Ryan is 2 years old!

Our precious little boy is now a 2 year old! It is amazing to us all the changes looking back at his first birthday. He has grown, changed, and learned so much over the past year. We are so proud of our smart little boy. He constantly surprises us with new words & accomplishments. It is so fun to see his face light up when he realizes that he can communicate his needs/wants with us more clearly and we understand his request.  We still deal with tantrums from not getting our way or from a lack of communication, but overall I believe he is getting better. He is simply a dramatic, stubborn, and opinionated little boy. He is not very fond of change at this point in his life (that is definitely a family genetic passed down...) and if you do something one way the first time then that is how he expects it from here on out! Consistency is fairly easy with him as he expects it. He thrives on schedules and routines and staying busy with a task or activity.  Ryan has a very funny sense of humor and such a great laugh when he really gets tickled about something that he finds funny. He is extremely ticklish all over and he loves to laugh and make us laugh.

Stats from the Dr's office today are weight 29.6lbs (75th%), and height 36.25inches (90th%). I never remember the head circumference measurement, but he always measures 75th% on that too. He is wearing size 4 diapers, but I am about to switch to size 5. He wears 24month and 2T clothes and size 7 shoes, although I think he is closer to a 7.5 at this point. New to Ryan this past month was his first 2yr molar finally broke through in January, the bottom right. I believe I felt it around the 26th. He also had a double ear infection the week before his birthday with the tubes draining yucky stuff from his ears for about a week. This was a first for us and some of his pain over the past few weeks we've been unsure what is teeth and what is ears, but it all messed up our sleeping a little bit and we are still trying to get back to normal. Typical sleep is 7:45pm-7:00am, but we have had several 6am mornings and one or two 5:30am wake ups this past week. (YUCK!!) We still cherish nap time and though the past 2 weeks has dropped from one 2-3hr nap to 1-1.5hr we are holding out for it to get back to normal at least occasionally.

For awhile, Ryan has been counting some of his numbers when we count from 1-10. However, a week ago he counted in order all the way from 1-10 by himself which really surprised me! He for the longest time would always leave out 3 and 9. He still leaves out 9 most of the time. Here is what his counting sounds like "One, Two, Pree, Pour, Pive, Six, Teven, Eight, Nine, Ten"

Another surprising advance this month that I believe I attribute most to his "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" book that has quickly become a favorite is his alphabet recognition and speech.  He will now point out and say all of the letters of the alphabet except for "G, H, and Q".  He will occasionally say G or H if I ask him to repeat after me, but doesn't seem to recognize them when he sees them. I have never heard him even attempt Q. He is also working on the ABC song, which is rather adorable. With your help he can get through most of it, but on his own it generally just goes "A,B,C,D,E...MNOP....TUV...YZ" other times it's just repeating ABCD over and over in a precious singing voice. Also, the way he identifies the letters to me goes something like this, "Mommy Apple, A, Baby B, C Cat, Daddy D... etc" He always has a word that goes along with the letter. We do have other books that have the alphabet with various words starting with the letter and I believe that is why he started associating it that way. It's always "Mommy M, Nana N, Puppy P, and V Vivian" as well.

Ryan has started singing a lot more than usual and we always encourage it because we love to hear what he comes up with. He sings his "Jesus songs" from his CD and has favorites: Jesus Loves Me, Knock Knock, Zacchaeus, and Alright. He also sings the theme song from Elmo's World, and I've heard him chiming in on various parts of his Veggie Tales songs. Such sweet sounds to our ears!

Ryan has more words than I can begin to write this month as his speech has really taken off. He is quite the chatterbox. I did think of a few sentences that we are hearing from him most lately to share.
"Mommy, Bear timeout, no eat!"
"Bye bye park, love you"
"Daddy no work, yeah Daddy work"
"Help me Mommy"
"Daddy tiss (kiss), Mommy tiss (kiss)"
"Elmo party, morrow (tomorrow)"
"Elmo peas (please) Mommy?"
"Blue park Mommy, no green"
"Yellow class, Jesus"
"Toby, no Daddy's chair"
I am sure there are more, those are the only ones that I have written down.

Lastly, current favorite toys from the past week of new toys include: everything Elmo, PlayDoh (every day!), All his new Little People (Noah's Ark, Bus, and Zoo train), Letter blocks, and his Art Easel. We still watch an episode of Elmo's world every day after he wakes up and generally one "Bob" aka Veggie Tales in the afternoon at some point. Ryan still loves reading books and we read them throughout the day when he picks them for me to read and then again before bedtime every night.

Lastly, the day of Ryan's birthday we celebrated first with sausage kolaches, donut holes, and chocolate milk at the local donut shop. We played with playdoh, and visited our favorite "blue park". We then went to visit a home in our neighborhood that my sister Maggie and husband Phil are considering buying and then went to his favorite Chickfila for his "cow" lunch and more inside park time. After lunch he took a nap then we played with his new art easel: coloring with markers, crayons on paper, and chalk on the chalk board. We watched an episode of "Poppy's Bob" a specific Veggie Tales that he got for Christmas from Nanny and Poppy, then read our new books. Daddy brought home pizza for dinner which Ryan enjoyed with strawberries followed by ELMO cake made by Mommy and ice cream. After dinner Ryan played with Daddy before getting ready for bed. He had a very busy, but fun birthday and was spoiled to the extreme!

I am trying to keep this blog up to date with information about Ryan because I am realizing how quickly he is changing and how quickly we will forget some of the fun/cute things that he does. I hope to one day print this into a book for us to have to look back at and that he will get to read. Thanks for taking time out to read it. We love you Ryan Alexander! You are the cutest little two year old boy there ever was!!
Love, Mommy & Daddy

ELMO Party!

Ryan had so much fun on Saturday, February 4th at his 2nd Birthday Party. It was ELMO themed (of course) and held at the Carousel at the Parks Mall in Arlington. He had 9 little friends in attendance and other grandparents/great-grandparents: Naomi Keene, Charlie Campbell, Cassidy Smith (and baby brother Holden), Riley Shoaf, Madison Fitzgerald, Graham Warren, Roman Pierson, Juliette LaBoon, & Caroline Riddile. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the unlimited carousel rides, goldfish, and Elmo cookie cake. Ryan blew out his candle and was so proud of himself! We were blessed with more than what he needed in gifts, thank you everyone! Here are a few highlights.

Elmo Party!

Ryan and Mommy

Kisses for Poppy

Cousins enjoy juice and goldfish snack

Naomi and Juliette on the carousel

Elmo cookie cake

Elmo candle

All the gifts!!

"Cheese Cheese" and yes I gave him a very red frosting Elmo piece!

Roman and Maddie

Campbell cousins

Ripping into presents. He was loving gift time- just wanted to play with it all

Yay PlayDoh

Daddy and Ryan

Naomi loves the frosting

Caroline and Graham

More Carousel riding

Riley tries out the Carousel with Mara

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).

Christmas Eve at Nana & Grandaddy Roberts

Can you find Ryan in all his Christmas loot??

Crawling through his tunnel from Santa

2nd Annual Christmas morning family photo

Climbing the stairs at Papa and Mamaw's Christmas afternoon

Christmas at the Campbells

Ryan is 22 months!

We are rounding the corner on Ryan's upcoming 2nd birthday. We sure do love our sweet little boy so much! While Ryan is a great little boy, we certainly are understanding the stereotype of "terrible twos". He certainly has his challenging moments. However, it is very entertaining watching how his little mind works and seeing new things that he learns each day.
Regarding Ryan's sleep schedule, for some reason the weekend after Thanksgiving he started fighting going to bed at night (1-2hrs), followed by actually getting out of his toddler bed and crying and running to the door, then screaming as we made him go back to bed. We went through 4 nights in a row of one of us finally sitting in his room until he fell asleep and then sneaking out. Then came the worst night we have had yet. Ryan woke up around 12:30am one morning and got out of bed and ran to his door crying and screaming. By the time I got to his room he had opened the door and I could tell he was sad/upset. Unfortunately, after trading off every hour and a half with Mike by 6:00am neither of us had been able to get him back to sleep. (This is very unlike our child). When Mike set him at the breakfast table because he wanted to "eat, Momma, eat" he finally fell asleep. After just one night of this I knew that I would never survive it continuing both physically and emotionally as I was dealing with another stress at the same time, so off came the toddler rails and right back on went the crib front!! We have gained our sanity back with this change and Mike has switched with me and now puts Ryan to bed which seems to keep him calmer. After the change back to the crib we gradually went from 1-2hrs to falling asleep for bedtime to only about 10-15 minutes of crying now. It is certainly an improvement, but still so crazy since Ryan was so great about naps and bedtime and went down without a peep, usually a hug and kiss and "bye bye Mommy", or Night Night Mommy". I really hope this is just a phase and can be attributed to molars, night terrors, or separation anxiety and eventually we will return to the toddler rails. Oh well, toddler bed, you were fun and Ryan did great for 2 months! Maybe after his 2nd birthday we will attempt again...

I haven't kept any kind of list this month regarding Ryan's accomplishments or activities, so I am trying to recall off the top of my head. We are still attending MOPS on Tuesdays and Ryan enjoys having his cousin Naomi in MOPPETS "E" with him. On Wednesdays we still have our Little Gym "Beasts" class. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo with Mike for the first time the week of Thanksgiving and had a really great time!  Ryan is really working on the endings of words lately with sounds such as "CK", "T", "P", "D", etc. He sometimes confuses the endings or at least seems to try different sounds out such as one day when he called the school buses "Buck" instead of "Bus", but he seems to have those straight now. I sometimes wonder if the tubes in his ears make him hear certain sounds a little bit differently, but after repeating a few times he will generally correct himself and get it right. He is very clear with words such as "Milk", "Park", "Walk", "Clock", "Duck", "Sock", etc. He is definitely starting to string words together and vocabulary seems to grow and change weekly. Latest I can think of is "I got you". He is starting to recognize letters (A, E, D, T, C, U, & O) and his current favorite number is "2" and when counting '1, 2, 3,' it's typically "two, two, TWO". When we count to 10 if you stop he will say the numbers 2, 8, and 10. He especially loves mimicking us these days and I will sometimes just challenge him after saying a particular word and then ask "Can Ryan say ...?" The latest favorites for me to hear him say clearly were "elbow & eye ball", but there are many more than make us chuckle. Regarding colors, Ryan says yellow, red, blue, purple, pink, white, grey, and een (green). Still no orange, brown or black just yet and he is still being fairly stubborn with clearly saying green, but it is the same noise he makes every time he sees or picks up the color so I know that he does know it. Ryan is such a joy and has a personality that is loving, inquisitive, and sensitive filled with his Dad's sense of humor, his Mom's planning/organizing/type A mindset, and the stubbornness of a mule. ;) We love him so much and are really enjoying watching him grow!! (and can't believe how fast that is happening)

I am finding it harder and harder to find time to blog these days so you'll notice this is almost 2 weeks delayed... I think after Ryan's 2nd birthday I will only blog major milestones and not necessarily monthly. We are currently amid preparations for Christmas. We have already had three Christmas, and this week brings two more family parties and then Christmas Day morning celebrations of course followed by the Campbell family Christmas afternoon/evening. It is a busy month, but I absolutely love this time of year with cooler temperatures, festive decorations and lights, Christmas music, hot cider, Christmas movies, fires, and most of all the Reason for the Season, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!! Traditions are so great to have and we seem to have the most around the holidays. It is great getting to start brand new traditions with our newest generation as we enjoy the Holiday Carriage Rides through our neighborhood and enjoy Prairie Lights with Ryan for the 2nd time this year. Our family wishes yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Ryan is 21 months!

Cooling off after Trick or Treat with "Elmo's World"

Handing out candy before it was all gone

Mike and Ryan on Halloween

Papa with Ryan and Charlie

New hat to keep us warm

Pumpkin party- Ryan, Juliette, and Naomi

Helping Mom bake in the kitchen

Feeding Mr. Bear a drink of water

Ryan is 21 months now and I actually have to stop and think most of the time before I respond when someone asks how old Ryan is these days. My new response is typically that he will be two in February, so I don't have to sit and think how many months that is. Ryan is falling stereotypically to the "terrible two's" by challenging the authority of his parents and constantly testing us to see what he can get away with. It is extremely challenging (and exhausting) to stay consistent with him all the time, but I know already that it is paying off and will continue to reap benefits in our relationship with him as well as how he learns to respect others as well as their belongings.

Lately, Ryan seems to really be working on those two year molars. He has started crying when we brush his teeth and seems to want ice or a "teethy" several times throughout the day. He is also back to chewing on all his toys and books. I did have a friend tell me that her child worked on these 2nd molars for 4 months before they actually started breaking through, so we may still be in for the long haul, but it's definitely been about a month so hopefully he is making progress.

The time change last weekend has proven to be a challenging one for Ryan. As a teen and young adult this was the time of year I always looked forward to- for the extra hour of sleep! Being a parent has certainly changed my opinion. Pre-time change, Ryan had been consistently waking up between 7:15-7:45am and so the first morning of the time change when he woke up at 6:30 it seemed very logical since to him it was 7:30. As the days went by we tried to move his lunch, dinner, and bedtime slowly back in 20-30 minute increments and by day 3 his daytime schedule was completely switched  to the new time. However, his body hasn't seemed to adjust yet to the morning time and is still waking him up early... What started at 6:30am for 3 days, gradually moved to 6am, 5:45am (2 days), and just this morning 5am?!??!?! Oh boy, we are not okay with that one. I'd prefer we even go back to the 6:30 at this point. He is getting one 3 hr nap each day and seems well rested when he wakes up, but I'm just getting at a loss of what to do for him. We tried the earlier bedtime last night (by 30 min) which resulted in the 5am wake up instead of later. So, tonight I believe I am going to suffer through keeping him up until at least 8:30pm in hopes that it will help adjust that morning wake up. Wish us luck!

Other things in Ryan's world include pretty good eating minus many veggies, yet typical for a toddler. He is eating what we have at most meals, but does have his backup corn dogs, hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, peanut butter, chicken nuggets, etc. for days that I make spicy foods or salads or something I know he won't eat. He tried yogurt pretzels for the first time today and is a fan. He is back to eating edamame and all kinds of potatoes, and trying new fruits like oranges and honey dew melon. He is still talking up a storm and is especially interested in all things "Elmo", "Bob", "Bus" (school buses), and naming colors everywhere. Current colors he can say and identify include: red, blue, purple, pink, yellow, "een"-green, and white.  He can point out when asked orange, but has yet to attempt to say that one. I'm not sure exactly when kids are supposed to learn their colors, but several places I've been where people observed him naming colors and asked his age, people seem impressed that he knows colors that well at his age, so that just makes me more proud of him!! :)

Ryan still loves loves loves his Toby cat and chases the poor cat around constantly to hug him, lay on top of him, pet him (sometimes not too gently), and just get in his face. Toby puts up with a lot and is very patient around Ryan, but will vocalize to him when he has had enough. Unfortunately Ryan knows where most of his hiding places are already.

Other activities for Ryan include Moppets at the Church on Rush Creek on Tuesdays, Little Gym "Beasts" class on Wednesdays, random play dates with "Nomi" aka Naomi at least once a week, other random get togethers with friends, and general errands around town with me daily. Ryan is now very interested in "pretend" play such as handing us cookies and milk off a story book page and encouraging us to "eat it" including pretend eating sounds, and sharing drinks and snacks with Mr. Bear as well. He loves stickers and band aids and while we are not seriously involved in potty training just yet, he has occasional successes with going "tee tee" in the potty for blue M&M's. He is a big help around the house with chores and follows directions well about 90% of the time.

Finally, Ryan keeps me constantly thinking as I try to understand all his new vocabulary, and has me up and going all day every day. He truly is a joy. I love all of the sweet smothering hugs and kisses that I get each day and watching how excited he gets learning new things and doing some of his favorites. He is growing up so fast and I can't believe it's already time to plan the 2nd birthday party! Now if we can only work on some of the temper tantrums and that early wake up time, life will be much happier around our house. ;) Thanks for the ways each of you bless our lives and for the continual prayer. We certainly appreciate it and love you all!!

Sincerely,
Emily

Sears Photos

Here is a link to Ryan's Halloween costume photos and Christmas card photos for this year. I ordered numbers 8, 26, 27, and 33. He is such a cutie and growing up fast!!

http://www.SearsPhotos.com/ViewSharedAlbum.aspx?ShareID=5d4d8645-01a6-4d43-90fc-34d2c48db3af

Ryan is 20 months!

In only 4 short months our baby boy is going to be 2 years old! Wow! I will probably stop the monthly updates at that point and just periodically highlight what's going on with us because I am already struggling to keep up.

This month we have been busy with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), Little Gym, Tiny Tot Time @ Chick-fil-a, cousin Charlie's 1st Birthday, the start of TCU football season, various playdates and Mom's (Emily) 28th Birthday.

While Ryan is a happy, rather obedient and highly energetic little boy, he is also slowly creeping into the true "terrible 2's". We are starting to hear phrases such as "No, Mine" and "No" (in general). He also typically falls to the floor in frustration in true temper tantrum style when he doesn't get his way or things don't go as he has "planned"... (ahem... Mimi, Maggie... anyone relate?!?!) Sometimes it is all I can do to just walk away and let him get over it and then we can continue with our day.  Perhaps I will get it on film one day because it is quite a sight at times. We are absolutely in favor of discipline such as spanking and time outs as well, but I am also finding simply taking away "prized possessions" such as our brown bear, or specific books to be punishment enough when we are misbehaving. We are working with Ryan on sharing, not hitting Mom and Dad (when we don't get what we want), and even pinching and biting again at times... sigh :-/ A few days ago time out seemed to be our favorite place to be as Ryan sat there probably 3 times within an hour. While this may sound tiring (it is), not all of our days go this way, but when they do I can promise I am one worn out Momma by the end of the day.

Other things Ryan enjoy include;
playing at the park, playing with "Nomi" (Naomi), his "purple" crocs (the shoes he picks for EVERY day), "Toby" (his cat), being outside in general, balls, throwing anything, Elmo's World, Bob the Tomato (Veggie Tales), wagon rides, saying "TCU" everytime he sees the letter "T" anywhere, picking one object and looking for more "nahr" or another "nad" one. ie: Exit signs, school buses, lights, colored objects, balloons, fire hydrants, birds, etc. [He becomes a little obsessive about this game] He also loves to gallop, jump, ride his rocking horse, dance, and just play in general.

Ryan has learned to say the words for and to identify the following colors; blue, purple, red, and yellow. He can also point out orange and green most of the time, but hasn't really attempted to say a word for those colors yet. Pink, Black, Brown, Grey, etc. are still to come. I have read that I should also begin working with him on sorting items by size, type or color. We have attempted a few times, but he doesn't seem to get it very well or if he does it is extremely short-lived. We will continue to try.

The day Ryan turned 20 months old we also converted his crib to a toddler bed with rails and he has done GREAT with the transition. I was a little nervous how the first night would go as to whether or not he would just want to stay up and play or try to leave his room or something else. However, it's been a week now and he has slept consistently until 6:45am-7:45am in the morning (usually 11-12hrs overnight) and napping from 1.5-3hrs during the afternoon. He has not yet climbed out of his bed after nap or overnight sleep (though he knows how) and continues to call for "Momma" or "Dadda" to come get him. I am very thankful for this and he does sleep with his door closed so I would likely be able to hear him if he did ever try to leave his room. Anyways, I'm glad this transition went so well. Thanks to Kristen LaBoon, Demitria Ray, and Belinda Czerwieski for advice on making this a smooth transition.

Finally, I am looking forward to all the holidays coming up this Fall including Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! The weather has finally cooled down and blessed us with some much needed rain and so I am anxiously awaiting all the fun times that Fall has to bring. Now, on to a few pictures!