Ryan Reading a Library Book from tracy roy on Vimeo.
Friday, September 24, 2010
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.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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!
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!
Friday, August 20, 2010
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.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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.
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.
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