We got him a guitar after Christmas that simulates real playing, he doesn't get that yet, but LOVES to pretend he is playing and he has some moves!! He also loves singing. Probably, my favorite thing right now is hearing him belt out "Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit, he took the midnight train going any where" although the version from Glee. It makes me happy:)





We have had a nice summer off of school. In fact Reid didn't mention the lack of school until a couple of weeks ago when he said "Mommy, we haven't been to school in like forever". He is not very excited about getting a different teacher and different classroom next year, but I know he will get over it immediately. This summer we have been doing a lot of Gymboree and Playgroups. Reid does Sports class on Monday mornings, then School Skills which is a 2 hour class on Tuesday. This class has been helping him learn to write his letters, and introduces some science, and reading as well. The added bonus is that 2 of his buddies are in there with him.



We have been trying to reinforce Reid learning to write his letters and his name. We bought some work books which do some repetitve tracing of the letters. We also got him a Leap Frog toy that has a little writing thing on the bottom. It uses lights to teach the kids how to write the letters and also teaches some tracing skills. He is getting pretty darn good. He hasn't written his name all together yet, but can now write each letter independently. It is fun to watch. We have also introduced a bribe for him. When he writes his name he gets a new Thomas train. Along the same lines, at night when we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as has become our routine, I am now signing the letters to him, and he has gotten pretty good at trying to do them too.



As I mentioned in Ryan's update, we have been dealing with some sibling issues between Reid and Ryan. Reid spends a lot of time in his room in time out since he can't seem to restrain himself from inflicting harm on his brother (actually very rarely does he actually hurt him, but the potential is there). I think this is an impulse control thing and probably a 3 year old thing, but I have a zero tolerance policy.





Reid just recently started standing up to pee, I didn't realize he was tall enough until we were met with a toilet I didn't want him to sit on. He thought he was pretty cool. So far it isn't too messy. If their bathroom starts smelling like urine we may have to reconsider:)

Reid's new thing also is arguing with us, or more accurately trying to compel us to come around to his point of view:) If we tell him he is going to bed, he will get really loud and say "NO I AM NOT GOING TO BED, OKAY?" It always has an Okay at the end which is amusing on the tail of a definitive statement.

He continues to say things to us that are hilarious on a daily basis. Like today when we were in the bathroom at the mall he said "Mommy your pee is stinky but mine is not". He is so sweet:)

He is starting to act out scenarios, use his imagination, and talk for his toys. He has a high-pitched voice that he uses to do that.

His eating habits are interesting. He eats a HUGE breakfast. A bowl of cereal in addition to an egg, sausage, and a cup of OJ. This morning he added some pineapple to that. Lunch is usually okay, he has finally developed the standard issue crust phobia, only he has taken it to the next level by eating only the inside of a wedge of fruit and leaving the peel. It is not that he doesn't like it or won't eat it if I tell him to, he just avoids it. By dinner time it is like pulling teeth to get him to eat in a timely manner. We have tried different approaches, usually the desert thing will get him, but even then sometimes, we are all long done with our meals and Reid is still there. I am continuing to try and refine methods that won't eventually give him an eating disorder.

I guess that is a pretty thorough snap shot of a day with Reid. I am really enjoying him, when he is not trying my patience:) He is a very kind and gentle child, we have been blessed with him.

Ryan is 18 months old!!

Somehow 6 months has gone by and Ryan is 18 months old!!! I have NO idea how that happened.

He is such a funny boy, and it is so very interesting to watch how his personality develops especially under Reids influence, which is scary sometimes!! He and Reid spend a lot of time playing, well actuallythey start playing and end screaming because one or the other steals a toy. Lately, Ryan has been retaliating with some biting (mostly threatened, but still not cool). I have tried to explain to Reid that if he keeps pushing Ryan's buttons eventually he will retaliate.

Ryan is a very sweet and snuggly boy though, which I love. He is still nursing mostly before naps or bedtime, but occasionally he will nurse when he wakes up. He doesn't really sign to nurse, I usually just ask him and a laugh is a yes, or he will shake his head for no (this is exactly what Reid did too). A couple of times though he has sort of tugged on my shirt very gently and respectfully and then used the sign for please, which is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen.

He is a very opinionated and dramatic child as well and knows how to make loud sounds!! He can throw a temper tantrum. We have been using Love and Logic with Ryan and he already knows that when he hears "Uh Oh" he better stop what he is doing or he will go to time out. I have also been ignoring the temper tantrums with good results. He is a great independent player and will play for quite a long time by himself, which is different from Reid. He is already pretending like his big brother. For instance he pretends he is eating or drinking like Reid, or that he is handing us something. He is really close to being able to jump, and actually caught some air today and yesterday. He is now eating with a fork pretty successfully and switched him from the high chair to the booster seat. Ry loves playing in our sand table and will do that for quite a long time. He gets very focused on some activities such as trying to slide the credit card through the toy cash register or trying to get the toy lawn mower through the door. He is very patient in these instances and never loses his temper even though it appears frustrating. He definitely does not suffer from ADD. I hope the focus and patience carries through to his adult life.

At his most recent doctor's appointment, he weighed 24. 6 lbs, which is pretty much the same as 3 months ago, so he has really slowed down. He was in the 30th% for weight, 50th for Height, and 70th for head. He now has 8 teeth, the two top middle, the two bottom middle, and the first 4 molars. We can see the rest of the front teeth in the front of his gums, but they are taking their sweet time. I was surprised he got his molars before the other 4 front teeth. Ryan just got one shot at his visit. I was having anxiety about the MMR because of all the things I have read and researched about Autism. Dr. Miles agreed that it wasn't a terrible idea to wait a bit longer to make sure his speech continues to develop appropriately before we do it. Although, she also said we shouldn't wait too long since Measles has been going around again, and apparently it isn't fun.

We talked about giving it 3 more months and going in for the shot. Ryan's toenail finally fell off while we were on our vacation, I was very relieved because it was a pain to try to keep it on. It actually doesn't look bad at all.

So Ryan does this "funny" thing where he makes himself pee sometimes when I take his diaper off. We recently got him a new potty (which he wants nothing to do with), but I thought maybe we could get him to go since he can obviously make himself go. I put him on both the little potty and the toilet with a kiddie seat, and he wanted off almost immediately. Yesterday though, he pointed at the toilet and I asked him if he wanted to go pee pee on the potty. He said yes (his little laugh), so I put him on. Well, that little guy squeezed out about 4 drops of pee!! I was so excited. We did the same thing today though, and he then peed on the floor about 1 minute after going on the potty (4 drops again). SO I know we aren't anywhere near potty training, but it is fun to get him started this way.

I feel like I officially got inducted into parenting. I was putting clothes in the dryer the other day and Ryan grabbed the lint trap out of it. The next thing I know I heard a clunk which happened to be a matchbox car falling down the skinny little hole to the bottom of the dryer. What ensued was probably the most frustrating 25 minutes of my life. I had to dismantle my swiffer to use the handle to try to guide the car up a ramp type thing. On about my 10th try I got it up half way only to realize there was some sort of projection keeping my stick from continuing it's journey. So then I had to do it again, this time with a hockey stick in my other hand to catch the car and try to guide it the rest of the way up high enough for me to grab it as I couldn't get my hand in there. At one point I lost it after Reid bumped me when I almost had it and yelled really loud and told the boys to get out. Reid gave me the wide eyed/quivering lip move which made me feel horrible, so I immediately stopped and told him I was sorry. I finally succeeded in the end and had Reid grab it for me since I didn't have anymore hands. Yikes!! I think from now on, Ryan is not allowed in the laundry room with me:)

I think that is the gist of the update, to end I will post the words he is doing. He isn't saying a lot, but he understands EVERYTHING. That always amazes me about toddlers. They are miraculous!

Words

Boo
Up

DaDa

Mama

Doggy

Cheese

Tree

Reid = Dee

Star

Signs

More

Eat

All Done

Bye Bye

Doggy

Shh

St. Augustine Beach 2009

Our family rented a condo in St. Augustine Beach last week. We ended up still sleeping at our house since we were fairly close and we weren't interested in sacrificing sleep for the drive. We spent from Sunday to Friday out there.

Turns out the boys LOVE the water. Reid was just as happy as he could be swimming in both the ocean and the pool. He got much better at swimming and is not at all afraid for his head to go under water. He even started to do some effective kicking.

Ryan had fun with his cousin Claire. They do and I am sure will continue to have a love/hate relationship. It is so fun to see them together though and think about what it will be like for them being so close in age.

We enjoyed spending time with my Grandmother, mother, step-father, sister and brother in law. My mom even watched all the babies one night so we could go see Harry Potter. My mom never told me what time the boys actually went to bed that night, but it was totally worth it!!

It is always good fun getting together with everyone and eating yummy food and being together. Although with the new technologies such as lap tops and I-Phones and the fact that we are all pretty avid readers, I am not sure we got as much quality time as we would have in the old days- who knows though maybe that kept us all from killing each other:)

Here is a link to the photo album.

2009_07_15

Reid can dress himself!!!

I may have been a bit behind on teaching this skill. One day Reid was at his Gymboree School Skills class- which is a 2 hour drop off class. One of the teachers took Reid's friend to the bathroom and stood outside the door until he got himself dressed. That was a wake up call for me, because I knew Reid wouldn't know how to put his clothes back on after the going to the potty. So we started practicing. Now he can do about 95% of getting dressed himself. I am so proud:) And it is AWESOME to lay his clothes out and put him in charge of that task!!

And Shorts!!!

I can't believe how big he is getting!!!

The Tent

So last week we were rather bored, it is too hot to be outside, we had already expended the inside activities. I finally rememberd we had this little play tent, so I set it up. Well that has been a hit at our house ever since!!



Unfortunately, the favorite activity seems to be diving head first into the hole on the side. Probably shouldn't be encouraging that huh?

Ryan had just as much fun as Reid:)

Ryan vs. Refried Beans

So little Ryan had a run in with a can of Refried beans. It happened on June 18th or 19th. Initially it looked really bruised underneath his nail, and the can had cut part of his toe near his nail too. After he screamed for a while, I noticed he was walking okay, so I decided he didn't break it. I kept an eye on it and it didn't look to bad to me for a few days. About a week later, it started looking infected, just red and hot. I called the pediatrician and she recommended Epsom salt soaks and putting neosporin on it. We did that for a few days and by Sunday I was still worried (1 too many Oprah shows about bad things happening), so I took Ryan in. Luckily, it looked better that day and Dr. Miles didn't feel a need to put him on an antibiotic.

Here you can see where the nail is lifting up. Dr. Miles thought he wouldn't lose his nail. The left part is still attached, so I guess as long as it stays that way, we should be safe.

Tooth Brushing

So we discovered something funny about Ryan. He LOVES to brush his teeth- all 4 of them;)We can stop him in his tracks just by saying "Ry you want to brush your teeth?" He will then run (well almost) to the bathroom, try to pick up the stool and move it in front of the sink and then wait for us to hand him his tooth brush. He lets us brush his teeth first then we let him hold the toothbrush for a minute or two. We then help him rinse it off then he puts it into the giraffe toothbrush holder.

It's cute and it's a family affair:)