It’s been a while since I’ve put up some more Ryan pictures.  I was trying to upgrade the gallery software, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for now, so I’ll get pics up soon.

In the meantime, Ryan just turned 22 months yesterday and there have been a lot of new developments and fun stuff that I thought I should catch up on.

He’s been able to say his ABCs all the way through for a few months now, and is presently counting up to 16.  He’s fascinated by numbers and letters, one of his favorite toys is the magnetic set of plastic numbers and letters that he got for Christmas.  His other current favorite toys are his mega bloks, play-doh, and the Aquadoodle mat.  His favorite stuffed animals are Big Bear, a white Santa bear from Christmas 2008, his Elmo doll, and his big stuffed puppy.  We often have to move them from one level of the house to another throughout the day when he says “all of them in the tent” or “all of them on the couch.”

On the topic of speaking,  Jen was documenting all of his words but stopped somewhere when he got over a few hundred.   He can communicate quite well with us, putting together 4-8 word sentences (missing a word here or there) to tell us what he wants.  He also likes to repeat everything you say to him to the best of his ability.

Ryan’s got Spring fever big time here in the last two weeks.  Temperatures have gotten into the 60’s several times, so we hear “outside Daddy, outside Mommy!” many times a day.  I’m pretty sure he’d be just fine if you kept him out from sunrise to sunset.  He likes to walk up and down the neighborhood, get pulled around in his wagon, ride on his swing, and play on the neighbors slide.  It has a 6 step ladder that he climbs with ease.

He’s also had a big fascination with water in the last few weeks, so he has to get in the shower with each of us and usually wants it to run until we’re out of hot water.  With both the outdoors sessions and the shower / bath sessions, he’s been getting pretty upset when he has to come inside or get out of the water, although in the last few days that seems to be less of a problem.  The “2’s” stage is upon us, so whenever he wants something, it’s the most important thing in the world at that moment.

Ryan has started toilet training a little bit.  He is able to sit on his potty and pee if we put him on it, but he’s not yet asking for it or indicating that he needs to go.  Whenever he has to poo, you always know it because he goes off to be on his own for a while in another room, and he gets quiet – except for some mild grunting.  So the other day, after I got out of the shower, Ryan wanted to stay in there and play.  After a period of quiet, he was saying something that we weren’t sure of.  I opened the door and he had left a number two on the floor of the shower!  It turns out, he was saying “stain,” which is what he says when he sees a stain on the carpet.  Jen and I got a good laugh out of that one.

A few weeks back, Ryan’s Grandma Lola and Aunt Kim came up to watch him on a Saturday afternoon while Jen and I went out, and they stayed the night at our house.  On Sunday, we had plans to head over to Lansing for Dad’s 79th birthday party at 5 pm.  Kim and Mom left to head back to Lansing at noon the same day, and kind of jokingly asked Ryan if he wanted to go with them.  Just like a little trooper, he went and got his coat, hat, and shoes and climbed into Kim’s van to go on a trip.  He wasn’t in the least bit afraid to leave Mom and Dad, so Kim got to keep him for the afternoon until we all met up at the restaurant for Dad’s birthday.  Apparently, he was as sweet as pie all day, no fussiness about being away from us!  I think he handled it much better than his Mom, in fact.  It was good for Ryan and Aunt Kim to spend some time together.

We’re getting ready to take off his crib rail soon and put on the toddler rail.  He hasn’t started climbing out yet, but I think he’s responsible enough to get out of his own bed when he wants to now.  I’ll probably put a gate at the top of the stairs, just to prevent him from sleepwalking and falling down them.

Two years old in two months!  Time flies…