Dentist

We took Ryan to the dentist this week and he did great. I wasn't sure how he was going to do, since he has a tendency to get really shy, but he loved it. He loved sitting in the special chair and all the attention. He has one cavity that needs to be filled, and I don't know if he will like the dentist nearly as much after he gets the filling.

Teething

This poor little guys has a tooth coming in and is feeling awful. We were up half the night because he was having a hard time sleeping. He's running a fever and is pretty lethargic. It's crazy how one little tooth can be so painful. At least we are getting in lots of cuddle time.

Dying Easter Eggs

Tonight we dyed Easter eggs. Ryan asked about them all week, and was ask excited when the time finally came. He watched carefully as the dye tablets dissolved. His favorite part was putting stickers on all the eggs afterwards.

Oranges

This is how we eat our oranges around here...peels and all.

Easter Cookies

We went over to our friends house today to decorate Easter cookies. It was a lot of fun. There wasn't any shortage of sprinkles, or sugar. It was a beautiful spring day and we spent some time outside afterwards, followed by a potluck lunch. So much fun!

Monkey Bizness

Today we had so much fun. We went to Monkey Bizness with some good friends. I had never been before, and we had a blast! The boys absolutely loved it. It's an indoor playground. We stayed a lot longer than I expected, but it was the perfect way to spend the day. Derek crawled everywhere, and I even took him down the inflatable slide. Ryan climbed everything there was to climb, and ran around until he was red in the face. The boys had a really good time and it was really nice to get out of the house and spend time with friends.

Littler artist

This is a picture of Derek trying to be like his big brother. He's actually not too bad either. He is really good at scribbling back and forth. But sometimes eating the pen is just too hard to resist.

Little artist

Here are 2 pictures that Ryan drew. The first one is a backhoe, the second one is a car. I was pretty impressed, especially since I didn't give him any tips or advice. He drew these all on his own. He is growing up so fast!

Ryan

After a long hiatus from blogging, I am happy to say that I am back!  Isn't it ironic that major life changes keep us too busy for blogging, when those are things we should be writing about most?  Anyways...I wanted to start by dedicating this post to my favorite 3 year old.

Since Derek has been born (almost 8 months ago!), Ryan has kind of gotten the lost in the craziness of everything.  I try to give him the attention he needs, but he's so independent and capable of doing so many things on his own that I take him for granted A LOT.  It's really too bad because he is doing and saying the funniest things.


Ryan LOVES to play doctor.  At least once a day we pretend that we are sick.  We first have to get the imaginary ambulance parked by the front door of our living room.  Then I pick him up and we go to the "hospital" which is usually on the couch or on mine and Clayton's bed.  We start with a check up.  This includes checking the heart beat by placing the imaginary stethoscope in his ears, then listening to the the heart (sound effects included).  We then check eyes, ears, nose and mouth.  It's amazing the things we find sometimes.  There might be grasshoppers or an elephant or even chocolate cake in our ears.  Typically we find a broken bone during the assessment and have to wrap it up, usually with a belt or blanket.  Once the patient has rested, we unwrap the affected limb and do some stretches (this must be Clayton's influence).  Once the patient is given the all clear, we start again.

This kid has an AMAZING imagination.  He has so many imaginary friends that I can't keep track of all of them.  Just the other night Sophia and Frannie came over to play.  He had to open the door to let them in.  He usually speaks both sides of the conversation, which is hilarious.  When it was time for bed, Sophia and Frannie "slept" in the office.  Ryan woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.  As I was tucking him into bed,  he told me that his friends had gone home.  Even in a half awake state, he manages to remember his imaginary friends.  Perhaps we need to play with REAL friends more...

Ryan can be pretty shy in unfamiliar situations, but at home, he is quite the performer.  He love to make up songs.  If we are putting on his socks, he sings a song about socks.  If we are playing with cars, he makes up a little song about cars.

One of my favorite things about Ryan is how sweet he is.  He is very aware of what we are doing, and always asks us about it. He often asks "How was your day?" or "How did you sleep?"  He is always very concerned when someone is sad, even if it's someone on TV.  Ryan is my tender hearted little boy.

Derek absolutely LOVES Ryan.  Ryan is usually the last one up in the morning.  When Ryan walks down the stairs, Derek gets a huge grin on his face.  He will crawl over to see him, or squirm out of our arms, if we are holding him. Ryan can also get Derek laughing better than anyone.  I hope their friendship only gets closer as they grow up.