17 Months

Ryland surprises us every day with the things he's learned and knows.  It amazes me the little person he's become; bright, loving, energetic personality.  He's definitely grown taller...but still only weighs 22 lbs despite all the food he wolfs down.  Ry has started taking our hands and leading us to the things he wants.  When he's ready to go, he'll grab my hand, say 'bye-bye' and walks us to the door.  The dude knows what he wants!  He mimics everything from gestures to words, our little parrot.  He's soooo close to giving the Hook 'em Horns hand signal.  :) 



grrrrrr pasta!  9/8/2012

Ry finally came down with his first ear infection at 16.5 months.  If you ask me that's pretty darn good making is that far before getting an ear infection!  Unfortunately for a good week there it was SO.NOT.FUN!  It started off with a fever on Friday, which we thought was due to teething.  He also had some gross green eye junk, which we attributed to something in the air irritating him (not allergies NOOOOO).  He was OK the first couple of days as we loaded him up with Tylenol.  Then by the third day he was much worse.  Very clingy, no energy, hot, green eye junk still there and overall very whiny.  So on Monday, Labor Day, we made an appointment to have him checked out.  Sure enough his left ear was inflamed and apparently he had conjunctivitis!  I found out later that many of the kids at day care had the same symptoms.  So for the next 5 days we had to administer eye drops, and for the next 10 days amoxicillin.  OMG that was the WORST!  Ry refused to take the meds and fought us at every turn.  We tried to slip the amoxicillin in his juice, then his milk.  He'd only drink the milk in the morning and refused all liquids in the evening (he figured out what we were doing) so we finally had to resort to forcing it down with a syringe.  :(  I think we were lucky to get half the meds down him.  Thankfully he cleared up pretty fast even though we never did finish off the meds (bad parents).

:)
9/14/2012

Come on...lets get outta here!

As soon as he recovered from that, he succumbed to a 24 hour stomach bug...on Friday!  Again...another virus making the rounds at daycare.  This bug resulted in both of our cars getting hit with vomit.  UGH!  At least there was no fever.  It was back off to the Dr's office for more meds. Pedialyte, saltines and nausea meds were prescribed.  On the way there he puked in my car two times.  Poor baby was miserable and I forgot to pack extra clothes!  The Dr's office was nice enough to give us a gown.  Thankfully Ry was recovered by Sunday, just in time to go back to daycare.

UT tailgate 9/1/2012

September means football and tailgating are back!  We've already hit up two tailgates this past month.  The first was crazy hot, thank goodness our spot is located under some ginormous trees and lush grass.  The second tailgate was much cooler.  Both times we had some friends come out and join the fun.

Go Green!  Go White!  8/31/2012

MSU cool 9/8/2012

Ry loves his easel  8/29/2012

water table fun 8/31/2012

Visit from Baba 9/2/2012

Dinner at Verona 9/18/2012

Dinner at Verona for Opa & Juju's bdays 9/18/2012

16 Months

OMG I'm having a hard time keeping up with blogging!  Better late than never right?  The months just go by so quickly, he turned 16 months on 8/18.  Let's see, what's new with my little guy...

Ry is now ~24 lbs and I'm pretty sure his second molars are coming through as well.  That kid has a mouth full of shark teeth!  No canine teeth yet.

He loves looking for belly buttons.  If you ask him "where's your belly button" he quickly pull up his shirt and search for it.  He also loves finding mommy's belly button. There's been times it's the only way I can get him to come inside.  "Where's mommy's belly button?"  Next thing I know the little squirt is chasing after me and won't stop until he's pulled up my shirt and pokes my belly button.

Ry surprised us a couple weeks by showing us that he knows his body parts!

• "Show us your pretty eyes" - Ry blinks
• "Where's your lips?" - Smacks his lips
• "Show us your smile!" - picture cheesy Elvis grin and squinty eyes
• "Where's your hands?" - waves his hands around (jazz hands??)

He'll also point to his teeth, tongue, hair, ears, eyes and nose.  It's the cutest thing!  When we have friends and family over I feel like I'm showing him off by making him do tricks.  Either way it's super cute and I couldn't be prouder.

Our little man is definitely discovering his tongue.  We can see him rolling it around in his mouth making really cute garbled sounds as he tries to say more things.  This kid is gonna be a chatter box I just know it!  Ry's become quite the mimic, he repeats most things we say.

• "No, no no!"  While pointing his finger!
• "chomp chomp"  In regards to his shark shirt
• Juju
• Nana
• Pa-pa (as in Opa)
• cheese
• bye-bye
• juice
• uh oh - says this when he drops something
• gone gone - when his food is gone

If you ask him "Where'd it go?", he will shrug with his hands facing palm up and look around, his way of telling us 'I don't know'.

Ry loves playing with our dogs Sarah and Josie.  He's constantly following them around, laying next to them on the dog bed and even tries to ride them!  Sarah and Josie are very good with Ry - handling pretty much everything he dishes out to them and walking away when they've had enough.  One thing Ry has picked up from the dogs is answering the door.  He knows that when the dogs start barking and running towards the front door that someone has arrived.  Ry's eyes become enormous with exhilaration as he exclaims 'oh oh oh', hands in the air while running towards the door and occasionally trying to bark.  Nothing but excitement over at our house!

This past month has been super busy.  Check out the photos below from all our adventures.

Ry's 1st RR Express game - They gave him a ball! 7/27/2012

nom nom nom

slurp

*fist pump*

splash park fun 7/28/2012

cups, a great water toy!

too much fun = one tired boy! 7/29/2012

Dinner at Verona 7/29/2012

play date with Cora 7/29/2012

Cheese! 8/3/2012

brush brush brush

Monster Jam 8/4/2012

Thanks to the Mills for a great time!  Can you tell it was really loud??

Ry loved monster jam, although it was a bit loud, hence the ear plugs

Luv me some watermelon with cousin Blake and Nana 8/5/2012

Monkeys!  Austin Zoo 8/11/2012

Tigers oh my!

Which one frightens you more?

Opa and Juju strolling through the zoo

Big bro, little bro

feeling ducky

Hey hey we're the monkeys!

Ry's man cave 8/18/2012 
He loves playing under the table and will rearrange all the chairs.

Wild Animals 8/19/2012
Another of Ry's favorite hangouts

Watch out! 8/20/2012
Let's get mommy all wet!

water fun 8/20/2012

15 Months

15 months young already?  Where has the time gone!  My little guy has grown so much this past month.  Ry's moved up to the bigger kids room at daycare and having a blast, we've had play dates with several friends and we bought a new bike seat so that Ry could enjoy biking with mommy!  He also loves to for us to read him books and will curl up in our laps for as long as we'll let him.  He'll bring us one book at a time, and as soon as the story's over he's up grabbing another book.  I'm delighted that he enjoys books and it's a wonderful cuddly bonding time for us.  We've incorporated reading into his nightly bedtime routine so that now he's excited to go up to his room vs. dreading going to sleep.

Mommy and me 7/7/2012

Play date with Layla and Ayden 7/7/2012

Speaking of sleep...Ry's bottom first molars have started pushing through, which has led to quite a few restless nights.  His prime time to wake us up was between 1:30-4am for about 3-4 nights in a row.  Not fun!  One day he even ran a fever and we had to bring him home from daycare.  He totally wasn't sick, it was all from teething.  Luckily Opa and Juju watched him for us so the hubby and I could work.

bed head - 15 months, 7/18/2012

Ry's passion for foods continues to grow.  It really amazes me how much he can put away!  Ry LOVES pasta, ice cream, yogurt melts, blueberries, watermelon, cheese, pizza and anything that mommy is eating or drinking.  When he sees me with food or a drink he yells 'nah nah' (I want that) and points at it, then he comes in for a taste; mouth open, tongue sticking out...  If it's something he likes he smiles and goes 'mmmmm' (yum) and when he takes a drink he follows it up with 'ahhhhh' (refreshing).  He's also taken to occasionally spitting out whatever he's just sipped from my cup to see my reaction.  It just thrills him to pieces to see my shocked face as I say 'noooooo!'.  He just giggles and smiles and of course I can't stay mad at him, he's so stinking cute. 

more watermelon please 7/2/2012

flashlight explorations

slurping up spaghetti

Rylander has such a sweet disposition.  My favorite is when he gives kisses, or actually when he receives a kiss.  Sometimes he'll flirt and play hard to get, other times he'll go right in for a kiss.  And then there are the times when you kiss him on the cheek and he'll smile at you and give a soft giggle or gentle sigh.  :heartmelts: 

sweetness 7/4/2012

mommy kisses 7/4/2012

Then there are the times when Ry-Ry is ALL BOY!  He loves tinkering with his tools, carrying around his shovel or pounding items with his hammer.  And then there is his destructive side.  Now don't get me wrong, he's not this crazy destroyer of worlds type, but he will come over after I have painstakingly organized all his toys and toss everything about with glee.  *sigh*  There are also times when I swear he's been secretly watching WWF.  We'll be leisurely lounging on the floor when Ry tackles us, straddles our waists and jumps up and down.  It's quite the ab workout really.  Daddy loves to wrestle with Ry, holding him down while he mercilessly tickles him. 

Ride 'Em cowboy! 6/28/2012

Ry is finally using words!  It's been a long time coming and now Ry is finally making sense...meaning we can actually understand him.  :)  Sometimes he will say them clearly, other times it's a stretch. 

Here's a list of his 'words' so far:

coo coo coookie! (cookie)

Ry-Ry

uh - oh  (when he drops something)

thank you (he can say it and sign it)

please (he signs it)

animal sounds:

quack

bock

moo

woof

Our doggie door has a new use, as Ryland's personal exit to the outside world!  Ryland has discovered the doggie door and will crawl through it when we have our backs turned to him.  One minute he's in the house, the next we spot him through the window scurrying across the patio.  One of Ry's favorite activities at daycare is to go outside and play with the water table.  As soon as you mention the word outside he'll squeal with excitement and go running for the door.  As long as it's not too hot (pfft we live in Texas!) we'll take him outside in the evenings on the back patio and let him play with the water hose or push him in his swing.  Speaking of water, that kid can't get enough of it!  He eagerly jumps at the chance for a bath in the tub and once he's in the shower he doesn't want to leave.  At the pool he's become quite the dare devil, running straight into the shallow end and not stopping until we catch him or the water is up to his nose!  Over the 4th of July he enjoyed playing with the big kids on a slip n slide.

Dressed up for the 4th of July parade at daycare

down home American!

Parade at daycare 7/3/2012

4th of July BBQ with friends.

funny guys