ryann is six!

My list of things I wanted to write about but haven't gotten to is ever growing.  Baby products, Valentine's Day, Easter... But it has been a month since Ryann turned six and I'll be damned if I completely miss an 'age update' for one of my children.  Some day I'll stop doing this and it won't be an issue, right?  Right.  Anyway...

Ryann turned six on March 29th.  SIX!  If I've got a six-year-old I think I should feel more like an adult.  Does that ever happen?  When do you truly feel like an adult?  Not the point.  Back to my big (but still very much little right?) six-year-old.  Describing Ryann at this age is so incredibly difficult.  She is of course absolutely amazing.  Learning things at an unbelievable rate, becoming more and more and more independent.  Gravitating more towards the tween end of things than the toddler side.  She is strong willed 100%, and she also feels every emotion 100%.  When she is happy she can't contain herself, the energy coursing through every last inch of her body.  But when she is mad, my word, you better watch your back.  She is also quite sensitive, she gets embarrassed easily and that feeling is rather suffocating for her.  It is hard for her to take criticism or make mistakes.

But I think her kindergarten teacher described her best at our first parent-teacher conference.  Ryann is just downright kooky.  She is silly, bubbly, and says the most ridiculous things.  She absolutely loves to make people laugh and enjoys being crazy.  She loves unicorns and glitter as much as she loves bugs and getting dirty.

Speaking of school, Ryann is killing it in the reading department.  I can't believe how far she has come since the beginning of the year.  As far as I can tell, she is reading at a third grade level, and with little trouble.  I think she could maybe possibly read harder books, but her interest and attention span just isn't there yet.  She tells me chapter books are too long with not enough pictures.  She seems to be grasping all of her math concepts well, and loves to tell me about different artists she has learned about through art class.

Miss Ryann is still an incredibly picky eater.  We are trying so hard to get her at least willing to try other foods, but dinner is a battle almost every night.  Her favorite things to eat remain chicken nuggets, pizza, mac & cheese and peanut butter & jelly.  She also loves summer sausage and pepperonis.  Her favorite fruits are pears, strawberries, cantaloupe and plums.  She won't eat blueberries, bananas or mango.  The only vegetables she'll willingly eat are raw baby carrots and raw bell pepper.  Every other vegetable pretty much has to be forced on her.  She'll choose salty and sour over sweet 90% of the time.  She doesn't really like cake or cupcakes, but brownies and ice cream get two thumbs up.

Her favorite activity is gymnastics.  She looks forward to it every week.  She is killing my dreams and doesn't like dance, and can't wait for the recital to be over so she can quit.  Looks like I'm going to have to persuade Elsie and Thea to keep that dream alive.  Ryann also enjoys Girl Scouts, but I think mostly for the crafts and snacks, naturally.  However I think she has had some really great experiences with Girl Scouts and if there is a troop for her next year I think she'd like to continue.  This summer we're going to give soccer a try, though I can't imagine her enjoying running too much.  We shall see!  At home Ryann's favorite thing to do, besides torment her sisters, is draw.  And color.  With the right guidance that girl is going to be an outstanding artist.  I could definitely see her illustrating children's books one day.  Or who knows what else, but she is WAY better than I am at drawing things.

And let's throw in a little recap of her actual birthday... Ryann requested pancake muffins for breakfast like Elsie had.  With a candle.  I think she would have enjoyed regular pancakes or donuts or something, but she seems to prefer that things are the same with her and Elsie, so I just went with it.  We had also blown up a bunch of balloons and put them in the hallway to her room.  We let her open one gift before she left for school, some Littlest Pet Shop toys.

Ryann has pretty much been asking me to bring her McDonalds for lunch since the beginning of the year, but I haven't ever done it.  So Christopher took the day off work so we could surprise her.  We put her lunch box in her back pack as usual, but it was empty.  When we got to the school we waited out in the hallway while they were finishing up some activities, then her teacher had them go line up and grab their lunch if they had one.  The sweet girl, I wish I had recorded her desperate little voice as she exclaimed "My daddy forgot to pack my lunch!"  Her teacher asked her to check the hallway and she found us.  And immediately proclaimed "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!"  I'm so glad we were both able to go have lunch with her.  She was giddy and you could tell she felt so special to get to sit with us at a separate table with her McDonalds.

Since Chris was home for the day, he picked Ryann up after school instead of having her ride the bus.  Then we let her open the rest of her presents.  A journal, some craft kits, a couple of board games and a scooter.  My parents also gave her a gift, a couple of gymnastics mats and a floor beam.  Elsie has probably gotten more use out of them than Ry has, but they are being well loved nonetheless!  Then Ryann was off to dance.

Chris wrapped one of her presents in an oatmeal box :)

When she got back home we had her favorite, cheese pizza, waiting for her.  My parents joined us for the little pizza party.  We had intended to take her out for ice cream after we put the other two to bed, but lets just say all of my little friends were making the evening a touch difficult, and it just didn't seem like a good idea.  We had some leftover chocolate cake from Easter, combined it with some ice cream and toppings, and we had a happy girl on our hands.

Miss Ryann, I can't believe you're six.  Love you lots, more than you'll ever know.

ryann - three years

Oh man.  I went back to look at Ryann's two year post to see what I had written and give me an idea of where to go with the post and I cannot believe how much she has grown.  I'm sure I say that all the time, but at 24 months she still had a little baby left in her.  Not so much anymore!

Ryann really has grown so much.  We were at my parents house over Easter weekend and she wanted to sit at the table in a regular chair, not her booster.  I started to say something to affect that she wouldn't really be able to reach the table, but she plopped herself in a seat and was just fine.  It surprised me.  At her doctor's appointment she weighed 31lbs and was 36.3 inches tall.  Ry is wearing mostly 3T clothing, except for some tees and jeggings from Target.  Those always seem to run small.

People always ask me if Ryann is a good sleeper, and my first response is no, she isn't.  But I suppose that isn't exactly true.  When she is asleep for the night, she is out, generally sleeping from about 9pm until 6:30am, and toss a one to two hour nap around 1:30 in there as well during the day.  So yes, she sleeps.  But she almost rarely sleep in, and actually getting her in her bed is quite the chore.  She stalls during bedtime like it is her job.  And now she comes out of her room about a million times asking for this or that or wanting to tell us something.  It drives me nuts.  She used to be so good about staying in her room when Sleep Buddy was on.  Thankfully when she wakes up in the morning she stays in her room until it goes off.  And even though she never really sleeps until 7am, we've changed it so Sleepy Buddy doesn't go off until then.  There isn't much benefit to her being out of her room before then.

pink chocolate chip pancakes, per the birthday girl's request

Nap time has been renamed 'quiet time', and I no longer expect her to go to sleep.  But for the most part she does.  Sleep buddy is on from 1:15pm to 3:30pm so I'm supposed to get a couple hours in the middle of the day free from toddler duty.  But lately she is having a party in there for about an hour, and pops out to request something multiple times before finally falling asleep.  Since she has been falling asleep later I'm often having to wake her from nap.  I won't let her sleep past 4:00pm.

This kid's picky eating habits have gotten out of control.  She definitely prefers junk food, even though I try to limit it.  Ryann eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich nearly every day for lunch.  She loves fruit, and will eat almost any kind of fruit.  Other favorites are muffins, honeynut cheerios, almonds and pickles.  There isn't a single veggie that she will eat on a regular basis.  She'll tolerate a few bites of carrots, corn and bell peppers, but that is it.  We still resort to squeezy pouches and smoothies to get any veggies in her.  We used to have a rotation of four things that she would eat for dinner that we would make, but now she even refuses most of those, so for dinner her plate consists of whatever we are eating.  Which she never eats.  I know we should have been doing that from the start, but... hopefully she'll start to try and like more foods soon.

Ryann is unbelievably smart, and would know more if I would be better about working with her.  Her Grandma 'Nita has bought her some preschool workbooks, and she plows through them like crazy.  She is beginning to understand some basic math concepts and is pretty great with letter sounds.  She is also starting to get a grasp on rhyming words.  She LOVES doing the little worksheets.  For a variety of reasons we opted to keep Ryann at the church preschool where she has been going to MDO.  I'm hoping it wasn't the wrong choice.  She has plenty of years to learn academics, but I'm worried that there won't be enough to keep her interest.  I know they don't really focus on letters and letter sounds and such until the kids are in the 4 year old room there.  Oh and Ryann can also write her first name pretty convincingly.  So proud of her.

Ry is quite the little problem solver when it comes to wanting situations or events to go her way.  For instance, the other day I told her the twins were playing at Sarah's house (if you're new here Sarah used to nanny them and we played with them a lot).  We used to go to Monkey Bizness with them often, so Ry got all excited and said "Hooray!  We can go to Monkey Bizness!"  Now Sarah has a home daycare so she can't really get out, and I tried to explain that to Ryann.  "Well, it's ok, she can bring the other kids too.  I don't mind."  "Honey I don't think she can, that is a lot of kids to take care of, and I think her car is too small to drive them all."  "Well... we can take our car there and someone can ride in our car!"  "With you and Elsie in the car we don't have any extra seats, because kids your size can't sit in the front."  "Well... we could probably all take a bus to Monkey Bizness."  There is a solution for everything, of course!  :o)

The little miss is also trying to become a master negotiator.  We'll often tell her if she does something, such as "If you eat three bites of vegetables and two bites of fruit you can watch an episode of Dinosaur Train."  She'll come back with "Well, how about three bites of fruit and one bite of vegetables?"  Actually she'll usually say "I'd prefer..." with her finger pressed to the bottom of her lips, her little thinking face.  I'm fairly certain this trait comes from me.  I can vividly remember being in dance rehearsals, bargaining with my instructor for how many more times we had to do the dance full out. 

Ryann is a very strong headed, opinionated little girl.  She isn't the least bit afraid to tell you what she wants, and is even less timid about letting you know when you're doing something she doesn't like.  Parenting her can be a very tough thing, it definitely tests your patience.  Some days she is great and sweet and what not, but unfortunately when she gets mad it escalates very quickly, and her first reaction when she isn't getting her way it to throw something or hit someone.  I hate that.  I know she is young and that is very normal, but it is so hard to keep my cool when she starts doing that.  We talk regularly about using our words and talking about our feelings, but she just hasn't come around to it yet.

sometimes you just have to jump out of your car and dance to your jams

Currently Ryann is OBSESSED with dinosaurs, mostly Dinosaur Train.  We are regularly pteranadons or T-Rexes.  Christopher ended up purchasing all of the seasons of Dinosaur Train on his iPad, and now that is all Ryann wants to do, sit around and watch it (which of course I won't allow all the time, therefore we have another thing to battle about, but you know).  Ry has definitely learned a lot about dinosaurs from the show, and can name several different kinds.  The other week when we were at my parents house, she picked up a shark and said, "Look Dad, a cretoxyrhina!"  We had to look it up to see if she was right, and sure enough.

Before Ryann had every episode of Dinosaur Train at her fingertips, we were forced to watch all of the Madagascar movies on a repeating rotation.  I regularly have the afro circus song stuck in my head.  Now all lions are named Alex, hippos are Gloria, zebras are Marty, and giraffes are Melvin, because we didn't realize at first that they were actually saying Melman in the movie.  Thankfully if you have to watch a set of movies over and over again, they are pretty good ones.  Chris and I both agree the third one is the best, I love the penguins.  Oh and Ryann's favorite song is still 'I Like to Move It.'  Actually Chris bought the soundtracks from the movies, and if you play a song Ryann can tell you which movie it is in.  We have quite the awesome Madagascar dance parties in our house.

  

Miss Ryann has become quite possessive of her little sister.  If we are out and about and anyone so much as looks at Elsie, Ryann is quick to tell them that it is HER baby.  Yes her baby, not her sister.  :o)  Ryann is seriously just so cute with Elsie.  I love it.

Whew, this post has gotten long enough so I guess I'll try and cut it off there.  Ryann really just is such a special girl.  Almost everyone who meets her says something to the effect that they have never met a little girl quite like her.  When she is in the mood to be sweet she is SO sweet.  When she is excited she is SOOO excited.  And when she is pissed, well...

Miss Ryann, you are going to keep me on my toes for the rest of my life, I can guarantee it.  But I love you to pieces and I'm so incredibly happy that I am your mother.  I can't wait to see where life takes you.  But please stay little just a bit longer, ok?  I love you.

two and three quarters

Just another (hopefully short!) quarterly update about my favorite little girl :o).  She was officially 2.75 on December 29th, and will happily tell anyone that she is two and three quarters.  Well, sometimes she gets a little confused and says two and a quarter or three and two quarters, but whatever.  It is still cute.

where the HECK did my baby go??

This girl.  Oh my goodness.  Most of the time she is just too much.  Ryann is hilarious, smart, spunky, stubborn and sweet.  She is incredibly opinionated and definitely does NOT go with the flow.  But she is still a ton of fun and there isn't a day that goes by without a good amount of laughter thanks to her.  The words and phrases that come out of her mouth are often ridiculous, and I love it.

I can't believe how 'big' Ryann is seeming lately.  I know many kids have already mastered this, but just recently she has discovered how to open doors with a knob (good and bad thing) and is starting to get the hang of drinking out of a real cup.  She refuses to be buckled into her booster seat and reminds me a million times a day that she is a big girl.  When she wakes up in the morning, as soon as the sleep buddy is off she hops out of bed, turns on her light and then grabs a book and sits down to read.  Her gross motor skills, where she has always seemed a little behind, are picking up pace.  Literally.  She can run at a pretty good speed now, and loves to jump off everything.  And climb everything.

 

She has an amazing imagination, and is constantly coming up with absurd scenarios for her and her buddies (stuffed animals, Little People toys, other random inanimate objects :o).  Lately she puts her characters through events that she has experienced the last couple of days.  Like a little play back of her memory rubber duck style.  I've been amazed at her ability to pretend with absolutely nothing as well.  She'll grab my arm and tell me to sit next to her.  Then Ry will produce an imaginary picnic and instruct me on what to eat and when to use my napkin, share her food with me, etc.  Next we are in a doctor's office and I'm getting  a check-up.  She'll throw on a non existent stethoscope and listen to my heart.  Sometimes it baffles me that something so simple can be so entertaining, but watching her little brain work and unfold is just so much fun.

Ry's 'stories' are pretty awesome too.  For a while now, when Ryann is getting antsy or difficult when we are with my parents, Papa will tell her a story.  A completely made up totally ridiculous story.  Like something about when he thought Grammy turned into a catipillar that was yellow with purple polka dots, or when a giant bird scooped him up and carried him across the country.  Ryann LOVES the stories.  And now?  She insists on telling me a story before nap and bedtime.  Currently the trend is that there is a list of people participating, we go somewhere, the clouds turn gray and it starts to rain.  Some version of that.  One time Me, Ryann, Grammy, Papa, Daddy and Auntie Lorin were all walking to the gym and a car almost ran us over and then there was something about a cow... Who knows :o).  The bedtime routine has gotten ridiculous, but man, the stories really are funny.

Over the last month we started introducing sight word videos by Preschool Prep Company.  At first Ryann was really into them, but then of course the interest started to wane.  Nonetheless, she now can recognize 30+ words by sight, and can read some of the easy books that the company also makes.  It is adorable to hear her do it.  We've also grabbed the phonics videos by the same company, but I don't think Ryann finds them quite as interesting.  I know I don't need to push her to learn to read right now, but it seems like the next logical step in regards to her love of words, stories and language.  If only I actually knew how to teach a kid to read.

One of the most frustrating things for me as a parent with her right now, is her lack of interest in listening to adults.  The kid is always on her own time frame and wants to do her own thing and still doesn't give much of a crap about pleasing people.  Watching her in gymnastics?  Damn near kills me each time.  She is great at the skills and LOVES the class.  And yes, I know she is two and they expect quite a bit from them.  But watching her disobey and not listen to instructions DRIVES ME NUTS.  It takes so much for her to focus.  Sometimes I think I should pull her from the organized activities until she is a little older and a little more well behaved (it could happen, right?), but she is so stinkin' cute in a leotard, and she really does love it.  So to gymnastics we go.  Girl can do a mean 'spiderman'.

Eating habits haven't changed all that much either.  Well, as far as what she will actually eat anyway.  The amount she eats seems to dwindle more and more.  I don't understand how she can survive on so little food.  Ry still loves sweets, will eat almost any fruit and can hear you eating chips from a mile away.  For a while we had been giving her almond milk because we though that dairy was possibly causing some skin issues, but she has recently decided that she likes cows milk, and it hasn't seemed to make a difference in her skin.  Speaking of her skin, poor girl is still so dang sensitive.  Ryann's skin is extremely dry, and on top of lotion, we have to give her Claritin daily to keep her from getting too itchy.  You can definitely tell if we miss a day, she turns into a scratching monster.

Current favorites include coloring, watching movies, bathtime, eating cereal like daddy, wearing twirly dresses, shirts with pockets, blankets, playing games on the iPad, orange juice, having a 'rave' (hello dollar store glow sticks!), I Like to Move It by Will I Am, and tons of other things I can't think of right now.

Oh my little girl.  Really, seriously, I can't believe you're almost three.  You are the most challenging and most joyful part of my life.  Yes, sometimes (a lot of times) I wish you were a better listener and didn't try and push my buttons so much, but I LOVE your strong personality and your awkward sense of humor.  You are amazing.  I'm thankful every day that you are a part of my life. 

twenty four months

I can't believe it.  This is the last monthly post I'll write for Miss Ryann.  It seems like she has been a part of our lives forever, and yet at the same time I just can't grasp the fact that is has already been two years since I met her.  Crap.  I'm getting teary.  Moving on...

I'm late posting this monthly update because I wanted to wait until after Ryann's two year check-up.  Total lie.  I just hadn't gotten around to it until now, and thankfully we went to the doctor today.  My not so baby girl is 34 (55th percentile) inches tall and is weighing in at 27.8 pounds (64th percentile).  She is getting so big!  And now we  (hopefully) get to go another six months without a doctors visit.  SCORE.  Still hanging out in the 2T clothes, size 5 diapers and size 6 shoes.  Sleeping habits are still the same as well, about 10 hours at night, and a two hour nap just after lunch.

Now I can't say Ryann's eating habits have changed dramatically or anything.  She still favors peanut butter toast, pancakes, fruit and meatballs.  But she has definitely become much more open to at least trying new foods.  They often don't go over great, but trying is trying.  I'll take it.  Yesterday I gave her a hard boiled egg, she took a bite  of the yolk and I could tell in her face almost instantly she hated it.  I asked her "what do you think?"  "Um.  I need to drink my milk."  She furiously chugged some milk trying to wash the taste out of her mouth.  It was so funny, but again, just so happy she is actually willing to try other things sometimes.

someone was NOT into this photo shoot.  at all. 

Oh man.  Ryann has always seemed older than she is to me, simply because she can vocalize so well.  But in the last month she seems to have skipped two and jumped straight to being five or something.  She rarely speaks in broken sentences anymore, stringing 5+ words together complete with adjectives, pronouns and other various parts of speech quite well.  And no, not everyone can understand everything she says, but if you listen for just a bit you can generally figure it out.

Her gross motor skills?  Well, those are still a bit lacking.  This kid may know all the days of the week, all the months of the year, and can more or less count to 50.  But she can't jump to save her life.  And I about die from the hilariousness of watching her try to drink from a regular cup... somehow her tongue gets involved in the process, and it is just plain awkward.  We will get there of course, and quite honestly I like those little quirks because it reminds me that she is in fact only two.

Thankfully there has been a little more interest in the potty training department.  I can't say I think it will happen anytime soon, but maybe she will surprise me.  She sure as heck knows what she is doing, but the kid is just stubborn, and would rather be in control, and just keep doing what she is doing.  One morning she told me she didn't want to wear diapers, so I put her in a pair of underwear.  About five minutes later she wanted them off, I told her if she wanted them off we'd have to put a diaper on.  She said "No.  I don't want a diaper.  I don't want underwear.  Just pants."  Oh great.  My kid would prefer to go commando all the time.  That is just plain wonderful.  Right now we'll just go ahead and stick with diapers.

Sorry but one other funny potty related story.  On Ryann's birthday we were out to eat at Cheesecake Factory.  Ryann started telling us she needed to go poopy on the potty.  She needed to use the potty at the restaurant.  I of course thought she was just being a punk because she didn't want to eat the noodles (that she requested!), but took her to the bathroom anyway.  As I am hovering her over the toilet another lady comes in and uses the stall next to us.  As soon as she starts peeing Ryann starts cheering, "Oh hooray!  Good job girl!  Good job going in the potty!"  Yep, clapping and cheering on some random woman in the bathroom.  I'm not sure the lady was paying attention, we never did actually see her, but I hope she loved the encouragement :o).  The good news?  Ryann did indeed poop in the potty.

bribery at its finest

We are definitely still well into the 'mine' stage right now.  She is sure to tell everyone that pretty much everything is hers, and can be kind of aggressive about it.  Drives me a bit crazy.  Now we are also very much at the 'I can do it myself' stage as well.  I'm all for her becoming a bit more independent and doing things by herself, by ohmygawd it takes forever to get her dressed.  I just have to remind myself that this is part of her growing up, I can't always do everything for her or she'll never learn.  It is somewhat funny though, now she'll tell me, "I'm two now.  I'm big.  I can do it."  I get reminded pretty much every hour that she is a big girl now.  The other day she told me she is going to be 'bigger than mommy' and she can 'do anything everyday'.  Whatever that means :o).

Ryann used to be pretty timid and shy, not very adventurous at all.  Now?  Not so much.  She gets so excited when people come over, running up to the door to see who it is.  She used to be incredibly cautious while climbing and playing, and now I'm fearful she'll fall off of this or that every second.  She loves to see what she can climb on top of and stand on.  Tables, toys, random things, you name it, she wants to climb it and stand on it.  I'm glad she is becoming braver, but it sure is scary.  It has made the park a lot more fun (well, and scary, but fun) now that she likes the twisty slides and the tunnel slide.  She is constantly doing circles, up the steps down the slide up the steps down the slide.  She loves it.

What I most want to remember right now, are the things I can't really explain with written words.  Ry has become so enthusiastic about everything, there is constantly a little pep in her step.  Words flowing out of her to a little made up tune.  She cheers me on when I accomplish even the most simple tasks, or when I finish all of my meal :o).  There is just this certain thing about the way she talks and the way she plays lately.  It makes my cheeks hurt from smiling so much sometimes just watching her.  We still have our off days (duh, I'm pretty sure that will happen, oh, forever), but those good moments are just SO good.  Little giggle fests with my kiddo make my world go round.

Oh my little cheese ball.  Every single day is just a bit brighter because you're here.  Even on our toughest days I'm still so happy to be your mom.  Don't you ever EVER think otherwise.

twenty-three months

Yesterday my precious little girl turned twenty-three months old.  As in there is only one month left until she is two.  And this is my next to last monthly update (not sure I'm sad about that, they can be a bit of a challenge to put together... and pictures with the chalkboard are getting really old!).

Ry is wearing anywhere from 24 month to 3T clothing (although that is just in the leggings.  Some of those suckers are tight!), sporting a size 6 shoe, and size 5 diapers (because she HATES the potty now.  ugh, fail.).  She is usually in her crib for the night at 8pm (and no later than 9), and generally up between 6:15 and 6:45am.  I try and put her in her crib by 1pm for nap, and she'll sleep until 3 or 4.  Occasionally longer, but I have to wake her, or she isn't ready for bed.  She never has figured out how to sleep past 7am, but since she generally gives me such a good nap, I'll just go with it.

Speaking of the early morning wake ups.  I swear this kid starts singing as soon as her eyes flick open, possibly before.  This week I've been woken up with rather loud renditions of Row Row Row Your Boat, This Old Man, and a few other songs that I'm pretty sure she just made up.  A lot of her 'songs' seem to be just a stream of conscience.  When I finally make my way into her room she'll smile real big and say, "I was singing Mama."  Why yes dear, I most definitely heard you :o).  Sometimes she throws in I think a verse from London Bridge.  Really I have no idea, we've tried to figure out the whole thing, but we hear something about 'sticks and stones, xylophones'.  Maybe it is another made up song, but it is to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down.

Our daily menu still consists pretty much of peanut butter toast or waffles, fruit, salmon sticks, and meatballs.  She asks for meatballs for dinner EVERY SINGLE DAY.  No joke.  I have got to convince this child to eat a wider variety of food, her selection is way too boring.  But if I try and switch it up the meal usually ends in tears.  Even though the variety isn't there, I feel like she still gets all the nutrients she needs, so I'm trying to pick my battles.  Someday she'll be more adventureous in the food department, right?  I did manage to get her to eat some pasta by getting the alphabet noodles.  Unfortunately I made the mistake of mixing meatball pieces in.  She wanted to eat the meatballs, and the pasta, but not at the same time.  Go figure.  I sorted out every last little piece of meatball.

One of my absolute favorite things this past month has been listening to Ryann 'read'.  Obviously she has just memorized what we've read to her, but she is good.  She can 'read' several books the whole way through.  And if she can't remember the exact words, she spits out her own modified version.  We've overheard her read Silly Sally, Llama Llama Mad at Mama, What's Wrong Little Pookie and Jamberry.  It is beyond cute.

This month Ryann has also began to distinguish between boys and girls.  I don't know exactly what sparked it, but we'd be walking out of the gym and she'd point to someone and say, "That's a girl.  That's a boy," almost always correct.  Eventually I started quizzing her, "Is mommy a boy or a girl?  Is daddy a boy or a girl?  What's Ryann?"  And so on and so on.  She rarely answers incorrectly.  Randomly she'll ask me, is so and so a girl or a boy.  So I'll repeat the question to her.  Then she'll say to me, "More people mama?  Say more people mama?"  It is a fun little game.  I was impressed that she even correctly labeled several movie characters.  Some of them are a little tough, but for the most part she gets it right.

Another crazy thing Ryann has figured out this past month?  How to count to nearly 50.  Yes, 50.  Now she can't just do it straight on her own.  We usually are saying the numbers back and forth.  But she has picked up on the pattern.  It is just a matter of learning 30,40,50, etc in the correct order.  A lot of times when we are driving in the car I'll just start with 1, she'll say 2, and we'll got back and forth until 40 or 50.  She regularly skips 16,17, and 27.  Not sure why those numbers get slighted, but they are the ones she always forgets.  Sometimes she also jumps straight from 19 to 21, but not always.

I think one of Ryann's favorite parts of the day is when Daddy comes home.  She has started this little thing where she hides in the kitchen as soon as she hears the garage door go up.  When he open the door she jumps out and says boo, runs up and gives him a hug, and then generally is off and running yelling back at him, "Daddy play chase?  Daddy play chase!"  One time we were still sitting at the table having a snack when the garage door went up.  She freaking flipped out.  "Mommy I have to get down!  I am stuck!  I have to get down I have to hide!  Mommy GET ME OUT!"  I of course was laughing so hard I could barely function.  It was awesome.  The really funny part?  Apparently Melissa's little Alice does almost the exact same hiding routine :o).  If only there was that much excitement when I got home... Ha.

Ryann asks me multiple times a week if we can go to Grammy and Papa's house.  Or to Georgia.  Either one, I'm pretty sure she just doesn't want to hang out at home with me.  No really.  On Tuesday my parents took us out to dinner, because they were staying in town to be close to the airport.  When we left the restaruant Ryan was sad she couldn't go with them.  This is the conversation that followed:

Ryann:  "Go to the airport with Grammy and Papa?"

Me:  "Well honey Daddy and I aren't going so you'll have to stay hear with us."

Ryann:  "I want to fly on the plan with Grammy and Papa."

Me:  "But what about Mommy and Daddy?  We'll miss you too much.  Don't you want to stay with Mommy."

Ryann:  "I don't want to stay mommy.  I want to go."

We'll, alrighty then.  Apparently I'm no fun.  :o)  Then she said, "You know what?  There is no Christmas.  And no Mickeys."  Hahahahaha.  It was dark outside, and she was really referring to the fact that the Christmas lights aren't up anymore (or inflatable characters), but it seriously sounded like the saddest little conversation.

Ryann's imaginative and pretend play gets more and more fun to watch everyday.  She takes care of her stuffed animals and baby dolls, talking and singing to them all the time.  She carefully covers up her sea horse with somewhere around 12 blankets, making sure each one is precisely lined up.  She'll put a crayon in a stacking cup and tell me she brought me a drink with a straw.  Her counting bears are always having conversations with each other.  I'm so tempted to give her the play kitchen and stuff before her birthday, because I just think she would have a blast with it.  But I'm trying to refrain :o).

Other random tidbits to mention...  How on Earth Ryann picked this up, I have no idea, but whenever Chris and I kiss Ryann acts like a little grossed out teenager.  She scrunches up her face and makes a completely disgusted noise.  It is hilarious.  Seriously.  Who taught her that?  If you pretend to be sad Ryann will run over to give you a hug and a kiss to make it better (which is surprisingly great for distracting her when she is sad).  She hardcore stalls when I am putting her to bed, asking for just one more song, or trying to talk about her day, or what we are going to do the next day.

Things that Ryann loves right now:  Mr & Mrs. Potato Head.  Laying in her crib with a million stuffed animals and books.  The Land Before Time (but only the happy parts).  Kung Fu Panda 2 (still).  Putting the soap in the dishwasher.  Starting the laundry (woot! keep enjoying the chores girly!). Her 'juice' (flavored water).

Things that Ryann hates right now:  Having her diaper changed.  Coming inside after playing outside.  Putting on shoes and socks and a jacket to leave the house.  Getting dressed in the morning.  Being stuck in her stroller.  Being carried when she wants to walk.  Vegetables (except raw bell peppers).  Pretty much the typical stuff hated by toddlers :o).

Oh my sweet complicated crazy little girl.  I love watching you grow.  But stop it.  Stop growing up so fast.  I LOVE YOU.

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!    

twenty-one months

There are less than three months until I am the mother of a two-year-old.  To tell you the truth, it doesn't really surprise me.  This little girl is definitely not a baby anymore.

This photo session was definitely not as easy as last month's.  She wanted nothing to do with my chalkboard.  I still managed to get some shots that I love, but honestly all of the bribing in the world would not get her to actually stand still for more than a second.  It was the first time we'd gotten to play outside on a semi nice day (it was like 54!) in quite some time.  Therefore it was as if I had released a caged animal!  Ha ha.

Ryann's next doctors appointment isn't until April 4th, so I won't know any 'stats' until then, but I'm pretty sure she is just getting taller and taller.  She hasn't really thinned out all that much but some of her 24 month pants are starting to look like high waters.  Every time she attempts to stand on the scale it reads somewhere around 25.5 pounds, but she isn't standing on it correctly, so I don't give it that much credit.  And no, I'm not making her weigh herself.  Of course I don't get to pee alone, and when I'm in there she generally drags out the scale and starts pushing buttons and climbs on it.

Her closet is still full of clothing ranging in 18 months - 2T.  I've stopped buying 24 month clothing unless I know it is something we need right now.  Shoes are also still 5.5-6 range.  I bought a pair of size 7 boots from Old Navy for her, and they look like they would work right now, but I think they are just a tad big.  The See Kai Run shoes I ordered from Zulilly are a size 6 and she has plenty of room in them.

Potty training is going pretty much the same as last month.  Ryann will usually go if I ask her, unless of course she is playing with something way too exciting.  She also asks to go on occasion, but it is pretty seldom.  And a lot of times when she does ask she is trying to get out of something she doesn't want to do, such as eating a lunch or dinner that isn't on her 'approved' list.  "Ryann, are you going to take a bite of that carrot?"  "I need to use the potty seat!  I need to use the potty seat!"  Uh huh, sure :o).  In her defense she does always go when she sits on it, but I'm sure it wasn't quite that urgent.  Actually while we were in Omaha and Ryann was up in the middle of the night, she was trying to find any excuse to get out of her crib.  At one point she stood up and said "I need to put poopies in the potty seat!  I need to use the potty seat!"  Manipulative much?

Listening to the things that come out of Ryann's mouth is still lots of fun.  I love that she can tell me what happens when I'm not around.  Sometimes she is being a tattle tell, "Gigi picked up a bag.  Miss Julie tell her no thank you!  Gigi was being naughty."  Obviously I don't really know what happened, but it was funny to hear her recount part of her day.  Or yesterday when we got home from the gym she said, "Did you watch Thomas at the gym? (she still phrases everything as a question a lot)"  "No, I didn't.  Did you?"  "Yeah.  Thomas the train wiggled his eyes.  Thomas is a funny show."  Too cute.  On a slightly different note, yesterday after Ryann went down the slide she said, "Whee!  That was fun Mommy!"  Not sure why but that really made me smile.

Unfortunately one of Ryann's favorite words right now, is of course "No."  She even turned it into a fun little jingle, I'll have to try and record it.  It is actually a universal tune that she'll swap out with different words, "No.  No.  No no no!" or "Dad.  Dad.  Dad dad dad!"  It would annoy me more if it wasn't so funny to hear her sing it.  And she has developed this other odd little voice she uses when she says no.  It is rather whiny, high pitched and drawn out.  But it is near impossible not to laugh when she looks you straight in the face and says, "Nooooooooo".  Another thing I need to just get on video.  Really, you can be incredibly frustrated, ask her a simple question, that odd little no comes out, and it takes everything you've got not to snort with laughter.

We are getting more and more unprompted 'I love yous' everyday.  Just last night Ryann came sprinting into the kitchen, wrapped her arms around my legs and said "I love you, Mommy".  I melted into a puddle right there from all the sweetness.  She also loves on her toys, tells them she loves them, hugs them, kisses them.  And she also makes them kiss each other which is kind of funny.  She'll grab a couple of animals from her Little People sets, push their faces together and make a kissing sound.  Cracks me up.  I'll ask her, "Oh, did the zebra and lion just kiss?"  "Yep."  Very matter of fact :o). 

But you know what gets the most hugs and I love yous?  Why her stuffed ginger of course.  My mom put a stuffed gingerbread doll in Ryann's stocking and I think we might need to find a couple more.  She isn't consistent but Ryann frequently asks to sleep with her ginger.  I was doing my best to keep it at one night time buddy, but she freaking loves that thing.  Between the doll and the two pairs of ginger pajamas she has now, we talk about gingers all the time.  And I truly hope I'm not offending any of the red heads out there.  It really is hysterical to watch Ryann hug her doll and say "I love you ginger!"

 
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but Ryann has assigned us all colors.  Well not all of us, but while playing with the sorting bears she decided certain colors are for certain people.  The purple bucket is hers, the yellow is mine, Christopher gets blue, red is for our friend Kyle, and green is for our friend Chris.  But now not only are the yellow bears mine, pretty much anything yellow is mine.  She brings me yellow blocks and pieces of her toys.  Yesterday Ryann threw all of the yellow plastic balls out of her ball pit and said "I got your balls out for you Mommy!"  Recently she had some fruit loops in her snack cup, and whenever she would pull out a yellow one she would hand it to me and say, "Here mommy.  This ones yours.  Eat it."  It cracks me up.

these were the 'stop taking so many pictures of me' faces

Ryann is very into spinning this month.  Or playing ring around the rosie.  She'll just start spinning in circles in random places.  We've asked her to only spin in the family room (it's the only carpeted area in our house) and preferably only when mommy and daddy are around (because she goes a little crazy and bashes into things).  We can be in another room doing something completely different and she'll stand up, "Go in the family room?  Spin?  Spin again, please?"  Who knew spinning in circles was so awesome.

Coloring and coloring books also score high on the fun meter.  For a little while there she really wasn't interested in coloring at all anymore, but in the last couple of weeks we have spent hours laying on the floor with her crayons and coloring books.  When she is really concentrating she can actually do a pretty good job of staying in the lines.  It isn't perfect, but it is very apparent that she knows she is supposed to color section by section.  And if you suggest she color a certain part a certain color?  That simply thrills her.  For example, "Ryann I'm going to color Elmo's nose orange, maybe you should color Grover blue?"  "Oh yeah!  Ok!  Find the blue!  Color Grover!"  Like it was the best idea in the world, and then she goes to town.

can't you just hear the whine?  obviously i'm a mean mom who makes her child do horrible things.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Nodding her head for yes?  That has also become pretty awesome.  If you ask her a question she'll do an exaggerated yes nod with a little "Mmm-hmm" thrown in there.  Or a "yep".  I'm partial to the yep I think.

Other random things Ryann is enjoying lately:  Corduroy, letters (definitely solidifies my choice for an alphabet party), m&m's, splashing in the bathtub, looking at Christmas lights, meatballs (I think she would choose meatballs for every meal every day if she could), Peek-a-Zoo on the iPad and Kung Fu Panda 2.  Oh Kung Fu Panda 2.  I'm pretty sure I've already seen that movie somewhere in the neighborhood of five times.  But she loves it (mostly the baby panda scenes).  So I guess I'll tolerate it.

Oh Miss Ryann.  You have loads of personality.  I love you.