Ryan is 4 years old!!

And just like that, Ryan turned 4! We celebrated Ryan's 4th birthday with about 24 of Ryan's closest friends and classmates at a local place that has bounce houses, slides, ziplines and all things that will exhaust children. Ryan had a blast! We saw him at the start of the party and again at the end. He was so busy playing with his friends. Ryan is still as sweet as ever. The older he gets, the more sensitive he is becoming. He is also becoming more cuddly and likes to get lots of hugs and kisses. When he is melting down he will say," I just need a hug!" Sometimes that makes things all better. Ryan is very outgoing and independent. At his parent/teacher conference, his teacher told us she wished she had a class full of students like Ryan. She said he is eager to participate in class and is amazed at how smart he is. He also continues to amaze us everyday. He loves to try to read "harder" books that Mommy and Daddy read aloud to him. I must say I am impressed with how well he reads these books. At home I have been focusing on sight words with him. He is currently on the second grade sight word list. I also found a great phonics website that Ryan has been using, and he is able to sound out words that he doesn't know when reading. He also loves to write and will spend time practicing his letters and writing his name. For Valentine's Day he wrote his name on his Valentine cards for his 24 classmates. He was really proud of himself. I was really proud of him too. We just finished up another session of swim class. In this particular class the kids have to swim in the small pool where their feet can touch the bottom and the big pool, where their feet cannot touch. Ryan is having a rough time in the big pool. To his credit, the big pool is a bit colder than the small pool, and it bothers him that he cannot touch his feet to the bottom. His swim instructor has been so patient with him and will, most times, carry him on her back just to keep him from crying while in the big pool. He is getting braver as of recent. At his last class he was able to kick off the wall and swim underwater to the teacher. Hopefully, Ryan will be as brave as he was last class when class starts again. Here are some pictures from Ryan's 4th birthday.