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!