Ryan turns 1!

My Ry-Ry!  I can't believe its been a year already since you made your presence known. You have been such a blessing. You are a sweet and gentle soul that I never want to leave me. I love that you are quiet and timid but also very curious. You may not say much but you are always observing!  You are cautious to try new things and very attached to the things you love...especially your father.  The way you always listen for his voice and steps makes my heart feel full.   I promise to always be there for you and love you the way need me to love you. I want you to always now that you have your own spot in this family and we all love you.  There are days when I just dont want you to grow up, I just want to you to lay on my chest forever. I just want to hold you close forever.  My mother's intuition tells me you are going to need to lay on mommy's chest every now and then and that's okay.

Its been great to see you carve out your own personality and presence in our family.  You have been determined to everything at your own pace.

It is my greatest dream to see you and your brother grow up to be close and I adore the fascination in your eyes as you watch him.  I love that he is so eager to be a Big Brother to you and help you learn. This is the way I imagine. No matter what life brings in the future, alwyas now that you & your brother have a bond that can never be broken!

First tooth

Ryan is finally breaking his first tooth at 10 months! I can't believe its taken this long. Not that a lack of teeth have dimished his ability to eat table food. He is a greedy monster when it comes to eating. He is pretty quiet 99% of the time but he gets of rowdy when he thinks the food not coming fast enough.

Ray Allans sings the ABCs

Really boys....

I walk into the living room to find Ry chewing paper and actually feeding Ray Allan paper so now they are both chewing paper. Really Ry?!... I thought you were the quiet good one!!! Really Ray Allan?!...I cant believe you are a willing participant!

1, 2, 3, 4

Woke up this morning to RA counting: 1234779. I was very impressed. Apparently he was counting to his brother. Since he doesn't go to daycare and is not around other kids often I oftentimes worry that he is not learning what he should. It warmed my heart to hear this unsolicited counting. He is kistening, he is learning at home!

ABC, ABC

Having the sweetest moment with the boys. We are watching our favorite Sesame Street: Elmo & Indie.Stir singing ABCs. They are so mesmerized its on constant repeat. RA is even teaching Ry how to clap!

Peekabye

Our new favorite is Peekabye, as RA has named it. Its peekaboo under the covers. The delight and joy in their faces as I pull back the covers...I can live on those moments for days.

Dear Son,

Two years ago at 135am my life was forever changed with the birth of Raymond Allan. The love I feel when I look at you is like nothing I have ever felt. As I have watch you grow from a baby to a toddler, I am often overwhelmed and awed by your fearlessness, self confidence, and intelligence. You challenge me in ways I didnt expect. I love as a mother loves her son but also for the person you are: a strong willed, adventurous, outgoing, loving, bossy child! There are times when I feel the days are going slowly but in reality the years are going by quickly. No matter how old you get, know that there is always room in our bed and in our heart for you.

So I put RA's dinner in his highchair and told him its too hot to est now. We walk to the bedroom or so I thought. I look back to find its just me. RA decided to push the highchair to the couch, use the couch to climb into the highchair and feed himself. I guess he was hungry.

PowderGate 2011

I woke up this morning thinking I haven't posted anything all week because there have been no crazy/funny incidents. Its like RA heard me and decided to quickly remedy the situation. I put him in the crib with Ry to hang out and within 5 minutes "Powdergate 2011" happens.  Apparent, RA reached over and took the powder from the changing table and proceeded to powder Ry.  Unfortunately the hubby is the one who found them and he tends not to have a sense of humor about these things.  When I looked down the hall, he had Ry in the middle of the floor trying to at least wipe his face so the man can see. Ry looked like a powdered doll I wanted to take a picture of the scene but I could tell the hubster would not have appreciated it at that moment.

The clean up effort was intense. It involved stripping the beds down, dusted all the surfaces, taking everything out the room and vigorously vacuuming the floors.  RA just looked at us in wonder like "What happened?"  What will I do with this child but love him (and keep all powder away from him)

Poor Ry is such a good sport about all these things! He never cries, he just plays along.  I guess I know my answer now: he will be a partner-in-crime!

Feeding time

So I leave the room to grab my phone and this is the scene I returned to. Apparently, RA took it upon himself to feed Ry!

First time at the pool

So I took the boys to my aunt's pool today and they had a blast. They are both water babies and loved every second of it. Cant  wait to start swim lessons.

Brother bonding

My favorite thing to do these days is to watch the boys play side by side. More than anything I want them to be great friends. For the most part they seem to like each other. RA is very bossy but Ry is a willong follower so far and gets so excited to be with his brother. I feel encouraged every time I watch them actively try to interact with each other.

Too much TV?

So RA is at the point where he now likes to watch TV. He is only allowed to watch Nick Jr because its all educational shows and no commercials. I am alarmed about the zombie-like trance he gets when watching tv but I console myself that its okay bcuz its interactive and educational and I always watch with him.

He is getting to the point where he gets upset when you turn his show off but do only show interest in certain shows. There are times where he turns the TV off so he can play. Ry is into tv too in a way that RA never was at that age. I have decided to set boundaries about TV watching but haven't figured it out yet.

He doesn't seem to have a fav character but he loves any show with music. He sings along to all the theme songs and seem to know exactly when the show is ending. He starts waving bye bye. Fav shows: Yo Gabba Gabba, Fresh Beats Band, Wonder Pets.

Say sorry

After RA intentionally hits Ry in the face, I say "RA give Ry a hug and tell him you are sorry." His response: he pats Ry on the head and says "You okay!"  Not quite what I was looking for...poor Ry!

Obsession with poop

I can't believe how excited I am to see poop in the potty! Today I removed RA pull up and found out he peed in his pullup instead of using potty. I am discouraged as usual. I start preparing his morning milk and he just walks off sans pants. I think nothing of it but later as I am walking down the hallway, I smell poop. I look everywhere but the potty. I am already gearing myself up to be annoyed to have to clean up poop. Imagine my surprise that there was actually poop in the potty. He actually took it upon himself to go on his own....yeah! A grown woman should not be this happy to see poop in a potty but this is my life. It's better than cleaning up poop from the tile, mat, and bathtub because he refuse to sit on the potty as was my experience last week.

Morning Routine

Every morning RA gets up first and waits for Ry to wake up. As soon as Ry is awake, he says 'up?' and I put him in the crib and leave them to play. It's so funny to listen to their convos!



ETA: What's not being captured in this picture is that RA has no pull-up on! He didnt want to put on a pull-up after he pottied this morning so I let him roam free.  I had to cut that out the picture because I didn't want someone to think this was kiddie porn...LOL! 

You boo-boo?

As I am walking out the bathroom, Ray Allan peeks his head around the  corner and says "Hi, you boo-boo?". Yes Ray Allan, mommy boo-boo. If only you would take an interest in your own boo-boo! (boo-boo means poop in our house)