This happy, little old man is just the sweetest thing. He loves sunshine and fluffy, "mashed potato" clouds. He LOVES birthdays and throws an all-out pretend birthday party for me at least twice a week. His first instinct is almost always to share and include everyone. The grape flavored fruit snacks? He saves those for me since they're my favorite. His drawings are precious but he's never made one just for me... the paper is always double sided with a drawing for me and a drawing for Daddy. When he and Dave go to Costco, Ryan often insists on picking out flowers for me and Katelyn, and not a day goes by when he doesn't tell us that we're "the prettiest." It's like we have our own personal mini Prince Charming... and I absolutely love it. None of us deserve his level of sweetness!
I've often thought Ryan has the gift of encouragement. When Dave was home sick with bronchitis, Ryan promptly made him a get well card-- while he himself was home sick with a stomach bug. He loves people and is always asking someone to be his best friend. Once when I picked him up from school, his class was sitting in the hallway waiting for the water fountain. He walked down the row, giving each kid a high five or a hug, telling them things like, "Have a good day!" "See ya tomorrow!" "Hey, I like your shirt!" Was he leaving preschool or running for office? Hard to tell.
I LOVE it when refers to his fingers by their status in the "Finger Family" song. For example, he might say, "I need a bandaid for my brother finger!" or "I was eating my snack and I accidentally bit my daddy finger!" It's adorable and I'll be so sad when he grows out of it.
Of course Ryan has bad days. In fact, the past few months have been especially hard as there's been a lot of change beyond anyone's control. In December, his world was knocked off its axis when his best friend, who is a few months older, promoted to the next preschool class. (And when I say best friend, I mean he and this sweet little girl have been thick as thieves since they were 18 months old. They're like an old married couple. The teachers say they've never seen anything like it.). Their separation was hard on ALL of us because Ryan just wasn't himself. FINALLY, it was Ryan's turn to move up classes and join her... and then after one glorious day together, Coronavirus hit. Thank goodness for weekly chats on FaceTime! And when his birthday party had to be indefinitely postponed AND his much anticipated soccer season was cancelled due to Coronavirus, he was disappointed but took it like a champ.
This kid's imagination... oh my goodness. He has the ability to describe exactly what he's imagining and somehow pull others into his convincing, exciting world. A regular conversation can quickly turn into riding on a speed boat, but then the boat broke down and we had to use a jet ski to go get the extra engine, but the jet ski toppled over and then we had to swim to shore, where we found an abandoned golf cart and a puppy. He's so fun!
I love this boy so much.
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