Guitar and painting!

Michelle our occasional nanny came over last Saturday and brought some amazing activities! She brought a kids cd and Ryan painted an octopus and drew with crayons and even strummed the guitar along with michelle while she serenaded him through lunch. It was so fun for him. He loved it all! He especially loves music and dances along to it all the time. He even gets on all fours and dances and sways to music like a little monkey! She said kids never strum and it takes forever for them to learn. So he's a natural! My little musician. He even knows the sign for music now so he can request it when he wants. It only took him a few minutes to learn! He's such a sponge for knowledge!

Hmmmmm...what shall I get up to next

I love this pic so much. Out on a walk with Ryan and he started doing this! He had stopped and was just staring into space like he was really thinking hard about something. Which I'm sure he was. He is a very focused, internal, thoughtful, quiet, observer. I did it back to him and he did it again to mimic me. He loves the monkey see monkey do game. And we play it back and forth all the time for sounds and gestures and faces. He loves to pop my cheeks when they are full of air and the sneeze game and the tickle monster game too. We make clicking and other weird noises back and forth too. It is such a kick!

Jellyfish hat

Just the cutest matching jellyfish hat to go with his jellyfish pants. Love them. And they are locally made! And nursing on the go with grandma after a marketing meeting in solana beach! Finally Ryan will nurse in public again. I've had to nurse him in a pitch black room for a year because he was too interested in his surroundings to eat. Now he knows if he's hungry he has to just get down to business.

Gymboree with mama

Another of Ryan's most favourite activities - his weekly Gymboree class! It's been fun for me to see him explore all the obstacles and also to meet other mommies. And we adore our teacher. Ryan is obsessed with climbing up the ramps and then sliding right back down again. He also loves to throw balls around and go through tunnels. Not so into the air log push but he loves parachute time and bubbles and gumbo the clown. Recently we made friends with a little boy and his mom who is from Bali! She made these heavenly beef stuffed potatoes and Ryan went ape-s**t for them demanding more and more bites! It was very cute. He is an amazing eater. He just tried radishes for the first time and asked for more immediately!

Jellyfish pants

Yep. Jellyfish pants. The cutest things ever. Ryan looks so dashing in these pants and so grown up in these photos. It's amazing to see how much he's learning and how far he's come and also heartbreaking because it means he's no longer a little baby and time is going so fast. I wish I could hold onto it a little longer. And yet...what a treasure to get to explore the world with this little nymph. Everything is new and exciting and wonderful to him and it is so inspiring

Swim with daddy

Ryan adores swimming. as soon as we arrive he knows where we are and dances in his car seat. Then once we get his bathers on he tries to race right into the water. He's all smiles and splashes when he gets in and his favourite parts include the ball retrieve game, jumping off the mat into the water and submersions! He always asks for more after the jumps and he even started anticipating the submersions and flips which is the next set of skills! I'm so proud of him. And it is magical to see how happy he is in the water. 

Another zoo outing

Because we live so close, we go to the zoo constantly. This visit was amazing. We saw rhinos and bears and leapords and elephants and meerkats and capybara and so many more creatures awake and up close! We even saw s gorgeous tiger growling for his dinner! Ryan was captivated. He loves cats so much.

My goofball and Chiro visits

Ryan is so funny these days. He loves to get up on the couch and then roll around and giggle. He plays with his stuffed toys and "feeds" them And Kissel them. Recently I came home from work and he was sweeping the floor! He loves to help :) he helps fold laundry by throwing things around the room. It's pretty funny. And when I come home now Ryan races to the stair gate, shakes it super hard and madly makes the milk sign with both hands. Yep. Mommy the cow. No hello or a kiss. And we had our Chiro check the other day. I've made heaps of progress which is fabulous and such a relief. Ryan's doing ok but bc he's falling a lot as he learns to run he's a bit more locked up than before. Thank heaven for dr joe!!!

Zoo fun!

Ack! I'm so behind on posting again. So much happens and Ryan learns new things every day! We went to the zoo Sunday the 17th in the late afternoon. It was a particularly fun visit bc so many animals were awake and munching and moving around...dinner time! We saw a new baby rhino eating dinner and baby giraffe too. Ryan loved the rhino so much. He kept chattering to him. Ryan has been learning new things like saying down and up and walking backwards and in circles and starting to run too! He's mr personality these days and into being in control of his own body...which results in power struggles of course.

Gymboree and lunch with auntie Sarah

We have a few makeups to do so we went today and asked auntie Sarah to join us! She'd never been and it was such fun for Ryan to have such a captive audience. He got to play on all the equipment and meet a few new babies. He gravitated towards his favourite things of course - zipping up and down the slides, stomping his feet on the bridges, throwing balls and other objects around, and balancing on the wobbly half ball. He also adores parachute time and bubble time. He watched intently to what other kids and adults were doing. Then we had lunch together at el pollo loco which Ryan loved. He was so good: he absolutely loves to go out to restaurants. Another new experience for him to relish :)

The a-a-achoo game

Ryan is really into new people these days. He waves to everyone he sees on the streets and in shops. It's very cute. He's into everything and wants to figure out how all things work. Yesterday at dinner time Ryan handed me his jacket from the back of his chair and pointed to my head. So I put it on my head. Then he made this funny face and noises and I soon realised he was asking me to do the Achoo game by making the I have to sneeze noises and face! It was sooooo cute. We did it over and over again. Such a charmer. And so communicative.

Chatting with the zoo animals

Ryan had wonky naps again today. Woke late after a somewhat challenging evening. Then took a late and short nap mid morning before his Physio appt. And struggled to sleep for his second nap. So we missed Gymboree :( ended up going for a late last minute zoo visit which was so fun. All the animals are awake and having dindin around 4pm so we got to see the rhino, hogs, antelope, birds, and more munching away. Also the giraffes! There were so many giraffes in there this time. And one was a teeny tiny baby! We saw a cheetah running around which Ryan loved and Then we visited Ryan's favourite - flamingos! He chatted to all of the animals and really loved watching them all eat, especially the rhino. He now calls the moon "muh" and even says mama to me! Except he says mama every time he wants something too so not sure how complimentary that is. Haha. He also signs for milk the moment he sees me and thinks it's super funny. We took a fun bath together this evening and Ryan laughed so hard over and over when I made squishy noises as He put on and took off the turtle toys from the wall. What fun!

Two sign combos!!

We took our little munchkin to the zoo yesterday afternoon and got to see a lot of amazingly active animals! We saw tons of lively monkeys which captivated him. We also saw bears and a hippo and a playful otter. We even saw some beautiful snow leopards, giraffes and a baby rhino! Ryan seemed most excited by the snow leopard, rhino, birds and monkeys. Then on the way home Ryan signed that he wanted milk. I told him we had to wait until we got home and he looked at me and signed more and then milk right after! I thought maybe it was a fluke but he did it several more times when I told him we had to wait to get home. So exciting to see his first two word/sign combination! I'm so proud of you Ryan

Swim graduation!

Today Ryan had his swim class. He loved it as usual and has made such gains since starting. One of the managers was there seeing where the kids were at skill wise. Ryan had received his graduation ribbon for splash baby's level one! So now he's in level two which is fun. As always it's such a joy to see how much he loves his activities. When he gets home from swim he is always so chatty and giggles a lot. It's sweet.

Welcome to our house

First pic is a rare moment when I actually capture Ryan being still for a millisecond. Second pic is what life here really looks like. Ryan is into absolutely everything these days. Especially things he cannot have. Keys, hot pans, biting the soles of shoes. Ewww. And the list goes on. But he is also so expressive and fun. He's starting to say mama when he needs something. How appropriate. And is a great little communicator. He uses a lot of sign snd grunts and little vocalisations as well as some babble and word approximations. I just can't get over how smart and funny he is. He's so focused and attentive. He really studies things carefully and when he asks for more of something he really watches the activity he requested. He loved his regional Center visit today. He showed off for her and used lots of signs and demonstrated a lot of skills. He follows commands so well too. Such a wonderful little person!

Science museum

Sunday was a weird sleep day. Ryan was up a few times and took forever going back to sleep in the early hours so slept in super late. Until almost 8! So his naps were all screwy. He is a solid two naps a day man so when he only gets one it's no fun for anyone. But we went to the farmers market for all the samples and snacks. Ryan loves it there and rides in his chariot, lording over his food palace. He gets fruit samples and juiced veggie drink samples which he loves. Such a good eater! I was not nearly as adventurous as he is in terms of food. He also got to sample some organic ice cream. Lucky little boy. His first ever ice cream taste! And naturally he signed for more straight away. The ice cream man kept commenting on his handsome Ryan is and seemed quite taken with him. He also said he looks just like me. Which is always nice to hear :) later we met Andrea and her two cute kiddos at the science museum in balboa park. Ryan loved it there, the kids play area and all the exhibits fascinated him. He enjoys new things so much. And he loved playing with Kai-Lynn (Andrea's daughter).

Zoo baby

Saturday we took Ryan to the zoo. It was a rare beautiful and sunny day out of mostly rainy cloudy dreary days lately. Ryan loved his zoo outing as usual. We saw the gorillas up very close and he was riveted by their faces. He loved the gondola rides of course - they are his absolute favourite. And we saw a lot of beautiful birds with all manner of songs. He loved that too and kept talking to them. He calls to the crows outside our condo here too. And he barks at dogs and yelps at sea lions in pictures. He walked around a lot on his own at the zoo that day and even got to cuddle a wiggly service puppy. After those outings he is always chattier and giggles more and is sillier. It's nice to see him so happy. That night he demanded a bite of my green olive and I was so surprised to see him immediately sign for more and more and more. Go figure! He also adored the sautéed shiitake mushrooms we had with breakfast the next day. Wow

Three musketeers

Well after the crazy weather yesterday (tornado warning in San Diego!! And flash floods) today was beautiful. Still rainy and stormy but lots of rainbows and blue sky in between. Ryan loves to be hung upside down now and signs for more over and over again :) last night was stormy and Ryan struggled with his sleep a lot maybe because of his teeth or because today he woke up taller for sure! He towers over other kids his age and even older ones too! He had such fun today with his Physio session and then at Gymboree. He loves to climb and slide and run and balance. And he loves to study what is going on all around him. During his Physio session he independently started turning in circles (not something we are working on) and when we clapped and said circle he did it again and again. Takes him no time at all to connect words to actions and objects. It blows my mind. I feel so lucky every day to be Ryan's mommy. Also remembered that Ryan's gym teacher told me that she had to choose between a few classes at work and she chose our slot because she loves Ryan so much and thinks he's so sweet and fun and would miss him. I thought that was so incredibly kind and special. We would have been devastated if she'd switched! 

My beautiful boy

Yesterday Ryan went to swimming after a two week break over the holidays. He had a blast as usual and even started blowing bubbles in the water!! So exciting! He is changing daily now...his vocabulary growing exponentially. He's so smart. He now has quite a few signs he uses independently: more, all done, open, on, eat, milk. He has a few of his own too :) he jabbers more every day as well and "sings" to himself in his oh so sweet little voice. A few days ago, while I was changing him after he woke up for the day, he looked up at me as I was singing his good morning song and signed eat! When I asked if he was hungry he grinned and signed eat again. When I come home to nurse him he immediately runs to the stairway gate and signs milk feverishly. It's very cute. He's so tickled that we know what he is saying. He says da for down now too. He can follow two step commands these days (when he wants to) and is just such a delight. How I love being a mommy to such a loving, sweet and smart little boy.

Boob o'clock and Sunday zoo day

Today was lovely. It all started when Ryan slept almost 10 hours straight!!! Wow. From 6:20pm to 4:10am. Then slept another 2.5 hours until 7:30am after a nice long nurse. When I heard him coo at 4:10 I woke and could sense my breasts were full and thought to myself...feels like 4am based on fullness. And I was right! Too funny. That's happened before too. So I have a boob o'clock. Pretty handy. We went to the farmers market first thing and enjoyed a greens shake and lots of fruit samples. Got veggies for the week. Then after his first nap we went to the zoo and rode the gondola twice, saw a polar bear, snow leopard, mountain lion, gazelles and lots and lots of birds. Birds are his favourite! Then took a stroll this afternoon after his second nap. Lovely day.