A Few Highlights

Yikes! I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I last posted anything - I knew I was behind but I didn't realize I was this far behind. I'm surprised anyone still checks!!

What I've done is pick out a few photos that show some of the things Ryan's been up to in Jan/Feb leading up to his birthday - then I'll post some specific birthday shots later.

In January my brother David was in Toronto for a course and we got to spend some time with him which was great. Ryan loved having another playmate and for a couple of weeks after David left he would ask about 'Uncle Dabid'.

David got to see the difference between having a boy and a girl - his Madison is not quite so energetic and crazy as Ryan is!

Here Ryan is building with his blocks - a Christmas present from Uncle Nathan. These get dumped out onto his bedroom floor a couple of times a week and he says 'build Mommy', if I'm not already in his room this will be accompanied by a 'come on Mommy'. In this photo you actually see Ryan attempting to build - generally it's my job to build and his job to destroy!

Ryan generally shows no interest in dressing up, choosing his clothes or even wearing our shoes - though he does like Grandma's slippers. This day he had found my shoes and was trying them on, couldn't resist grabbing a few photos.

Here's Ryan flaked out wathcing a DVD - probably Psalty or 'Bob and Larry' (VeggieTales) which are his favourites.

As go, go, go Ryan is thankfully he also enjoys reading (at least for now, I hope this is something we can keep encouraging him to enjoy!) At least once a week I'll find him in his room reading to himself - occasionally out loud - but mostly just looking at the pictures. This is one such occasion where he's reading his Thomas book - a current favourite.

Bedtime is always preceded by a story time. Here Auntie Sam is reading the bedtime book - The Gruffalo's Child - this is a very popular children's book in the UK - I haven't noticed it here so much. Funny thing is, we don't yet have The Gruffalo (the first book) I keep meaning to find it.

The week before Ryan's birthday it was time for a haircut. Now, the last few times that we've tried to cut his hair it's been quite the ordeal. Once I took him to a hairdresser which didn't go over so well and Grandma tried cutting it twice - which was a touch better but still not what I'd call a fun experience for any of us!

This time I took him to a special children's haircutting place called Melon Head - they have very cool chairs for the kids to sit in, TV's that can be seen from each chair and toys to distract them. Ryan still did not enjoy the experience but the person cutting his hair is so used to kids crying and carrying on that it didn't phase her a bit and she just kept going. Only took 15 mins and his hair was super-short, the tears were passed and Ryan wanted to play in the chairs! This photo was taken after the said haircut as I didn't have hands free to take any during the episode!

One Saturday morning while I was at work Chris and Ryan went to Fairy Lake for a walk and ended up playing in the snow and coming home soaking wet and freezing - they both had had a great time though!

Here, Ryan is running down the path away from Chris. Any chance to run free is takne full advantage of by this little guy - he loves trying to get away from me when we're at the mall though he's getting much better as he's learning that everytime he runs away he gets put back in his stroller - where he definitely DOES NOT want to be!

What a winter we've come home to - wow the snow just keeps on coming! Ryan was very unsure of the snow the first couple of times we took him out in it but he enjoys it now. Recently he's started to enjoy eating it and throwing it.

That's it - a quick glimpse of what Ryan's been up to (and us by extension) in Jan/Feb. The next photos to be posted are of his 2nd birthday - wow he's 2 already!!! I will do my best to post them in the next few days rather than the next few weeks!

A bonus note for those interested: the pregnancy is going well, the baby is moving and growing and for the most part I've been feeling really good. Emotions are running much closer to the surface than usual but Chris is managing me well and Ryan doesn't know what to do if I start to cry - he'll usually whine himeself and come give me a hug - very cute. Then he picks up my glasses and makes me put them back on! Today I'm feeling a bit tired so I'm going to lie down now, but generally I've had lots of energy to get me though the day. I am very excited to clean the house and throw out anything we haven't used since moving back - I started in our bedroom the other day and am slowing making my way around the house - it's tough to do when Ryan is underfoot though.