The Campbell Family Blog: Ryan is 23 months!

Wow! It's the last post before we have a TWO YEAR OLD in our house!! (and it's going to be a long post!) What can I say, this year has certainly gone by fast and our little man is growing fast and changing by the day. We try to stay pretty routine around our house, but every day is honestly so different with Ryan. He keeps me on my toes and I never know what to expect. His favorite place is outside and in particular, any "park". This boy knows how to "Go, Go, Go" all the time! He has gotten especially brave with the slides this past month and will climb up and go down any of them on his own no matter how tall. He has also mastered ladders and the climbing walls at the parks. He will do almost anything for promised time at the "park" and even decides which one we might visit based on color. ;) Speaking of which, Ryan has gotten really good at negotiating. I'm not kidding, Ryan has already mastered the art of negotiation before the age of 2! Future lawyer perhaps?? Who knows...

More recently, Ryan really enjoys the companionship of other children his age or a little older even. He loves to observe things they do and say (which can be good and bad) and learns quickly from them. He will notice another child anywhere we go and turn to watch them or even say "hi" from across a store. He even bosses them around at parks in his own little way such as he will slide on one side of a split slide and then pat the seat next to him that is "theirs". Ryan certainly has a knack for what is "mine" and "theirs". He is trying to be a little "leader/organizer" already (like his Mommy). He is good at sharing, but has a hard time if it's something he has his mind set on that is his. In general he also likes people to simply pay attention to him. When someone responds to him or smiles at him in a store, he is focused like a hawk on them from then on and will do almost anything to keep their attention. He absolutely soaks in being the center of attention. I think this is a friendly, yet goofy quality (from Mike) that may play out as "Class Clown" and do anything goofy to make the girls laugh in school in the future. Oh boy, sorry future teachers!!

Ryan has many new words, more than I can remember, but the most recent/memorable ones are "Jesus, Love You, Done, Rabbit, Alright, Hey you, Amen, Owan (orange) and Wawa (water)". He is really combining words and making sentences these days with typically about three words. Often he leaves out adjoining words. For example. "Dada, bye bye, Momma no bye bye" or "Dada work" and "Dada home eat". He will also mimic or repeat almost anything you ask him to say which can be awfully cute. Recently, he has started singing along with a few songs. Most notably are Veggie Tales songs (which we hear alllll the time!) and Elmo's World theme song. (which is really cute to hear). He has even started chiming in with a few letters of the ABC song.

We have been working a lot on names with Ryan. He is getting really good at saying most of them. Some of my favorites are "Ma'amy" (Maggie), "Vivi" (Vivian), "Tona" (Tonya), "Nomi" (Naomi), "RyRy or RyRee" (Riley), and "Eminy" (Emily-me! haha). He finally says his name most times you ask him now as well "Ryran" which is cute. We are also teaching him our names and his grandparents names as I noticed it was a skill most two year olds in our Little Gym class were able to do. I also figured it would be useful if he ever got separated from us for him to be able to tell his name and his parents names (not just Mommy and Dada). He now says most of them and if I ask him to say a name he will generally repeat what I say, but sometimes will say his name for them so I know he is associating them with people which is good. For example, "Ryan, can you say Linda?" He will reply "Mamaw" which is what he calls his Grandma Campbell.

Over Christmas Ryan's cousin Charlie (1yr) and Aunt Vivian taught him "cheers" which is quite funny. Ryan will now say "cheers" and clink his cup with yours and then drink his milk or water. Charlie did this first when his parents would say cheers and I think Ryan saw everyone laughing about it over the holidays. Charlie showed it to him once and now he will randomly do it on his own and of course not only once, but many times in a row...

Lastly, Ryan is becoming more brave with foods that he is unfamiliar with, but generally still has to be convinced a little bit the first time he tries something. We typically try to identify various foods with words and foods he knows so that he will try it and then once he takes a bite if he likes it he will continue to eat it on his own. For example, any sausage (turkey, BBQ, chicken & apple, etc) is "hot dog", my poppy seed chicken casserole is "cracker chicken" because he loves crackers and chicken just fine. Anything with tomato sauce is "ketchup", or if it is made with "cheese" we make sure we say it is in it. Clementine oranges my Mom told him to make orange juice (which he loves) in his mouth and now he loves to eat those too (although occasionally will still spit out the rind after chewing on it for awhile).