HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Ryan would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Aunt Erika, who turned 28 on January 27th, and also a very Happy Birthday to Uncle Michael, who will be 25 tomorrow, January 29th.

Buster

I think a post without a picture is kind of boring and I am sorry that I don't have a picture to go with the story. When I was in college, my family got an Old English sheepdog, which we named Buster. Unfortunately due to bad arthritis and other ailments, Buster was put to sleep in 2005. Erika has said before that she thinks that Ryan is the re-incarnation of Buster, mostly because of their similar eating styles. Like Ryan, Buster seemed to have a bottomless pit as a stomach and a fondness for eating things that he was not supposed to. On one occasion, Buster ate an entire pack of gum. Another time, we came home to an empty box of chocolate. While initially we blamed each other, it became obvious later that Buster had some how gotten his paws on top of the table, pulled the box of chocolates down and then ate everything, including the wrappers. How does this relate to Ryan since this is a blog about him? Well, the other day, I was making Ryan breakfast and he was sitting on the kitchen floor nicely playing with the measuring cups. He seemed pretty into what he was doing so I figured it would be safe to leave him alone for just long enough to bring his tray to the table, go in his room to get a bib and come back to the kitchen (about 60 seconds). When I came back, Ryan was sitting on the floor with a box of donuts on his lap, had one in his mouth and one in his fat little hand. The only way Ryan could have gotten the donuts was to stand on his tippytoes and pull it off the counter. When Ryan saw me standing there, he just looked up and smiled, powdered donut all over his face, I couldn't help but laugh and think "Buster, is that you??"

The Park

Ryan loves going to the park and we are fortunate to live in part of the city where there are a lot of playgrounds - there are 7 in Stuy Town alone. Whenever the weather is nice or when we get a little stir-crazy, we head to the park. Ryan loves to play with the other kids at the park(and any toys they might have), climb on the slides and other park equipment, and ride the bouncers. Ryan's favorite part of the park though is the swings. I imagine some of the other moms and dads at the park think Jay, my mom and I are all crazy for the way we play with Ryan and I really don't care -I KNOW that we, and more importantly Ryan, have a great time every time we are there. I am pretty sure that everyone else at the park knows it too:

Is that laugh not contagious? Ryan may be the loudest and craziest baby at the park and that is just fine with me - with each laugh, I am reminded of just how lucky we are to have such a happy, funny and absolutely adorable little boy to play with everyday.

15 months

Last Friday, Ryan had his 15 month appointment with the pediatrician. The Dr. said Ryan looked great -he weighs 24.4 pounds (50th percentile) and is 31 1/2 inches tall (50th percentile). Ryan unfortunately had to get two shots (vaccines) while we were there and we did what any good parents would do to make things better: Gave Ryan a new toy!

Play that funky music

Our wonderful nanny, Elizabeth, took Ryan to his first music class yesterday and she said they had a great time. She said that Ryan really seemed to like the class, spent the hour dancing around the room, and didn't even try to steal or eat any of the instruments. At least that is progress from the last time we took music class.

I don't know what is the best part of these pictures: the fact that Ryan seems to be enjoying the class or that all of the other kids are sitting nicely watching Ryan as he takes center stage in the middle of the singing circle. For those of you who have never taken a baby music class, the purple thing in Ryan's hand is an egg maraca (no handle so the babies don't poke their eyes out).

Just for old times' sake, here is Ryan in Music Together the first time we took it (March of 2007). Thank goodness he has a better hairstyle now.

Music Together

Soon after Ryan was born, my good friend Carrie's brother-in-law & sister-in-law opened a playspace for kids called appleseeds. It is a great indoor playground not far from our apartment that is catered to kids under 4. In addition to having a big indoor playground (which has a soft play area for infants, a lego area, a magnet wall, a sports section and much more), appleseeds also offers a variety of classes ranging from Baby Yoga to Chinese. When Ryan was around 4 months old, I signed him up for Music Together, which we went to every Sat. for 10 weeks. I think I got more out of it than Ryan did since I liked meeting other new moms (none of which I have ever seen again) and Ryan spent most of the class trying to eat the maracas. Recently, we have been listening to the cd again that we got in the class and Ryan loves dancing around the apartment to it, so I started thinking of signing him up for another class. After looking over the schedule of classes offered, I got it in my head that rather than take music again, Ryan HAD to take the art class offered, my Chelsea art opening, even though the class was for 18 month-olds and up. Before I paid for the class, I decided to try our own art project to see how it would go:












As a result of our art project, Ryan will now be taking Music Together again. First class is tomorrow.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! It is hard to believe how fast the year went by and how big Ryan has become. Each day he amazes us with the new things he does and tries to say. Ryan has such a great personality already and I know that 2008 will bring so much fun and excitement for our family.