Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I Heart Faces - Let them be little

Let them be little.
This is I Heart Faces challenge for this week. This photo immediately popped into my head. My tiny 6-day-old baby sleeping in a small suitcase. Those tiny toes, and the delicate fingernails on his tiny little hands resting gently on his tiny chubby cheeks.

Today he turns 5 months old.
I am already miss this tiny curled up baby, fresh from heaven. How he smelled, his delicate soft skin and baby fine hair. The little squeaky noises he made while he slept so peacfully.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

All about Ryan



Ryan is the most amazing little boy. He brings so much joy and sunshine and happiness into my life. I can honestly say that life would be dull without this little firecracker around. I wanted to make special post all about Ryan so I can look back and remember all the silly and fun things that he does.

1. Ryan's favorite joke:  Why did the mouse go to the doctor? (Cuz he was feeling cheesy!)
He tells this joke to me and Simon all the time and I laugh EVERY TIME because he so cute!

2. He LOVES his big brother and always wants to be around him. He gets sad everyday when Simon goes to school. They play together so well (when they aren't fighting, that is.)

3. Ryan is LOUD! He doesn't do it intentionally but his voice carries through the whole house, especially when he is upset. This leads to a lot of "inside voice" lectures and a crying baby Mason who often gets woken up from his naps. I have a feeling that someday this kid will make a fantastic singer, or sports announcer, or TV Commercial voice.

4. He is very, very sensitive. His little 3 year old world can be turned upside down with a single word (typically the word "no".)  He doesn't understand the concept that people can tell him that he can't do something or have something. If he hears that dreadful word "no" it often results in a complete and utter breakdown or super tantrum (refer back to number 3.)

5. His favorite foods are Cheez-Its, cheese, oranges, and any type of juice, but mostly orange juice. He could drink juice for every meal. And he also loves green beans, Shepherds pie, chicken nuggets and apples.

6. He is a picky eater. Not picky in the typical sense, he doesn't like to eat anything that may be messy or that requires extra work to get into his mouth. If it requires a fork or a spoon he would much rather have mom or dad feed it to him (which we are forced to do on days that he refuses to eat anything.) Sometimes I wonder how this child survives when he never eats anything I put in front of him. I will have him help me make his own sandwich with everything he wants on it only to find the same sandwich with only one bite out of it sitting on the table 3 hours after lunch time. He does like some sweets but he will even leave them on his plate. He will take one bite of a cookie and leave the rest behind. I don't know if I will ever understand his eating habits but I'm doing my best to keep him healthy. We have found that he will drink smoothies, since they aren't messy and he can drink them from a cup, like juice.

7. His favorite sandwich (which sometimes he actually eats) is: Bread with ketchup, mustard, sweet relish, American cheese and ham. He and Simon invented this concoction that is like a hot dog sandwich with ham instead of a hot dog.

8. Ryan LOVES the color ORANGE! He wears orange shirts just about everyday and he even has 3 pairs of orange plaid shorts to match his orange shirts. He will sift through all of the clothes in his drawers and closet until he finds something orange to wear. Here are his other favorite things that are orange: His "special sippy cup", (which is just a regular take-and-toss sippy cup but it is vibrant orange),our orange IKEA forks and spoons, orange crayons, his orange church tie, and of course oranges and orange juice, and Cheeze-its (see #5).

9. He can run! I take him with me in the mornings and afternoons to Simon's school and he runs the whole way there and back. It's only about a 10 minute walk/run but for a 3 year old that is some serious cardio!

10. He LOVES TRAINS! Not surprising because of how much Simon loves trains too. He plays trains every waking moment of the day. He always has one or more of his trains with him, his favorite being "wooden Thomas". They come up with funny names for their trains and they build tracks out of anything they can find. Today it was books and letter blocks.

11.One of his favorite things to do is read books with mom and dad, and Simon. And he is beginning to learn how to read too. We work on letters while Simon is at school and we are to the point now that I can spell out some simple words and he can sound them out. The only letter that currently stumps him is letter U. He gets a kick out of letter games like "what does this start with."

12. His favorite game to play is I Spy.We play I spy in the car and at home, or wherever else we may be.  He just got a set of  I Spy books and he loves them so much he takes them in the car with him, and even to bed.

13. Ryan's catchphrase: "I'm sooooo sad!" 
Heartbreaking right? He really does say this about 100 times a day. Not because he is really sad but whenever someone tells him he can't do what he wants to do he takes it very personally and tells us how sad it makes him. (see #4). He says it when he is tired, hungry, thirsty, grumpy, mad, or if he is just looking for some extra attention.

14. What makes him very happy? Movies.  He loves watching movies whenever he gets the chance. His favorites being Thomas the Train, Chuggington, and his new favorite: Wall-e.

15. His nicknames are Ry, Ry-guy, and occasionally Ry-man, Ryno, or Ry-Ry.

16. He is a sucker for some good quality attention. He loves to be silly and make people laugh. Jokes, funny faces, silly sounds and jumping around like a monkey. This kid is FUN!


17. He tells me he loves me everyday. He picks me a little flower every day on the walk home from Simon's school. He loves to cuddle and he gives the best hugs. I'm forever thankful that I was blessed with this little guy. I am so proud of what he is today and I can't wait to see how much he will grow tomorrow.

Si and Ry

Si and Ry