Special Agent Ryan

There is a new tv show on the Disney Channel called Special Agent Oso which has become a big part of our lives and has clearly had influence on Ryan's storytelling. Oso is modeled after James Bond and he is a panda that helps kids with special missions. Each mission has "3 special steps" and Ryan has incorporated 3 steps into many parts of his day, going to the bathroom and going to bed specifically. Apparently, Dylan also has special steps that I was unaware of. When Elizabeth and Ryan were leaving to go to Gymboree yesterday, Dylan was whining a little bit and Ryan said "Mommy, you stay here, watch Dylan. You do 3 special steps. Step 1, Give Dylan milk, Step 2 change diaper, step 3 give bath. no got songs (ie: don't forget songs)" I am so glad Ryan is here to tell me how to take care of Dylan - I don't know what I would do without him - haha. It amazes me everyday how smart and funny Ryan is, how great his vocabulary is getting and how aware he is of the things going on around him. I really love that he is already looking out for his brother and I hope that he always will!

Mommy and Ryan have a date

It had been a very long time since Ryan and I did something alone together and I thought that it might be good for both of us to have a date. Elizabeth said that she would watch Dylan so I decided yesterday that I would take Ryan to the movies. Ryan had only been to the movies once before and he didn't really sit still so I was not sure how it would go, but I figured we could always leave if he didn't like it and I really was looking forward to getting out of the house. The movie we were going to see, Monsters vs. Aliens, looked cute but it was only showing in Manhattan in 3-D and I did not have high hopes that Ryan would wear the glasses.

I told Ryan all about the movie on the way there: that it would be on a very big screen, that we could get popcorn and soda (to which he said "that's a great idea", haha), and that we would get special glasses to wear to see the movie better. We got to the theater and as soon as we saw the concession stand, Ryan ran right over and said to the man behind the counter, "Popcorn, soda please". While we don't make a habit of letting Ryan have soda, he is allowed to have sips sometimes so he was excited for the treat. When we walked in to the movie, Ryan said "oh wow" when he saw the big screen and we found some seats and sat down. I picked Ryan up and sat him in his own seat and turned around to put my bag down - when I turned back, Ryan was completely folded in half! Every time I would push the seat down, his legs would flop right back up until I wedged something between the arm rest and the seat so that it would stay down.

I tried to explain 3-D to Ryan, but I am pretty sure he didn't understand the concept. I thought once he saw the monsters through the glasses, he would want to keep wearing them but he wore the glasses for about 2 minutes and then said he didn't want to wear them anymore.

I kept trying to get him to wear them, but he refused. I took mine off for a bit just to make sure that the picture wasn't too bad without them and while some things were a little bit blurry, it didn't seem to phase Ryan at all. He watched the entire movie and was very quiet, even when he asked me questions. Ryan even stood up at a few parts of the movie when there was music and danced along. Every once in a while, he would get off his seat and stand or would ask to sit on my lap but for the most part, wanted to sit in his own seat.

When the movie was over, we were walking out and Ryan turned to me and said "Mommy, what your favorite part?" As if that was not cute enough, after I told him and before I could ask him his favorite part, he asked "Mommy, what Ryan's favorite part?" How cute is that??

I am so glad that we went on our date - I had so much fun and I think that Ryan did too.

Aquarium

Yesterday we decided to take the boys to the Aquarium. Ryan loves "Brucie" from Finding Nemo so we thought that he might like to see a real shark plus we thought since he loves the zoo so much, he would like seeing some other kinds of animals.

One of his favorite exhibits was the Touch Pool. The Touch Pool is a big tank that kids can put their hands in and they are allowed to touch starfish and things like that. Ryan loved it and spent a long time holding on to one - sadly, as we walked away, I saw the keeper reach in to the tank, pick up the starfish and throw it away - oops!

After the touch pool, we went to see the Sea Lion show and we didn't think Ryan was paying attention at all - he spent more time looking in my bag for snacks than he did watching the show. Ironically, when we asked what his favorite part of the aquarium was, he said that seeing Obsorne (the sea lion) was and he talked for 10 minutes about all of the tricks the sea lion did.

While we had a fun day, I think that Ryan was bored by the Aquarium - it really is not that big and there are not many interactive exhibits. The highlight of our trip to the Aquarium was visiting Coney Island when we were finished. We took the boys up to the Boardwalk and as soon as Ryan saw the sand, he took off running down the beach with Jay hot on his heels. Ryan loved the sand, the shells, and the waves so I definitely think we are going to have to plan a beach trip soon!!

1 Month

Dylan is a month old and is doing great! He had his one month appointment today and is now 10 lbs. 14 oz. (which is the 75th percentile for weight) and is 37 cm long (which is the 90th percentile for height). When other people see him, they can't believe that Dylan is only 4 weeks old since he is so big, and while he was bigger than most babies at birth, we are lucky that he also is a great eater.

The three main milestones kids should reach in the first two months are raising their heads, responding to voice, and smiling. The pediatrician said he looked fantastic and thought he did great picking up his head during tummy time. The dr. also confirmed that Dylan was right on track for responding to voice. She does believe, however, that most smiles before 2 months old are caused by gas, not a conscious response to stimulus. While she could be right, we don't think so - Dylan already seems to be smiling in response to silly voices and faces.

Dylan continues to be a really great, happy and content baby. He really doesn't cry unless he is hungry, tired or gassy and makes the loudest burps I have ever heard. He is a pretty quiet baby and it does not take much to get him to go to sleep. He really doesn't like sleeping in the pack-n-play but we are working on it - for now, he seems most comfortable sleeping in his swing or papasan chair. Dylan is one of the most alert babies I have ever seen and stays awake, eyes wide open for hours at a time, just looking around and seemingly taking it all in. Amazingly, he has already grown out of some of his clothes and is starting to get a little pot belly that is absolutely adorable, just like everything else about him.

EkaRichie visit

When Ryan talks about Erika and Richie, he often refers to them as one person: EkaRichie. We were all so happy when EkaRichie came for a visit this weekend. We had not seen them since Christmas and we were so excited for them to meet Dylan. They both came over right from the airport and spent the day with us hanging out in the city. While Dylan took a nap, we went to the park and I think both Erika and Richie were both surprised how daring Ryan was compared to the last time they saw him. We were there not long before Ryan took someones skateboard and tried to ride it, even though he had never seen one before. Then he climbed the net by himself, went down the slide head first, and no matter how high and fast we pushed him on the swings, he kept yelling "Higher" and "Faster". I think that Erika was about to have a heart attack watching Ryan's antics and she asked how do I not worry about him getting hurt: I do always worry, but I guess I just got used to the feeling after a while. Erika and Richie were really great with both boys and I think they really wanted to take them back to NC with them. I wish that they lived closer so we could see them more often.

The next morning, Jay and I took the boys up to Westchester for a party at my parent's house and to decorate Easter eggs with Omi and Poppy. First, we headed over to Jay's parent's house where we dyed and decorated eggs for our Easter egg hunt. Ryan did most of the dyeing and Omi and I decorated the eggs with crayon and stickers.

While some of the eggs ended up being cute, none of them compared to the egg Uncle Brian made for Ryan:

Brian not only made a Thomas egg but he made a Lightning McQueen one too (I don't know why I didn't get a picture) Ryan was much better at dyeing the eggs this year, but I do have a feeling it will take days to get all the dye off of his hands! After decorating the eggs, we went over to my parent's house where where we had a party so some of our other relatives could to meet Dylan and everyone could see Erika and Richie. Ryan's favorite part of the party probably was the chocolate bunny that Aunt Ginny got for him. It is a good thing nobody in the family has cooties because Ryan made everyone take a bite.

It was a really nice weekend and Jay and I were so happy to be able to spend so much time with Ryan, Dylan and everyone else, especially Erika and Richie.

Erika - Even though I saw you yesterday, I already miss you and am sad you are gone. I guess I am going to have to come visit you very soon (or convince you to come back) Love you and Richie and thanks so much for coming to visit - it made me so happy that you finally got to meet Dylan and see in person what a big boy Ryan is. I really hope we see you again soon. love you xoxoxoxox ps- you live too far away

Michael - so you don't feel left out, I miss you too. Come over for dinner soon xoxoxoxoxo

(Easter will get a separate entry - I will post it with pictures and video soon)

My Two Sons

I am not sure that you can prepare yourself for the transition from one child to two. So far, having two kids has been chaotic and hectic at times, Jay and I both can use much more sleep (or coffee) than we have been getting, and providing enough one-on-one attention to each child has been hard some days, but having two boys has been exciting, wonderful, and it is hard to imagine our family any other way.

Ryan has handled the transition much better than I thought he would although he has been a little bit wild lately - I think it is a bid for extra attention although we have been really conscious of giving him a lot. As wild as he has been, Ryan really seems to love Dylan and has been paying more attention to him each day. Every night, he tells me that he wants to kiss Dylan night night on his cheek and every morning, he says "morning dylan" and gives him a kiss. He is always trying to hold his hand or touch his cheek, hair etc and he is getting better at being gentle. Ryan even finally said "I hold it please mommy" and did a pretty good job the first time.

After the first time, Ryan thought it was funny to let Dylan's head flop to the side so we haven't let him hold him too often and when Ryan does hold Dylan, there is always a "spotter" very near by.

We have explained to Ryan that we have to hold the baby's head up when we hold him although his idea of holding Dylan's head is clearly different than ours.

Ryan has been a really caring and concerned big brother so far. He always includes Dylan- When Dylan is not in the room, Ryan asks where he is and he talks about him often to us and others. When Dylan cries, Ryan always comes over to see what's wrong and tells Dylan not to cry, not in a "stop making noise" sort of way, but in a "I don't want you to be sad" way. Ryan was concerned about Dylan's umbilical cord stump and was very happy when his "boo boo" went away. On more than one occasion, when Dylan has been laying in his papasan chair, Ryan has said he wants to lay down with him. He then takes off Dylan's blanket, gets a bigger one, and covers both of them up so they can "nap" together.


I know that there will be good and bad days ahead - days when Ryan will want nothing to do with Dylan (and vice versa when they are older) and days when Ryan will want to help us take care of his brother - but I am thankful that things are going well so far.

It has been 2 1/2 weeks and I still can't believe that Jay and I have two sons (pretty sure I write that in each entry). I look at Ryan and Dylan when they are asleep, playing, or just sitting around and I think "How did I get so lucky?". Everyday, I count my blessings and am thankful for all of the wonderful things in my life, especially my family. Ryan is such a typical boy - wild, loves trains and playing in the dirt, and is daring above what is appropriate for his age. I have no doubt that Dylan will be the same way. I know that in the blink of an eye, the boys will not be little kids anymore (I still can't get over the fact that Ryan is 2) and I am enjoying every minute of my time with them now, but I am so looking forward to watching Dylan and Ryan grow up together. They are lucky to be close in age and I think that they will not only be brothers, but future teammates, playmates, buddies, and I hope best friends always. Oh yeah, and they always will be my babies, no matter how old they are!!

The Big Boy

I don't know if it is because Dylan is so tiny or just because he is growing up, but Ryan seems so much bigger and smarter to me than he did a few weeks ago. He has been talking up a storm (more than ever), has really improved his vocabulary and comes up with the funniest things.

Two recent funny stories, both involving the swings:

1. Ryan and Grandma play a game called "Up to the sky" on the swings. I took Ryan to the park the other day and he told me he wanted to play - I didn't think it would be that complicated but Ryan kept telling me I was doing it wrong.

Me: "I am sorry Ryan, I will have to call Grandma and ask her to teach me how to play"

Ryan: "You have a phone?"

Me: "Yes, why?"

Ryan: "Call Gamma now"

2. They also have a game on the swings "Spin" which is exactly how it sounds - you twist the swing around and let go so it spins around. Mom didn't tell me she only twists the swing 3 times before she lets go. I on the other hand, twisted the swing about 10 times so Ryan spun really fast and wildly. As he was spinning, he was cracking up laughing yelling "I can't see my eyes"

Ryan loves going to the park and we try to go as often as possible. Whenever we are there, Ryan loves to play with kids that are there, although he has no interest in playing with little boys his own age. Instead, he always follows and imitates the older kids and as a result, he has become a little daredevil. He used to be afraid of going down covered slides for some reason and recently has been going down all by himself.

Jay and I took him and Dylan to the park yesterday and we couldn't believe how well Ryan could climb the nets by himself, tried to slide down the rope swing, and even climbed the monkey bars.

I look at Ryan and think how fast the past 2 1/2 years have gone and it amazes me that my little baby is not the baby anymore - he is a wonderfully smart little boy that surprises me everyday with his humor, intelligence, and love and I am so glad that Dylan will get to learn from him. I know Ryan will be a great teacher, playmate, brother and friend!!