One year old!

I try to avoid cliches, but seriously... where has the time gone?? The past 12 months have passed by faster than perhaps any other time that I can remember. Ryan is such a delight and the piece to my heart I didn't know was missing. It's hard to put into words how much I love this little boy! 

    

In one word, Ryan is enthusiastic-- full of energy and smiles and movement and expression. He is sweet and silly, messy and busy. He's pretty tough, too-- he had a double ear infection/croup and later the flu/strep and I had no idea because he never complained! He loves sleep, playing the piano, throwing balls, playing chase, brushing his teeth, and taking baths. He nods his head yes or no to specify what he wants and says "mama mama mama mama" about 60,000 times a day no matter who he's talking to. He loves his Daddy and playing with Katelyn is guaranteed to make him laugh.

Holding his sock while sucking his thumb is his comfort and he almost always carries a spare with him, just in case. The "missing sock" collection in this house is out of control!

Getting Ryan on board with eating table foods was slooooow. For a long time, putting bite-sized pieces of food in front of him to try just didn't work. For example, if I gave him a pancake, he had to pick up and examine ALL THE PIECES before he would consider eating a single one. We finally got there and he's great about eating table foods now... he just got there on Ryan Time. Favorites are shredded cheese, spaghetti, strawberries, waffles, and anything crunchy.

He took his first steps unassisted on his first birthday! But to get somewhere faster, he's constantly pushing the furniture around the house... even when someone is on it.

After his first haircut

Love, love, love this little boy!

She keep us laughing!

K: Mommy, when you're not looking, I'm going to turn myself into an object.
Me: Ok, what object?
K: A piece of paper. Don't worry, I'll write "Katelyn" all over it.

K: You really should be on America's Funniest Videos, Ryan.

K: Kwik Kar starts with a K instead of a Q and that bothers me!
Me: It bothers me, too! But you just have to make your peace with it because that's the name they chose and it's not going to change.
K: Well, the building could burn down.

K (starting to color): Ok guys, are you ready for some quality?

K: I want to be everything when I grow up, except an astronaut, but I also don't want to be a fireman or policeman. I really just like ambulances. 

K (handing me an empty water bottle): Since you're a nice lady, would you throw this away for me?

K (forgetting the words to a song, so making up new "words"): Glhsboej, fjakuvek, zzuiedwad...
Me: Those aren't words! That's not even a language.
K: It's French.

K: I'm a bumblebee. And this bumblebee really knows how to party!

K: Do unicorns have curly hair?
Me: Sure, if you want! Of course, I've never seen one since they aren't real.
K: WHAT.
Me: Um, I thought you knew they were just pretend... didn't you ever wonder why we didn't see one at the zoo?
K: SERIOUSLY?!?

K: It's a hot mess out here!
Me: It's 34 degrees.
K: But the sun is shining! Let's go ride my bike!

K (after making paper snowflakes for 2 days straight): I definitely want to be a snowflake maker when I grow up.

K: I've decided the challenge for myself is to learn how to braid,
Me: That's cool! Where is this coming from? Did your teacher encourage you to think of a personal challenge?
K: No, this is my own challenge that I thought up.
Me: That's great! Do you want me to show you how to braid?
K: No thanks, this is MY challenge. I'll do it.

Me: Does Annabelle care that you call her "Anna"?
K: No, but she doesn't like it when I call her Snickerdoodle.

K: When Daddy was a police officer, did he fight bad guys?
Me: Yes.
K: Did he carry a sword?

K: I have the burps.

K: Can we do facials... with cucumbers?!?
Me: Sure, but that really sounds like Tia Christy's department...

Ryan at 9 months

9 months old (ok, almost 10 months because I'm posting late)! It's hard to believe Ryan has been in the outside world for as long as he was inside of me! What fun he is! He's become very vocal... and with an extremely talkative big sis, it's sink or swim, buddy. He says Mama and Dada and makes it clear that whatever else he's "saying" is very important. Tonight before bed he told Dada "nigh nigh" and waved-- that caught us by surprise! And judging by how opinionated he's become, I have a feeling his ability to say "no" is coming soon...

He's really, REALLY active and will crawl over--not around--anything in his way. He pulls up on everything and finds a way to get where he wants to be. A few funny quirks:

• He loves daddy's toes. Not sure why (they are just normal toes!), but he is completely fascinated by them.
• If I'm holding him and open the refrigerator door, he practically leaps out of my arms for the egg carton. I guess he likes the texture because he would scratch it all day long if I let him.
• He thinks Katelyn playing with a Slinky is hilarious.
• He loves climbing on the bathroom stool... even if Katelyn is standing on it.
• His highlight of each morning is watching me use my electric toothbrush. He watches so intently and then laughs and laughs.
• Checking the mail is one of his favorite things and he kicks his legs in excitement when he realizes we're headed for the mailbox.
• His favorite toy is an empty Tylenol bottle with just a rock in it. Shake, shake, shake!
• He's FINALLY decided he likes to eat Gerber Puffs. I was starting to worry about fine motor skills because he had no interest in picking up small food. But now that half the container of Puffs is suddenly gone... I think we're good.

Katelyn has learned that she can pick him up and gently carry haul him around, and he thinks it's pretty funny.

We've taken full advantage of the fireplace in our new house, and he loves it as much as we do.

And, one of my favorite pictures ever:

She keeps us laughing!

K: Dear God, thank you for kitty cats. They're my favorite. *sigh* And I wish I WAS a cat. So thanks for that. Amen.

K: The wise men didn't have anything back then. Except their rocks. Their ugly, boring rocks.

K, looking at a dollar bill: There's Sam the Statue (referring to the Sam Houston statue on I-45).
Me: Actually, that's George Washington, the first President of the United States.
K: So did you vote for him?

K: Do you speak animal?
Me: What?
K: You know, do you speak dog?
Me: Do YOU speak dog?
K: Sometimes.

K, playing with a balloon: Wow! Holy honk!

K: Ugh, I can't yodel. I give up. I just give up.

K: I'm kind of delicate. Kind of.

Dave: Hey, you got your soccer uniform. You're #2!
K (disgusted): 2 is for poop.

K: Happy birthday, Mommy! You look taller.

K: What's 100 + 100? 
Me: 200.
K: What's 200 + 200?
Me: 400.
K: What's 400 + 400?
Me: 800. How long is this going to go on?
K (without hesitation): About 20 minutes.

K: Dear God... I don't know if today is your birthday, but if it is, Happy Birthday! I only know that today is Mia's birthday.

K (in the bathroom): I can't go!!! WHY IS GOD NOT HELPING ME?!?!?

K: Why do you always have to do your medicine (insulin)?
Dave: That's just how God made me.
K: Oh my goodness, Daddy!!! God made me special, too! We are BOTH SPECIAL!!!!! Sorry, Mommy, but I have a little arm and Daddy has his medicine... Party in the house!!!!

Me: You've been to the school nurse three times this week. Do you like going to the nurse?
K: Yes.
Me: You really need to be in the classroom as much as possible.
K: Well... I can't promise that.

Fall Festival 2016

We had fun dressing up this year. We attended two church Fall Festivals and the weather was absolutely perfect!

Here is Gretl from The Sound of Music. By the way, Gretl costumes do not exist, so we had to go with something that Gretl might have worn. Notice her sore finger that "got caught in Frederick's teeth!"

Inspired by a pair of striped overalls Ryan already had, I decided to make him a train conductor... and because I didn't want to carry him around all night, turning his stroller into a train made perfect sense. Remember my fascination with building things out of boxes? It's been too long!

Ryan wasn't in a cooperative mood and wouldn't sit in his stroller like a big boy or wear his hat. Oh well, still cute.

This train is far from perfect, but knowing it was only going to be used for a few hours, I made my peace with that. It was really easy and didn't take much time at all. I used 2 1/2 boxes, spray paint, a tiny bit of Gorilla glue, string, and electrical tape (for the window and stripes).

I needed the train to fold up and fit in my car, so the top and bottom are two separate pieces. 

The top part of the train attaches to the bottom with string. The sides of the train also tie to the stroller. This made it super quick and easy to assemble/de-assemble. 

For the smoke stack, I just wrapped black paper around a container of bread crumbs and stuck a red plastic bowl on top. Done! So fun to make.

Ryan at 6 months

And the Best Little Brother award goes to Ryan! He has such a sweet temperament. Having a 5 yr old sister means getting dragged all over the place for big sis: dance recital, pre-k graduation, Meet the Teacher, first day of kindergarten, soccer, etc. And he handles it like a champ, rarely fussing and always taking in the new surroundings with a smile. It’s no wonder the second child is typically more of a “go with the flow” type. They really don’t have a choice! I know he will become more opinionated as he gets older but I’m glad he’s content for now.

6 months… let’s see. Even though he now has two teeth, he still chews on his feet any time they are within reach. He sucks his thumb (just like he did at every one of my ultrasounds) when he’s tired and won’t take a pacifier. He loves to nap and still sleeps all night. Singing to him (especially Old McDonald or The Hokey Pokey) will ALWAYS make him smile, and Katelyn can make him laugh like no other.

The first time he tried baby food was pretty funny. Our timing was off-- he was clearly not in the mood to eat. After a nap, he did great and has liked every food we've tried so far.

He doesn’t particularly like to be rocked and isn’t much of a cuddler (*tear*), but when he’s in the mood he saves his cuddles for Daddy instead of me (that seems fair since I gave birth and all). He always prefers to stand (with help) and be up high… and if you call him a big boy, he proudly grins from ear to ear. He is crazy close to crawling but seems to think climbing or a bear crawl is the way to get there:

I missed Katelyn's first crawl because I was working so I'm determined to see Ryan's. He's really active and manages to get where he needs to go, though, so who knows when it will happen!

Reflux is almost completely gone now, except for his uncanny timing to puke on or near Tia Christy (sorry!). He babbles all the time and if you say mama, dada, or Katelyn, he grins and kicks his legs in excitement. Love, LOVE this sweet boy.

She keeps us laughing!

K: Well, look at Ryan wearing black and white stripes! Like he's in a little jail.

(After a VERY rough night behavior-wise, I wearily put K to bed. She looked at me and sweetly said, "Mommy, why are you so pretty? You just get prettier every day!" (Arrrrrghhhhh!!!)

K (whispering loudly during the sermon at church): Is God a hundred?

K (who takes flossing very seriously): God said, "Can you please floss your teeth for me?"

Me: How do you remember all the Shopkins' names? There are so many!

K (under her breath): It's because I'm magic.

K (watching Olympic diving on tv): OH! I would like to do that.

K: I'm tired of holding Ryan. He smells funny.

K (after going potty): Ok, what's our next activity?

K: I want to be everything when I grow up... except an astronaut. Yikes, I do NOT want to be an astronaut!

K: What's your favorite type of meat? Turkey? Ham? Spam?
Me: Ew, I don't think Spam counts... what's YOUR favorite? 
K: Bunny tails.

K: Do you have a thing to put my quarters in?
Me: Like what?
K: A camcorder?

K, while riding the Gator out on Joey's land: Oh no, we're almost out of petrol.

K (very matter of fact): Mommy, you're pretty and I love you, but you're crazy.

K, after a long talk about being good sports whether we win or lose, and then beating me in a matching game: (gives me a hug) Thanks for trying, Mommy.

K, eating a snow cone: WOW. I could eat this for days. Seriously, it's really that good.

K (very serious): Mommy, I need to tell you something. A fly went into a toilet and I flushed it.

K: There are 50 gods!
Me: No, one God.
K: How can one God watch over all of us at the same time? 
Me: Because He's God, He's all powerful... where are you getting 50?
K: There are 50 states!

K: Don't get anything out of my backpack today except my lunchbox. NOTHING ELSE.
Me: ... 
Found inside her take home folder: "Katelyn is a very bright girl. Very friendly! Please talk to her about paying attention during the lesson."

Me: Did a lot of kids at Kindergarten ask about your little arm?
K: Yes, A LOT. (with a twinkle in her eye) Some of them I answered, some of them I didn't.

_____

K, out of the blue and suddenly very emotional: I don't want a pretend arm!!
Me: You mean a prosthetic? No one said you have to have one... No one even thinks you need one!
K: It's just... I LIKE my little arm, and I can do everything with it, so I don't want anything pretend!!!!!
Me: You never have to have anything on your little arm that you don't want. It's just an option that some people like but it's completely your choice.
K: I want my little arm forever, just the way it is.