two and a half

Bah.  We are closer to three than we are to two.  That is just plain absurd.  Kind of.  Ryann does act like she is 13, of course with the ability to reason of a two year old (honestly I'm not sure there is much difference there, have you ever tried to reason with a stubborn 13 year old?).  You know.  She is still incredibly spunky, very stubborn, and a big ol' goof.  She has my blood boiling one minute, and the next I'm laughing so hard.

Ryann had her 2.5 year well check last week.  I was a little worried she wouldn't have gained much weight (which she hadn't, a pound in the last six months) thanks to her ever growing hatred of food, but she is still staying pretty middle of the road based on percentages.  She weighed 29 pounds even and is a whopping 36 inches tall.  I think it was the 56% for both.  Her doctor said she looks incredibly healthy and has zero concerns about her development.  Score.  Shoe size is between a 7 & 8, and clothes are all over the place.  She has a '24 month' (I don't believe that) dress that is still too long, and some 3T leggings from Target that we are going to have to pack away soon.  It's ridiculous.  For the most part, 2T from Gap and Old Navy still fit just fine, but I bought a lot of fall stuff in 3T so I'm just pretending it fits.  

Let's see, what to say about this halfway to three-year-old... some people like to think she is incredibly independent (which, of course, she is starting to be).  But I think you all might be mistaking 'lost in her own world' for independence.  Either that or she is really really REALLY good at acting like she doesn't hear me when I talk, one of the two.  When we are out and about Ryann gets interested in this or that, and she is off and moving, without a single care if I'm anywhere close by.  She is still afraid of strangers, and if anyone tries to talk to her or touch her she is quickly searching for me, but if no one is bothering her that girl is simply happy to explore the world around her.  At home she gets really into what she is doing, and it takes some serious effort to redirect her attention to anything else.

The best way to keep Ry on track?  Keep transitions short and quick, and follow 'the list'.  Pretty much, I have to do my best to plan out the day and then run the list by Ryann right before bed and first thing when she wakes up in the morning.  That she definitely gets from her mama.  If she starts fussing about something during the day I just have to go over 'the list'.  As long as we stick to the list we're good.  Obviously on some days that can get me into trouble, but for the most part it is the best way to keep the peace between us during the day and get everything done that we need to get done.

We haven't yet made the transition to a big girl bed (I know I know, stop putting it off!), but the good news?  Miss Ryann is potty trained during the daytime, woot!  We still have accidents here and there, but I'd say we've been in underwear for maybe a little over 3 weeks and it hasn't been all that painful.  I don't have any good advice in that area.  We planned to loosely follow the three day method, but, uh, that didn't really pan out for our family.  So one day when we were out of diapers I told her we had to wear underwear now, and that was pretty much it.  We still do pull-ups at night and nap, but for the most part she wakes up from nap dry.  Not sure when we will give those up though.

Ryann is still as picky as ever in the eating department.  There are no guarentees anymore besides fruit and crackers.  Those are the only things I know she will eat.  Beyond that you might be able to get her to swallow some mac & cheese, PB&J, french toast, waffles, pancakes, muffins, salmon sticks or pizza chips (a tortilla spread with marinara and cheese, then baked).  Hmm, carbs, carbs and more carbs.  Vegetables are pretty much out of the question besides the occasional cooked carrot, and meat as well.  The kid won't eat a chicken nugget.  I know they aren't the healthiest, but come on!  What kid won't eat a chicken nugget?  Oh yes, that would be my daughter.

Things Ryann knows now... well not a ton has changed since my last Ryann update.  She has just picked up some really random useful stuff, you know, like how to count to 20 in German, and 10 in Norwegian.  :o)  She can make it to 100 now (in English of course) with help moving from one set of tens to the next.  She can recognize 0-20 pretty consistently and can count down from 10 to 1.  I can't really think of anything else specific that she has learned, but obviously she hears and sees new things almost everyday.  Her vocabulary and ability to use words and string together sentences continues to grow like crazy.  I'd venture to say that people hear her talk and then ask me how old she is at least every other day.  She is great at puzzles and loves manipulating little objects.

Ryann is obsessed with movies.  She can't get enough.  Lately we've been watching Wall E, The Lorax, Madagascar, Horton Hears a Who and Shrek.  And after each movie we get to be the characters from the movie.  After watching Shrek 2 she decided she was going to be Puss in Boots.  I'll let you ponder who I got to be.  Can't say it was my favorite character I've been.  But really, pretty much every night after dinner she begs to watch a movie.  So we usually cave and pop in something for 30 minutes before bath.  The good news is that it equals some good snuggle time.

She also gets 30 minutes to an hour of TV in the morning while I'm trying to clean up from breakfast and get us ready to get out the door.  For a while we were only watching Mickey and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but she is over those.  Unfortunately Doc McStuffins doesn't come on until we already have gone to the gym, otherwise I think she'd be watching it daily.  Right now we've gotten into Cat in the Hat and Super Why.  I don't mind Super Why too much, I do feel like it does a decent job of teaching and reinforcing letters and letter sounds.

Ryann still loves to pretend like crazy.  She isn't necessarily much into dress-up, but she is a different character all the time.  She pretends to go to Georgia, she pretends shes at gymnastics, she pretends to be her teachers from school.  It is pretty cute.  She also likes to make her stuffed animals talk to me, a lot of times when she wants something :o).  She'll hold up Ginger and say "Ryann really wants to watch a movie," or "Can Ryann please help cook?"  Like maybe I'll be more apt to say yes if someone else is asking for her.

Some other favorites right now include tents and forts, running through Target, pushing the button to open the garage door, jumping off the highest piece of furniture she can get to, painting, shoes, playing at the park, making messes, learning new songs, getting into things she know she shouldn't and overall just being ornrey.

peace out friends!  ok really she was just saying she is two, whatever...

Oh Miss Ryann.  It takes a lot for Daddy and I to survive you on a daily basis, but I swear I love you more than you will ever know.  I'm thankful you're a part of me and my life everyday.  Don't ever stop being you.  But uh, maybe work on those listening ears, ok?  :o)