22 months - CJM

This sweet little nugget is already 22 months old. He's going to be 2 in a blink of an eye, I can't believe it. Side note -notice the window pane that doesn't look like the others? Pretty sure I haven't mentioned this on the blog, but not too long ago Ryan and B were playing baseball outside, and Ryan decided to hit a golf ball off of the tee, toward the house. This is what we were left with!

He's really seemed to have grown up a lot this month. He wants to be just like his big brothers and refuses to take no for an answer when we won't let him do something that they are doing. He loves to sing and dance, and when he gets caught doing it, he gets really shy and tries to cover his face. His dancing is more of a gallop around the house and some off-beat clapping. He had another ear infection this past month unfortunately. He did weigh in at about 26.5 lbs (59%) at that appointment. He still seems so petite to me, as some of his 18 month clothes still fit him. The boy has no waist. His sleeping has remained the same (8:30pm - 7:15/7:30 am and a 2 or so hour nap in the afternoon). His talking has really taken off as he is starting to form a lot of 2-3 word phrases. He is still as wild as can be climbing on everything, wrestling with dad and his brothers, jumping from one cushion to the other on the couch. I caught him planking between the couch and the coffee table the other day. He thought he was hot stuff. I, however, did not. I think the kid will be into extreme sports :) I think he got the last of his teeth this month as well which has made him pretty fussy off and on.

This boy is a chocolate milk fiend. He loves milk in general and asks for it all day everyday, but when we go out and he gets chocolate milk, he can down it in just a few minutes.

He loves to be funny and will do just about anything to make us laugh. Right before he does something that he knows he shouldn't be doing or thinks it will make us laugh, his eyes open realllly wide and he usually lets out a big scream.

He's obsessed with handing items to the people they belong to. Whether it's a remote, a drink, a phone (ugh, makes me so nervous!), if you leave one of your items somewhere for even two seconds, he running behind you with it in tow. I love how he tries to be so helpful, but what's caused some problems is when he tries to carry an open glass or cup. It usually results in a mess. He also will go throw away trash (namely empty water bottles) which is pretty cute!

I had the camera on my phone open when I took the above picture, but he hopped on over to the couch and took his first selfie!

This boy has turned into such a little sweetie here recently. He's become so affectionate with his brothers and us, as well as just about anyone else he interacts with. He is definitely a cuddler when he wants to be. I caught him loving on this baby doll that recently came back out of some toy box.

Anytime one of his brothers gets a boo-boo or even when they get in trouble, he loves to go give hugs and kisses to make them feel better.

His manners have also become pretty impressive over the past few weeks. He says Thank you and Bless you unprompted as well as You're welcome (usually takes us reminding him). I love hearing sweet little baby's voices being so polite!

He dumps out this one toy basket with all of the play kitchen food and plates in it, just about everyday. It's so frustrating. He's still not too great about cleaning up either, so his poor brothers are usually stuck doing it. He kind of just cleans up when he feels like it, but usually gets distracted and starts to play with something else.

Here he is loving on Yami before she was leaving one day.

He's definitely still obsessed with washing his hands and loves to run his hands under the running water for as long as I will let him.

His fit throwing has also reached an all-time peak! He can throw a tantrum with the best of them. We have also started implementing timeout with him which has been pretty funny. He knows exactly where timeout is (on the front doormat) because he has seen his brothers there (namely Bradley) many, many times! He usually chooses to sit in one of the windowboxes. I need to get a picture of it next time. It's funny because he will usually stay there until we tell him to come out!

My 3 little sweeties chowing down on some fries at Bernie's Burger Bus on Mother's Day! These boys can sure put away some french fries.

More kisses for "Badley" Speaking of B, lately sometimes Charlie will call B "Cha-yee" (it's how he says Charlie. We can't quite figure out why, but will usually just remind him that no, he is Charlie and that is Bradley. It's pretty funny.

He so badly wants to hang with the big boys, but sometimes it can be a little much. He doesn't know exactly how to play everything they play the way they want to play. Hence, laying down right on top of the hopscotch. That didn't go over too well with Ryan and B.

Bradley trying to show him how to play. B really has been better about including Charlie these days. I catch them playing Ring Around the Rosie or making up games with superhero figurines or running around the house playing make believe all of the time now. Charlie just happily follows behind or takes cues the best he can!

He's definitely still a hider. This is where I found him after baths one night when it was time to put him to bed. He thinks he is hilarious.

This dude is even more obsessed with the cars than he was last month. I told him to pose with his cars in this pic! He is very possessive of them as well. He really doesn't think that either of his brothers should be allowed to play with them. Ever. The boy is stubborn.

Love this little guy so much and love watching him turn into such a sweet, loving, and CRAZY little boy!

6 years - WRM

I realize this post is a little late, but better late than never. I have already posted about Ryan's birthday celebrations, but now I owe him a recap of this past year and how he has grown.

Speaking of growing, his update at his 6 year check up was as follows:
Height - 47.5" (85%) I am going to go ahead and assume by the end of May he will be 48" for the waterpark!
Weight - 52 lbs. (82%)
BMI - 75%

So, it looks like his measurements have evened out over the years. He's lost his two bottom middle teeth in the past few months. He wears size 13 shoes, size 7 in tops and size 6 in bottoms. He goes to bed about 8:45 and gets up at 7:15 (that's me waking him up for school; somehow on the weekends though, he is up an at 'em by 7 am!). He is a pretty good eater and will try most things we give him. Wouldn't say he eats a ton of veggies, but a 6 year old kid, I would assume he's pretty normal in that department. His top favorite foods would probably include PBJ, cereal, fruit (strawberries and blueberries being his favorite), cheese sticks, pizza (most Italian type of dinners), Mexican food, and clearly any and all desserts. He loves to buy his lunch at school which I find pretty gross, but apparently it's the cool thing to do. He is obsessed with drawing/tracing. I feel like I have written this before, but he is currently tracing "If you Give a Mouse of Cookie" and wants to claim it as his own when he is done to take to his school for show and tell. Our friends introduced us to a YouTube channel that teaches you to draw various things, and he is currently loving that. His math skills are also pretty impressive for a Kindergartner, in my humble opinion!

I would say over the past year, what sticks out quite a bit is how much he loves school. He's made so many great friends, loves learning new things, has awesome teachers, and it just seems to suit him so well. He also has more energy than I could possibly imagine. On the days he doesn't have school, he is literally bouncing off the walls. Even on the days he does go to school, he can get so antsy in the evening. Ever since the time change, more of his friends have been going to the park to play after dinner and that has really helped him burn off that pent up energy he still seems to have at the end of the day.

He's also been playing baseball this Spring and has really improved from last year. It's dad's pitch and he seems to really have gotten the hang of it. His fielding has been pretty great, and he's really getting the hang of how to make an out and throw to the base the runner is on.

 He's playing with one of his best buds from Pre-school last year, Jacob!

Here's one video I have from a few weeks ago. You can ignore all the misses! At the end is a pretty decent hit!

I do love that he is willing to try all different sports and to really give it his best effort. Not sure what "his sport(s)" will end up being, but it seems like basketball and swimming  are so far the front runners. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I would say one of his biggest accomplishments over the past year would be learning to read. From the moment he started Kindergarten only knowing roughly 50-75 sight words, to reading the Magic Treehouse chapter books, he does enjoying reading. He will read to his brothers whenever they are willing to listen.

Ryan and B have been having so much fun together this past year. B has really grown up and they are able to play on more of the same level than ever before. They make up games together, build Magnatiles and other toys with each other, play make believe, etc. They have such a neat bond, I hope they only grow closer. Most weekend mornings here lately, we will wake up to find the two of them playing together in one of their bedrooms so quietly so they won't wake us. It's so sweet. Here they are playing with one of Ryan's birthday toys together. It was hilarious.

Ryan's spring field trip was about a month or so ago, and they went to the zoo. I was unable to go since I had the little ones at home, but our sweet friends sent me pics throughout the day. Here is Ryan's kinder class.

Ryan and his "girlfriend"

Just hanging around

Ryan wanted to be like dad here! He looks so grown up!

I know I've also mentioned before how close Ryan and Charlie are, but it's too cute not to share again. Charlie is always wanting to know where he is during the day. If he sees me come home sometime in the afternoon, he will ask about Ryan since he knows I always bring him home after he gets up form his nap.

A few weeks ago, Houston was hit with some pretty crazy flooding. It ended up cancelling school out in Katy for an entire week. For the first two days, there wasn't much open and whatever was open was insanely packed and crazy. After hearing how crazy Chick-fil-a was, we opted for PDQ for lunch one day. The kids had been so pent up for almost 48 hours, they were jumping around on the booth, hiding under the table, it was seriously like monkeys escaping from the zoo.

Love these little monkeys

One thing I definitely want to remember from this past year is his love for Legos. He is crazy about them. It gives him such a great sense of accomplishment when he finishes one, and he likes to set goals on how fast he can finish them, etc. Not sure if I have ever completely captured the essence of his obsession, but here is a look into his Lego World in his room. Wes built these shelves for Ryan for his birthday. I love how they turned out.

He has taken almost every set apart and rebuilt them at least once. We even signed him up for a monthly subscription where he picks a set, they send it, he builds them and then sends them back for a new one. You can't see it in this picture, but at night, we let him stay up for about 20 extra minutes after his brothers go to bed so he can play Legos. He usually puts his little clock on the bottom right corner of the table and watches it like a hawk until it's time for bed. Pretty sure he has never missed a bed time.What's even funnier is that he told me the other day that even though his bedtime is 8:45, he closes his eyes at 8:46 for bed because it's an even number. Talk about OCD!!

He is such a stickler for things being fair and equal, it's crazy. Not only does it have to be fair, but he has to be able to justify the way things are in his head. For instance, one night for dinner the boys were eating a hodge podge of leftovers. I had given B pizza because I knew he probably wouldn't eat the other leftovers. Ryan asked me why B got the pizza and not him. He quickly answered his own question with the thought that two nights before he had spent the night at CoCo and Poppy's and had pizza there, so it made sense that B got it that night instead of him. That's just one example from a line of many that I probably can't even remember. Maybe he will be a judge one day! He also LOVES to ask questions. Which I know is normal for this age, but whew! It can be exhausting. We do appreciate his willingness to learn and how he craves knowledge. He always wants to know and understand how things work and why things are the way they are. Truly the mind of an engineer at work, I'm sure! I already don't have answers to probably 25% of the questions he asks. I can only imagine what that will look like a few years from now!

We had a Mother's Day breakfast at Ryan's school, and it was super cute. They sang a cute song and had breakfast together. I love how sentimental he can be at times, he has such a big heart and I hope he always wants me to come to school to do things like this with him!

We love you and are so proud of the big kid you are becoming, Ryan!