Talking, talking, talking....

Before Ryan could talk, he used to babble on and on - full sentences of gibberish. We have MANY videos of this, I will have to dig around and post some as a reminder to myself. These "sentences" would have different tones and inflections, as if he really was trying to tell us something. He rarely said just one word, and I joked that he was moving right into sentences and was going to skip using one or two words at a time. Tim and I used to ask each other - "Once Ryan can talk, is all of this gibberish going to turn into sentences? Is he going to talk THIS much?" The answer is yes! He does.not.stop.talking! He talks about anything and everything. It is fun to have back and forth conversations with him on the way to and from school in the car everyday, but sometimes I just want to stop answering questions! I said to him the other day, "Do you EVER stop talking?" His response: "No!"

Last day in MA

Today was our last day in Massachusetts, and Ryan spent time with more family members - Great Uncle Bill, Great Aunt Sara and 2nd cousin Elizabeth stopped by this morning. Ryan LOVED playing with 14 year old Elizabeth, and soon was ordering her around and playing with Thomas trains... Then we went to visit Ryan's Grandpa's 1st cousins Margie, Gigi and Gerry, where he received some new Winnie the Pooh books, and was treated to ice cream...

We ended the day with a visit from Ryan's Great Auntie Sue and Great Uncle John...

Thanks everyone for visiting us and spending time with Ryan. We had a great time!!!

Sledding with Nana and Grandpa

If someone had told me, back when I planned this trip to Massachusetts, that we would have about 3 feet MORE of snow in Baltimore than New England, I never would have believed it! Even though there isn't a lot of snow on the ground, today we made the best of what was there. I think Ryan's Nana and Grandpa are both going to be popping Advil for days after puling him around on the sled!

Extended family...

Ryan is SO lucky to not only have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that adore him, but tons of extended family members like second cousins, great aunts and uncles, and even a great-great aunt and uncle, that all love seeing him. This week we make a special visit to my Great Auntie Lou and Great Uncle Louie's house so they could spend time with their great-great nephew. If you follow this blog, you know Auntie Lou and Uncle Louie hold a spacial place in my heart as the host and hostess of all the amazing Christmas Eve dinners past. When we got to their house, Ryan made himself right at home - playing, running around and just being his normal happy go lucky self. Then, fueled by a 3 cookie sugar high, he treated them to several renditions of his favorite Barney song "I love you", even hugging them during the song. Seeing the smiles on their faces made me so glad we took time out of the week to visit them. Looking forward to seeing them on our next visit to Massachusetts.

Ride with "Big Nana"

Since Ryan calls my Grandfather "Big Grandpa," he calls my Grandmother "Big Nana. I always called my great-grandmother Big Grandma when i was a kid, so that's where we came up with the "Big." and my grandmother was always Nana to me so it was easy to nickname her "Big Nana." Over the weekend we visited her in the nursing home where she lives, and before we left, she took Ryan for a little ride in her wheelchair...

I Love You

Ryan often says "I love you too!" when I tell him I love him, or he will say it to my mom or Tim when talking to them on the phone (prompted by me). Today I received my first UNprompted I love you! I was getting Ryan out of his car seat, and he looked at me and said "Mommy! I love you Mommy." Melted my heart....

Clifford, the big red dog

Today my Dad and I took Ryan to the stadium where the Lowell Spinners play (Single-A team of the Red Sox) for a special event featuring Clifford, the Big Red Dog. The daughter of the books' creator and illustrator read 2 Clifford Books to the crowd of children, then each child received a book that we had signed and personalized, as well as a chance to see and take pictures with Clifford himself! Ryan was obsessed with Clifford before we arrived - The entire car ride there he asked "Where is Clifford's house?" The entire time the books were being read, he yelled out "Where is Clifford?" The entire time we waited in line to see Clifford, he said "Where is Clifford - the big red dog?? I want to see Clifford!!" I thought the actual encounter with Clifford would be a lot like our encounter with Santa - lots of excitement while in line, and then fear and trepidation upon seeing Clifford. But, he totally surprised me! When it was out turn, Ryan was a little timid at first, but then gave Clifford a big, long hug. After hugging him, he stood off to the side and stared at him while other kids took a turn. I asked him a couple times if he was ready to leave and he said "No! I want to see Clifford!" Then, right before we left, he ran back over to Clifford and gave him one last hug. Maybe he would be ready for a trip to Disney...

Patiently waiting our turn

Thanks Grandpa for taking us!

Big vs. Little Grandpa

Currently, we are visiting my family in Massachusetts for the week (more pictures and blog entries about the trip to come) and I had to post this before I forgot...My grandfather lives with my parents, and I call him Grandpa. Ryan calls MY Dad Grandpa, so we decided on our last visit, last summer, that he will call my Grandfather "Big Grandpa." Before we came up here, we talked about who we were going to see and I mentioned "Big Grandpa" and Ryan said "And Little Grandpa!" He now refers to my Dad as Little Grandpa...Today at one point neither of them were home and Ryan said "Where are the 2 Grandpas?" He cracks me up!

A picture says a thousand words...

If it's not obvious by the expression on Ryan's face, this balloon caused a LOT of issues today during our visit with Melissa, Kevin and cutie pie Mason! And Mason was not the cause of the problems :) Ryan decided he was going to act...well, like a two year old! This photo sums it up completely!

"That's a LOT of snow!"

Every time we have opened the front door, or left the house for the past week, Ryan has said this. "Mommy, that's a LOT of SNOW!" Since last Thursday night, we have left the house by car exactly once - On Tuesday we were all able to get out and escape to work and daycare for a few hours, in between storms. But by Tuesday night, we were housebound again. We were hit by 2 different storms over the past week, totalling well over 3 feet of snow here in the city. Yesterday we experienced true blizzard conditions, with high gusts of wind and extreme snow accumulation. Baltimore City declared themselves in a Phase III emergency plan, which meant that cars were not allowed on the roads unless they were city approved or emergency responders - police, fire, etc. That ban was lifted today, but the snow is not going anywhere anytime soon! We have left the house on foot a few times, to take walks around the block, have happy hour with neighbors, and shovel. Well, ok, TIM has left the house to shovel while I held down the fort inside. To say we have cabin fever is an understatement!! Thank goodness we have wonderful neighbors, because we have spent a lot of time with them over the last week, and shared things like rides to work (on the one day we all escaped), shovels, snacks and adult beverages. I am hoping that daycare is open tomorrow, so we can all get back to our normal routine, because the thoought of us all spending another day trapped inside...well, it won't be pretty! Speaking of pretty, last night after the snow finally stopped falling, Tim took some great pictures....

Working from home

Final snow pictures

I couldn't resist posting a few more pictures...Tim took Ryan out in the snow again this afternoon. I heard Ryan giggling from inside, grabbed the camera and ran out to capture the moment...

More snow pictures....

Today when we woke up, the sun was shining bright and the snow had stopped falling. It was the perfect weather to go outside and check out exactly how much snow we had gotten. And we were not disappointed!

All bundled up and ready!

"We can't go THIS way!" "I shovel like Daddy does!"

Snowball fight with Ava

Post snow hot chocolate...with marshmallows of course!