twenty-two months

Ryann turned twenty-two months on Sunday.  Two months until two.  It is coming so fast!

 

 

It was a very speedy photo session this month.  Ryann wasn't feeling the best, the sun was going down, and really all she wanted was the m&m's we were bribing her with.  So I got a few of the cheesiest smiles EVER before another "M&M?"  Oy.  She is such an adorable silly little girl.

 

My poor kid.  I really need to buy her some new pants (well, leggings, or jeggins, whatever.  she has lots of new pants :o).  Her 2T jeggings from Target are way too short.  How on Earth is she growing out of something in the 2T size?  That baffles me.  Her 2T Old Navy jeans are still pretty saggy and baggy, so I know she hasn't grown absurd amount.  But still, I bought 3T leggings.  That is just wrong.  Oh and last month, when I said I didn't think she had thinned out all that much?  Hahaha, I took a peek at some pictures of Ry from June.  Look at that belly!  And oh my goodness her hair has grown.

Gah, unfortunately Ryann has decided she no longer has an interest in the potty.  Occasionally she will go when I ask, but more often than not she freaks out on me and tells me no.  So I'm trying not to push it.  But diaper changes are pretty much the end of the world for her, so that isn't any fun either.  I know she isn't two yet, and there is no need for her be potty trained RIGHT NOW, but I just feel like she should get it, you know?  Oh well.  I suppose we'll get there eventually.

This past months emotions have been VERY strong around here.  When Ryann she is happy, she is so incredibly happy and fun and hilarious and I just want to squeeze all her cuteness.  But when she is ticked off?  Ohemgee.  Seriously.  I know she is just testing her boundaries, coming into her own as an independent little person.  But holy cow that kid can push your buttons like crazy.  And oh the drama if something doesn't go her way.  The world must seriously be ending if I suggest she drink some water as opposed to more milk.  Thankfully, again, the other half of the time she is just ridiculously adorable and so much fun.

Ryann is always singing to herself.  She loves a wide variety of nursery rhymes, and in her world then tend to blend seamlessly into each other.  What starts off as Old McDonald goes into Bingo and somehow ends up at Twinkle Little Star.  Her favorite songs right now are Skip to My Lou and Good Feeling by Flo Rida :o).  She loves the 'never never never never had before' part, and the 'yeah'.  Also, she can turn anything into a song.  If we're just sitting around playing it is usually something to her own little jingle, such as "mommy here and blocks and the monkey and this one goes here and have a tea party and max and sophie...".  Just her own little tune with her stream of thoughts.  So so cute.   

The more Ryann's vocabulary and enunciation improves, the more apparent the letters she isn't so good at becomes.  Which in all honesty is adorable.  L's and S's are by far the toughest letters for her to pronounce in a word.  She can do it, but she has to be concentrating really hard.  L's usually sound like Y's, and she regularly just drops S's.  Like the other day she told me she was going to take a little 'nooze (snooze).  And there was a leopard beanie baby at my mom's house, "Can the yepard sit in your yap?"  I yove it :o).  Her sentences are getting more and more complex everyday.  Especially when she is trying to boss us around.  "No Mommy, I don't want banana," or "No, those are my stickers.  Don't touch Auntie."  That second one was said to my sister this past weekend, it was rather funny.

Ry has been getting very good with letter sounds the past month.  She can now pretty much identify any letter if you make the sound, or if she sees a little she will make the sound herself.  We have also been working on figuring out what letter various words start with.  While driving in the car, I'll ask her random words, such as, "Street.  Ssstreet.  What letter do you think street starts with?"  I would say she gets them right 80% of the time.  C's and K's are tough, as well as letters that can regularly sound like other letters (she thinks gym starts with a j, I don't blame her!).

Something else exciting we have really started working on, is sight words.  I can now write down Ryann, Mommy, Daddy, Papa, Grammy, Kansas and Cat and Ryann will usually correctly identify the word.  Sometimes she guesses what I am writing simply from the first letter, so I need to start doing more words so she actually has to wait and look at the whole thing, but I was impressed with this skill.  Her ability to memorize and remember things is just astounding.

Ry still loves to color, and it has been crazy to watch her coloring 'skills' transform over the last month.  She is REALLY good at staying in the lines of coloring books (when she wants to).  And her scribbling on blank paper has started to become so much more controlled.  She can pretty much draw a convincing circle (you can see some of them in this post.  and ok, maybe it is more of an oval but whatever :o).

 

Ryann's obsession with the iPad, or games on my iPhone, is just simply ridiculous.  I have to admit, her ability to work those electronics is amazing.  She knows exactly where to go, and enjoys some seemingly complex games for her age.  This weekend she was rocking a memory game (with only 4 and 6 cards, but still!) as well as a phonics game.  The phonics game is tough, because she has to be patient enough for the odd sounding chick to talk to her, but it says the sound of a letter and Ry has to correctly guess which letter it is.  Then it spells out two and three letter words.  I have no doubt she is learning from some of the games, but I can't handle the hysterics when we take the stupid iPad away.  And my phone?  If it isn't out of her reach, the second I'm not looking she grabs it and starts playing a game.  A great distraction during shopping trips and lengthy meals at restaurants, but still...

Favorites this month:  PURPLE.  Seriously?  Seriously.  Everything purple.  Playing lots and lots of games on the ipad.  Crunchies (Pirate's Booty).  What's Wrong Little Pookie.  Stuffed animals and beanie babies.  Rolling around in mommy and daddy's bed.  Trying to get in trouble, oy.

This age is so tough, but just so much fun at the same time.  Ryann can throw a mean tantrum, but watching her turn into this little person with likes, dislikes, opinions! is just amazing.  Each day I have a little moment where I am in awe watching her change and grow.  Being a parent, a mother, is no easy task, but I am so thankful to be a mom.

And Miss Ryann, I am so incredibly thankful to be your mom!  Love you baby girl.  To the moon.  AND BACK!