Bye, Bye Tyler

About a year ago I had a 6 month old and was a stay at home mom. Since I no longer worked I did not have daily interactions with adults. I really missed adult conversation combined with the fact that I had lots of baby weight to lose. I found a local group of fitness moms who met at a park, exercised for an hour on the beach, then let their kids run around with other kids after class. I tried a free class and fell in love immediately, and was thoroughly exhausted afterward. This group was everything I was looking for. People to workout with, talk about our babies with and kids for Ryan to socialize with. Upon going to class I met lots of mommies right away but didn't click with them completely. They were great to talk to, but we had too many differences for it to blossom into a long lasting friendship. Then one day I met Krista. We both had boys that were born a day apart, we both lived in the same city (and eventually we became neighbors), our husbands both worked in finance type jobs, we were both teachers, and the list goes on. I knew I liked her right away. Around this time I was looking to put Ryan in some classes and she wanted to do the same. Krista and I decided to put our boys in classes together. We started with a music and sign language class. This was one of their first class sessions.


We also decided to put them in swim class together and another class that focuses on large motor skills, coordination, and learning to walk when they were still unable to walk. Over the course of the last year we took the boys to various places; the park,




Disneyland,


the beach,

Hollywood Bowl,

Pinkberry fountain,

the mall,

the zoo,

fun outside time with water and finger paints,

and hanging out at home in pjs.

We have had so many fun adventures together. Ryan found a great friend, Tyler, and I also found a great friend in Krista. A few weeks ago we found out that Tyler's family would be moving back to the East Coast, where they were from. We were saddened by the news as we have spent almost everyday of the last year with them. Their family left last Tuesday on a road trip to their new home. We are happy that they will be back home near their family, but we miss them terribly. Ryan walks out of our house, looks and points towards Tyler's old house and says his name. It is heartbreaking because he doesn't understand that his friend does not live there anymore. I will miss my friend and Ryan will miss his friend too. We will miss our weekly dinners, our 8:00 phone call to schedule our day, sharing a babysitter and happily leaving Ryan with his buddy, Burke Williams Sundays, but most of all just the day to day conversation and watching the boys laugh, play, and steal sips from each other's water and snacks from their snack cups. Best of luck to you, E, K and T! Thank goodness for Skype, we will see you soon, friends!

A Year and a Half

Yesterday was Ryan's 18 month birthday. I cannot believe we are fast approaching two! I've been writing a lot (or maybe just thinking) about some challenging moments that I have had with Ryan, so in his post I really want to focus on the sweet side of his personality. Ryan is such a sweet boy! He gives the best hugs. Sometimes I have to ask for hugs, but many times he will just come up and hug me. He not only loves to hug me, or his daddy, but Ryan REALLY loves hugging Lucy, our dog. Most of the time she will let him hug her. Sometimes the hugs are a little rough so she gets her revenge by licking his face, which he thinks is hysterical! Getting kisses from Ryan is a little different. I always have to ask for kisses, and now that Ryan has learned to close his mouth when giving kisses, they are a lot less slobbery.

Most of the time when Ryan wakes up in the morning, he wakes up happy. We often hear talking, but many times he can be heard singing as soon as he wakes up. We taught him a silly little song when he was a baby that he now sings when he wakes up. It goes like this: Ryan, Ryan, I love Ryan! (I know I am a lyrical genius! :)He likes to change the Ryan part to Daddy, Mama, Lucy, Tyler and recently Krista (Tyler's mommy). He also likes to sing ABCs, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and just the other day he was humming The Farmer in the Dell. (He got that from one of his music books, as I do not know that song well enough to teach it to him). Since he loves music so much we downloaded his favorite CD onto itunes and we listen to it several times a day. It is The Laurie Berkner Band and the CD is titled "Whaddaya Think of That." Many of her great songs are played in his music and sign language class and he can't get enough of it! He marches, jumps, dances, makes sneezing noises and animal sounds right along with the music.

Lastly, I am proud to say that I have a very polite son. He now says,"Thank you," any time you give him something. For example, each morning I will give him his cup of milk and immediately he says, "Thank you, Mama!" Even when I go to my favorite coffee spot every day, as soon as they hand me my coffee, he signs and says,"Thank you!" Of course the staff thinks it is the cutest thing, and the more you make over Ryan, the more he hams it up for people. He will then break out into song or dance when he notices people paying attention to him. I know two is fast approaching, terrible twos, trying twos, or maybe terrific twos, but most of all I am enjoying watching Ryan grow, discover and become a sweet and loving little boy! Happy year and a half birthday, Ryan! We love you so much!

Hollywood Bowl

My friend and I took our boys to the Hollywood Bowl. We were able to listen to the LA Philharmonic rehearsal for free. Since I will not be able to go to the performance at night any time soon, we thought catching the rehearsal would be just as good. The boys actually sat in their seats for a good 30 minutes eating snacks, dancing around and waving to other concert goers. It was a great experience, but once the boys were done sitting it got quite challenging and unenjoyable. We chased them up and down the stairs and around the venue for another 20 minutes before deciding it was time to go!

Ryan and Tyler Take on The Hollywood Bowl

Ryan and Tyler take on the Hollywood Bowl from tracy roy on Vimeo.

Not the Best Blogger Around

I feel like my blog posts come in spurts. I manage to blog a lot, then I am gone for awhile. It's not that there isn't anything going on right now that I have to blog about, it's quite the opposite. There is so much going on that I just can't keep up. Ryan continues to be a "normal," active 17 month old. He has been doing some things lately that just crack me up. His room, which I thought was childproofed, is not. I left Ryan in his room last week so I could run to my room and change clothes. (I can see into his room from mine, it is not far away, it is literally separated by our washer/dryer closet.) I had the monitor on and noticed that it had become mysteriously quiet. Anyone who has kids knows this is not a good sign. I walked to his room and peeked in, and there was Ryan, laying on the queen size guest bed in his room reading a book. It was a funny sight to see! He just pulled himself right up on the bed and got comfortable. He is now doing this all the time and would rather be on the bed then on the floor playing with his toys.

Yesterday we were driving in the car and he was talking up a storm, mostly just babble. Then, clear as can be, he sighed and said, "Oh Mama," I just had to laugh. He must have known it was one of those days!

Another thing that makes me smile is when I ask Ryan about his body parts. "Ryan, where are your eyes?" He says, "Eyes," and points to them. The best is his nose, "Ryan where is your nose?" He points to his nose, says,"Nose," then runs towards me, grabs my cheeks and wants to rub our noses together. I think people refer to this as an Eskimo kiss. It is so sweet. He doesn't just do this to me, he does this to his Daddy, to his best buddy, Tyler and to Tyler's mom, too. If you are ever around Ryan, be careful when asking him where his nose is.

Slowly but surely I will blog more often. I have a lot to say, but not enough time to sit down and type. There is more to come, really there is!

Phrases

Ryan has started to put words together into basic phrases. As I mentioned in a previous post, "Bye, bye Daddy," and "Bye, bye Mama," are two we hear often, even if we are just leaving the room to go to the bathroom. Some other new favorites are, "Thank you, Mama/Daddy," and "There you go." Thank you has to be my favorite because first thing in the morning when Ryan wakes up, he wants milk and he wanted it 5 minutes ago. I cannot get him milk fast enough. I usually have him help me by opening and closing the refrigerator to distract him while I pour his milk. As soon as I give him his bottle (Yes he is still on the bottle, no judgement, please) he says, "Thank you, Mama," and then starts drinking his milk. "There you go," is reserved for times when Ryan decides to share with others, be it children or mommy and daddy. He will hand over a toy and say, "There you go." I guess that is a phrase that I say often and he has started to use the same phrase. Time to make sure I use "kid appropriate" language!

Social Butterfly

Ryan has always been a friendly child. He waves to people when they wave at him, he smiles and laughs at strangers who talk to him. Now that he has started to talk more I think he thinks it is his job to welcome people at any establishment that we are at. We were at the grocery store just the other day and a man walked in the door. Ryan says, "Hi!" and starts to wave at the man. Then today we were walking into a shoe store and a man crossed our path, "Hi!" Ryan said to the man. Also any time people are getting into a car, Ryan has begun to associate this with people leaving so he tells these strangers, "Bye, bye." My favorite thing has to be in the morning when Sanjay leaves for work Ryan always says, "Bye, bye,Daddy!" It is the cutest thing! Sanjay will then come back and ask Ryan for another hug before he leaves. And, finally, today he realized that I am Mama and actually said it to me. Sanjay was taking Ryan upstairs to the bath while I was cleaning the kitchen and he looked at me and said, "Bye, bye Mama!" Finally, he actually called me Mama! I don't know who he thought I was before, as he did not call me anything, but now I am officially Mama!