a little smile

Here is Katie peeking at me through her kitchen . . .

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Hanging out in the grass on a beautiful day

this is why . . .

I don't put him up in his room for naps anymore, LOL. The first thing I heard when I opened the door was "SLIDE!"

At the risk of encouraging him, I HAD to get this on video :-) 5 points for creativity. -20 points for napping. This is featuring his beloved sidekick, "Hop" . . .

Easter bunny eggs

That is what Ryan calls them. We had asked him what was in one of our decorations expecting him to say "egg" and he said "Easter bunny egg" :-) He is very descriptive these days!

He did great with dyeing the eggs and really had fun! Only one incident with hands in the dye and some splashing, LOL!




This is Katie all bundled up for an Easter egg hunt earlier in the week - it as freezing and windy but she was happy as can be!

bunnies and tigers and shoes, oh my!

Lots of things have been going on the past two weeks. A week ago today, on Sunday, we went to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was so much fun! We went with good friends and their 2 girls, Valerie and Vanessa. Ryan loved it and Katie did too - she really noticed the animals and even giggled at the Spider Monkeys. Yesterday we had our neighborhood Easter egg hunt and also Ryan's last Soccer Tots class. It was VERY windy for the egg hunt but the kids still really enjoyed it. Ryan was very helpful putting eggs into Katie's basket for her. Today we took the kids to see the Easter bunny, and Katie got her first shoes. She LOVES shoe shopping :-) They both seemed to like seeing the Easter bunny - and it was a major accomplishment that we got both kids in the same picture without any tears. I talked it up quite a bit and really prepared Ryan by promising that after he sat with the bunny and Katie AND smiled for a picture, he would get CANDY, LOL.

give me strawberty or give me death

I know, it's a little early in the day for a Patrick Henry reference, but that is what came to mind as I was cutting strawberries for Ryan this morning. He LOVES them and I was trying to help him practice saying it - and it came out "strawberty." I asked "is that like liberty?" and he said "NO! STRAWberty!" :-) He was very funny watching me clean and cut them. He was distraught about each strawberry that made its way into a bowl for later instead of on his plate. I am not SURE, but I am guessing it's not a good idea to let him eat 2lb. of strawberries in one sitting, LOL. I was telling him about how strawberries grow on a plant like so many other things we eat, and how we could pick some this summer, and he seemed very excited. He also eagerly agreed that we should try growing some here.

I don't eat strawberries (so many seeds!) but I really enjoy hulling and cutting them for some reason - maybe it's all of those memories of my strawberry shortcake dolls. I also love how they make the fridge smell - so sweet and fresh. Speaking of Strawberry Shortcake, I have been thinking of her as I am starting to plan Katie's birthday partyin May. I need to make sure I use that as a theme before she is old enough to say no - but I don't want to do it as her 1st birthday. So maybe for 2! I guess there is a good chance Ryan will have some input about his party in October, so I better not wait for 3 for Strawberry Shortcake - just to be safe :-)

Nap the couch

Well, it's more like "nap DA couch" I guess :-) This is what Ryan says if we tell him to nap on the couch after we give up all hope that he'll nap up in his room. Sometimes he'll fall asleep on the couch, but mostly it's just some quiet time, for both of us! His napping has gotten much better - he probably only skips a nap twice a week or so. Today is a no nap day, but he was SO cute when I went up to his room. I laid down on the floor and he brought me a blanket and said "go to sleep mama" and then said "close the eyes" (and tried to close them for me) and brought me an Elmo pillow, and Cookie Monster too. Then he continued doing bedtime routine with me, LOL! He brought me all of the blankets, and then said "mama need hop" and brought me his hop - the little bunny he sleeps with. He was narrating everything and it was adorable! He gave me hugs and kisses, rubbed my back, and sang a song. He also said "mama need the birds" and pressed the button to play the music on his bird crib soother. Awwwwww. If I opened my eyes he would say "close the eyes, go to sleep mama" and would try something else - like rubbing my back and singing. Then he said "read a book" and started reading one of his fabric books to me, looking at the pages and saying all the animal sounds. What a sweeetie. He almost made me not mind that he didn't nap today. Maybe I should have tried banging on the door to see how he would have handled that, LOL, he might have some good techniques.

He now pulls the mattress totally off of his toddler bed, and then walks on the wire/metal mesh frame. I am not sure how we'll handle this but I'm already tempted to take the bed away if he won't listen and not do this. I don't think there is any way we can keep the mattress on.

Marc and I are REALLY enjoying hearing him talk. We are still amazed by it and hang on every word. We talk a lot about this, sharing things we've heard :-) On Sunday he called the doorbell in his playhouse a "dingbell." It does make a "ding" sound - he must have heard us say that and then combined it with "doorbell." Marc didn't correct him because he thought it was so cute.

There is a song (I think it was in the movie Secret of My Sucess) where it makes sounds like "chicka chickaaaah . . . bow bow" - I have to download that. Ryan still says "chicka chicka chicka . . . ." for chicken, so now we have him saying "chicka chicka . . .bum bum" LOL. We need to hear the song again and play it for Ryan.

I can't believe Katie is 10 months old!!! I need to start thinking more about her birthday party. We went to a playgroup today and she was so sweet waving at people and smiling and laughing. She just started consistently waving when you say "hi" or "bye." We are loving it! She is cruising REALLY well now but doesn't make much of an attempt to walk. I have to post some videos!

a happy boy

This is one of my favorite recent pictures of Ryan because he looks so happy - he was laughing and having fun! He was playing around wearing Dada's boots. He LOVES to walk around in our shoes and does it a lot. This picture was taken February 3rd - I need to be better about keeping up!!!