Memorial Day 2008: Going to the Zoo

5 Things I learned on our trip to the zoo:

1. Ryan is still more impressed by the subway, which we took to get to the zoo, then he is with the animals at the zoo.
2. We are never going to get to the Children's Zoo. I am so excited for Ryan to see everything in the Children's Zoo since we loved it as kids, but Ryan is always asleep by the time we get there and misses it. Next time, we will have to go there first I guess.

3. Taking a toddler on the monorail may seem like fun, especially if your child loves trains. It is not. NOT. AT. ALL. Ryan would not sit still and hardly paid attention to the animals we passed.

4. It is possible to get matching shirts and hats for your ENTIRE family at the zoo. (thanks mom) Picture to follow So what if you will get beat up for wearing them all on the same day?

5. Ryan is almost 3 feet tall. He may not "measure up" to the lion in height, but his roar is almost as loud.

Yankees vs. Mariners (and Ryan vs. the Concession Stand)

The weather in New York was beautiful this weekend so we decided to take Ryan to the Yankees game with us on Sunday. I took him once last year and he was pretty good about sitting still and even took a nap for half of the game. Not this time. While I am glad that we took him, Ryan did not want to sit still, did not care AT ALL about the game, and was only interested in eating. When I say that Ryan literally ate throughout the whole game, I don't think that I am exaggerating that much. First, he ate some fruit salad that I brought with us. Then he ate some pretzel:

After that, he had some peanuts (which he had never eaten before) and if we let him, I think that he would have eaten the whole bag, shells and all. Then he ate some apples which he gave 2"Thumbs up":

Next, he ate some potato chips and after that, we went for a walk, mainly because it was only the 3rd inning at this point and I was concerned that we/the stadium would eventually run out of snacks for Ryan. We made friends with a nice lady at the concession stand and went there about 5 times over the next three innings to get Ryan ice (he now pronounces it eyesh). He loves ice!

During the game, Ryan also ate some ice cream, which I had to help him finish, a polly-o string cheese, and some fruit snacks. At least he got some exercise though when he participated in the wave with Uncle Michael and Jasmine:

Overall, it was a great day. They Yankees were losing 5-2 until the 8th inning when they scored 4 runs. Final Score: Yankees 6, Mariners 5, just as Jasmine predicted.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 - Saturday

What a fun weekend!!! The weather was great all weekend so we spent a lot of time outside doing a lot of fun things. On Saturday, Jay and I took Ryan to Rye Playland with Omi and Poppy. I remember going to Rye Playland as a kid (it used to be a reward trip at the end of the year with school) and while I have not been there in years, I think that it is perfect for kids because they have a pretty big kiddie ride section. Ryan loved all of the rides we took him on and I still can't believe that none of them were scary for him. Some of the highlights of the day:

The first ride we went on was the carousel. Ryan has been on one before and loves them. He couldn't wait for his turn but started crying and screaming "off off" before the ride started. I think that he saw another ride across the way going really fast and got nervous, but as soon as the ride started, he was fine and cracked up laughing the whole time and waved to Jay every time we went by.


Next, Jay and Poppy took Ryan on the Ferris Wheel and Jay swore that he will not take Ryan on it again.


The ride started off ok and Ryan sat down once the ride started moving but because of the start-stop motion of the ride as people get on and off, Ryan wanted to keep standing up on the seat to see what was going on.

I think Jay probably held on to Ryan as tight as possible without physically hurting him so he would not fall out. As Omi and I watched them go by, we really couldn't see Ryan. Sometimes, we saw his little hand sticking up over the top, but I really had a good laugh when I saw this:

They were stopped at the time (about to get off), and Ryan was not as close to the door as he appears (which pushed in, not out and Jay was holding his arms)

After the ferris wheel, we played a few games and Jay was the hero when he won Ryan a prize:

Elmo has slept with Ryan every night since Saturday and Ryan brought him almost everywhere we went this weekend.

Omi took Ryan on the train which was probably his favorite ride since he is obsessed with trains.

My favorite part of the day though was the Demolition Derby ride. When we got on line, we didn't realize how fast the ride went and to describe it, it basically was pretty fast moving cars that seemed like they would collide and at the last second, you would veer apart from each other. Ryan laughed the whole time and loved the way we were getting jerked around.

The funniest part about the ride though is that adults are only allowed to ride in the back so only one of us could go and Jay was nice enough to let me go. As he was getting off the line, the lady behind us told Jay (yes told, not asked) to go on with her son because she had too many kids and not enough adults.

Ryan didn't understand why Jay was sitting with other kids and not us and kept screaming "Daddy daddy" until the ride started. (then he kept laughing)

I love this last picture of Ryan (on the Himalaya) but it made me sad a little bit too: He looks like such a big boy and while I had so much fun going on the rides with him, soon he won't need us to go with him anymore. I hope that he will still want to go on some with us because I sure do love a good roller coaster!

Are you sleeping or singing?

From almost the time Ryan was born, he has been "singing" himself to sleep. He used to do it any time he was falling asleep. Then he did it only in the car and when he was falling asleep for a nap. Now, he usually only does it in the car when he is tired. It makes me laugh every time and before Ryan stops doing it, I wanted to catch it on video. Finally, I got a chance to get it:

and to answer any questions: no, I was not driving while I took the video; yes, he is always that loud; yes Ryan did fall asleep soon after I turned the camera off; and yes, I am still laughing about it.

To the Moms I love...

I meant to post this on/before Mother's Day and couldn't find the right words, but found myself still thinking about it two weeks later so I decided to post it anyway. There are so many important moms that profoundly affect my life, Jay's and Ryan's and in honor of Mother's Day, I wanted to acknowledge some of them:

To Grandma and Omi: While you both deserve separate entries, I am going to put you together for the sake of not getting too sappy - I hope that is ok. Words can't express how thankful the three of us are that we live so close to you both. We are fortunate that we can see you whenever we want and that you let us come visit often, even though it means we will wake you up very early and will make a mess of your house. I could write a book about all of the wonderful things you do for us but I could never thank you enough for all of the times you have babysat, listened to me cry about a boo boo, told me how happy Ryan makes you, for how happy you make Ryan.... You are the best mothers and the best grandmas and we love you so much.

To Elizabeth: We can't imagine our lives without you. I know that you consider Ryan to be like one of your boys and for that, we are so grateful. You take great care of him and us and we consider you to be part of our family. Thank you so much for all that you do for us and thank you for loving Ryan as much as you do.

(Elizabeth, we need to take a new picture of you with Ryan! this was taken a year ago)

To Aunt Carrie, who asks all of the time when is it her turn to babysit: We hope that you had a happy mother's day.

To my wonderful mom friends: Your children are so lucky to have you as their moms. Thank you for all of the valuable advice you have given me and for listening to all of my worries and telling me that your kids do the same thing.

To any other moms that may read this: I hope that you had a wonderful Mother's Day and that someone let you know how much they appreciate you.

Finally, to Ryan, obviously not a mom, but the reason I have the privilege of being one: I love you so much. You make me laugh every day and make everything better with your amazing personality and cute little face (and hands, belly, legs, ....). I love that you just started calling me "mommy". I love the way you hug me and kiss me every morning when I go to work and that you walk me to the elevator to say bye. I love that you play with my hair when you are in bed with me (even though you are very rough and it hurts, haha). I love watching your excitement about things and helping you learn. I love that you are excited to see me every day when I meet you and Elizabeth. I love that on our walk home, you point out every bus, car, bike, motorcycle and dog we pass - words and sound effects included. Most of all, I love that I still have a lifetime left of loving things about you. You are a great little boy and I am so lucky that I get to be your mommy. I love you!

Who are the people in your family?

Ryan is getting very good at saying the names of all of the people in our family, although he has made up his own names for some of them. Here he is, telling you all of the people in his family:

Random Chain of Thoughts

Have you ever had a random chain of thoughts, where you are thinking about one thing and 5 minutes later, you are thinking of something totally different, yet somehow connected? It happens to me all of the time. The most recent example: There here have been quite a few occasions where people have said to me "Ryan certainly has a lot of energy" which is totally true. Recently, I was reading Parents magazine which had an article called How to decode Parentspeak. The article had the exact quote above as one of the phrases and they translated it to mean "Your kid is a hyperactive monster! He must drive you insane. I pity you." While it made me laugh wondering if some people do think that about Ryan/me, it also made me think of Mr. T when he used to say "I pity the fool". Which of course then made me think about the time that my dad dressed up as Mr. T for Halloween and scared half of the kids in the neighborhood.

Which then made me laugh the rest of the day thinking of all of the fun things we did as a family and all of the funny memories I have. And finally, that made me think, I really hope that Ryan will have as much fun growing up as I did.
ps- Erika, I like your makeup.
pss- Michael, yours too.

Grocery shopping

Ryan and I went to the supermarket yesterday. Every time we walk by the supermarket, Ryan starts screaming for eggs. It is so great that he understands that is where we buy the eggs but obviously, we don't need them every time we are there and Ryan has had a fit on more than one occasion when we didn't buy eggs. Yesterday, Ryan didn't have a fit about the eggs though - he had a fit that he wanted to carry the basket on his lap (he was in the stroller). As I put more and more groceries in the basket and it got heavier and heavier, I kept asking, "Ryan can mommy help you?" and he would say "n-n-n-n-n-no". When I finally took the basket away because it had a gallon of milk in it and I thought it was getting too heavy, Ryan started SCREAMING. I gave in and got him his own basket, which did not appease him until I started putting groceries in it.

(picture taken with cellphone camera). When we were done shopping, we went up to the checkout lane and as I started putting things on the counter, Ryan started handing me the things out of his basket. As he gave them to me, he started saying what they were: nanas (bananas), bewies (strawberries), tayto (potato), kini.....Kini, what the heck is kini? So I turned around to see what he was talking about and he handed me a cucumber. As I was about to correct him I realized what he was saying: Zucchini. Ryan has only gotten peeled cucumbers before but has seen zucchini many times (he loves it) with the skin on so I can see how he was confused. I felt so proud of him - I know that he said the wrong name, but I just thought it was so smart anyway.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA

Dear Grandma,
I hope that you have a very happy birthday. I love you so much and this weekend when we celebrate your birthday, I will even let you borrow my birthday crown. Can I blow out your candles though?
Happy Birthday!!
Love,
Ryan

Ryan and Katie - Part 2

Ryan was invited to go to a first birthday party on Sunday for my friend Robin's daughter, Romy. Colleen and Katie were also invited to the party and we decided to stay for a while after the party and let Ryan and Katie play in the park. Katie and Ryan are so funny together. It is amazing to me that they really aren't babies anymore and as I watched them sit together on the bench, eating their lunch of pizza and fruit, I thought about how fast the past 19 months have gone.

I remember the first time Ryan and Katie met (I think Ryan was 4 weeks old and cried the whole time). Now, they are best buds, holding hands and going up and down the slide like the big kids.


I was cracking up laughing because after Ryan got up on the step leading up to the slide, he got on his belly and tried to pull Katie up too, not wanting to let go of her hand.

And with the 6th pick of the draft...

the NY Jets pick Vernon Gholston! We decided to have a draft day barbeque this year (4/26/08) so that we could all be together and cheer for the Jets picks or bang our heads together and wonder what the Jets were thinking.

We all wore our gear with pride and even tried to teach Ryan the J-E-T-S cheer (he is starting to get it and should have it down by pre-season). Everyone who knows my family knows how much we love the Jets. Friends of ours have asked Jay and I what we would do if Ryan came home one day and said he didn't want to be a Jets fan and I really can't imagine it. I hope that he loves football and the Jets as much as we do and clearly we are already "making" him be a Jets fan - he has worn Jets gear every Sunday of football season for the past 2 years and was wrapped in a Jets blanket the day after he was born while we watched the game (not a good one I might add) from my hospital room. I even submitted Ryan's picture to the Jets and he won a photo contest in February of 2006.

I really hope that the Jets will be better during Ryan's childhood than they were during mine, but so far it is not looking good. I can just hear Ryan now saying "Mom, why did you make me be a Jets fan?" the same way I asked my dad many times over the years.

After the bbq, we took the train back to the city and as I have previously mentioned, Ryan LOVES trains. He has a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine trains and videos and loves a show on Playhouse Disney called Choo Choo Soul. Ryan screams "Choo Choo" every time we are near the subway, any time he sees a picture of Thomas, and goes really crazy when we get a chance to ride the train. He was so good on the train ride this time and he really loved looking out the window - he was beyond excited when another train passed us and was yelling choo choo so loud, I think that the other train's passengers heard.