Freedom of the Seas

We had such a fantastic time on the cruise! Pictures to come next week, but for now, here were the highlights:

We went with my family: my mom, Anju, Anjay, Avani, Aria, and Arjun. Ryan had SO much fun hanging out with his cousins, and was really sad to see them leave yesterday.

The ship - Royal Caribbean, Freedom of the Seas. I think we had 4300 passengers or something crazy like that. Anju and Anjay did the rock climbing wall, the kids enjoyed the H20 zone and we had fun watching people wipe out on the FlowRider. Amazing amenities on the ship. Royal Caribbean definitely does well with the entertainment and activities. There was never a boring moment, never a time when there wasn't something fun to do, and the production quality with the shows was pretty amazing for a cruise ship.

Our rooms: We were in the VIP suite at the very back of the ship (yes I know it's aft Justin) which basically meant we had a huge balcony that looked out over the water. Totally awesome. We also got special seating at all the shows, and access to the super secret concierge lounge where they handed out free drinks from 5-8 every evening. We all took advantage of the lounge but the boys especially did it up, making friends with Patrick, the bartender. VIP status didn't mean as much as we thought it would, (I never saw a butler), but it was nice to have some extra perks. And the balcony alone was worth it.

Embarkation day: I got food poisoning. Not a good way to start.

Day 1 - At sea - Had fun getting dressed up for the formal evening and singing karaoke.

Day 2 - Labadee, Haiti - It's a private Royal Caribbean island, so the crew basically takes all the food and drink from the ship and makes a "picnic" for the guests. Justin and I did a kayak tour while Ryan hung out at the beach with the rest of the family.

Day 3 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica - It was pouring in Jamaica. At the time we were hoping they would cancel the excursions, but thankfully they didn't. Justin and Arjun did the ATV tour while Anju, Anjay, and I went ziplining through the trees. We had lots of fun although our clothes may not have survived the rain and mud. Ryan, Avani, and Aria hung out with Nani on the ship running around the balcony.

Day 4 - Grand Cayman - Our underwater observatory tour was canceled but we did get a tour of the island and trip to the turtle farm. Justin, Ryan and I spent the afternoon at the beach where Ryan kept tasting the water and saying "salty". Genius I tell you. In the evening we did more formal wear and more karaoke (this time the classic "I Will Survive"). And saw a great ice show.

Day 5 - Cozumel, Mexico - Lots of shopping. In the evening we hit up the nightclub and I danced like a crazy woman in front of people I would never see again. Fun!

Day 6 - At sea - It was a little chilly (probably around 70) so we did some indoor activities like bingo, trivia, etc. This day went by way too fast. Ryan enjoyed the water park even though it was freezing out. I defrosted him a bit by putting him in the hot tub for a couple of seconds.

Yesterday we spent about 10 hours in the Orlando airport (and we were the lucky ones able to get home at all). Ryan didn't seem to mind being stranded, he was a huge fan of the moving walkway and we must have gone on about 50 rides. He was way too excited to nap, so we figured he would conk out on the plane. Nope. He was definitely tired, but wouldn't lie down, and just kept getting more and more exhausted. He finally fell asleep around 10 to be woken suddenly at 10:45 for landing. Overtired + possible ear pain due to cold + possible nightmare about a dog = MAJOR MELTDOWN. He writhed and screamed for what felt like an hour but was probably just 15 minutes. And I'm usually one of those really apologetic parents, but I was myself in danger of a meltdown and instead of apologizing, I was silently daring my fellow passengers to say anything.

All in all, loved the cruise. We had so much fun playing blackjack at the casino, participating in all the activities on board, enjoying the ports and excursions, and eating like it was going out of style. I'm still full. It was especially fun with a kid since we got a chance to visit a bunch of ports without having to pack and move. This comes in really handy with a toddler.

That's all I can remember for now, but I'll post pictures soon.

Random Update

I keep thinking I need to update the blog, but first I want to download Halloween pictures, or recent trip pictures, or post about that thing that happened 2 months ago. This is stressing me out, so instead I'm just going to post as things happen. And if I happen to miss some photos, I'm sure you'll see them on facebook anyway someday.

A couple of random updates about Ryan:

1 - He's hilarious these days. He constantly goes around pointing at things and saying "I like it" in a way that's a weird combination of Forrest Gump and the kid from those Life Cereal commercials in the 80's. We rented a huge truck for our trip with the Summerses to Annapolis for Thanksgiving, and EVERY time we got out of the car he would say "Mommy, I like it. I like the car." Over and over and over again. (It also works when he doesn't like something. He saw a dog he didn't like and mentioned to us about 50 times that he didn't like the dog.)

2 - He's smart enough/old enough to tell us what hurts. Last night Ryan had a low-grade fever, but he kept pointing to his ear and saying it hurts. Now considering Ryan likes to point at things and say "ow" all the time while laughing, we weren't quite sure whether to believe him. Plus he usually gets a really high fever with an ear infection. But he kept insisting that it hurt so we took him to the pediatrician's office this morning, and low and behold, he has a bad ear infection in that ear. Turns out it's good to listen to your kid.

3 - He's a manipulative little devil. Normally when he touches something he's not supposed to, Justin and I tell him "no touch" and he repeats it back and then doesn't touch it anymore. Yesterday morning he came into our bedroom, reached under the bed, and turned off our power strip. I told him "no touch" and he pretended not to hear me. So I kept saying it asking him to confirm, and instead he threw his arms around me to give me a big hug and kiss. He refused to acknowledge what I was saying, instead trying to distract me with kisses. I'm on to you kiddo.

Videos

My mom bought us a video camera when Ryan was born, and it's been sitting and gathering dust on our mantle. Last night Justin connected it to our computer and found that we had taken various videos here and there, just never downloaded them. So for your viewing pleasure (Nani and GiGi, this is mostly for you), here are links to several of the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FKSRdgnMhM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia9DAex6YS4

We've just downloaded these, more to come from earlier in the year.

Random Musings: Mommies on One Side, Daddies on the Other

This post isn't really about Ryan, but more about the effects of parenthood. In the last couple of weeks, Justin and I have both gone out for dinner with friends while leaving Ryan with the other parent. I went with the "girls" and Justin went with the "guys". Now this is great, I love getting together with my girlfriends, and I generally organize these outings, but it's not how it used to be. I was always one of those girls that got along with guys better. I spent much more time at KDR than I did at Zeta back in college, and to this day some of my best friends are guys. It's interesting to me how becoming parents has segregated us into gender groups. Suddenly I find myself talking to other moms about breastfeeding or other baby stuff while the guys all go out to a cigar bar. In the past I would have been at that cigar bar with them (other girls too), but now I don't go. And although I miss my guy friends, I think a "Saru + the dads" dinner out would be kinda strange even though it never used to be. And in some cases, I spend more time with the wives of my old college friends than I do my old college friends. It's not bad, they've become my friends too, it's just different.

So this holiday season, Justin and I are going to throw an adult party (get your mind out of the gutter) where the girls and guys can mingle once again without the babies running all over the place. If you live in the Boston area, stay tuned...

A Big Tumble

I don't particularly want to relive this, but as this blog is also a diary, I feel the need to document what I'm sure is the first of many times where Ryan causes my heart to stop. Ryan fell down the stairs on Saturday morning. He's fine, we called the doctor and he's not exhibiting any worrisome symptoms. This is how it happened:

Ryan has been doing the stairs by himself for a couple of weeks now. As he was learning, we would go down a couple of steps in front of him so to catch him if he fell. He's never fallen or slipped, so little by little we gave him more breathing room. Over the past several weeks he's been doing them all by himself much to his delight. On Saturday morning, we were getting ready to go to Target to pick up a couple of bins for his puzzles. Justin went downstairs first and then Ryan followed. I was getting ready in my room when I heard a thump and then Justin yelling "OH MY GOD!" Now seeing as Justin is the calm one, and I'm the one who panics, this terrified me. From what Justin could see, Ryan fell from the top of the stairs, did a couple of cartwheels in the air, and landed against the wall at the bottom sideways. Luckily his head didn't take the brunt of the impact, it was pretty evenly distributed across his body.

Ryan cried for a minute and then asked to go outside. We checked his head, limbs, everything and he didn't have a bump or scratch on him. Once it was clear that he was fine, I burst into tears and couldn't stop. Ryan came over to me, gave me a big hug and asked if Mommy was sad. I explained to him I wasn't sad, I was very happy that he was ok, just a little scared.

We're back to standing a couple of stairs below him again much to his dismay. It's going to take me a while to be able to back off again, I just hope I'm not hovering over him when he's 18 trying to go down the stairs by himself. Hehe. He didn't seem to learn from his fall either, 2 hours later he was jumping up and down at the top of the stairs. The good news is that he doesn't seem traumatized by it, the bad news is that he doesn't seem to have developed a healthy respect for gravity yet.

Buses and Bedtime

Ryan loves buses. He loves trains, cars, and excavators too (don't ask) but he LOVES buses. Everyday on the way home from daycare, he points out every bus he sees and yells "bus! bus! bus!" until I acknowledge the bus he saw. Then as soon as the bus is out of sight, he wants more buses and yells "bus! bus! bus!" until he sees a new one. He gets pretty frustrated with me for not finding the buses too. I think next weekend we should skip the apple picking and fairs and just head to the local bus depot. The kid would be in heaven.

The other subject of this post is bedtime. Now, Ryan has always been a great sleeper. He's such a great sleeper that when people with kids ask me how he sleeps, I answer tentatively for fear of being hit with something. Part of what has worked for us is establishing a routine. It's not long or too elaborate, but it's very consistent and Justin and I each play a specific role. Here's our basic routine:

One of us dresses Ryan in his pajamas and overnight diaper. We brush Ryan's teeth. We read 3 board books or 1 full length Dr. Seuss book. We do "family hugs" and then we all kiss his little stuffed Elmo goodnight. Justin takes Ryan to shut off the lights, first the hall light, then the room light. Then Ryan gives Justin a hug and kiss and comes to me. He gives me a hug and kiss and I put him in his crib while I sing a song (the same one since he was born). I say "night night" and "I love you" and he does the same. I close the door and we're done.

Tonight, I learned the downside of this consistency. It totally freaks Ryan out when one of us is missing. Although I have to say, he whines when I'm not there, but totally throws a fit when Justin's gone. Luckily this is very rare. Tonight Justin went out and I put Ryan to bed alone. All was fine until we finished the book. Then he started screaming for Justin. I tried to do the Elmo voice and make him laugh, which distracted him for about 30 seconds on the way to the light switch, but when it was me and not Justin helping him shut off the light, he lost it. Screamed for the next 30 minutes for Daddy. Mind you, he didn't ask for him once in the 2 hours between getting home from daycare and finishing the book. But when Justin's specific part of the routine came, and he wasn't there, it was very upsetting to him. Since I'm headed out of town next week for a business trip, I find myself wondering if we should just deal with this anomaly as it comes, or try to switch up the routine every once in a while so it's not SO super consistent and hope it doesn't screw up his ability to go to bed the other 95% of the time. The weird part is that when we put him to sleep at someone else's house and transfer him, he doesn't really care about the routine. It's only when it's in his room.

Ryan's Latest Bag of Tricks

It is absolutely amazing watching Ryan learn new words and concepts these days. Every day he has a new skill or trick and his sentences get longer and longer. Here are some of his newest tricks:

Counting: He can count to 10 in both English and Spanish although this is mostly memorization. Realistically he can count to 3 - he can count and recognize 1, 2, or 3 of something, after that he just keeps going till 10.

Alphabet: He can sing the alphabet song, but can't yet recognize all of the letters. Video of his singing to come soon (I've only captured him singing until V, then he gets distracted by the iPhone... I'd post this version, but really the best part of the song is the "double doos").

Communication: Longest sentence to date I think was "I want to see Uncle Josh". He also goes around these days saying he likes everything, i.e. "I like applesauce. I like Daddy."

Manners: He's more polite than I am. He says "please", "thank you", and "excuse me" ALL THE TIME. Over and over again. It's getting a little absurd frankly.

Personality: He's kinda a neat freak (perhaps mild OCD tendencies?) He likes things to be in their place and insists that his empty sippy cup goes into the sink (not that I mind!) He's also really good about sharing his toys and taking turns if you ask him. I'm not sure what they're doing at his daycare, but it works.

All in all, he's doing great (although I wouldn't mind if he put on a little weight - sometimes he resembles one of those starving children ads. He eats, I swear!)

Labor Day Weekend

On Sunday of Labor Day weekend, we roamed downtown Boston with the Summerses. Rachel took some great pictures that can be found here:

http://jsummers.sugarsync.com/albums/thumb/262108_311621

Ryan and Zach LOVED the new carousel. You can't necessarily tell from the pictures, as they seem to be holding on for dear life, but they both screamed when the ride ended and we took them down.

Thanks once again to Rachel for being the photographer!

Best. Day. Ever.

About a month ago we took a trip to West Chester, PA to visit our friends Randy and Bethany and their 2 adorable girls, Kylie (5) and Sophie (2). The trip down was uneventful. We drove for a couple of hours, stopped for dinner, and then Ryan fell asleep precisely at his bedtime.

The theme for the weekend seemed to be: do what you will and Mother Nature will follow. Each day the forecast threatened to ruin all of our plans. Each day we decided to risk it and do it anyway. And each day was perfect! On Saturday we went to Longwood Gardens, a beautiful 1000+ acre mecca of gardens, fountains, and meadows. Ryan and Kylie walked hand in hand throughout the Gardens taking in all of the beautiful plant life.

Afterwards, we had a nice swim in the Hechingers' pool and followed it up with a yummy dinner and blizzards at Dairy Queen.

Despite the fun time we had on Saturday, it was nothing compared to Sunday which Justin and I think is the best day of Ryan's life to date. It started off with a bowl of Cheerios, any toddler's favorite breakfast. We then hopped in the car and went to Sesame Place. Now for those of you like me who had never heard of Sesame Place, it's like a Disneyworld with Sesame Street characters, geared for little children, and not as big. It's also probably 75% water rides/fountain areas. The first thing we did is ride the Lazy River. Then we went to Ernie's Waterworks where there were tons of cascading fountains and spraying water. Ryan was in heaven: running through the fountains, getting big buckets of water dumped on his head (why is this a problem in the bath, but not here?) and chasing his daddy around. He was disappointed to leave this area, but the promise of what was to come next made him leave peacefully.

(We had so much fun we forgot to take a single picture. Sigh.)

After lunch, we went to a showing of Elmo's World Live. It's basically a "live taping" of an Elmo's World segment on Sesame Street. Dorothy the fish is there, Mr. Noodle, and a life-size Elmo running around and doing his show. Ryan was sitting on my lap when Elmo came out, and the pure, unadulterated joy on his face almost brought me to tears. He was so ecstatic he couldn't sit still. He kept jumping back and forth between me and Justin, hugging us over and over, and pointing at Elmo with wonder in eyes. It was awesome. After Sesame Place, we went back to the Hechingers for another swim. The day was then capped off with Ryan's favorite dinner, pasta and meatballs, and some singing, dancing, and general silliness around the living room. A perfect day for Ryan.

For the ride home, we decided to casually make our way back to Boston. We stopped for lunch for about an hour, stopped at the Ikea in New Haven to check out some storage units and let Ryan run around, and stopped for an hour at Rein's Deli in Ct, one of our favorite road trip restaurants. We got stuck in about an hour of traffic on the way to Ikea which Ryan did NOT appreciate, and the whole trip took about 9.5 hours, but all in all it went fine.

Thanks to the Hechingers for a great weekend! We forgot our camera, so credit Bethany for all the photos. Click here for additional ones.

Haircut Pictures

A couple of people have asked to see the evidence of the bad haircuts. I present to you Exhibit A and Exhibit B.

Bad Haircut

I took Ryan for his 4th or 5th haircut this weekend (kid has a lot of hair). I was going to take him to this cute little barber shop Josh and Rachel recommended, but since I needed to go grocery shopping too and do a whole bunch of other errands, I decided to go the convenient route and take him back to the Hair Cuttery. We've been there a couple of times before and his haircut is always "a'ight". It's not as good as his first haircut from Snip-Its, but not bad for $10. Well this time I was so focused on entertaining Ryan, that I forgot to tell the lady to keep it long on top. So she cut it REALLY short. And it's all uneven in the front and back, and well it's just a horrible haircut. The good news is that I know it will grow out and we can do it all over again in a couple of months. The bad news is that we're headed to Philadelphia this weekend and Ryan has some ladies to impress! Oh well, I think we'll be stocking up on hats for the next few weeks.

Wade Reunion in Vermont

We just got back on Saturday from a weeklong vacation in Vermont with Justin's family. Surprisingly, we've already downloaded the pictures and are ready to post!

Ryan had a great time visiting with his cousins (Jack 8, Alicia 7, Allie 6, Sarah 5, and Erica 3). They all played on the swing, sang Ring Around the Rosie and made smores. We went swimming and fishing, and had bonfires and played games - everything you could ask for on a lakehouse vacation.

Ryan learned a lot from his cousins over the week and he returned the favor by teaching them some phrases in Spanish. It was so fun watching the kids run up to their parents and say "Mom, 'mas' means 'more' in Spanish!" Ryan loved hanging out with the family and constantly hugged everyone and "pounded fists". It was clear when we got home that Ryan missed everyone terribly asking for his cousins by name.

In non-Ryan news, Justin and I had a great time hanging out with Wades from around the country, making fires and even beer bowling. Can't wait to do it again!

Click here for pictures from the trip.

Random Musings

My easy-going baby is back! Looks like the loss of appetite was due to his incisors coming in. Now he's using them to tear into all kinds of stuff. Thanks to everyone for the advice, we are now making only one dinner and not worrying about whether he eats it or not. (He usually does.)

I think we're in that really fun stage where Ryan learns a new word or sentence every day. Today he said butterflies when he saw them in his book, and I had no idea he knew that word. But the absolute best thing was a couple of days ago when unprompted he said "I love you Mommy". I pretty much melted into a puddle of goo right there at the kitchen table.

Ryan is a big fan of duets these days. He sings certain letters during the alphabet song and various parts of "Old MacDonald". One day soon we'll post a video of the duets...

Off to Bed with No Dinner

We've had an interesting couple of weeks with Ryan and I think it's due to a combination of teething, separation anxiety, and plain old unpredictable toddler behavior. Our daycare is closed for vacation for the next 2 weeks, and this week Ryan is hanging out with my mom. The first day, Ryan screamed bloody murder for an hour after we left. This was pretty tough on my poor mom who was trying to change his diaper and spent the morning running after him. He eventually calmed down and they had a nice time together. The 2nd day was actually worse than the first. Luckily on day 3, he started to adjust and only cried for 5 minutes. So while we thought we had a really easy-going, laid back kid (see Daddy as example), it turns out Ryan does not like to be left with new people. Hopefully this will change as he gets older, but for now babysitters are forewarned!

The other thing is lately Ryan is getting weird with food. He has always been a fantastic eater - loves fruits and vegetables, eats pretty much whatever we put in front of him... He's the only kid I know who picks steamed zucchini over french fries. But lately, he's getting picky, not willing to eat things he used to love. And we're talking rice and beans, not the steamed zucchini (he'll eat that any time, any day). And he outright refuses to eat dinner. He has a great breakfast, great lunch, and great snack. I don't know if he's just full by the time dinner arrives, but he won't eat it. He just wants milk. One day I tried to deny him his milk so he eats, but he didn't really care. So now I give him the milk back so at least he gets some calories. Anyone else deal with anything like this? Are breakfast, lunch, and snack just enough and he doesn't need dinner? And what happened to my easy-going baby!??

What was that?

Ryan is talking up a storm these days, learning how to put words together, coming up with new phrases, etc. Most of the time we can understand him, but sometimes it's completely beyond us. Here's a recent conversation:

Ryan: appa-doo-doo, appa-doo-doo

Mommy: Ryan, what is "appa-doo-doo"?

Ryan: iono (complete with hands up in the air and shrug)

Luckily Theresa at daycare cracked the code for us. Turns out "appa-doo-doo" means "Happy birthday to you". Apparently there have been a bunch of birthday celebrations at daycare lately, so when Ryan saw the Father's Day card on the table, he thought we were doing birthdays. They pick up so much more than we think!

Random 18-Month Old Musings

Ryan had his 18 month old check up yesterday and despite a little asthma here and there is healthy as a horse! Here are his new stats:

Height: 32 3/4 inches (92%)
Weight: 24 lbs 6 oz (25%)

The doctor told us Ryan was "in style" being all tall and skinny. I guess that's good, we wouldn't want an out of style baby I guess. Ryan is right on schedule with his development too, running, walking backwards, eating and sleeping, and talking up a storm. He has a countless list of words now and has started putting them together. When we read at night he usually says "bye-bye book" to the book when we're done. As for the asthma, he hasn't wheezed at all since he started on Flovent. Since we're in the summer months, the doctor took him off of Flovent for the time being and we'll probably start up again in October once the 6-month-long cold starts.

In bath news, he has now decided he LOVES taking a bath. Except he calls it a "bawth" like he has an English accent. So pompous.

Ryan's other favorite activities involve anything outside. Last weekend we took him camping and he loved it. Just being able to be outside all day long and play in dirt was the coolest thing. Justin and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep since he woke up at the crack of dawn, but other than that we had a great time.

I'm really seeing my little baby become a little boy. Last week when I was leaving for my European work trip, I started to cry as I said goodbye to him. He looked up at my face and gave me a huge hug, just knowing what his mommy needed. And when I got back, he ran into my arms and gave me another big hug, again just what I needed. My little boy really knows how to take care of his mommy.

The Young and the Restless

I wrote about this on Facebook, but it really deserves more space than a status update. Ryan has his first crush. There happens to be a 3 year old at daycare named Daniella who has captured Ryan's heart. While Ryan loves to say all the names of his daycare people, his favorite name is Daniella. He not only says it all day long, he sings it. Dan-iell-a! Dan-iell-a! But before you go, "oh, it's just a fun name to say, that's all", there's more. One day last week I showed up at daycare and Ryan, Daniella, and Alice were sitting on the stoop hanging out. Ryan reached for me like always but then bent over so he could give Daniella a kiss. She pushed him away and giggled. He just stared at her, even as Alice tried to say goodbye. Today I picked Ryan up and heard that Ryan tried to hold Daniella's hand when walking back from the park. She apparently didn't want to hold his hand and he threw himself on the sidewalk in a fit of despair. She ultimately relented (thank you Daniella!). Meanwhile Lucy was perfectly willing to hold Ryan's hand, but he only had eyes for Daniella. Guess he likes older women.

Bahamas

A couple of weeks ago we spent a week in the Bahamas with the Summerses. We had a great time playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, and generally enjoying the awesome Bahamian weather. The only problems we encountered were due to what we called "Island Time". The people of the Bahamas generally adhere to 2 speeds: slow and stop. When you are just adults hanging out on the beach with no schedule, it's pretty nice. It was a tad more complicated with the kiddos. For instance, the poolside restaurant opened at 12:00 everyday which really meant 12:30. Not a big deal for us, but not great for Ryan who was starving and generally unhappy by the time we got food an hour later. We learned pretty quickly though and got groceries so we could feed the kids on our schedule and not on Island Time. Oh, and a tip to anyone traveling to the Bahamas with young kids - bring your own crib. Our resort not only didn't have them for us the first night as promised, but when we complained they actually told us to just put them on the sofa: "They're 1? What are they doing in a crib anyway?"

But despite any minor setbacks, we had a great time. At one point I was sitting in the hottub watching Ryan and Justin playing together at the pool with a view of the ocean behind them. All I could think was "Life is good".

Click here for additional pictures from our vacation!

Asthma

It's official - Ryan has asthma. We're not really shocked, the definition of asthma is chronic wheezing, and well, he wheezes a lot. I took him to the doctor yesterday morning since he was wheezing again. We've been controlling it with albuteral, but I just wanted the doctor to see him before our trip to the Bahamas. The pediatrician said he fit the criteria and that we should try a preventative medication for a little while to see if that helps. So he's now on low-dose Flovent that he has to take via inhalation once a day for 4-6 weeks. After that we'll decide if it's helping. Luckily Ryan seems to enjoy the inhaler and eagerly breathes it in every time. I wonder if that means he knows what he's getting and he knows it will make him feel better.

I know a lot of kids have asthma and outgrow it. It just sucks that my perfect little baby is not so perfect. The good news is that the wheezing doesn't seem to bother him and he's never been in real distress as far as we can tell. I'll start carrying around a rescue inhaler just in case, but hopefully we won't need it.

Terrible Ones?

We took Ryan to Chicago for the long weekend to visit my family. The last time we were there was in October, but wow what a difference 6 months makes! Ryan was pretty good on the flight there - he just didn't want to sit still. He went back and forth from my lap to Justin's and wanted nothing more than to run around in the aisle. He didn't cry or anything, but he did try to get away at least a dozen times.

Once we arrived, it became clear that our easy-going baby was now a terrified toddler with MAJOR stranger anxiety. Ryan wouldn't go near anyone and pretty much clung to me the entire trip. The only way he would play with his cousins was if Justin or I played too. And forget going to my family members. He pretty much shunned everyone. The only person he went to was Vikram but I think that's because we were outside and Vikram was offering to take him to a playground. Being outside seems to trump stranger anxiety.

We had a bbq on Saturday since the weather was so nice. Aunt Beth came over to spend some time with Ryan (albeit from afar). On Sunday we had brunch with Ziggy, Heather, and Max and Ryan was pretty well behaved during that outing. I guess mornings make a big difference.

On Sunday night we all went out to a nice steakhouse for Vikram's birthday. Luckily they put us in a private room since chaos pretty much ensued when we got there. Ryan got bored within seconds of being put in the high chair and decided to throw all his toys. The only way we could get him to stop was to let him play with a cup of water and a straw. Which of course leads to him flicking water at me with the straw. So then we take the water away and he has a fit. We manage to distract him with some dinner rolls for a little while and I sigh in relief when I see the food coming thinking that will distract him too. Instead, Ryan decides now is the time he doesn't want to sit in the high chair anymore. I put him in my lap and give him some green beans. Ryan loves green beans so I figure I'm good. Nope. Ryan gets a little overzealous with the green beans, shoves them in too far, and starts choking on them. And then there's vomit. All over his pants and a little on me too. And of course this happens to be the ONE TIME I forget to put his spare clothes in the diaper bag. So off come the pants. Ryan thinks this is hysterical and starts running around the room in his onesie and sweater. We decide to close the door to the room and just let him run as we finish our meal. I so miss the days when we would put a sleeping Ryan in his infant seat next to the table. I think it's going to be take out for us for a while...

Ryan threw several fits on Monday and at this point I think he was getting frustrated at being away from home. On the flight home, we were given the bulkhead row so Ryan could run around in the extra space. It was much easier for us, although he started throwing his toys. I think part of the problem is that we encourage him to throw a ball and he doesn't yet understand the difference. He looks up at us for approval when he throws something and is then confused and frustrated when we don't give it to him.

I'm having a love/hate relationship with this age. He's old enough to be more fun. He loves playing games and when he laughs it just warms my heart. But he's also old enough to be manipulative and young enough not to understand reason. Which just makes leaving the house challenging. We're going to the Bahamas in a couple of weeks for vacation, wish us luck!

Mine!

Oh boy. Ryan has learned the dreaded word... "mine!" And he means it. This morning I took away his little bowl of snacks in the car since he wasn't eating them so much as throwing them on the floor. He proceeded to scream "mine! mine! mine!" for the rest of the 30 minute commute. So fun. On the plus side, as long as you give him the bath toys he demands, he seems to be ok with the bath now.

In other news, Ryan has become very attached to one of the assistants at our daycare, Ana. He lunges for her when he gets dropped off and wistfully says her name during the weekends. While of course there's a little part of me that's jealous (especially when he confuses us and calls me "Ana"), I'm mostly thrilled. We are truly lucky that we found this place. It's a family-based daycare run out of the house of a woman named Amy (who used to work in a center). Her daughter is 6 weeks older than Ryan and they have become great friends. There are 4 other kids and between Amy and her 3 assistants, there are always 2 adults present, which makes me happy. They treat the kids like their own, and it feels like family is watching Ryan. I feel like they truly love my child - they always give him lots of hugs and kisses and I can tell they miss him during the weekends. It really makes going to work so much more fulfilling when you are confident and happy with your daycare selection. So in the end, I'll take the occasional "Ana" if it means Ryan is happy and well taken care of.

Not Mama

Ryan has been saying "namama" a lot these days to our befuddlement. What the heck is "namama"? Turns out he's referring to Justin. He went through a phase when he was calling both of us "Mama". And I would say "That's not mama, that's dada." Of course, being new to the English language, he doesn't quite get the negative. So he thinks I'm calling Justin "not mama". Hehe.

Despite the minor health setbacks Ryan's had recently, he's still a tremendously happy kid. Check out his new smile with all those teeth! (Photo credit: Rachel Summers).


Ryan's 2 favorite activities these days are building a pile of pillows to fall on and riding on his Sesame Street ride-a-long toy with Zach while Aunt Rachel pushes them. The funny part is when only of them gets to ride, the other follows behind crying. Ok, well it's not funny to them, but it's kinda amusing to us. Here they are enjoying the ride:

15 Month Appointment

Ryan had his 15 month check up this morning and passed with flying colors! We're still watching the wheezing and ear infections, but otherwise Ryan is perfectly healthy and developmentally on track. He walks and talks like normal 15 month olds and is still on his way to becoming a very tall and skinny boy. Here are the stats:

Height: 32.75 inches
Weight: 22 lb 5 oz
Head: 46 cm

One thing I found interesting was that the doctor told us we can start disciplining Ryan when he misbehaves. We're just supposed to put him in the crib for a 1 minute "time out" and walk away. 1 minute doesn't seem like a long time, but it still seemed kinda harsh for a 15 month old. We'll see if and when we implement the doctor's advice. I was thinking we'd start with the time outs around 18 months.

A Bad Week Gets Worse...

We all have our ups and downs, but unfortunately for Ryan his are all happening at the same time. So we all know about the ear infection and molars. Now let's add potential head trauma. (Ok, not really, he seems totally fine.)

Yesterday morning, I was getting Ryan ready for day care as we do every other morning. He was sitting on the changing table and playing "let's drop the clothes on the floor and watch Mommy pick them up" game. This went on for a while, he drops the clothes, I pick them up, he drops them again and laughs hysterically. On the 4th or 5th drop, I bent down and he leaned forward to see but lost his balance and came tumbling off the changing table. It felt like it was happening in slow motion, but at the same time, it happened so fast I can't really remember. I think I got my arm in there a bit, but really he fell and landed half in the open bottom drawer of his dresser and half on the floor. It looked awful. He was on his back (somehow twisting in mid air) with his head hitting the floor and his back hitting the edge of the drawer. I picked him up to comfort him (he's screaming his head off) and literally 10 seconds later he's forgotten all about it and playing with his toys. Thank goodness kids are resilient and flexible. I on the other hand am totally freaked out and can't get the image of my son being tossed about like a ragdoll out of my mind.

Anyway, he's fine thankfully and I'm trying my best to forget it. I think from now on I'll be getting him dressed on the floor, he's just a little too big and unruly for the changing table. And major kudos go to Justin for not yelling at me which I'm pretty sure would have happened if it was him instead of me. So I've learned a lesson in how fast these kids are, and Ryan has discovered gravity.

Another Month, Another Ear Infection

This was not a good weekend for poor Ryan. On top of being sick and having another ear infection, all 4 of his molars seem to be pushing through at once. I don't think I've ever seen him so miserable in his short little life. The good news though is that hopefully he's getting it over with all at once.

Quick development update: Ryan has added "yeah" and "all done" to his vocabulary and can go up and down the stairs easily. He's also pretty good at obeying commands like "wash your hands" and "go to your high chair". The best one though is Ryan getting our slippers. Now I know what you're thinking, no our son is not our dog, but given Ryan's penchant for shoes, it was inevitable that he would happily pick up this trick. All you have to do is sit on the couch, put your feet in the air, and say "Ryan what's missing?" He will then go get your slippers and try to put them on your feet. And he distinguishes between my slippers and Justin's. Pretty cool party trick - we'll have to get it on video one of these days!

Ryan Health Update

We just got back from our follow up appointment at the pediatrician's office. Ryan's ears and lungs are clear and healthy! The doctor did notice that Ryan has had 3 ear infections in 4 months, and apparently the criteria to be referred to a specialist is 3 ear infections in 3 months... so he's just shy. I'm ok with that though since I'm not all that interested in having to deal with tubes. Right now the ear infections don't seem that bad. They don't really bother him all that much, and he loves antibiotics. He just finished a 10 day course today and I think he's going to be bummed. He always makes the "more" sign when we give it to him.

As for his lungs, the doctor told us to give him some preventative puffs on his albuteral inhaler at the first sign of a cold to help keep his airways open. It appears so far that his wheezing is triggered by colds, which is bad cause he has them a lot, but good because it's not an everyday allergy thing. According to the doctor, kids usually outgrow wheezing from colds, so hopefully this is all temporary!

Ryan's 2nd Christmas... Technically

I've finally gotten around to downloading and organizing pictures from Christmas! This year the festivities started at our house for our annual ChristmaKwaNukkahWali SolstEid party. We had to skip hosting the party last year for obvious reasons, but were happy to resume the tradition this year. Our party is a winter holiday celebration with food, music, and decorations representing Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Diwali, Eid, and the Winter Solstice. We try to be all inclusive although admittedly we have no Kwanzaa of Eid food at the party. Maybe next year!


We spent Christmas this year in Austin visiting Ryan's relatives on his dad's side. Ryan had a great time meeting 6 cousins, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 2 grandparents! Here we try to get all 7 kids to sit still for a picture:

After opening gifts over several days in Austin, we made it back for one final Christmas celebration at home.

Click here for additional pictures from Christmas and I promise we'll try to take more pictures soon.

When it Rains...

Ryan, Justin and I spent another couple of hours at the pediatrician's office yesterday. Ryan had started wheezing again Thursday night, but not wanting to spend another night at the hospital, we decided to give him a nebulizer treatment and call the doctor in the morning. We arrived at the office at 4:15pm but weren't seen until an hour later. During that time, Ryan decided to run laps around the furniture. After about an hour of running around, he started having a coughing fit. Go figure. Luckily this is when we got to see the doctor. The nurse took his temperature, and low and behold, he had a fever of 102. He wasn't even warm when we brought him in. Turns out in addition to the wheezing, Ryan has another ear infection. The doctor then listened to Ryan's lung and decided he needed a nebulizer treatment. He gave us an inhaler and an antibiotic to clear up his ears and his lungs. Our doctor said it still is too early to diagnose asthma, that it may just be the case of a bad reaction to a bad winter, but that we were probably headed down that path. Ryan will be re-evaluated next week and we'll go from there. We briefly discussed preventative medications like Pulmicort, but he said it was too early and we'll have a better idea in the spring when this nasty weather stops. Keep your fingers crossed!

Up!

Ryan has developed some new skills which are of course a mixed blessing. His walking is starting to turn into a run, and he's learned some new words. Over the last 2 weeks, Ryan has learned to say "no", "eyes", "uh-oh", and his favorite... "up". Ryan is a big fan of the word "up", saying it repeatedly all day long with his arms in the air. At first we thought it was the cutest thing. Not only was he truly communicating a request with us, he was adding a couple extra "p"s to the word so it sounded like "upppah". Too cute! Of course, after a couple of days, it has started to lose its appeal as my arms are getting more and more sore.

Ryan has also learned the signs for "more" and "eat". Justin and I had been doing the signs casually and weren't really expecting him to learn them. I don't know if it was seeing his friend Lilia do signs and then get stuff, but after spending a day with her, he started doing it himself. I know there is a little bit of controversy around baby signing, but seeing as he's starting to speak too, I think this is fantastic. We're learning what's going on in his mind all the time now. Turns out the reason he's so whiny in the morning is because he's hungry, not because he's thirsty. Who knew?

A Not So Fun First

Last week, we experienced Ryan's first (and hopefully last) overnight stay in the hospital. Ryan is doing fine now, and I'm not sure he really needed to stay there so long, but I appreciate the doctors being overcautious.

On Thursday night, Ryan and I got home from daycare and I noticed that he was wheezing pretty loudly. He didn't seem to be distressed in any way, but I called the doctor's office anyway just to be safe. I was fairly certain they would just tell me to schedule an appointment in the morning, but instead they told me to take him to the emergency room. So the three of us took a trip to Winchester Hospital and were seen right away by the triage nurse. She said he sounded fine but didn't know if the brief time in the cold air had opened his airways so we still needed to be seen by a pediatrician. We barely settled in the waiting room when we were brought to an exam room and seen by the resident. He didn't seem all that concerned, so I was pretty sure the doctor would take a look and send us home shaking her head at the overprotective first-time parents. Instead, she took one look at him and told us he was struggling to breathe. He didn't seem like he was struggling, but she showed us how to tell by examining his neck and belly. She also said he sounded very wheezy in his lungs and needed treatment.

We were told Ryan would get 2-3 nebulizer treatments to open his airways and a dose of prednisone to help with the inflammation. She gave us a 50-50 chance of going home that night. After the treatments, Ryan was still wheezy, so we were admitted to the hospital. It took some time for them to get us a room because they needed to find us a baby cage big enough for Ryan. We finally got to the room around 1 am and although there was a perfectly nice cot for me to sleep on, Ryan insisted I sleep with him in the baby cage. Not comfortable at all. We tried to sleep on and off until around 4 am when I buzzed the nurse to get me the hell out of there. I've never really been claustrophobic, but that cage was a little much.

Justin came back in the morning and we saw the pediatrician around 9 am. Again, since Ryan seemed fine, I expected the new doctor to let us go. But instead she listened to his lungs, examined him, and told us he needed more treatments and MAYBE we could go home in the evening. Ugh. Ryan was getting nebulizer treatments ever 2 hours and the only way we could go home is if he could make it to every 4 hours. So Ryan and I got to hang in the hospital all day long. For the local people reading this, it's worth mentioning that Winchester Hospital is pretty nice. The nurses and staff are caring, the rooms were clean, and we even had a "child life specialist" come in several times a day to make sure Ryan had enough toys, books, and dvds to keep him happy. The only problem was the pediatrician only rounds twice a day, so if the morning doc didn't discharge us, we had to wait until 9 pm for the evening doc.

Josh, Rachel, and Zach came to visit in the afternoon and Ryan really perked up then and started breathing better. I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but I think he's pretty social and likes to be around other people. He seemed happy to have company to play with (I was too exhausted). A third pediatrician showed up around 9 pm and on initial assessment, told us Ryan wasn't ready to go home. He then listened to his lungs, talked to us for awhile presumably assessing our intelligence and ability to give treatments at home, and changed his mind. Yippee! Apparently Ryan's lungs sounded much better than he anticipated, and we passed the "smart parents" test. We were discharged at 10 pm with the condition that we continue his treatments every 4 hours and see our pediatrician first thing the next day.

We saw the Saturday pediatrician the next day and he said Ryan sounded fine and we could withhold nebulizer treatment until he needed it. Right now he's getting one every 6-8 hours while we wait for the prednisone to do its job. The doctor also said that one incident of wheezing does not necessarily mean asthma, and there's no reason now to treat him any differently. He's probably pre-disposed to asthma and has a higher chance of having it, but if and when that comes, we'll deal with it. Right now we're just happy to be home!

1st Birthday Celebrations!

Ryan's 1st birthday celebrations started in St. Louis where he got some new presents from Gi-Gi. On the actual day of we had a quiet family celebration at home where Ryan opened the presents he received from his daycare family. Like most 1 year olds he was much more excited about the tissue paper than the toys...



The celebration continued over the weekend as Ryan's Nanima and uncles came in from Chicago. We had a Sesame Street babies themed party complete with giant balloon Elmo and a Cookie monster and Elmo cake.

We gave Ryan some cake but most of it ended up on him rather than in his tummy.

Although I know Ryan won't remember the party, we had a great time and are thankful to have so many great friends and family to come and celebrate with us.

Here are more pictures from the festivities!

Thanksgiving

Life seems to have gotten in the way of posting... in a good way. I finally had a chance to download pictures from November and Ryan's birthday (which I'll get to in the next post). For Thanksgiving we visited Ryan's Gi-Gi in St. Louis. Ryan did get another ear infection on the trip, but it didn't stop him from having a great time visiting with all his relatives. The trip was low-key, and exactly what we needed. Here's Ryan bonding with Gi-Gi:

There were a bunch of other things that happened in November, but frankly it was too long ago to remember. Here are a couple of photos from Baby Loves Disco, Thanksgiving, and around the house.