Three years ago, on March 6 2006, my little Rylan was born. I'm still amazed at the joy he has brought us. The day he was born he brought a burst of sunshine into my life and that light just continues to grow. I truly have been blessed with two amazing sons who make me smile.
We started the day out at 6:30...a full hour before Rylan usually wakes up, and a full hour too early. Kevin is out of town so I tried to get Rylan to lay in my bed next to me and go back to sleep. Asher was already in bed with me and while Rylan was trying to squeeze between Asher and me, he woke Asher up. So Asher was ready to eat and that's when I knew we were up for good.
Rylan is in a cereal phase. It used to be oatmeal, then it was scrambled eggs, and now it's cereal. And he prefers MY cereal. I'm not a cereal fan myself, but if I do eat it I eat my Kashi Heart to Heart. So I guess really it shouldn't be called MY cereal, but Rylan's cereal because he eats it waaaay more than I do. So this morning I decided to not even tell him I was getting his breakfast and I started to make pancakes with blueberries (or "boobies" as Rylan so innocently calls them). As I put the pancakes on the table Ry asked for cereal...until he noticed what I had made. And he was happy!
I sang Happy Birthday to Rylan a couple times in the morning and he would pretend to blow out candles when I was done. Guess he was practicing?!
Since Kevin is out of town I hadn't really planned to do anything for Rylan's birthday. Tami (my sis) called and we decided we'd meet up at Jumpin Jacks and then go to my mom's house for pizza, cake, and ice cream. Great! I called my mom and told her we'd be coming over to her house so she better be home :)
For lunch I made Ry his very first peanut butter and honey sandwich. Yep, I've waited 3 whole years to make him a pb sandwich. (Tami did give him a pb cracker at Disneyland and I'm sure sometime previous he's had some sort of pb...just none that I've given him). Bread with honey is a treat that Kevin introduced to him recently so I knew he'd like the honey part of it. And he IS a 3 year old. What 3 year old does not like peanut butter? I'm sure I was more excited than he was because it gave me a new option for lunch! I asked him over and over if he liked it and with the peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth he answered in the affirmitive every time. Yeah!
Since Ry woke up so early I was hoping to put him down for an early nap. He stayed in his room for almost an hour but never fell asleep. Then he started coming out of his room and after putting him back in bed several times I knew it wasn't going to happen. He must have just been having such a great birthday that he didn't want to miss a single minute of it! So after some time we went to the store to buy some ice cream and balloons for his little party. While driving I decided I should write down some of the things he was saying...just for journaling sake and because I think he's cute. Of course I did this while at stop lights and while parked! I will have to add that in later because I left it in the car. When we got close to the store he said to me "No go get ice cream, I'm tired". Yeah, shoulda taken a nap!
At about 5:00 we met Tami and her kids at Jumpin Jacks. Of course on the way there Ry fell asleep. That was his 20 minute nap for the day. It took him awhile to warm up and get going on the bouncy slides. I went with him on a few slides hoping that would remind him how much fun they are, but that didn't help much. So I just let him run around and do his own thing until he was ready. And then of course when it was time to go he wanted to stay. "One more time mom!"
All that practicing of blowing out the candles wasn't enough...notice the spit coming out of his mouth. As funny as it was, that portion of the cake was served to Rylan. The rest of us were very cautious of the cake we ate! After that we met up with my parents and my bro and his fam for pizza, cake and ice cream. Rylan opened his gift from Tami--a Mickey Mouse kite and a shake and go car, and a gift from my parents--a John Deere tractor and dump truck. He was so excited and almost acted like he didn't know which toy to play with first!
You can't see the car that just sped by, but by the look on his face you know he's lovin it!
We stayed at my parent's house waaay too late. When we got home I was getting Rylan ready for bed. As I was getting his toothbrush ready he left the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Then he left my room and closed that door. I got a little distracted with Asher for a few minutes, but when I went to find Rylan to brush his teeth, he was asleep on the floor right outside my bedroom door. He was out. If only bed time was that easy every night!
So I hope he had a great birthday. When Kevin gets back we'll have a mini celebration and let Ry open his gift from us. (Don't tell Ry but I haven't even bought him a gift yet...shhhhh!)
As a 3 year old Rylan:
- is becoming more independent. He's wanting to do things on his own but gets frustrated when he just can't get it. But he still doesn't want help...just let him vent his frustrations while he keeps on trying
loves trains, cars, trucks...basically anything with wheels
still loves Curious George. He will watch Super Why, Word World, or Martha Speaks, but nothing keeps his attention quite like "monkey".
is not yet potty trained and shows zero interest. I'll wait till he's ready...let's hope that's soon!
says "hold you" when he wants to be held.
is a great brother. He still gives Asher lots of kisses and likes to tickle him.
makes up words and thinks it's funny.
knows how to select different movies on youtube.
likes to play "give me 5, on the side..."
runs pretty fast
plays in the kitchen sink as I'm getting dinner ready. It drives me crazy but at least he's entertained.
pulls us out of bed when he wakes up before us. He does not allow 5 more minutes and just pushes and pulls till we finally get up...who's the parent here?
likes to eat fruit
is still very cautious.
does not do anything on command. When asked to say/do something he'll say "no, you do it".
when Kevin helps Ry brush his teeth before bed, Rylan jokes and puts the toothbrush the wrong way (with bristles out) and pretends to brush.
is my favorite three year old!
(I guess I need to do photo collages or something because I have more pictures I want to post but I feel like it's picture overload. And why can't I get pictures to load side by side? Hmmmm...)
I was trying to get a picture of Rylan playing in the Erosion sand table and everytime I'd ask him to look at mommy and smile I'd get this...
or this. I stopped trying and stuck with the action shots!
"Take me to your leader"...doesn't Rylan look like he's wearing some sort of Star Trek/alien outfit?
Digging for dino bones
Asher participated by sleeping soundly under his dino blanket. Oh, he's such a great baby!
My knowledge of dinosaurs is limited to just knowing the names of the Triceratops and Stegosaurus...and who can forget the Pterodactyl? So we'll have to test my knowledge throughout the next year and see what else I learn. What did I learn Monday? That I'm glad I didn't live during the Pennsylvanian Period when there were gigantic 6 foot long cockroaches and huge dragonflies that might become part of my nightmares!
