Because It was Tuesday

I didn't get to pick up the camera at all over the weekend - a consequence of bathroom renovation gone awry. Yesterday after work I tried to make up for it a bit...

The big Legos are lots of fun. He pushes them around in a big dump truck and scatters them where ever he feels the urge. Yesterday is was the kitchen.

Puffy cheeks....

I am really becoming conflicted about the hair. He has been mistaken for a girl quite a few times now, but at the same time we both love the curls. Add to that the fact that the front is still really short and i am not sure what to do. One of these days i'll get a picture when it's soaking wet - it is all the way down his back. Decisions, decisions....

Gloomy Sunday

The weather was pretty crummy on Sunday so we packed up and headed for Tyson's Corner. Ryan had never played in the kids' area there so it was a worthwhile excursion....

Back to the Park

A little birdie requested that my pictures of Ryan include more of his surroundings - specifically the animals at parks and zoos. well, we found ourselves back at Frying Pan Park on Saturday so i was happy to honor the request...

Pointing out the body parts on the sheep was a ton of fun. Here are the eyes....

And the nose (one of the more popular body parts to point at)...

And the back...

He even returned to the pig that scared the you-know-what out of him last week...

In the end, I went back to my typical shooting habits though and went for the head shots. I'd have to say I am glad that I grabbed this one....

We all started here

I think that just about all of us who use DSLRs started off with a little point-and-shoot digital. Ryan will be no exception...

Even with and LCD screen, he wants to use a view finder...



Checking out the results...



This is one of this first photos. Not bad for a beginner...

Seriously, Mom

"I pose for enough pictures when Daddy is here - now you want in on it too?"

Baking Soda

I think Lisa's narration pretty much explains what is going on here.... :)

New Sleeping Arrangements

Ryan has officially moved on from the crib and is now sleeping in a "big boy bed" - and by big, i mean we stole the mattress off the bed in the guest room. It was exactly a planned move but it seems to be working.

Last weekend he woke up around 5 in the morning one day so I grabbed some blankets and slept on his floor and he went back to sleep. Later on during the week, the same thing happened only it was only 2 or 3 in the morning. Since I had to get up for work, Lisa went to him. He was not ready to fall asleep on his own and Lisa wasn't about to crash on the floor. So, she went to the guest room and started redecorating. she dragged the mattress off the bed and into Ryan's room - that's where they spent the rest of the night. Ryan hasn't been back in his crib since - for nap or at night.

Go figure.

Warm Weather Fun

We took it outside again on Sunday. This time the animals were a little more tame and accessible at Frying Pan Park. He was impressed by the baby cows nursing and thought that the flock of geese that landed in a field were part of the display.

He also managed to find the last puddle left in the entire place and stomp around for a few minutes.

While checking out a gigantic pig, Ryan stuck his hand through the fence. The pig tried to give it a big lick which sent him jumping back faster than I have ever seen him move.

At least him and Lisa were able to laugh about it later....

19 Months

My little buddy turned 19 months old today. Closer to two than he is to one. It's all just flown by. We went to the zoo today (shocker) and it really hit me how much he is growing. He can now look in on most of the animals on his own. You can tell he's both of our son - he really took to the tigers and the gibbons today.

As we left each animal he had to say goodbye to them. First the tigers....

Then the prairie dogs...

There's lots to think about as you start to get older...

We completely blew through nap time today. He was up from 6:30 this morning until after 4. All he wanted to do was run and run and run...

He went back down for the night around 8 - who knows what the time change has in store for us....

Hey Look - Snow!!!

Well, it was hardly the earth shattering blizzard that the weather men predicted, but we still got a decent amount of snow. Unfortunately, it stayed bitter cold and windy so our play time was limited.

Ryan managed to get in a little bit of stomping...




His bulky snow pants made it all but impossible to get up once he fell over. I thought Iggy would run to the rescue, but it turns out he just wanted to eat the snow...

Shame on you, Daddy

This is Ryan admonishing me for taking over a week to post these pictures...Sorry, buddy, I won't let it happen again.

More from Last weekend

If you live in NOVA i am sure you've taken your child to the play area at Fair Oaks Mall. We've been there a bunch but last weekend I finally decided to bring my camera with me.

It was perfectly sunny, hadn't rained in days - but this is what you get when you allow Ryan to pick out his own shoes...



We got there just as a lot of the other kids were clearing out to go eat lunch. That cut down slightly on the bizarre looks I got from the other parents as I pulled out the big camera...




Ryan made it pretty clear when it was time to go and he wanted me to pick him up.

A week behind

I spent this past week out of town on business so that explains the lack of updates. We got to spent this weekend with my parents here. That meant that Lisa and I got to catch up on sleep and my mom made us same great food. Thanks guys!!

While I was away I got to catch up with some old friends in CA. Definitely a good time.

Ryan had a hectic week while i was gone. He spent a day with Virginia Grandma, went to the mall with his pal, Kelly, and had a great time in music class. The pictures that I am posting now were actually taken last weekend - sorry for the delay.

Lisa's parents have a video camera and a very large television. So when we were over there, Ryan was watching himself in the videos and got quite a kick out of it...



He also loves playing around with Grandpa and treating their house like a big jungle gym.