Pumpkin carving

I love family traditions. Since we don't have one for Halloween other than trick-or-treating, Jay and I decided to have a new one for our family starting this year- from now on, the night before Halloween, our family will carve a pumpkin together. Ryan and Jay went and picked one out yesterday, and Ryan was so excited about it, he told me about it the second I got home for work. Tonight, as soon as Ryan was done with his dinner, we put on a Halloween video and started carving the pumpkin. When Jay started to scoop out the seeds, Ryan was fascinated but did not want to touch them at all.

He did want to "mix soup" though (thanks Ratatouille) and took 2 huge spoons and mixed the seeds, first in the pumpkin and then in a big bowl while Jay and I finished carving the pumpkin.

I did most of the carving and I obviously need more practice since it was not my intention to make a one-toothed jack-o-lantern.

When it was Ryan's bed time, we turned off all of the lights and showed him the lit jack-o-lantern and he started screaming "OOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!Happy day, punkin" and started trying to blow out the candles.

He even gave the pumpkin a kiss goodnight before bed. (neither Jay or I got one)

The next morning, the first thing Ryan started talking about was the pumpkin and had to go in the kitchen before we did anything to check on it. We will definitely do this again next year and I think Ryan will even get his own to paint so that he can be more involved. Can't wait for trick-or-treating tomorrow!!! Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Patch Halloween Party at Gymboree

Last night, Jay and I took Ryan to a Halloween party at Gymboree. While there was a lot of free gym time, there were also some structured activities in the gym room, an art project and pizza and cupcakes. All the kids dressed up in costumes and Ryan was sweating in his within the first 30 minutes (the party was 90 minutes).

Knowing he would be hot and we would probably take his top off, we put him in a Halloween shirt underneath his costume and frankly, I think the shirt was more appropriate anyway.

We had brought one of Ryan's jack-o-lantern trick-or-treat baskets with us because if they were giving out candy, I wanted him to have someplace to put it. As we were leaving, each child received a treat and Ryan was SUPER excited about it even though he obviously had no idea what it was. I told him to go over to the teacher and say "Trick-or-treat" and she would put something in his basket and he came running right back to us to show us what he got. We decided to walk the 20 blocks home (Ryan was in the stroller) after the party and Ryan would not let go of his basket the whole way home.

At one point I asked him if I could hold the basket so he could rest and he said "No, I got it". If that wasn't funny enough, a few blocks later we asked him if he wanted to have some fruit snacks and he said yes so I said "let's trade. I will hold your basket and give you the fruit snacks". He looked at me, thought about it for a minute and then took his treat out of his basket, tucked it under his arm and handed me the empty basket and said "snack please". Hilarious that he thought I might take his treat and brilliant that he knew to take it out so I couldn't get it. Guess this means he is not going to share any candy he gets tomorrow.

Go Jets!

Ryan went to his first Jets game today and while the Jets beat the Chiefs 28-24, the Jets looked terrible. Ryan, on the other hand, looked adorable and had a ton of fun. I really didn't know what to expect since the last time we took him to a Yankees game, he really didn't want to sit or pay attention at all. This was different - he loved it for most of the game and I think he was only restless at the end because he was getting tired of the Jets stinking it up! For the entire 1st quarter, Ryan sat on my lap and just took in the scene. Grandpa even let Ryan borrow the binoculars so he could get a better view

Ryan seemed to be watching the game either on the field or on the tv above us much of the time and spent the rest of the time looking at the other spectators cheering. At one point, he was watching the cheerleaders dance on the field and kept looking back and forth between the field and the tv until he finally he pointed to the field, looked at the tv and declared "Mommy, right there!!". I was surprised that he made that connection, especially since what was on the tv was only a limited view of what was on the field. During halftime, we took him to the bottom of our section so he could see the field up close.

In the third quarter, Ryan turned in to the typical Jets fan and got CRAZY!!

Luckily, there were some empty seats in front of us and next to us so when Ryan got restless, he was able to stand and move around a bit. Every once in a while, without encouragement, he would lean over the seats in front of us and yell out "Go Jets".

The funniest thing about the game was when Ryan kept trying to join the "DE-FENSE" cheer. He kept watching the very loud guy behind us yelling defense and tried to copy except, while the man behind us was cupping his hands around his mouth to make his voice louder, Ryan looked more like he was biting his nails at the tension of the game, all the while screaming "Defense". His cheering obviously helped as the Jets were victorious!! Hopefully, Ryan will help us cheer again next week as the Jets head to Buffalo for a huge AFC East game. GO JETS!!!!!

I don't want to sleep

Last night, Ryan ABSOLUTELY did not want to go to bed. He came up with every possible reason why he could not go to sleep. This kid is such a genius that he knows only certain things will get me to come back in his room and here are just some of the things he said (and my replies):
"Mommy more cover" so I put on an extra cover and left
"Music on" - "it is on Ryan, go to sleep"
"sun, ice" - "We already sang Mr. Sun and Edelweiss 20 times, it is sleepy time"
"Poopoos - new diapa" - "No Ryan, you don't have poops and I just changed your diaper, go to sleep"
"peepee potty" - "you don't have to go peepee and you hate the potty. Good night"
"Gamma car - out window" - "No Ryan, Grandma's car is not out the window"
"Boogas" - "Ok ryan, let's blow your nose. No, you can't sleep with your boogie tissue"
"more boogies" - "well if you stop crying, you won't have more boogies"

After an hour of this and 20 other excuses, Ryan finally went to sleep and at 9:15, I finally sat down, ate my dinner and updated this blog.

Meeting Greg Buttle

On Sunday the 12th, Jay and I got to the Jets game early yesterday and as we were heading towards the stadium, we noticed a tent set up where ESPN Radio was doing their live pre-game show, hosted by Greg Buttle, who also co-costs a variety of Jets shows on SNY and thrills us every week with his "Commodities Report".

We decided to watch for a little while when I noticed off to the side, there were some ESPN staffers giving away free items. As you all know, I LOVE the Jets and I LOVE free stuff, so what could be better than free Jets stuff? I decided that I was going push my way to the front of the crowd and score some great prize. Some of the items were beer bottle coolers, t-shirts, magnets etc and then.... out came the best item yet, an item I decided I had to have. I got right up to the front and told the guy handing them out "I am pregnant and my baby needs that - please can I have one?" and after promising that I would have the baby in the Stadium, my "baby" is now the proud owner of:

an autographed Greg Buttle cheesecake head!! Welcome to NY Brett Favre, you are no longer a Cheesehead but a Cheesecake head instead. I have no shame obviously since I went up to Greg Buttle and said "Will you please sign my cheesecake?". The Jets won the game I bet in part due to my lucky new hat. (No, I will not be wearing it to any other games unless we go on a losing streak and then I might have to). Even Ryan got in on the action when we got home.

Gymboree

I signed Ryan up a few weeks ago for a Gymboree class on Saturday mornings. The class is called Family play and each week, the format changes between music, art and gym. Before we joined the class, we took a trial and immediately upon walking in, I knew I wanted to sign Ryan up - he started jumping up and down as soon as he saw the place and had a blast playing with everything there. The gym set-up changes every two weeks, but there are always slides, climbing structures and balls all over to play with.

There are two teachers for the class and Ryan's favorite is Mr. Moe. Ryan talks about him all the time - not really about him, but he now calls all of Gymboree Mr. Moe.

(the guy in the red shirt is Mr. Moe)

Ryan's favorite part is gym time and by the end of class, he is always sweating so much, he looks like he just got out of the bath.

I know the quality of this picture is not good (Ryan just jumped off the thing behind him), but you can see how sweaty he his by his crazy hair.

Art day is usually a disaster because Ryan always wants to get up and walk around and play with other things in the room. This past Saturday however, he really listened and sat in his chair the whole class and followed the directions. I was very proud of him and I was glad that he completed his art project almost entirely by himself (I did his project the first week).

Ryan loves going to Gymboree and I think the class structure is helping him learn to follow instructions, share more and how to play nicely with other kids. Well, he is nice sometimes...

I wish I could delete the last 3 seconds - so embarrassing!

My conversation with Ryan today

Me: Ok, bye Ryan. Mommy is going to work so be a good boy today. I love you. (heads to the door)
Ryan: Mommy wait (comes running over)
Me: Yes Ryan?
Ryan: Want a hug! (and throws his arms around my legs and gives me a kiss)

What a fantastic way to start my day!!

2 years old

Without a doubt the fastest two years of my life so far. I can not believe that Ryan is now 2 years old.

Jay and I both took the day off Tuesday so that we could spend the day celebrating Ryan's birthday with him and I have to say, it was one of the best days I have had in a long time. There is something about seeing your child happy and having fun that enables you to block out all of the stresses in life and just really enjoy the moment.

On Monday night in anticipation of the big day, Jay and I stayed up to wrap Ryan's birthday presents and put together the train set we got him.
We wanted it all set up (trains, buildings, trees etc) before Ryan woke up so that when he came in to the living room, we would be able to see his excitement when he saw it for the first time, rather than torture him while he watched us put it together. When Ryan woke up at 5:25 am, we tried to get him to go back to bed and at 5:45 am gave up. While Jay changed Ryan's diaper, I got out the video camera and I am so glad that I did - Ryan's face and sheer excitement at seeing the trains was priceless and I am glad we will always have that moment to watch again.

He played with the trains for hours, giving them "instructions" at all times, which included "Duck, Rock the boat" (don't know where that came from), "Go faster" and "Percy, Bertie - Race". Every once in a while, he would say "Oh man". haha.

Later in the day, realizing we had perfect fall weather, Jay and I decided that we would take Ryan to the Bronx Zoo. Finally, Ryan got his chance to see the Children's Zoo and it was well worth the wait. Because it was a weekday, the zoo was not too crowded so we let Ryan walk around and explore whenever he wanted to which probably is why the day was so much fun - he set the pace and was so interested in everything and not afraid of anything. It was funny to see Ryan sit in the birds nest, climb through the turtle shell, go down the tree slide and peek through the prairie dog holes, all things I remember doing with Erika and Michael when we were kids.

If Ryan could say his three highlights of his day at the zoo, I think he would say:

1. Feeding the animals: Ryan had a blast feeding the animals in the petting zoo and I think that he would still be there if we let him stay. No matter how many times we showed him though, Ryan did not want to let the animals lick the food out of his hand - rather, he wanted to put one pellet of food at a time in the animal's mouth. I even feed some of the goats if you could believe that.

2. Riding the Skyfari: We had to ride it twice, at Ryan's insistence "ride, up. ride up".

3. Riding the Bug carousel: Rode this one 5 times in a row and each time, Ryan had to ride a different bug. After the first time, he realized that Jay and I were standing next to him and said "Sit Mommy, sit daddy" and we each had to ride a bug too.

After a great day at the zoo (Ryan passed out in the car before we were out of the parking lot), we went home for dinner. After dinner, we sang "Happy Day" to Ryan and let him blow out the candles a few times, and he happily ate his birthday cupcake, or should I say the icing on the cupcake.

I think that Ryan had a really great birthday and I am so happy that Jay and I were able to spend the day with him. (Ryan, mommy and daddy love you so much and we hope you had a very very happy birthday!!)

On a birthday side note: We had Ryan's 2 year pediatrician's appointment yesterday and she said Ryan looks great!! He weighs, 29 pounds 14 ounces (75th percentile), is 35 inches tall (75th percentile) and the doctor couldn't believe that Ryan already had 19 of his teeth. To check his verbal and understanding skills, she asked him what his name was and he said Ryan. She asked him where his shoes were and he said "over there", she asked him to get them and give them to me, which he did and then she told him to give me a kiss which he did. As she was telling me that he was perfectly understanding and that he was right where he should be, I could see that Ryan was waiting for his next instruction when he said "Doctor kiss?" . The pediatrician laughed and said "You want to give me a kiss?" and Ryan said Ok and walked over and gave her a kiss. Little did he know she was about to give him his flu shot! The doctor explained she was going to give him a shot but then he could have a sticker - when she did it, Ryan didn't even cry but instead said "ow. sticker peas (please)". I know I say this in every post, but man, this kid is funny.

I sorry

In our attempts to raise Ryan to be a well-behaved, polite boy, we have tried to teach him that if you do something bad, for example hit or bite, you have to say sorry to the person you hurt and you have to stop the bad behavior. Last night, in a span of 3 seconds, Ryan hit Jay and threw his milk cup. I told him that we did not hit or throw our cup and if he did it again, he would get time out. His response: "Ok. I sorry Daddy. I sorry milk". I love this boy, even when he is "bad".