Wedding = Church

As I mentioned before on this blog, Ryan will be a ring bearer in June for our friends Katie and Frank's wedding, and we drive by the church where the ceremony will be held every day. Since we talk about it so often, Ryan has come to associate a wedding with a church. We are honored that we are all in another wedding this year too - my sister in law Colleen will marry her fiancee Kenny in September, and Ryan will again be a ring bearer. We haven't talked as much about that wedding, as it is further away, but last night I mentioned it to him and told him he is going to be in Aunt Colleen's wedding this year too. He said "Yes" without thinking much about it, then stopped, looked at me and said "where is her church?"

If only it were that easy...

Ryan's old daycare closed back in December, but he still talks about it often. If I start driving in that direction, he tells me that is the way to his "other school" or his "old school." The other day he asked if we were going to his old school. I said "No, Ryan. Your old school closed." His response: "We have to open it!"

City Slicker

Our Ryan, he is such a city kid! Lately he tells me wherever we go "We have to find a parking spot!" I guess it's because he has heard me say this so many times when we get home. It's not as easy as just parking in the driveway and going inside, so when he gets excited that we're home, I always tell him that we have to find a parking spot first. This past weekend we went to the 'burbs to check out our friends Mike and Amanda's new house. The house is beautiful!! In a real neighborhood. With a yard. And a driveway! As we pulled up to the house, I said to Ryan "There is Mike and Amanda's new house! We're here!" And Ryan's response? "We have to find a parking spot!" Not here, buddy...not here!

Who hunts for Easter Eggs in 40 degree weather?

We do! It was actually 30 degrees when we woke up this morning (and I forgot to turn the heat on last night!) Brr!!! I considered ditching the Easter Egg Hunt altogether, but I decided to just bundle Ryan and I up and make the best of it. We met up with Eric and Ava to walk up to the park, stopping for much needed hot coffee along the way. I love that we can walk to coffee and the park, makes life so much easier :) Erin was volunteering at the hunt, so we met up with her there, and made it just in time for the first round of the hunt, for ages 0-3...Let the games begin! It actually was a well organized event, and I think Ryan had fun grabbing eggs. It is sad that they are not allowed to put candy in the eggs because of so many allergies. It isn't quite the same to open up an egg and find a sticker as it would be to find jelly beans! But Ryan didn't seem to mind. He had a great time looking for eggs (and keeping track of Ava of course). After the hunt, we walked down to the duck pond, the kids love watching the ducks!! Soon we needed to come home and thaw out!

Who is potty training who?

When Ryan woke up Saturday morning, I brought him in the bathroom with me before we headed downstairs, so that Tim could sleep in. Lately Ryan has been using the toilet (not with any real consistency but it's still exciting!) quite a bit. Sometimes I'm not sure if he is using it as a stall technique before bed, so if he tells me he has to go, I usually tell him "Concentrate very hard and try very hard!" while he is on the toilet so he doesn't get distracted. I think you see where this is going...As I sat down on the toilet, Ryan said to me "Concentrate VERY hard mommy. Try VERY hard!"

First Cookout of the season!

The temps hit the mid 70's this weekend, and we took advantage of the beautiful weather - spending almost all of Ryan's waking moments outside on Saturday. In the late afternoon we gathered with Erin, Eric and Ava for the first cookout of the season! We grilled out turkey burgers, chicken sausages, and asparagus and even broke out the blender for margaritas. It felt great to be sitting outside, eating food off the grill, and sipping a frozen drink. As usual, Ryan had a blast playing with Ava...Although, the highlight for him was trying on her "party shoes." First purses, now high heels...what's next?

Good Manners

We are lucky that Ryan has picked up pretty quickly on good manners. For awhile he has been saying please, thank you and excuse me at the appropriate times. Of course there are times he has to be reminded, but those times have been less and less frequent. He is still confused, however, by "You're welcome." Lately we have conversations that go like this:

Ryan: Can I have some milk please? (or whatever he happens to be asking for)
me: Sure - Here you go
Ryan: Thank you
me: You're welcome
Ryan: You're welcome too!

You may be right

Often while we're driving to school, Ryan will point something out to me - "Mommy, there's a helicopter! Look, a gas station! There is a bunny rabbit! (big random inflatable rabbit on the side of the road, and not just at Easter!) " I usually respond with "You're right, there is --------" about whatever it is he might be looking at. Today he said "Mommy, there is a bus!" I responded "Yes, it's a school bus." His response? "You're right! It is a school bus!" Thanks for the reinforcement buddy :)

Here comes the Bride...And the Groom...And Ryan...

One of my closest friends, Katie, is getting married in June (3 months from tomorrow to be exact!) to her boyfriend Frank. I am honored that she has not only asked me to be part of the wedding party as a bridesmaid, but she has also asked Ryan to be the ring bearer. I talk about the wedding with him every day, to try and explain to him what he will be doing in the wedding, who he will be walking with (The Flower girls - Grace and Taylor), etc. We happen to drive by the church where the wedding will take place on our way to work and school everyday, and so each morning I point it out to him and talk about the wedding. Earlier this week, Katie came over for dinner, and we had Ryan practice walking with a pillow, using his Mickey mouse pillow. All the wedding talk and practicing has led to several funny conversations between Ryan and I.

A few weeks ago - We had this conversation for a few days in a row:
me: That is the church where Katie and Frank are getting married!
Ryan: Oh, ok. That will be fun!
me: That is where you will walk down the aisle. Who will you walk down the aisle with?
Ryan: I walk down the aisle with mommy and daddy?
me: No, you will walk down the aisle with Grace and Taylor. Mommy will walk down the aisle by herself.
Ryan: oh, ok. Daddy walk down by himself too?
me: Not exactly, Daddy will be watching us.
Ryan: oh, ok.

After practicing the other night and on the way to school the next day:
me: There is the church where the wedding will be. Who is getting married?
Ryan: Katie and Frank. Mommy walk down the aisle by herself. Daddy will be watching us.
me: Right! who will you walk down the aisle with?
Ryan: Katie and Frank!
me: um, no - not quite! What will you be carrying?
Ryan: my Mickey Mouse pillow!

We'll get it all through to him eventually!

Work it out

Recently, Tim bought an exercise ball to use at home. Last night, Ryan went over to play with the big ball and said "what is this?" Tim said "That's my exercise ball." Ryan said "I go get mine!" He ran over, got one of his balls, and sat on it...even though we had never told him the exercise ball was for sitting on!

Catching Up...

I just found a bunch of pictures on my BlackBerry that I never posted, from our trip last month to Massachusetts...

Pulling his own suitcase at the airport

Haircut

Chuck E Cheese - reward for being a good boy at the haircut! Hugging Chuck E goodbye

McDonalds shake with Nana
A couple stories from the week:

• My mom and I took Ryan for a haircut one morning, and I told him if he was a good boy during the haircut, we would go to Chuck E. Cheese after. He got SO excited and started yelling "Chuck E Cheese! Yeah!" I have no idea how he even knows what Chuck E. Cheese is, since we have never been there. So we went to Supercuts, put in our name for a haircut and found out that it was a 20 minute wait. We decided to walk over to Starbucks to get a drink while we waited. We walked in, got in line, Ryan looked around and said "THIS is not Chuck E Cheese!"
• My mom likes taking Ryan to McDonalds, so after errands at Target one morning, off we went for lunch. As soon as pulled in, Ryan yelled "We're at Old MacDonalds!"

Personal Chef

Tim has been working from home a lot in his new job, which has been helping us all out tremendously. Since he is home, he has been starting dinner before we get home, so the three of us can eat together before Ryan goes to bed. This is something most families take for granted but we previously were not able to do on a regular basis with the post-work daycare pickup, rush home time crunch. This morning as Ryan and I were leaving, he gave Tim a big hug and kiss and we had the following conversation:

me: "Tell Daddy you will see him tonight"
Ryan "Bye Daddy! See you tonight! Make my dinner for me again, ok?"

A little demanding, but too cute :)