It's Not Polite to Point!

I started this new game with Ryan. About a week or so ago, after he was done eating dinner I was making up songs and decided to try something new. (He was getting bored with my singing and my made up songs, I can't blame him!) I pointed at him and taught him to touch my pointer finger with his pointer finger ET style. Once he would touch my finger, I would tickle him and he would laugh. I thought it was cute and now he will randomly point when we are playing or reading. Again and again, I respond the same, my finger meets his, ET style, and then I tickle him and we both laugh. He would "perform" for daddy, Lucy and even for some friends of ours. The more I started thinking about what I had taught him, the more I thought, "Maybe this was not the best idea." Today we were in the backyard urging Lucy to do her business when a plane took off. Ryan pointed at the airplane. I then told him, "Airplane," so he would know what it was. He then began pointing at other things; tree, bird, Lucy. I could tell he was enjoying this new game because each time he would point, I would tell him the name of the thing he was pointing at, he would smile and then point to something else. I thought maybe this whole pointing game is not so bad after all, until... We were in music and sign class today when Ryan stared pointing. Not so cute this time when he pointed to one boy's eye and actually poked it, and did the same thing to another boy's head. How do you explain to an 11 month old when we use our pointer and when we don't. I, of course, apologized (no damage was done to either boy, no tears, marks, etc.) and tried to tell Ryan to use nice hands when touching friends on the head. I'm sure he does not understand, but soon enough he will. I guess I should have listened to my mom when she taught me "It is not polite to point!" I'll take that a step further and add,"It's not polite to teach your son to point." OOPS!! One of my many parenting errors!

What's New With Ryan

For awhile now I have thought that taking Ryan to music and sign language class was more about me and not so much about him. I enjoyed the class, the concept of the class was great, the teacher was energetic and interactive with the kids, and it was fun to see the same mommies and babies each week. I have now realized it is not a waste of time or a waste of daddy's hard earned money. Ryan has started signing with us at home. It is the cutest thing! He uses the sign "more" when he is eating and wants more food. He also signs "all done" when he is finished eating or playing with toys at night. Yesterday he did the sign for "please" also. I am so impressed! The teacher did say that he would eventually sign before he spoke. I wasn't convinced, but I guess she was right. He is trying to talk, however. He says mama, dada, Lucy (which sounds like UC, pronounced "Lucy" without the L), and has been trying very hard to say airplane because we see and hear them all the time when we are in the backyard. Ryan also speaks gibberish. We have no idea what he is saying, but it sounds as if he is having a conversation. The funniest part is when he speaks what we think would be a full sentence and then laughs at the end, as if he is telling a joke. It is hilarious! We try to catch all of these moments on video, but one of two things always happens: 1)We are caught up in the moment enjoying these new things or 2) Ryan stops "performing" once we turn on the camera. Go figure, that's a baby for you!

Ryan has also joined a new class called Discoverers. In this class crawling and walking babies have the opportunity to climb, learn to walk or become more comfortable walking, play with balls, dance to music, go through tunnels, play with bubbles, and various other activities. I like this class because for 45 minutes once a week, he can go anywhere he wants in the room and expend all of the energy that this little guy has. He loves it! He crawls everywhere in this room and usually ends up in front of the mirror looking at himself.

Some other recent milestones are shaking his head "no" when we are feeding him, seven teeth and counting, lots of clapping and waving, a couple of steps taken without holding on, size 3 diapers, a big boy carseat and one nap a day, not two anymore. Ryan is keeping us very busy, but we are enjoying every moment. I cannot believe he will be one in less than a month!!!

Another New Year

I can hardly believe that we have started another new year. 2008 was filled with many blessings, but also some sadness. February brought Ryan into our lives. What a wonderful gift Sanjay and I were given! Ryan has truly changed our lives! He brings so much joy to us each and every day. When Ryan was 10 weeks old, I went back to work. There was nine weeks left in the school year. I knew I had to make a decision on whether I wanted to continue working or not. I loved my class, I loved my teaching partner, I was excited to continue teaching in this district, but I loved my baby more. In those 10 weeks I looked for signs as to whether or not I should return the following school year. The signs were loud and clear each Monday morning when I dropped Ryan off at daycare and cried all the way to work. I waited until summer to make my final decision. I had taught for nine years and now I felt like my life was taking a new direction and I should give this stay-at-home mom thing a try. This was the best decision I ever made. My hat is off to all you mommies who work and have little ones to take care of. I don't know how you do it all! By summer I enrolled Ryan in some classes and met some other stay-at-home moms. I am so glad I met other moms who are going through some of the same things I am. I think they have truly helped me stay sane. Summer time brought some uncertain times for many of our friends and family members. With the economy in such bad shape, many of our friends and family members lost their jobs. Thankfully some have found new jobs, but others are still looking for something. October brought our little guy's first Halloween. November brought Sanjay and my birthdays, a Cabo trip, our first overnight trip without Ryan, and Ryan's first Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday)! December brought Ryan's first Christmas. It was particularly special because all of our family was in town to celebrate together. However, this Christmas brought some sadness also. Ryan's great grandpa, who was in the hospital in the week leading up to Christmas, passed away two days after Christmas. Ryan was able to see him on Christmas day and the day after. Although we are all feeling this loss, I am especially saddened to think that Ryan will not remember the time he had with him. My grandpa loved all of his grandkids and great grandkids, and he was always so happy when we would come around, especially when we brought the little ones with us. We were blessed to have had the time that we did with him. This brings us to 2009. Another new year! I hope this year brings you love, laughter, good health, happiness, and success!

GO Mommy GO!!!!

On Saturday I ran my first 10K. I have been training for ten weeks preparing for this. I had a few goals for running: finish the race, run the entire thing, and finish under one hour. I am proud to say that I achieved all of my goals. I ran the entire thing, even when it got hard, I finished, and my time was 55 minutes. Not bad for my first race. I am so happy that I joined this running team. The trainer is awesome, the girls I run with are great, and it is the one thing I do for me. I'm not sure what I will do next, train for a half marathon, continue running 5 and 10ks or just be content with what I have achieved so far. At the finish line waiting for me was Sanjay and Ryan. What a great sight to see after 6.2 miles of nonstop running! I was so proud of Sanjay on Saturday too. I left the house at 5:45 and Sanjay got Ryan up, fed, dressed, in the car and to my race on time to wait for me at the finish line. Good job daddy!

Play date

Last week Ryan had another playdate with his friend, Lauren. This time they went to My Gym. The first thing Ryan did was go into the ball pit. His favorite part of this was taking two balls and banging them together to see if they made any noise. After a few minutes, I tried to take him out of the pit so he could explore. He screamed and cried, so back to the pit he went. When he had, had enough of the ball pit he crawled around to see what else My Gym had to offer. He went through tunnels, bounced on a trampoline and tried to climb up a slide. He finally found another favorite thing to do at My Gym; stare at himself in the wall size mirror. (He must get this from his dad!) He also enjoyed licking the mirror which made me cringe. One hour of free play tired him out, he slept the entire way back home. Thanks Lauren for a fun date!

O Christmas Tree

Last weekend we went to get a Christmas tree. There were so many beautiful trees, it was hard to choose. After about 15 minutes of looking, we finally found the perfect tree for our family. I am so happy to have a tree this year as we have only had a tree one other time since Sanjay and I have been married. We decorated the tree after Ryan went to sleep. It was fun to go through all of the ornaments. Each ornament on our tree has special meaning. They were given to us by family members, friends, or former students of mine. We also bought ornaments while traveling in India, and right after we were married. Having the tree is definitely getting us in the Christmas spirit!

My big boy

I took Ryan to the doctor on Wednesday to get the second round of his flu shot. While there, I weighed him. He is now 17 lbs. In addition to his weight gain, he now has 6 teeth. Can you believe it? He has four on top and two on bottom. Lastly, today we were just hanging out at home and I happened to look over at Ryan, who was making a lot of noise, and he was standing up by himself. He had his drum stick in one hand and his other hand was in the air. Now I know what all the noise was about, he was getting my attention to show me what he was doing. What a smart boy! He never ceases to amaze me!