The little moments

Evenings are rush, rush, rush for us. I leave work, pick up Ryan at school, go home, make his dinner, watch him eat, sometimes give him a bath and by then it is already his bedtime. We rarely have any time to just be together and play and, as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes even when we do, I am too tired to engage and instead let him entertain himself or play with Tim.

Last night Ryan ate his dinner very quickly, and it wasn't a bath night, so we did have a little downtime before bed. He went into the living room and gathered up his beach toys - for some reason over the weekend these made an appearance and he has been pretending he is at the beach. He pretends to put on a bathing suit, suntan lotion, goes swimming and builds a sandcastle. This kid certainly is creative! Last night I was tired, so I turned on the TV and flopped on the couch while he went to "the beach." He looked up at me and said "Mommy, you going to come to the beach too?" The way he said it, the look in his eyes....I immediately turned off the TV, got off the couch, and the next thing I knew, I was at the beach with him. It truly is the little moments like this that add up to something big.

Jump Around...or not

Now that we don't listen to Barney in the car anymore, I have free reign over the radio and occasionally find myself rocking out to different songs and singing along. This morning on the way to school/work, it was "Jump Around" by House of Pain. "Jump Around! Jump Around! Jump up Jump up and get down!" I then heard a little voice from the backseat say "We can't jump in the car!"

Where is the man with the yellow hat?

Today we went to Port Discovery - a local children's museum - to check out the Curious George exhibit that is there until June. We were excited to find out that Curious George himself would also be making an appearance! Ryan ran around the museum for awhile, and we ended our visit taking pictures with Curious George. A museum worker was posing as "the man with the yellow hat" but even Ryan didn't think he was authentic enough. He asked me where the man with the yellow hat was, and when I pointed to him, he said "THAT'S not the man with the yellow hat!"

Never too young for Happy Hour

Tonight we met some friends at a local watering hole for Happy Hour. Ryan is an old pro at happy hour, but this was his friend Andrew's first happy hour. After all, Andrew is only 5 weeks old! Don't worry Andrew, Ryan will show you the ropes :)

How did we get here?

Ryan is Two and a Half years old today...Wow, how did we get here?? It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital! I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, but this milestone deserves a post! What is Ryan up to, you might wonder??

***TV - He still LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but has also expanded his TV watching to Little Einsteins and Special Agent Oso. For movies he absolutely loves the Curious George movie, and has watched it in its entirety several times. He is starting to also get into the movie Cars....And the silly big purple dinosaur still lingers but we have managed to reserve him for special occasions - car rides to Grandma and Papa's in NY, visits at Nana and Grandpa's house, or sick days. We used to listen to the Barney CD on the way to school - every.single.day. But we somehow phased that out as well - yay! In general, his interest in TV has declined from the days when I was convinced he was addicted to television because his first word when he woke up everyday was "Ehgo! (Elmo)" as he pointed downstairs to the TV! Whoever told me everything is a phase could not have been more right! Now, he usually watches one episode in the morning before we leave for work/school, and that is it.
***He continues to talk non stop - Comments and questions galore. And he picks up on everything we say or do. Last week another driver was driving like an idiot and I was ranting and raving and saying things like "Seriously?" Ryan asked what was wrong and I told him the other car was driving crazy. Yesterday we had a similar experience and after I said "seriously? are you serious?" Ryan said to me "Mommy, that car is driving crazy!" And that is just one example of what he says and mimics, retains and remembers.
***Over the past few weeks he has basically almost completely potty trained himself, it is pretty amazing and has required minimal work from us, and no rewards/treats. This weekend we attempt underwear - wish us luck!
***He has made several little friends that he enjoys getting together with to play on weekends - his favorite is our neighbor Ava. I am so glad we met the Karpewiczs because Ryan and Ava are the best of friends and Erin/Eric are great people to hang out with. It really is just so cute seeing Ryan have little friends of his own! And he absolutely adores his cousins. They may live far away, but they are never far from his thoughts!
***Other things he likes to do - play with his sand/water table, play doh, read books, books and more books...go to the playground and take walks on weekends...paint with watercolors, color, and pretend to clean with his own cleaning kit. He is also starting to get into cars and trains, especially Thomas.

I know I am going to sound like "that obnoxious parent" right now but he really is just an all around great kid. Sure, he has his moments - what 2 1/2 year old doesn't? But in general he listens to us, says please/thank you/excuse me, cleans up, does what we ask him to, goes to bed with no arguing or complaining ever and has a very minimal amount of tantrums/meltdowns! We joke that his answer to everything is "ok!" My mom says that he has the best parts of me and Tim and I think that is true. We are beyond blessed to have him as our little guy. It really makes me scared to ever have another kid because I don't think we will get this lucky twice :) Tonight to celebrate his 2 1/2 year milestone, we will be getting together with our friends Mike, Kim and their newborn son Andrew at a local watering hole to sit outside and enjoy the sunny weather and a few drinks. I will try to snap a few pictures and post them this weekend!

Happy Opening Day (Night)!

Thank You Easter Bunny!

This year Ryan really understood Easter (well, the Easter Bunny aspect of it anyway!) and it was so much fun!! He woke up a little earlier than usual, and when I went in his room and asked why he was awake so early, he said without hesitation "I have to go find my Easter Eggs!" He came downstairs, found all of his eggs and was just as excited about the last egg as he was about the first. Since he doesn't eat candy that often, he didn't even realize some of the items in the eggs were edible (like the Peeps!) and didn't ask to eat any of it! We went to 9:30 Easter Mass, and he lasted the entire service. He was a little fidgety, but quiet and good for the most part. He was enthralled with all of the images on the ceiling of the church - I pointed at God and asked who it was and his response? "Santa!" In Ryan's defense, he did have a white beard like Santa in the picture! After Mass, we went home and visited with Ava's family for a little bit, where Ryan hunted for more Easter eggs on Ava's back patio. Surprisingly, even with all of the excitement, he went down easily for a nap, and while he napped, our friends Mike D, Amanda and Mike P, and my cousin Diana came over to join us and my parents for Easter dinner. Ryan was very excited to see everyone when he woke up and we had a relaxing afternoon with plenty of great food, drink and company. After dinner we all sat on the back patio and enjoyed the warm spring weather. Ryan entertained himself with his MANY gifts from the Easter Bunny, and his favorite outdoor toy - the sand/water table. He was such a good boy all day, and we felt very blessed to have such a wonderful Easter with our little guy, family and friends. Happy Easter everyone!

The tradition continues

Every year as a kid I dyed Easter eggs with my mom. This year the tradition continued, and Ryan helped out. He had a great time dropping eggs in the different colors (and was surprisingly gentle!) and then adding stickers after the colors had dried. It is so fun passing on these traditions to Ryan!

While Mommy and Daddy are away...

...Ryan, Nana and Grandpa play! Tim and I went away for one night to relax and have a date night, and Ryan's Nana and Grandpa stayed with him. They packed a lot into the 24 hours they were alone with him...hanging out on the back patio playing with the sand and water table, a walk around the neighborhood, dinner out at a local Italian restaurant, and a trip to the playground for an Easter egg hunt with Ryan's Saturday morning playgroup friends Emily and Ryan B. I'm not sure who had a better time - Ryan or his grandparents!