I guess the dude was 33 months on Christmas. He’s still going strong with his 2.5 year old disequilibrium phase. (Shouldn’t it be over soon?? But then people tell me that 3 is WORSE?!)
Lately Ryan…
Is very, very interested in playing with stuffed animals.** He usually calls them his ‘guys’ and sets them up all around the house in different groups and clumps as they participate in various imaginary activities. There’s the choo choo train couch scenario, the animal train coffee table scenario, the blanket boats on the floor scenario, the beach scenario. In addition to wanting to play with the ‘guys’ all the time, he also requires no less than 103 animals in his crib with him at all times. Plus the five blankets and two pillows that must be in there as well, and there’s little room left for him. He finds a way though…I’m always amazed at the disorder of his crib when I go in to cover him up at night, and how he sleeps just fine with all that bed clutter. {{BigBoyBed set to arrive in a few weeks. Zoinks!}}
Oh, and multiple ‘guys’ have to come along with us on every excursion. That means we’re toting usually two stuffed animals, one car baba, and sometimes even one full-sized baba into stores etc. I thought these kids were supposed to require less baggage as they got older?
Potty training…I’m not going to talk about it. I firmly believe in THE JINX. I’ll just say there are good days, and there are bad days. And I’ve never cleaned my bathroom floor so much in my life.
He’s become extremely re-attached to needing mama at all times. He flips out if daddy gets him up in the morning or if daddy suggests using the potty. It must be MOM. One night after dinner I ran out to buy dog food- a 15 minute errand. Ryan started screaming just as I was leaving (even though daddy was waiting with baseball glove and tball to play), and when I walked in the door 15 minutes later he was still sobbing that mama left him. Also- [and this is super fun!!]- daddy can have no part in bed time if I am home. I usually try to make Ryan let daddy read the books, but even that proves challenging. [You'd think he'd have had enough of me by the end of the day?!?!]
He’s become more obsessed with snacks- if that was even possible- and way less interested in mealtime. Anytime we go anywhere he thinks he’ll be handed a snack, no matter what time it is or when he last ate. He also thinks he should receive one snack in the car, one snack at our destination, another snack later in the destination, and yet another snack on the car ride home.
He had a stretch of 8 days of no napping. Yesterday he finally napped. Perhaps in another week and a half he’ll take another snooze.
He’s very active, he’s very vocal. One of his favorite activities is to antagonize the dog and run up and hit or kick her for no reason. He also enjoys coming up and walloping me for no reason. It’s fun. I’m not sure how many times I’ll have to say “we don’t hit, we don’t kick, it hurts, it’s not nice” before it finally sinks in. He also likes to scream. And yell. And sing. And throw tantrums about not wanting to leave the house, not needing to pee, not being able to eat a snack on the couch…you name it, he fits about it.
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He looks so grown up lately!! He’s tall- he looks like a big boy. He’s very conversational, and has gotten really great at talking on the phone. I also love the way he answers yes/no questions- he’s very formal. Instead of answering NO or YEAH, to something like Did you have a nice sleep last night, Ryan? his response will be “I did” or “I didn’t.” He answers like that for EVERY yes/no question.
He talks about this new baby that’s coming our way. He’ll ask to “see” the baby…which means he wants me to lift up my shirt so he can gaze at my bare stomach. Then his fave thing to do is place his freezing ice hand on my belly. He’s not patient enough to hang out and wait to see or feel the baby kick, so he hasn’t experienced that yet. Ryan thinks he, too, has a baby growing in his belly. Which is suuuuuuper cute. He got a baby doll for Christmas and has been practicing feeding it a bottle and saying “sshhhhh” to it when it cries. And he puts it down for a nap by chucking it over the side of his crib. Ryan likes to talk about where Baby Goy will take a bath (“in the blue BATHTUB in the KITCHEN SINK?!!”) and he fantasizes about Baby Goy enjoying playtime with Ryan’s toys.
We’re taking him to Mexico in a month. He knows we’re going; knows there’s a beach; knows we’ll fly in a plane. He knows he’ll take his Thomas the Train backpack and wear his Crocs. What he doesn’t know is how much he’ll be required to wait around and do nothing in order to get to Mexico. Or that he’ll be sleeping in a huge bed in the same room as mom and dad for five days. OR THAT HIS MOM IS BEGINNING TO LIVE IN FEAR OF THIS TRIP.
He has an incredible memory. He recites lines from books and sings lots of songs, but HATES it when mom or dad sing along to a song. He loves to dance on daddy’s shoulders. He got some games for Christmas and has been obsessed with playing them.
He’s cute, he’s funny, he’s a dear. But at the end of the day, his mama is exhausted.
**Please note: I have declared a moratorium on stuffed animals. We do not need any more stuffed animals entering this household!!
