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