Ryan: 3 Years, 8 Months

After all the mixed-up weather of May, Ryan is looking forward to some nicer weather so he can do his favorite thing: play outside. He loves swinging on his playset and asks to be pushed like Batman. He also likes the sandbox, sand table, and has been learning more about throwing and hitting a baseball. He even has his own glove! We've gone on walks when the weather is nice and he likes (attempting to) control Nika. His first skinned knees/hands of the season came as a result of her pulling suddenly, but overall he does a pretty good job.

Because of the crazy weather, we've still spent a fair amount of time inside. After seeing how well he could follow patterns on the bead-stringing activity my mom brought, we encouraged Ryan to look at the example page that came with his foam magnet shapes and he was so proud of the boat, rocket, castle and robot that he made!

He also likes coloring with markers and has slowly gotten better at attempting to color certain parts instead of coloring the entire page blue (it was easy to pick out his paper at Sunday School). This morning, I printed out some coloring pages of Jake and the Neverland Pirates which he colored, then asked me to cut out. Then, he asked for some cardboard and I helped him with the scenery he wanted and he glue-sticked (glue-stuck?) them down.

I would describe Ryan as "all boy" and am afraid we haven't avoided gender stereotyping. This week when I tried to prepare him for going to a daycare with only little girls to play with, he explained to me, "Girls don't actually like to tackle, they just like playing house and babies."  He definitely needs either tackle time, outdoor time, or play time with other little boys. We can tell a huge difference when he's been cooped up all day or for days on end. Here's a picture of a sport he invented called "Oxing Boxing."

We get all kinds of emotions and expressions from Ryan.  He can put on quite the show of brow-furrowing, arm-crossing, and foot-stomping when he's not getting his way and has his fair share of crying/whining tantrums. But, he can also show great kindness, unselfishness, and love to others, especially Cohen. One thing is certain, he makes us laugh every day!