Driving is Serious Business

Ryan can get very focused when he's driving his cars. He'll drive on tables, the floor, mommy and daddy. If the pets weren't so quick he'd be driving on them too...

Top Heavy

I forgot to mention that Ryan went in for his 18 month check up on Friday. I am happy to report that he is now done with shots until he goes to school. This is a very good thing. The nurse under estimated his strength and ability to thrash this time around and proceeded to bend one of the needles into Ryan's leg. He was definitely a bit swollen after that.

Over the past three months his growth has slowed down quite a bit. He's dropped to the 40th and 45th percentiles for height and weight but still has a 90th percentile head size - as the title says, he's a bit top heavy.

The nitty gritty for those who are keeping track at home - 25lbs/7oz; 32in tall and 49.5 cm around the noggin.

We really do have one happy toddler, though. Aside from a little stranger danger he is doing awesome. He's bright, funny, curious and mischievous. He adores his Mommy and tries to push the limits even further with Daddy. I can't believe that 2 is right around the corner.

How to Make Muffins

Lisa made some mini-muffins last night for Ryan's playgroup. They celebrated Valentine's Day today instead of last week.

Never one to feel left out, Ryan pulled a chair over to the counter and climbed right up to help.





After the mixing was done, and the muffins were in the oven, Ryan got to reap the reward of being a good helper.

Tunnels, Slides and Smiles

We ventured a bit further up the street to a different park over the weekend. Ryan love all of the different play equipment and I had a great time with the camera. Lisa has a new stroller that she got to use along the way so everyone was a winner :)

By the time we left, Ryan had mastered almost all of the obstacles that he could reach. Here he is getting used to crawling through the tunnels...







Straight slides, tube slides, twisty slides - Ryan took them all on. He went down each of them with Lisa first, but after that he was on his own. A daredevil in training...






Here's hoping that the warm weather sticks around for a little while longer...

Stick with Crayons

Ryan has started to take an interest in drawing and coloring over the past week or so. He did really well with crayons yesterday. So much so that I now have my first piece of original artwork at my desk at work. It takes a fairly constant reminder to keep the crayons out of his mouth. When Lisa first tried arts and crafts last week she used markers and colored pencils - as you can see the results were a bit out of hand.

18 Months

Can you believe that Ryan is a year and a half old? We went to a few different playgrounds this weekend and were amazed how he was climbing all over things that only a few months ago were far too big for him.

I took these yesterday on the first of two great weekend days. Happy Half-birthday, little buddy.

While the banks of the Potomac can't compare to Carmel, its still fun to see how "Ryan on the Beach" has changed in the last 16 months...

November 2007...

February 2008 Stay Tuned for more fun from the first warm weekend of the year...

Just because...

It's been difficult to make time for my camera lately. So when Ryan and I got to spend some time just hanging out recently I jumped at the chance to take a few shots....

Ryan and Lisa are taking a music class together on Friday mornings.  He has his ups and downs in a crowd will strangers, but the song where you sing about, and play with balls is a big favorite.  He got to go for a winter swim at the local rec center with his playgroup friends too.  I think we are all looking forward to the predicted warm weather this weekend to try and spend some time outside.

Rewind

Going to someone else's house means play with a whole bunch of new stuff.  Such was the case last weekend when we went to Tom and Nicole's house for dinner.  It's always an adventure to take Ryan to a home that has plenty of items at his level.  Luckily he hasn't broken  anything over there - yet :)

Their dog, Duncan, made a couple appearances on the blog before.  Ryan provides a source of free food and boundless energy to play fetch.

I am amazed that the coasters on this table hadn't been tossed to the ground yet.  It's probably because the trucks are still more interesting to him...

Prepping for his audition for the next season of American Idol...

Finally, tired out, checking for new molars...