Ryan is 14 months!

These are photos of our cutie pie in the bluebonnets off of E Broad in Mansfield. Since bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas and so pretty I was excited to take Ryan's first pictures in them.  I had intended to last year, but he wasn't able to sit up on his own yet which would have made the photo session on my own rather difficult. Now, our little handsome guy is 14 months old! Here is my update on the past month.

Clothing: 12-18 month

Diapers: Size 4 (Pampers Cruisers are our favorite)

Naps: Generally twice a day, first one is about 2 hrs, the other around 1 hr. 30

Times: 10am and 3:30/4pm

If Ryan misses his morning nap (which has happened a lot lately) he will generally go down after lunch around 1pm for 2 hrs and that is the only nap he will take that day. He has done okay with this, but I still push for the two naps when we can. It makes for a happy Ryan and happy Momma!

We turned around his big boy car seat to forward facing this month (I was delaying due to safety, but finally decided it would be easier on us all only to see the news report the next day recommending waiting until age 2...of course... As always our goal is just not to get into any accidents!)

New foods: Homemade chicken nuggets (loves!), pasta fagioli and bread sticks at Olive Garden, Andres Mint, Honey (at Babe's), raisins, honey bunches of oats cereal (loves!), cinnamon toast, turkey sausage. Ryan is pretty much eating everything we do now, but is picky about temperature and how the food is presented. For example, he might not eat something cut up, but will eat it off of the big portion. (ie: banana, apple) Also, with warm foods as long as they are hot he will eat them, but as soon as they get cool/cold he will spit them out and if I warm it up again he will continue eating... weird I know! Since Ryan is eating what we do it really makes me watch what I eat in front of him because he will want some, so that's been pretty good for my eating choices as well.

New Vocabulary: Baback (backpack), es pees (yes please), hot, and joos (juice)

Ryan can identify when asked by pointing to his head, ears, nose, hands and feet. He really prefers pointing to your nose though. Ha! He will bring many specific toys or books to you at your request (knows them by name). It's amazing the information he seems to be soaking up right now. Ryan loves stacking cups, blocks, and rings. He even stacks random toys on top of one another sometimes to see if he can. He stacks 2-4 blocks sometimes properly and sometimes not. He is just now really showing interest in his shape sorter toy as well, but doesn't get all the shapes in correctly- mostly just the circle and square currently. Ryan is enjoying refrigerator magnets and I'm hoping to buy him some of his own pretty soon. He has also figured out his corn popper pushing toy. Before this month he would just carry it around and hand it to you or throw it. This month Ryan started using a baby fork and spoon. He is better with the fork, but still has more work to do to master feeding himself with it, but he loves it and takes great pleasure in being handed his own utensils.

Ryan can be such a great helper to me when he is in a cooperating mood. He can help unpack groceries, load and unload laundry, throw away trash and other household chores. He is really into wanting to hold and carry things around especially items that are really too big or heavy for him, but it's precious to see him try. Perhaps this is a "boy" thing? Mike and I are pretty impressed at some of the things he can carry that we wouldn't have thought he could do. Wagon rides and trips to the park are still almost daily and one of his favorite things to do. Ryan in general just loves to be outdoors. He runs around in the backyard and blows bubbles with me and helps to water our flowers and herbs with his mini watering can. He also loves to go out and get the mail. If it involves getting to go outside you can guarantee when asked you will receive a quick, "es pees" and happy dance as he runs over to the door.

Overall, Ryan is such a happy, energetic, and funny little boy. We enjoy just watching all his energy in the evenings and he has so much fun with playtime and wrestling with his Daddy. We are still struggling with temper tantrums when things don't go his way, but I don't expect that to really diminish anytime soon. Typically around nap time or bedtime is time that he falls apart most easily, but he can certainly throw a fit during the day due to frustration and not getting what he wants. Often, the greatest task is just getting him to settle down and take a minute to realize what he is upset about and how much easier it is to fix with simply asking or gesturing to us "nicely" as we say. My biggest concern is he can get upset so quickly he will sometimes throw himself backwards or bang his head into a wall, door, or even floor and I'm worried he will seriously injure himself not intending to.  I am really not anxious for that first trip to the ER so I am prayerful that it is not soon.