two and a quarter

Sheesh.  Already a quarter of the way through her second year.  Will my child ever stop growing so fast?  Ha, right...  Ryann is 100% a two year old.  She is adorable and stubborn.  Sweet and strong willed.  Darling and defiant.  Some days I can't get enough of her, and other days I think my head might actually explode.  But the good news is those sweet little moments tend to overshadow the 20 minute tantrums in timeout.

Really, when Ryann sets her mind to something, it is pretty much mission impossible to convince her otherwise.  And not even bribing the kid works anymore.  Well, ok sometimes some sweets go a long way, but not when she really really wants to get on my nerves.  Then she is relentless.  And WAY to smart for her own good.  Remember our new love with the word 'never'?  (Which by the way is totally my fault, I let the kid watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates, do you know how many times Captain Hook says never in one episode?  Mommy fail.)  Yeah, well, it pretty much has instant timeout status at our house now if she uses it in response to a question from us.  So Ryann, being the sweet little innocent child that she is, will say "NEVER!... smile at a crocodile..." and continue on with that song for a bit.  I know, right?  Seriously.

But oh man, her little imagination is so entertaining.  Watching her play can be very intriguing, and the scenarios she comes up with usually make no sense but are rather hilarious.  We've deemed the couch 'the valley' and she loves to bring pretend toys and books to the valley for us to play with.  Why we started that I have no idea, but it can keep her entertained forever.  Her favorite things to play with right now are the million beanie babies at my parent's house, pip squeak markers and blocks.  Lately we've also been reading a lot of books in 'the valley'.  Because that just makes books awesome you know.  Recent favorite books have been Llama Llama Mad at Mama (hmmm, wonder why...), Giraffes Can't Dance, The Biggest Kiss and No More Diapers for Ducky (score!).

 

Let's see, at 2.25 years Ryann knows all her letters (by sight and in order) and almost all of the letter sounds.  She can roughly count to 50 (with a bit of assistance getting to the next set of tens), and can recognize 0-10 by sight.  She knows all of her basic colors and shapes, as well as a few more advanced shapes (like trapazoid, parallelagram, rhombus, cube, cylinder).  She can count to 15 in Spanish, and has learned a few of the colors in Spanish as well (mostly just remembering verde and azul).  She can spell her name, and can recognize her name, cat, cow, fish, bird, love and Kansas when they are written down.  I think there are a few other words as well, but she isn't as consistent with them.  Ry can sing a days of the week song, and a months of the year song, but can't tell me which day or month would come next off the top of her head.

Ryann is pretty dang good at memorizing songs.  Her songlist is pretty extensive, including her own version of Rumour Has It.  My current favorite is You're a Grand Old Flag.  Look for a video later this week.  The only problem with that one is she still tends to drop her L's...  I need to figure out what song to teach her next.  Any suggestions?

Want to know something awesome?  I think it has been over a month since I've changed a poopy diaper.  Ryann consistently poops in the toilet even in public.  She still doesn't ask to go potty very often, but I'm happy to know that when we do finally venture into underwear I won't be dealing with that kind of mess.  And yes, at some point this month I'm going to stop dragging my feet and actually make Ry wear underwear.  I'm glad we've waited, because more and more she is showing me that she will be able to get it, but it has been easy to just stay in diapers for now.  Really I bet she would have been able to get it a month or so ago, but I don't want to give up the comfort of knowing we don't have to rush to a bathroom all the time.  Selfish?  Absolutely.  But Ry doesn't seem to mind.

The other thing we still need to get to is the big girl bed.  I'm freaking TERRIFIED to let Ryann out of the crib.  Like I said I'm pretty sure she can climb out, so we need to do it.  Not to mention that at naptime and bedtime we have to pull the crib into the middle of the room because she can reach her light switch from the crib and flicks it on as soon as we close the door.  Maybe by the end of the month she will be potty trained and sleeping in a regular bed... Oy.  Another random thing to note about sleep times, we have resorted to pretty much always putting long socks on Ry's arms with a tight pajama shirt on top to keep them on.  She will not leave her lips alone, or any scab, it is terrible.  It is kind of funny, when we put them on she almost always says she looks like a teddy bear.

I think Ryann's favorite person in the world is her Papa.  Sure she loves me and her Daddy and her Grammy and Auntie and the rest of her family, but Papa is the favorite by far.  She hangs on his every word and follows him around EVERYWHERE.  I basically have to drag her away kicking and screaming if he needs to go to the bathroom or change clothes.  They are of course incredibly cute together.  Ryann is also getting more attached to our friends (mostly the guys, what gives?).  Whenever people come over she isn't shy about running up to them and screaming "play with me!" first thing.  But seriously, OBSESSED with a couple of guys.  Ryann was determined that our friend Joey was going to give her a bath and put her to bed one night.  Thankfully she settled for him being in the bathroom and reading her one bedtime book.  And when my friend Laura's boyfriend (or I guess I can call him my friend now, hi Joe if you ever read this!) came over, Ryann was all over him.  "Sit by me Joe.  Play with me Joe.  Joe?  Joe?  Where'd Joe go?  JOE!!!!"  Thank you for being good sports guys :o).

Some other favorites... Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Adele, John Mayer, sweets, Moo Cow Creamery, squeezy pouches, messy activities, painting, the iPad (Monkey Lunchbox in particular), climbing on furniture, The Land Before Time (but none of the parts with Sharp Tooth, or anything else too scary :o).

Oh Miss Ryann.  I don't know what I'd do without you in my life.  I'd probably be a little more well rested, and maybe have a few less gray hairs (well who knows, I haven't seen my real hair since I was like 16), but I know life wouldn't be as full.  You give me a purpose and make me strive to be a better person.  You are crazy and aggravating and determined, and you are just as you should be.  Although, I really wouldn't mind your listening to directions skills improving.  That wouldn't hurt :o).  My sweet sweet girl, I truly love you more than you'll ever understand.