Two!

Ryan turned two last Monday, which is so crazy to me. I have a little person around now. We can hold a conversation (although, not everyone can understand what he is saying all of the time!) and I swear he knows what we are talking about all of the time - it's like he can read our minds.

He has now been in major recovery mode from 4 birthday parties and nights out at both grandparents in the last 9 days - which has required a decent amount of discipline and a lot of use of his "timeout mat." Not sure if I have mentioned it before, but lately we have used a rug in his bedroom as timeout. It actually works pretty well, almost too well. He will voluntarily go to it or if we threaten it because he is doing something bad, he will just ask us "timeout mat??" Even when he does go willingly, it will still usually correct his behavior, so we shall see if this works in the long run.

We went to the doc today for our 2 year check up and everything looked great. His stats are:
Height - 37 inches (96th percentile)
Head - 20.5 inches (>100th percentile - she measured twice bc it is so huge!)
Weight - 30.2 lbs (73rd percentile)

This month, he has started singing, A LOT! It is too funny because he sings in a really high pitched voice. He knows all of the verses of Rock-a-bye Baby, Yankee Doodle, Twinkle Twinkle, and Ring around the Rosie. He also just all of a sudden sang the ABCs to us. Not sure where he picked that up but he knew the whole song.

We have started two new activities this month. We started gymnastics with our friends Jennifer and Elijah. He has been 3 times and just this past time he started to actually have fun. The first day, toward the end, he took off running and headed straight into an uneven bar. It was pretty scary because it snapped his neck back and he fell on the mat. He was screaming, but luckily it only ended up in a bruise on his cheek for 2 or 3 days. This past week, he really started to try out different things. He wanted to do the balance beam and demanded we do the one that is about 3 feet off of the ground. I held both of his hands and he did it a few times without slipping once! He also tried the trapeze swing for the first time and did it like a pro! After carefully observing the past few times, he decided to give it a shot. He also loves the ball pit and jumping on the trampoline. He talks about coach Katie at home all the time now.

A not so good experience has been with swim class! We started two weeks ago with Ashley and Alex and to say it has been traumatizing is an understatement. Both times he has practically cried the entire time and only screams "get in mommy car" for 30 solid minutes while pointing to the parking lot. the only few moments he didn't cry were when we would sing songs and splash around, but then he would pick right back up where we left off. He has done well with going underwater and doesn't seem to choke, which is a good sign I guess, but he absolutely hates doing everything they make him do - especially floating on his back. He pikes his legs up and tightens his abs - he is so strong, it is near impossible to make him lay flat. I am not going to give up though because I don't want him to be afraid. So we will power through and hope for the best. The thing is though, once it is over, all he does is talk about it. Swim class, Ashley, dunk head, bubbles, swimming pool - he just goes on and on. So we shall see!

He has been pretty funny this month with his expressions and sentences. He loves to say "stay right there" while holding out his hand in a stop motion. He will then go and get toys and bring them to wherever you are. He also loves to play rough with Wes and loves to be "gotten." Wes always calls him goofball, so now he thinks whenever it is time to horse around it is called "goofball." So, when Wes tickles him too much or tires him out, he says "no more goofball." He has also said "I'm sorry" and truly meant it for the first time last week. He hit me with his puppy really hard on accident and could tell it hurt me. He came over to hug me and said "I'm sorry Mommy. Ryan hurt mommy."

He still doesn't have too much of an attention span for television shows, but one show that he has really taken a liking to is the Parent Orientation Video for swim class. There is a video I watched before our first class that is about 20 min and shows a shortened version of an actual class. He watched it with me and then about a week later saw my computer and was asking for "baby swimming pool video." After about 5 minutes, I figured out what it was he was asking for and turned it on for him. He will watch it on the couch and not move the entire time. We have probably watched it 10 times in the past week. I'm not too opposed because I am hoping it will make him more comfortable with swim class!

He loves to wear our shoes around the house now.

Gigi made him a bathrobe and we told him he looked like a moviestar. He thinks it is pretty funny and loves to wear it around the house!

Another funny recent development has been his complete disgust for being dirty. If he drops anything on his clothes or gets a tiny speck of dirt on him anywhere, he immediately wants to take off all of his clothes and tells me to "wash it." The boy is very disturbed by "messes" and screams in a really high pitched voice when he is dirty. If this past month is any indication as to what our little 2 year old has in store for us, this next year will be one wild ride!

He also has been loving alone time recently. He loves to watch SuperWhy! and has recently been wanting to watch it in his room by himself. He will go in there, bring snacks and his puppy, and tell me to shut the door and leave. He will stay in there by himself for a good 10-15 and sometimes even sit in his rocking chair and rock by himself. He also loves to play in the hallway while I'm in the bedroom, but the door must be shut at all times. I think he likes his independence, I can't blame him.

I'll update soon with his birthday post once I get the pics!!