First Snowman

The snow packed wonderfully, but we picked up lots of leaves, so we had to top-dress it with some clean snow. With a lack of raw materials (charcoal, carrots, corncobs, branches, etc.), we had to improvise with what we had on hand, which turned out to be cattails, Oreos, and a Twizzler. Ryan had a lot of fun rolling, smoothing, and poking, but seems a bit frightened of the finished product. Nika is equally as disturbed as now each time I let her out, she barks defensively at the "intruder" in the back yard.  We call him the "AbominOreo Snowman".

First Snow: Sledding and Snowballs

Adam and Ryan got to play in the snow last week, but today was the first time all three of us went outside to play in the white stuff! It was much more fun today because it was pretty warm out and the snow was sticking a lot better.  After getting all our gear on, it was time to head out.

First, Ryan wanted to do some sledding. I'll be happy when he gets old enough to sled down hills and carry it back to the top instead of needing one of us to pull him, but it sure gave me a good workout! He loved it!

Adam picked up a FLIP video camera this week since ALCO had a huge sale, so we thought we'd try it out and got a few clips of me huffing and puffing through the backyard. I'm not sure if it's the camera or You Tube, but it seems to "jump" quite a bit on action shots. Adam's planning to use it mainly for kids' presentations in school, though, so it should work just fine.





Adam tried to pick a snowball fight (and he may not have had a friendly game in mind after I accidentally let Nika out without attaching her to her leash and she spent 15 minutes scampering around the snow eluding capture). I did not get hit, but admit it was tempting to start launching a few since the snow was so perfect for it! (Nika would have been my preferred target).

Next up: our first snowman (see next post).

Basketball Game

Taking Ryan to basketball games is more like "how to entertain a 2 year old for over an hour so he doesn't bother everyone else." He loves the idea of going to a basketball game and like the "marching band" but actually watching the game is not in his top 5 things he'd like to do. Here are the top 5: 

1. Bonz for fruit snacks and dig in the diaper bag until you find them yourself.

2. Eat half of daddy's popcorn.

3. Drink water or juice. I mean, a kid's thirsty after eating all that popcorn.

4. Play with cars, trains, or farm animals on the bleachers. Leave one or more behind so that Mommy has to email the janitor to see if they found it when cleaning the bleachers.






5. Be sure to have a dirty diaper since they don't have changing stations at the high school.


**NOTE** For those of you not using Google Reader, just thought I'd let you know I just posted a new "monthly update" on Dec. 1. I like to keep things in chronological order but hadn't gotten a picture or time to write until later!

Wedding Dance

After Mike andLisa's Wedding, we headed to the reception. Ryan should not be trusted around dinnerware that is not neon-colored and basically ate nothing but fruit snacks all night, but my decision to get a spot right next to the dance floor paid off because he could run off some energy during the times of waiting. Once the music started up, he was ready to get down!

He wouldn't slow down to pose with the pretty flower girl (Adam's cousin's daughter Kenley):

 I managed to scoop him up for a quick dance.

But he wasn't much for slow dancing...not when there was YMCA-ing to be done!

Best of luck to you, Mike and Lisa, and thanks for letting us be a part of your special day!

Mike & Lisa's Wedding

 

Saturday was the day of the wedding. After swimming, we got dressed up for a family picture, Ryan managed to fall down and split his lip open right before pictures and was officially D-O-N-E with being quite, cooperative, and dressed up. After a quick run through "Old Donald's" we ate at the hotel and then we managed to get Ryan to sleep. I ran back and forth to run through our song one more time (Adam and I sang "Love of my Life" by Jim Brickman/Michael W. Smith), then his dad and I headed to the ceremony. Adam's mom graciously offered to watch Ryan during the wedding and we decided it would be easier to watch him sleep in a comfy hotel bed than keep him entertained in a church basement. The wedding was beautiful and people said our song sounded good, so that was a relief. Besides church choir, I've sung in public exactly 3 times since high school: once in a production at UNI, in my own wedding, and in my sister Abbie's wedding, so it had been a few years since I'd had a microphone in hand.

 See all those handsome men in pink ties? (Adam is the third guy from the left)

These were the socks they were wearing:

Pool Time!

We were in Madison, SD for a wedding this weekend (more on that later) and Ryan was raring to go at 6:00 am on Saturday morning. After breakfast, I took him to the pool for a little while. He loved splashing around and "swimming" by kicking while I held him up under his tummy. He played catch with one of our friends' kids and like jumping off the side into my arms. Afterwards, he curled up in a towel by Grandma. It was fun swimming with our little fish!

2 years + 2 months old

Ryan has fully embraced the "two's" for better or for worse. He has become a little more silly, defiant, imaginative, demanding, skilled, and talkative (if that's possible).

He has a terrific smile but it's been dimmed (literally) by little accident where he knocked one of his front tooth. It is now turning gray and will probably darken until it falls out. We're hoping it will stay in until the permanent tooth is ready to come in so it can keep the space ready for the next tooth, but only time will tell.

Although he's still doing well in his "big boy" bed, we have given in to letting him have his "my" back. He lasted about a week and a half but after a few difficult naps and nights, I decided I'd rather we both get sleep that he give up his pacifier, so he's back to having it in bed. He will sporadically go on his little potty, but we are not closer on potty-training. He will usually deny it if we ask if he has a dirty diaper, although everyone else in a 20 foot radius knows it!

Now that we have a DVD player in the van, Ryan's favorite request is to watch movies. His most-requested are: "Dirty Dog" (No Roses for Harry off Harry the Dirty Dog CD), "Thomas" (the tank engine), "Curious George", "Cat in the Hat" (which he usually tires of in 2 minutes), and "Bob and Larry" (Vegetales which he also doesn't actually watch, but he does love the CD we have from the library.) He doesn't actually get to watch movies at home that much, but it sure doesn't stop him from trying!

He still counts 2,4,6,7,8,9,10, 'leven and basically anything more than 2 is "'leven". He loves playing with K'nex, farm animals, cars, basketball, and soccer. He's getting a little more into coloring but peels all the paper off the crayons before he will use them. He's graduated from his high chair and prefers to sit on his knees on a regular chair. He won't wear a bib anymore either, but this sometimes makes a change of clothes necessary after every meal.

Ryan has gotten into pulling faces or loudly protesting when we do anything he doesn't like. He throws his head back, squeezes his eyes closed, stick out his tongue, and makes a half-screech/half-throwing up sound. So, that's fun. He still incessantly says, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" (or Daddy or Gamma) until you acknowledge him, but sometimes he forgets what he was going to say, so he has to start over. Whenever answering a question, he starts with "Ummmm..." and whenever explaining something he starts with "Because Because...." We do love listening to his stories, though!

Here are a few quotes:

Me (reading from his baby Bible): "Noah kept all his animals safe in the ark."
Ryan: "I keep my animals downstairs."

Me: "Maybe Daddy can read you a book tonight."
Ryan: "No-OO-oo. Daddy can't read."

Ryan (everytime we get into the van): "Mommy, man take Mommy's car!"

Ryan (if I am trying to do something for him): "NO! Daddy do it!"
Ryan (if Adam is trying to do something for him): "NO! Mommy do it!"
Either of these can be replaced by "NO! Gamma do it!" or anyone else who is around.

Me (turning on a touch lamp or faucet)
Ryan: "BIGGER!" That means make the lamp brighter or turn the faucet on more.

Me: "Nika! Get back in the house!"
Ryan: "Nika not good listener."