Adventures with Ryan

I decided to move away from the pregnancy posts and put something here that is about Ryan. As you can see Ryan has made the move to a big boy bed without a pacifier. Yay! The bed was given to us by Adam's cousin who has two kids and is no longer in need of the bed. Ryan loved it from the minute it entered the house. He helped me put the pieces together and move the mattress from his crib to this bed.

The first night he slept in the bed, none of us were sure how things would work. We'd been telling him for months that he was going to get a big boy bed because the crib will then be given to his baby brother or sister. He was really excited when the bed arrived, so we figured the transition wouldn't be horrible, but one never knows with a toddler.

We did our usual bedtime routine and then put Ryan in the bed. He didn't cry. We figured this was a plus. Adam had just gotten home from work that night and needed to get dinner. I stayed to watch from our room. Ryan sat up in bed for a long time just looking around. When I looked a few minutes later I couldn't see him and I was worried he'd made an escape. When Adam came back from the kitchen, he checked on Ryan who was fast asleep in his bed. The photo above is from that very first night. He absolutly loves his big bed.

Another milestone in the big boy world is that we've left pacifier behind for almost a month now. He asked for it a lot the first few nights, just like when we took it away at naptime. Now I don't even think he remembers how attached he was to it.

This weekend, we visited Ryan's godparents again. The guys had planned for a LONG time that they would go to the season opener for the New England Revolution (that's Major League Soccer for those of you wondering). After a small pregnancy drama (more to come in another post) we went up on Friday night. Of course, Ryan looks forward to these visits to see kitty-kitty orange. We all spent most of Saturday together until the guys left for the game and then us girls and Ryan went out for the evening. We took Ryan to a pet store and he LOVED all the animals, especially the turtles and the fish (he calls them shish).

I think we spent an hour looking at turtles and fish. It was great entertainment. He thought the birds were okay and he thought the same about guinea pigs, ferrets and rats. He held on to Kristin for dear life when she showed him geckos, snakes and spiders, but I think those things are creepy, too.

We're looking forward to going to York Wild Animal Kingdom as soon as it opens, which I think is May. We've planned a family day for the zoo and we know he's going to love it. I've warnned Adam that we'll have to spend lots of time at each exhibit, but at least we'll get our money's worth.

In another adventure, Adam brought home a balloon for Ry the other day. He runs around with it in a circle and yells, "GO!" It's really cute. He also attempted to stuff the balloon behind the TV. I tried to explain it wouldn't fit and that it could pop, but he tried anyway. Amazingly the balloon is still around. Speaking of the word "go" Ryan also pretends to race like Mater and McQueen in the movie Cars. He'll say "GO!" and run in a circle and then we have to pretend to be the finish line and say "stop."

I'm happy to report we've had a few nice days, which have resulted in adventures outside. He wanted to go on the swing and in his pool right away. I told him once the snow made a path to the swing we would go. Two days later he led the way as we went for our first time on the swing since last fall. Of course, it hasn't been warm enough for the pool, but he keeps asking. We've made the best of bathtime, though I know it's not the same.

I'm looking forward to more adventures with Ryan outdoors in the coming months.