Winter fun

We had our first snow of the year this weekend and luckily, we brought Ryan's snow gear up to Westchester so we were able to go out and play. It only took about 45 minutes to get ready to go out - while Ryan looked adorable in his new snow pants, I did miss the ease of putting him in a snowsuit with attached mittens and by the time we got outside, I was totally sweating. When we got outside, Ryan stopped dead in his tracks when he saw/heard the snow blower and would not let go of my hand saying "it coming to get you" and pointing at the snow blower. When I finally convinced him that the snow blower was not coming to get us, he finally ventured off the porch and started running (aka waddling) to a snow pile and jumped right in.

After giving Ryan some time to get used to the snow, we were going to try to make a snowman, but the snow was too icy for that and instead, we went sleigh riding on the side hill at Omi and Poppy's house. At first, we could not find a sled so Jay thought we could make do with a plastic tray.

Luckily, the neighbors saw us and brought out a sled for Ryan that was perfect. For Ryan's first run down the hill, Jay stood at the top and I stood at the bottom ready to catch him - he went down all by himself, laughing the whole time, even when he whizzed right by me and when I ran over to see if he was ok, he said "Try again" and started to walk back up the hill. Eventually, he realized that it took too much effort to climb up the hill and was able to sway us with his cuteness to bring him back up each time - as we would drag him up the hill, he would lay back and simply enjoy the ride.

After Ryan took enough slides down the hill that each of us was tired from dragging him back up, we decided to head inside to warm up. We had a fun day and I am sure Ryan can't wait to go sledding again.

Here are some videos of Ryan on his sled:

Five Friday Funnies

I think this Friday entry will be my new addition to the blog for 2009. Rather than having multiple posts of random "Funny Rhino" stories, I will save them all and post them on every other Friday, or more frequently if Ryan continues to be super funny.

Five Funnies

1. My parents and Uncle Michael came over on the 3rd for lunch. While they were all there, Ryan was running around like a nut and threw a tambourine at me. He knew right away that he did something bad and put his head down. When he looked up and saw we were all still staring at him, he said "Sorry Mommy". I said, "Ok, thank you Ryan. We do not throw our toys" and he started talking a mile a minute, hand gestures included and said "Gamma.......throw......" Yeah mom, I am pretty sure he just blamed you.

Doesn't he look like he is thinking "Don't you dare think about touching MY pizza"?

2. "Freeze" is Ryan's new favorite command. He says freeze when it is bed time and I am getting ready to leave his room.

3. Anytime Ryan hears a noise but can't see where it is coming from he says "Listen, what that noise?" and does this:

4. The other day, Ryan woke up at 4 and Jay went to bring him in our room. When he got in the bed, he kept saying to Jay "Daddy, go, get out, go" (today, he tried to kick me out). Eventually getting sick of getting kicked in the head, Jay left the room and Ryan turned to me and we had this conversation:

Ryan: "Mommy, where daddy go? Daddy go work?"

Me: "No Ryan, he went to sleep in the other room because you told him to get out. That was not nice"

Ryan: "Daddy sad?"

Me: "Yes, Daddy is sad because you were mean"

Ryan: "I sorry Daddy"

5. Latest excuse to not sleep: "Mommy, come back. Feet got out cover. No door lock". Well Ryan, of course your feet got out of the cover, since I heard you kick the blanket off as I was leaving the room. And no, the door is not locked, it is just closed.

Big Apple Circus

At the last minute, I was given 4 tickets to the Big Apple Circus for today so Grandma and Uncle Michael came with Ryan and me because Jay wouldn't be able to make it in time. We took the subway up to Lincoln Center and I think that would have been enough excitement for Ryan since he loves trains so much.

The circus is in a tent and there are only 16 rows so all of the seats are pretty close to the ring which makes is much easier for little kids to see. Ryan was pretty well behaved and did pay attention to the circus for much of the time (his favorite act seemed to be the trapeze lady, because she could "swing faster"), but after intermission, he kind of lost interest. That might have to do with the fact that it was getting close to his bed time but it probably had more to do with the fact that Grandma snuck in to a private party and came back with a clown nose and a fruit ka-bob (which Ryan flung around more than he ate and by the end, only ended up with one piece of fruit on the stick). I think Ryan would have enjoyed it more if he was a little bit older, but we had a great time anyway.

On a side note unrelated to the circus, look at how big my belly is!! Only 2 months left until the new baby is here, yippee!

Santa Success!!

Jay and I decided we would try and finish all of our Christmas shopping today, so bright and early (9:30 am) we packed up Ryan and headed to the Palisades Mall. It had snowed last night so the streets were a slushy mess and it was freezing out so we decided comfort was key, especially since the mall would be crowded and we would probably have a long day. It is the first time in a month that I have not dressed Ryan in something "Christmasy" when we were going any where that Santa might be because (a) I have had no success in the past attempts to get the picture (as previously mentioned) so I figured Ryan might as well be comfortable, (b) I was sure the line to see Santa would be super long since this was the last weekend to put your requests in for Christmas, and (c) I really needed to focus on finishing shopping, not making Ryan like Santa.

We started on the first floor of the mall which also happened to be where Santa was. Of course, there was only one child on line to meet Santa and of course, Ryan started yelling "Santa Santa" as soon as he saw him. We asked Ryan if he wanted to wait and talk to Santa and he said yes so we waited, although I suspected when it was our turn, Ryan would not go near Santa. You see where this is going right?? When our turn came, Ryan walked right over to Santa and said "Book please" since Santa gave out a coloring book at the other mall. I am sure Santa thought I made Ryan say he wanted books for Christmas but when he asked Ryan what he wanted, Ryan said "Trains, cars, books, crayons and markers". While I wish I had my camera with me and that Ryan was dressed differently, I am so happy that he got over his Santa fear and had a good time - I think the lollipop Santa gave him didn't hurt though because he talked about it for the rest of the day.

After 6 hours of shopping, I still have a few presents left to buy and am a little panicked about that, but I finally have the Santa picture and am thrilled about that.

Funny Ryan

(Edited on 12/11 to add more funnies)
Once again, I am back to write about how funny Ryan is. The more talkative he gets, the easier he is to understand, and I can't help but laugh at the things he comes up with.

1. While I take a shower in the morning, Ryan usually watches a movie and eats cheerios or corn pops. Recently, he came running in the bathroom with his bowl and yelled "Mommy, pops all gone!" so I said "Wow, where did they go, in your belly?" and he looked at me, totally confused and said "No, in mouth".

2. Ryan and Grandma went to the park and met a boy and his Grandma there. The boy and the Grandma were talking in another language and Ryan went up to the boy and said "What you talking about?" (this is his new favorite phrase, not sure where he learned it).

3. 2nd favorite phrase "I can't" as in "Ryan, please clean up your toys" "Mommy, I can't".

4. Ryan still loves playing hide and go seek - of course we always have to find him, but he has come up with some pretty good hiding spots lately. His favorite spots are: the dark, cold refrigerator at subway, the closet in my parent's bedroom or by their front door, and the closet in Jay's old room at his parent's house. Here are some of his favorite spots in our apartment:

5. Last night we called Aunt Erika to say hello and she asked Ryan what he had for dinner and he said "Bones and Ketchup". Bones are lamb chops - yes, Ryan will not eat a chicken nugget, but give him a lamb chop and he will go to town.

6. When I was putting Ryan's pajamas on, I saw he had a red spot on his belly. I called Jay to come look at it and see what he thought it was. I said "Do you think it is anything bad?" and Ryan said "Mommy, Don't worry". How smart is my son??

Rocking around the Christmas tree..

On Sunday, Jay went and picked out a tree for the apartment and came back with one of the fattest trees I have ever seen. As soon as Ryan saw the tree, he started jumping up and down saying "Wow!!!" When we cut the netting off, he was even more in awe as the tree opened up and I was thinking, this is going to be SO much fun to decorate as a family. After Ryan went to bed, Jay and I put the lights up so that we would all be able to put on the decorations the next night.

Last night, while Ryan and I waited for Jay to get home, I took all of the ornaments out and put hooks on them to save some time. I had bought a 5 pack of Sesame Street character ornaments thinking that Ryan would like those better than plain balls. The only thing Ryan wanted to do though was take those 5 off the tree and play with them in his room.


Later that night, Ryan even insisted on sleeping with them by letting me know that they needed to go "in freaky cover" (his doll, freak, gets his own cover/blanket and he sleeps on Ryan's pillow with him). After seeing my disappointment that Ryan was not in to decorating the tree (or posing for pictures in front of the tree), Jay kindly said "Don't worry, honey, I will decorate the tree with you" (which meant "give it up and stop torturing Ryan") and we let Ryan play in his room while we decorated the tree. Jay even indulged me and put on Christmas music. I was just starting to enjoy myself when I realized that Ryan was being too quiet. I went to check on him and saw on the floor a Santa with no legs and a Mickey mouse with no legs, or arms, or head and realized perhaps I should have not left ANY of the ornaments lying around. Thank goodness for Martha Stewart shatterproof ornaments because Ryan LOVED playing with/throwing those. Too bad we all will be covered in glitter from now until next Christmas.
(this picture is for the person who loves Ryan's "rakes" - xoxoxo)

4 broken ornaments and 10 tantrums later (1 was mine), I guess the shirt says it all!


Ironically, Ryan loves to look at the tree now and has been very good about not touching it - he even tells Elizabeth (he calls her beebet) every morning when she arrives "Beebet, tree no touch"

Meeting Santa

Last year, after waiting on line for an hour for Ryan to get his picture with Santa, Ryan refused to sit on his lap and screamed until we took him off. I was hoping that this year would be different, but the one day we were in the mall and there was no line, Ryan would not go near Santa. I bought him a few books about Santa/Christmas and talk to him all the time about how he should like Santa and that if you are a good boy and if you sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want, he will leave you presents at your house. He doesn't care - all he is interested in are the trains that are in the Santa book. Anyway, Jay and I were shopping today and there was a Santa in front of one of the stores so I asked Ryan if he wanted to say hi. To my surprise, he said yes and while it was not the "ideal" Santa and Ryan picture, I would take what I could get. Of course, as soon as Ryan got out of the stroller, he would not go near Santa unless he was holding my hand.

He did give Santa a high five though and to my delight, actually had a semi-conversation with Santa.

Santa: Well Hello little boy. What would you like for Christmas?

Ryan: (just stared)

Me: Ryan, tell Santa what you want for Christmas (not really expecting him to say anything)

Ryan: Um, trains.

Santa: Oh you want some trains?

Ryan: (screaming) yes, and cars.

LOL. Because he doesn't have enough of either of those. This was one of the most patient Santas ever so thanks to him, here is my one and only Ryan and Santa picture. (kind of wish I brushed my hair a bit).