Privacy

We have been talking about privacy with Ryan lately in regards to when Mommy or Daddy or any adults are at our house using the bathroom. Of course when I am home alone with the kids I have to leave the bathroom door open for safety. Shutting myself in the restroom and locking the door would be much too dangerous these days. We have been teaching Ryan that when an adult is in the bathroom with the door closed, you do not open the door and go in because that adult wants privacy in the bathroom. Well, my little, almost 3 year old is WAY too smart for this! He had to test this concept the first week we brought Regan home from the hospital. With all the commotion, I realized he was no longer in the room with us. I went looking for him and found him in the bathroom with the door closed. I quickly opened the door and was immediately scolded! "No, Mommy, I need privacy," is what he said to me. I could not help it, I had to close the door because I did not want him to see me laughing. Mind you, he is not yet potty trained so he was in the bathroom blowing his nose. When he finally decided to come out of the bathroom I had to explain to him that he is too little to be in the bathroom alone and that he needs an adult in there with him if he wants to close the door.

Last night I was in the bathroom with the door open. Ryan comes in, looks at me very seriously and says, "Mommy, you need privacy," and closes the door. I think he has the concept now.

Merry Christmas from "R" kids

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!






















See you in 2011!!

Regan- One Month Old

Regan turned a month old on December 5. Since she does not have a doctor's appointment for another month, I weighed her on my scale, and she is about 8 pounds. Quite a difference from the 5 pounds 13 ounces she was at her appointment when she was a few days old. Regan is a great eater, obviously. She has the chubbiest cheeks and round little belly. Ryan, at this age, was so skinny and so tiny. There was not a chubby roll to be found on his body.

I am also happy to report that, for the most part, she is a great sleeper. She woke up one time last night. However, I must also add that she sleeps cuddled up next to me in bed. Yes, I know it is a horrible habit, but I can't resist that face especially in the middle of the night. Ryan was also in our bed for quite some time as a baby, but sleeps great now in his own room so I am not too worried.

I am having a great time shopping for her and cannot resist all of the pink girly, frilly things out there. I am a sucker for bows, hats, dresses and all things that are not practical for a baby. What can I say? I have the best of both worlds, a boy and a girl!

Introducing Regan

Regan was born on Friday, November 5. She weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. Ryan is one proud big brother!!

Halloween

For the first time this year I let Ryan choose his own costume. We went online and I showed him many costumes. He chose to be a doctor. I think this may be because we have been to the doctor so much this year that he wanted to be one. We got our money's worth out of the costume this year. He wore it to music class, to school, and finally on Halloween.




The gathering of friends before heading off to the Halloween Frolic in town, followed by fun bouncy houses at the frolic.

Pumpkin Patch

Usually before Halloween Sanjay and I like to take Ryan to a farm about an hour from our house. It has acres of pumpkins, hayrides, mazes, and animals. At 37 weeks pregnant, I was afraid to go too far from home. We ended up at our local pumpkin patch which was just as much fun. Ryan was able to ride trains, ride a horse, and chose some pretty great pumpkins.




And, there is a picture you rarely see. Me, in front of the camera, with my big boy as opposed to behind the camera capturing the memories.

Fall Fun

We have been very busy lately, but always find some time for fun. Back in September we enjoyed the fair in our town. Ryan, as always, had to ride on the train, but also wanted to go on a swing ride by himself. This made me very nervous, but Sanjay reassured me that he would be just fine. What do you know? He had a great time!



Sanjay has season tickets to Bruins football. Ryan and I were able to make one game. Of course, it just happened to be one of the hottest games. Ryan had his frozen lemonade, watched Joe Bruin, and waited patiently for the marching band (which he loves) to perform at half time. Although the game was a lot of fun, we had to leave after half time. A pregnant mama could not handle the heat and a toddler needed a nap!



Look at the similarities between those two! Judging by the shared expressions on their faces, yes, indeed they are related!





Ryan joined a multi-sports class recently. It is 6 weeks long and focuses on basketball, t-ball, and soccer. I constantly have to remind myself that he is only 2years old. I expect him to go out on the court or field and excel, then he runs away from the coach and wants Sanjay or me to do the skills with him. I'm sure in due time he will pick up the skills needed to play these sports. Until then, I just sit on the sidelines drink my coffee, breathe deeply, and laugh a lot! It is actually quite funny to watch when I don't take it so seriously.

35 Weeks and Freaking Out!

This week I will be 35 weeks pregnant. Having an older child that I have to focus all my time and attention on has made this pregnancy fly by. Ryan was born 15 days early so I am a bit nervous about this one showing up early too. As if we don't have enough going on right now, we are moving again. This is the second time we will have moved during this pregnancy. We have only been in our current place for about 6 months. We saw a great opportunity to buy a place and jumped at the chance. Needless to say, escrow closes next week and we are moving the following week. With all the added stress of a move, Ryan in a new preschool that he is having a hard time getting used to, and being pregnant, I really hope this baby can hold off at least for 3 weeks or so. I am having many Braxton Hicks contractions and hoping that they will remain Braxton Hicks contractions and not turn into the real thing.

This baby is much more active then I remember Ryan being, especially at night. That is not a good sign. This one will probably not be a great sleeper. I am trying to prepare myself for the lack of sleep, but really it is impossible. The baby weighs about 4 1/2 pounds as of 2 weeks ago and the dr. says I am looking at a 7- 8 pound baby. Ryan was a tiny 6 pounds 6 ounces so having a much bigger baby scares me a little.

Ryan has been talking to my belly quite a bit. He will put his face right up to it and say, " Hi Baby, I'm your big brother, Ryan. I'm going to help Mommy take care of you. I sing to you" He will then sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to my stomach. It is really cute. He is still convinced that he is having a sister. I think many of our family members are convinced that I am having a girl. I think it may just be that they all want us to have a girl so badly that they feel this way. I have not had any indication either way but think it may be another boy.

Since Sanjay and I cannot agree on any names, we have been asking Ryan if he likes either of our favorite names. He is so funny, he will say," I like that name," when I ask him about my favorite girl name. Sometimes he will say, "No, I do not like that name, that's silly." I think we will both take our favorite girl and boy names to the hospital and choose after the baby is born. After all it did take us a day or so for us to actually call Ryan, Ryan. We were not completely convinced that was the name we wanted, okay, I wanted that name, Sanjay did not. Now he loves the name Ryan and can't imagine him as anything else.

These next five weeks are going to fly by. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that we are so close to having a second child. I think Ryan is going to be a huge help when I come home with the baby. But, what I am really freaking out about is what to do with Ryan while I am giving birth??? I want him at the hospital in the waiting room with our families, Sanjay wants him at a friend's house. Yet another big dilemma. Guess we will decide what to do when the moment comes. Wish us luck, as we have a lot going on in the next few weeks!

Ryan Reading a Library Book

Each week I take Ryan to the library to choose books to bring home. He loves going to the library. He also enjoys being read to or just looking at books by himself. We had the book The Five Little Firefighters for one week. In this time it seems he memorized the words on each page. Although it sounds a bit jumbled, this was the third time he had read this book aloud in one setting. I had him read it again just so I could record it. I was amazed at what he remembered.

Ryan Reading a Library Book from tracy roy on Vimeo.

Preschool

On September 7, Ryan started preschool. Although he still attends his preschool transition class twice a week, this new school is the real deal. He is only going to the new school once a week, but he can be dropped off as early as 7 and picked up as late as 6. I, of course, take him at 8:30 and pick him up promptly at 11:30, right after lunch. He can nap there, they have cute little cots set up for the kids, but I'm not ready to let him sleep at school yet. I'm sure we will try it eventually, but we are not there yet. Ryan's favorite part about his new preschool is that he gets to take his lunch in his new monkey lunch box.

On the first day of school, and every week that he has been there, he cries when I drop him off. It makes me feel really guilty about leaving him, but I know he will get used to it and look forward to going there one day. Ryan loves his other preschool class that he goes to twice a week and is so excited to go. Too bad we will now be cutting that down to just one day a week. He will have one day at the new school and one day at the old school. Our goal is to transition him to two days at the new school.

One of the best things about the new preschool is that the director will send me pictures and video of Ryan in class after I have dropped him off. Most days I am at home feeling terrible about leaving him and hoping he has stopped crying, and then I receive a video of him dancing and singing in class. This is very reassuring for me. I can then go on with my day knowing that he is happy and having a great time.

A Brief Conversation With Ryan

Ryan: Mommy, I'm pretty, my pajamas are pretty!

Me: Ryan, you are a boy. Boys are handsome, and your pajamas are cute.

Ryan: Mommy, I don't want to play this game with you.

Clearly, he is still learning the difference between pretty and handsome!

The Big Boy Bed

We ordered the big boy bed, the mattress and the bedding. It arrived on a Saturday and Sanjay put it together before Ryan's nap time. I assumed it would sit empty while Ryan napped in the crib. Boy was I wrong! Ryan quickly decided he wanted to nap in the big boy bed and took a two hour nap there. For one full week he has happily napped and slept each night in the big boy bed. After naptime and in the morning when Ryan wakes up, he will talk and lay in his bed. He will not get out, he will not come to our room. He waits patiently for me to come and get him up. He can easily climb out of his bed, but he chooses to wait for me. I know it is not supposed to be this easy. I'm not sure why it has been this easy. We have been so lucky! I know we have plenty of challenges ahead of us, but we are so thankful that this was an easy transition and not a battle.

Two and a Half

Today, Ryan is two and a half years old. I cannot believe how quickly my little boy is growing up. I have to say that 2 is my favorite age, so far. I'm sure I have said this every time we hit another milestone. I love how independent Ryan is, how verbal he is, how kind and sweet he is, and how funny he is. I find myself laughing with him so much these days. Some of the things that come out of his little mouth are comical.

After each night of sleep or after every nap, I always ask Ryan, "How did you sleep?" To which he will always respond, "Very well." What two year old talks like that? It never gets old and since I find it so amusing, I constantly ask. Sanjay and I also ask Ryan if he had a good time on the way home from a playdate or a trip to our parents' houses, or after a visit with friends. It never fails he will always say, "Yes, we do again." Then we will tell him,"Yes," and he will say, "Another day." It is almost like having a conversation with an adult. Lately, Ryan has been saying to both Sanjay and me, "This is the best day ever!" I took him to the library to check out books and he said, "Mommy, this is the best day ever!" It is really cute, but I know he is just repeating what he heard on one of his favorite tv shows. Although I would like to think that he really believes that it is the best day, I have my doubts that he really knows what that means.

Sometimes I forget that he is only two and a half because the things he says sound like what a big kid would say. Just the other day we had to wait around for a plumber to come to the house. With no indication of when they would show up, we were house bound for a good portion of the day. Only four hours into our very long day, Ryan and I were not seeing eye to eye. We both needed to go outside and get some fresh air. He was throwing a major temper tantrum so I told him we would go to my favorite coffee shop and get some coffee for mommy. This cheered him up a bit and once the tears stopped he told me, "Mommy, I'm having a rough day." It was the cutest thing. Of course I told him that I, too was having a rough day. When I got him strapped into his carseat he looked up at me with his large, sad puppy dog eyes and asked, " Mommy, you love me?" I felt really awful that he asked me that because I always want him to know that I do and never to question that. I scooped him up out of his seat, hugged him and told him that I loved him very much. Even when I am having a rough day, I will always love him no matter what.

Since we are approximately 13 short weeks from the birth of Ryan's baby brother or sister, we are spending a lot of time talking with Ryan about having a sibling. He keeps saying what a big helper he is going to be. I know he will be very helpful, but I can't help feeling like he is still the baby and needs so much of our time and attention. It will be a huge adjustment for all of us and even though I feel like we are preparing for it, I just think when reality hits we will all spend many months adjusting to the changes.

With only a short time left with Ryan as an only child I have had the grand freak out about him not being potty trained and still sleeping in a crib. We bought a big boy potty for Ryan a few months ago, but he is showing little to no interest in it. He will sit there occasionally and read books, he will talk about going to the bathroom, but nothing ever happens on the "big boy potty." I have since decided that stressing myself out about it is not helping anyone. It will probably cause Ryan more anxiety so I have backed off. I will ask him if he wants to use it, if he does, great, if not, no big deal. I keep reminding myself that he will not be the child in kindergarten wearing diapers. There will come a day when he will want to do it, so until then we will just follow his lead.

My other struggle is the crib. I am not ready to let Ryan out of the crib. He takes 2-3 hour naps every day and sleeps 10-12 hours peacefully each night in there. My thought: Why ruin a good thing? Eventually the baby will need the crib, but not right away. We have ordered a toddler bed and some very cool fire truck sheets. My hope is by putting the bed in the room, he will want to sleep in it at some point. Yet another thing I have chosen to not get worked up about right now.

I can't believe that we have six months before our little guy turns three. He constantly amazes me with what he knows. I always hear him singing songs that I don't recognize, songs that he picks up from his preschool class. He is now really interested in flash cards and learning the letters of the alphabet. He can recognize 20 of the 26 letters in the alphabet. When we are out running errands he will tell me what letters he sees and then will ask me what a sign says. He has a crazy thirst for knowledge and cannot get enough of books, music, and art. The past two and a half years have gone by so quickly, I wish I could slow down the clock just a bit. Since I cannot, we are just trying to enjoy each moment we have, the good and even the not so good.

Where Has Summer Gone?

I cannot believe summer is almost over. It flew by so quickly. We have been pretty busy! Here are just a couple things that we have done lately.

We finally had a couple days of sun this summer and headed to the beach. Ryan loved the water, but did not like the fact that the sand would not come off of his hands.




On a random Sunday we were out and Ryan wanted to "drive the car." So, I let him. Clearly it made his day!













A few days ago Ryan got another haircut. It is a little shorter than I like it, but who knew how quickly a boy's hair would grow. Hopefully this cut can last him a few months. It definitely makes him look older. Does he look like a big brother yet??? Well, in a few months, hard to believe, my baby will be a big brother.

I Love Trucks!

Ryan, like most little boys his age, LOVES trucks. He especially loves fire trucks. Every time we leave the house he asks,"Are the fire engines out?" Which translates to, "Mommy/Daddy wherever we are going, you must drive by the fire station and see if the trucks are out in the driveway." Thankfully, a good amount of the time, they are out, and it is so exciting to drive by and look at the big red trucks, that is if you are a two year old boy!

Each year our city holds a public service day in which they close down our main street and park the city's fire engines and police vehicles on the main street. In addition to that the fire department barbecues for the public, the police department gives K9 demonstrations, fingerprints children, and are just out and about to mingle with people from the community. We took Ryan knowing that he would love seeing the fire engines. The best part, from a two year old boy's perspective, was that he got a really cool fire hat and could sit and "drive" any public service vehicle that he chose. This was such a fun event for him, but it was so much fun for us to watch his face light up as he sat in each fire truck. Here are some of our favorite pictures from that day.

Our New Hobby

For Mother's Day, Sanjay bought me a beach cruiser. I had been asking for a bike because I thought it would be a fun way for the three of us to get out and exercise together. We try to ride two or three times a week, and Ryan really enjoys it. Every time we pull the car in the garage he yells, "My bike, my bike!" He will then explain what the plan will be for the evening. He'll say," We eat dinner, play cars with Daddy, and go ride bikes." Ryan is right, after dinner we will ride bikes and have been averaging about 18 miles a week. I'm trying to get a lot of use out of the bike because in a few months I may be too uncomfortable to ride. I keep reminding myself that this is the last time the three of us will be able to spend this time together, so we are enjoying every moment.

Naptime Poop

Many of my friends have told me that their toddlers (who are the same age as Ryan) have started to give up their naps. If I'm being completely honest, I look forward to naptime every day! I can use the down time and Ryan can use the rest. Last week we had two days where we went through our normal morning routines, classes, and trying to tire Ryan out. When it was time for nap, I put him down and listened to him talk on the monitor for almost two hours. He was not getting tired, and I feared that this could be the start of giving up the nap. He began to whine, so I thought oh well, might as well let him get up. I walked in his room to find him standing up in his crib. The first thing he said to me was, "Mommy, I need a wipe!" I know he is obsessed with washing his hands, but at naptime, really? I asked him why, and he pointed to his sheet and said there were "yuckys" in his bed. I looked closely at a brown smeared mark on his sheet and immediately knew it was poop. I asked him if he had pooped, to which he replied, "Yes!" I took him out of the crib, washed his hands, put him in a clean diaper, changed the sheet, and back to bed he went. He napped for an hour after that. When he woke up we had a nice discussion about pooping. I told him, "Ryan, if you go poop while trying to take a nap, you yell to mommy and say I have a poop." "You are not allowed to put your hands in your diaper to touch your poop, that is yucky." Now, all I have to say to him is,"What are the rules about the diaper?" He says," No hands in the diaper!"

I am so relieved that he is not ready to give up his naps. We are VERY lucky that he will still take three hour naps most days. How do I know that he is not ready to give up his afternoon nap? He told me today, "Mommy, I tired, I need to take a nap." I put him in his crib and he was asleep 10 minutes later.

Art Class

Recently, in art class, Ryan has decided to stop painting paper and start painting himself. I think he likes the way the paint feels on his hands, but almost immediately after painting himself, he will say," I need to wash the hands!" I think we spend more time at the sink "washing the hands," than we do creating art.

Mother's Day 2010

On Mother's Day, I was treated to breakfast out with my two guys. I had a relaxing day followed by Indian food dinner with Ryan's Dima and Dadu. We had a great day!

And Then There Were Four

I knew when I started this blog it would mostly be about Ryan. I quickly realized it was a shared blog, sometimes it was also about me, or Sanjay, or even our friends. The whole purpose of starting a blog was after having Ryan I would write in his baby book and soon found there wasn't a place to write down all of the things I wanted to say about him. This blog became that place. Here I could write anything I wanted to say and didn't have to figure out what category it fit under in our baby book; teething? No! Firsts? No! Milestones? Not necessarily.

Now, this will definitely be a shared blog. It will still be about Ryan, sometimes it will be about me or Sanjay, or our friends, but it will definitely be shared with Ryan's little brother or sister. I am happy to announce that we are expecting our second baby! Although it is still early, I am SO happy to report that I am in my second trimester, 13 and 1/2 weeks to be exact. The first trimester this time around was much different then when I was pregnant with Ryan. I was nauseous pretty much everyday, all day long. My poor husband and Ryan have never eaten so much takeout food (GASP!) in their lives, especially my little guy. As much as I hated watching them eat junky food, there was nothing I could do about it. Thankfully, now that I am feeling better we are all enjoying more home cooked meals.

Last week, I had a pretty extensive, routine ultrasound. I was thinking back to my ultrasounds with Ryan, he would calmly lay there and then jerk and then resume laying. This baby, however, would not stay still for anything. The doctor even asked me what I had for breakfast because he/she was moving so much. You would have thought I had a large ice- blended coffee and doughnuts, which I didn't, but I don't think anyone would have believed me if I said that I just had oatmeal.

Needless to say, all signs are pointing to baby #2 being very different from Ryan. I always knew that Ryan was a good baby and a good little boy. He loves to sleep, he loves to learn, he loves to read, he goes with the flow, and he listens to us. I think we may have a bit of a challenge on our hands with the second. At least I know I have a good helper in Ryan, and he will make a great big brother! In November, we will become a family of four, or make that five if you count our sweet Lucy. And, yes, we will all be waiting until November to see if Ryan has a baby brother or sister. Ryan keeps telling us he wants a sister. We'll see if he gets his wish. Either way, we are just blessed to be able to add to our family and are excited to share him/her with all of you!

Band-aids

I am typically a more reactive person rather than proactive which drives my husband crazy, but generally is not a big deal. However, this presented a problem for us last night. While at the farmer's market, Ryan was running around like he normally does, but this time he took a tumble. I picked him up, but he would not let me check him out to see if there were any cuts or bumps on him. He was off and running two seconds later. My friend happened to see some blood on Ryan's hand. After chasing him I picked him up and realized he had scraped the skin off of the outside of his hand, and it was bleeding. He would not let me look at it or clean it or anything, so I let him play. I figured if it hurt badly he would come and let me "fix" it.

Fifteen minutes later we were on our way home to eat dinner. When we got home, it was time to wash the cut. It was making my stomach turn, so Sanjay took on the job. He held Ryan and gently cleaned his hands with soap and water. Bad idea! Ryan started to scream because I was sure his hand stung. Sanjay carefully dried the cut and put on a generic band-aid. Finally, we were ready to eat dinner. That is everyone but Ryan. He cried throughout the meal saying his hand hurt and refused to eat. It was at this point that I realized we had to go to the store. I knew we needed some really cool band-aids and something to take the sting away from the cut. This is something I should have already had in my medicine cabinet considering I am the mom of a rough and tumble toddler.

It was late, but off we went. Ryan picked out some car band-aids and I got some bubbling, non-stinging antibacterial foam. The band-aids were a huge hit. We could not even put them in the bag, Ryan wanted to carry them out of the store. Whatever made him happy at this point was fine by me. Once we got home, I was able to clean the cut and put on an awesome car band-aid! What made it even better was the antibacterial foam looked like tiny bubbles, which was also a huge hit with my bubble loving little man.

At 2:00 this morning, Ryan woke up crying. Then the cry turned into hysterical screams. I ran into his room thinking something was very wrong. When I got there, through the tears he told me his car band-aid fell off, and he could not find it. I went to the bathroom, got another car band-aid and put it on. Within minutes he was fast asleep. It is amazing what a car band-aid can do for a toddler. Needless to say, I went out and bought more "cool" bandaids today, just in case.

It's Been Awhile, But We're Still Here

I haven't gotten around to updating lately. Things have been a bit crazy around here. We recently moved and with Ryan's new schedule of school two days a week, art, music, swimming and a day of field trips, things have been very busy.

Ryan is days shy of 27 months old. Our sweet boy is growing so quickly and talking so much. His personality has really developed, and he has been asserting his independence lately. Every time I try to help him put shoes on, or help him get undressed he will tell me, "No Mommy, Ryan do it." He loves playing with us still, but more and more these days he enjoys playing cars and reading alone. It is pretty funny to walk in his room and see him in my big rocking chair reading. He always says,"Ryan read books." On Monday, at school another little girl had her first day. She was having a tough time and her mom stayed to observe/help out. After class the teacher told me that another mom wanted to talk to me. Immediately, I was very nervous, assuming the worst. She said," I just had to meet you. Your son was so sweet to my daughter today. He helped her out because she was having a hard time." I was relieved that it was good news, but then felt bad assuming it was bad news to begin with. I should know better, my son is truly a kind soul. Anytime he sees another child crying he is very concerned and will say, "Mommy, the baby sad."

Lately I struggle with the feeling that Ryan is a bit overscheduled and really try to make time for the two of us to spend quality time together outside of all of his classes. I think one day I'm going to wake up and he will be 10 years old in school all day long, and I'll ask myself why I had such a crazy schedule for him instead of just enjoying our time together. Developmentally, however, I feel as though the classes have been a huge factor in helping him to become such a smart little guy. It amazes me how quickly he picks up things. We are working on counting to twenty. He has 1- 10 down and after that is gets a little jumbled. He can count to 10 in Spanish and he knows how to spell his name. He can name every member of our family immediate and extended. He also can now point to objects and count how many there are. For instance, we were reading a book about fish, and there were 8 fish on the page. I asked Ryan to count all of the fish and tell me how many were there. He pointed and counted each one and was able to tell me there were 8. Now he wants to count everything!

Most of all I am enjoying the moments that are boring for others to read about in a blog, but that I want to remember forever. The times where I say and do silly things, and he just laughs uncontrollably. There is something so sweet and funny about Ryan laughing hysterically when I do funny things. I know someday he will roll his eyes and be very embarrassed by me, but now he thinks I am the funniest person in the world and that is a very special feeling. I also want to remember the times when he will just come up and give me a big hug and a kiss for no reason. Those are the best moments, so spontaneous that they will never be captured by a camera or video camera.

Hopefully, now that we are a bit more settled I will be better about posting. After all, this is my baby book and if it is not written here, I will never remember that it happened. Must be the new brain that comes with having kids!

Easter Sunday

This year for Easter we went to my parents' house. After the fiasco at the egg hunt the day prior, I was excited for Ryan to hunt for eggs with his cousins. There were only three kids, well two kids and one teenager so the odds were pretty good for Ryan. He would get some Easter eggs this time around.

Ryan ended up getting a basket full of eggs and was very excited about finding them. He had no idea they were filled with treats and money. The best part was collecting them and putting them in the basket. Here are some of our favorite Easter pictures.


And he's off on the egg hunt. Papa, show me where the eggs are!






Thanks cousin Ben! Look at all of my eggs!





Just one more egg to collect! Say "Happy Easter!"