Wednesday, October 05, 2005
He is at SCHOOL, DUH!
11:50 I hear a knock on the door. I opened it to one of Zach's friends asking if he can come out and play. For a brief moment I panicked thinking I lost track of time(in a major way) and I needed to leave right then to pick Zach up from gymnastics. I only talked to one friend on the phone; it can't be after 4 already! So I tell his friend he is not home. Run to look at the clock and realize it's not even lunch time yet. PHEW! I'm not crazy. Now what the heck is this kid doing knocking on my door in the middle of the day. I see him going across the street to knock on the neighbor's door-the one who works nights and sleeps during the day. So, I called out to tell him everyone is in school and asked why he wasn't. Apparently he had an appointment. I ask again...Why is he not in school!!! And do he and his parents not realize that everyone else IS in school? His kindergarten brother comes over and asks for Zach to play during the school day too. DUH!
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Foiled Again
Ryan finally developed an attachment for a stuffed animal. Unfortunately it's Zachary's 'Doggy', the one he has slept with for years with a place in his top few favorites. When I think of all the times I've tried to get Ryan to love on an animal; there's the monkey my mom sent, the dog HE picked at one of those build-your-own-bear places, the really soft bear my mom's friend made, a cute puppy he got as a newborn gift and recently I tried to foster an interest he started to show in a cute little bear he got for Valentine's Day. There have been a couple stuffed things he liked along the way for chewing or the noise they made, but he has never loved on an animal until he found Zach's dog in the basement(it was down there because it needs to be cleaned). He carried it around snuggling it and 'awww'ing over it. Then Zachary saw him. You can imagine the problems this caused yesterday afternoon. The chasing, the crying, the fussing, the "MINE!"s and that's just Zach. Don't get me started on the two year old's reaction.
Seeing how attached Ryan has gotten and knowing how attached Zachary already is I am in a pickle. Either way someone is going to be REALLY upset. Now I never thought I would be one of those parents that give into their child's whining and give them what they want, but how else would I keep this from happening over and over?! So I tell Ryan that he has some birthday money and we can go to the toy store tomorrow and get any animal he wants. I say he can get a bear, a monkey, a dog or a lion. To which he responds with excitement, "Lion!" I give the dog back to Zach congratulation myself on the quick thinking and problem solving skills.
Fast forward to today-
We are at the giant toy conglomerate that charges too much money for things, but has the best selection. We head over to the stuffed animal section. Ryan gets on a horse, hmm, okay. "Let's look at all the other animals." We look at lions, tigers, bears and Ryan shows little interest. We find a dog that he seems to like. We keep looking. He finds a horse and says, "This is really cute." I kid you not, he said it just like that. He has a big smile on his face and I think we have found a winner. Then Zachary calls from across the way, "Hey, Ryan look at this froggy." The horse moment is lost and Ryan goes to check out Zach's find. Zach continues to parade lots of animals in front of Ryan's face(mostly frogs) until I tell him to let Ryan decide for himself. by this time we've seen about everything and I tell Ryan to pick his favorite. He walks down the aisle and sees a book. He plops himself on the floor and says he wants to read. Oh man, this is not going well. So he 'reads' a bit and when he is done we go back to looking at animals. He then comes up, climbs in my arms and says, "All done animals."
We ended up coming home with a big fire engine.
Seeing how attached Ryan has gotten and knowing how attached Zachary already is I am in a pickle. Either way someone is going to be REALLY upset. Now I never thought I would be one of those parents that give into their child's whining and give them what they want, but how else would I keep this from happening over and over?! So I tell Ryan that he has some birthday money and we can go to the toy store tomorrow and get any animal he wants. I say he can get a bear, a monkey, a dog or a lion. To which he responds with excitement, "Lion!" I give the dog back to Zach congratulation myself on the quick thinking and problem solving skills.
Fast forward to today-
We are at the giant toy conglomerate that charges too much money for things, but has the best selection. We head over to the stuffed animal section. Ryan gets on a horse, hmm, okay. "Let's look at all the other animals." We look at lions, tigers, bears and Ryan shows little interest. We find a dog that he seems to like. We keep looking. He finds a horse and says, "This is really cute." I kid you not, he said it just like that. He has a big smile on his face and I think we have found a winner. Then Zachary calls from across the way, "Hey, Ryan look at this froggy." The horse moment is lost and Ryan goes to check out Zach's find. Zach continues to parade lots of animals in front of Ryan's face(mostly frogs) until I tell him to let Ryan decide for himself. by this time we've seen about everything and I tell Ryan to pick his favorite. He walks down the aisle and sees a book. He plops himself on the floor and says he wants to read. Oh man, this is not going well. So he 'reads' a bit and when he is done we go back to looking at animals. He then comes up, climbs in my arms and says, "All done animals."
We ended up coming home with a big fire engine.
The Beginning of the End
I found my first gray hair Saturday. I tried to deny it telling myself it was just a blond hair. I put it up against a dark background to make sure. I finally admitted defeat when I compared it to a regular hair. It was courser and thicker. Definitely gray:-( I guess this along with the teenage girl at the fabric store calling me ma'am at least 5 times in one transaction make me official old. I'm not sure I'm ready to be old.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Bee-By-Boe
Another Ryan game for the Baby Book:
Ryan says in his biggest, gruffest voice, "Bee-By-Boe" and tilts his head forward and looks out the top of his eyes and you. He is a giant. Then he runs at you and jumps on you. This comes from Grandpa's Fe-Fi-Foe-Fum giant game. It's just much cuter when Ryan does it(sorry dad, but it's true). He likes to do it over and over especially if mommy screams and frets over the giant coming to get her and gives the giant tickles when he gets there.
Ryan says in his biggest, gruffest voice, "Bee-By-Boe" and tilts his head forward and looks out the top of his eyes and you. He is a giant. Then he runs at you and jumps on you. This comes from Grandpa's Fe-Fi-Foe-Fum giant game. It's just much cuter when Ryan does it(sorry dad, but it's true). He likes to do it over and over especially if mommy screams and frets over the giant coming to get her and gives the giant tickles when he gets there.
Finger Printed
We went to the police department Fall Festival Saturday. It was actually quite fun. I didn't really expect it to be. We mostly went downtown because the fire department was supposed to be having an open house too. Unfortunately they had a funeral instead. When we got to the firehouse the engines were all out, but one was draped in black with a limo beside it. We did get to look at the fire trucks, but we didn't get to climb on them like I'd hoped. Ryan was definitely in awe when we saw all the trucks. His eyes got big and his jaw dropped, "Wow, fire trucks!" Luckily my aunt is a paramedic and Ryan will get a chance to climb on the engines at her firehouse soon.
So, back to the police open house. I guess the whole point was to get parents to bring their kids to get finger printed and pictured for these identification kits. It appeared to be a huge success. I know they had way more people come out than the anticipated. Ryan got to ride his first pony:-) When I told the lady walking him around she was surprised. She said he was doing so well for his first time. Most kids are afraid at first. I told her it was in his blood. Mommy rode horses when she was young. After he was done he kept asking to go back and ride the horse again. It's all I can do to restrain myself from going out and getting him all the riding paraphanalia he needs and signing him up for lessons! Maybe in a couple years.
Ryan's other greatest hit of the festival was climbing in 3 "big trucks" and pretending to drive them. Oh boy did he love that!
Zach also liked riding the horse, but his favorite thing was a blow up obsticle course. He also liked seeing the police helicopter land 10 feet in front of us. Ryan did not like that so much. It caused a big gust of wind that blew his hat off. He spent the better part of the rest of the afternoon holding his hat with both hands and burying his head in my shoulder. It really scared him. He didn't even want to go over and see it when it landed. Zach had to go over by himself, but he didn't seem to mind. When it took off we were way accross the field so there wasn't any wind and Ryan was able to let go of his fear a little bit. He has been talking about the helicopter "blasting off" ever since. He has even said, "I like helcoter."
It was a beautiful day to spend outside together. The best part is that everything was free except my hot dog($1)!!! The kids even got free lunches for getting their fingerprints and pictures. I'm glad we went. We all had a fun time.
So, back to the police open house. I guess the whole point was to get parents to bring their kids to get finger printed and pictured for these identification kits. It appeared to be a huge success. I know they had way more people come out than the anticipated. Ryan got to ride his first pony:-) When I told the lady walking him around she was surprised. She said he was doing so well for his first time. Most kids are afraid at first. I told her it was in his blood. Mommy rode horses when she was young. After he was done he kept asking to go back and ride the horse again. It's all I can do to restrain myself from going out and getting him all the riding paraphanalia he needs and signing him up for lessons! Maybe in a couple years.
Ryan's other greatest hit of the festival was climbing in 3 "big trucks" and pretending to drive them. Oh boy did he love that!
Zach also liked riding the horse, but his favorite thing was a blow up obsticle course. He also liked seeing the police helicopter land 10 feet in front of us. Ryan did not like that so much. It caused a big gust of wind that blew his hat off. He spent the better part of the rest of the afternoon holding his hat with both hands and burying his head in my shoulder. It really scared him. He didn't even want to go over and see it when it landed. Zach had to go over by himself, but he didn't seem to mind. When it took off we were way accross the field so there wasn't any wind and Ryan was able to let go of his fear a little bit. He has been talking about the helicopter "blasting off" ever since. He has even said, "I like helcoter."
It was a beautiful day to spend outside together. The best part is that everything was free except my hot dog($1)!!! The kids even got free lunches for getting their fingerprints and pictures. I'm glad we went. We all had a fun time.