Ryan is a year and a half!

We now have a 1 1/2 year old in our house ... an active explorer who nearly always has some sort of bump, bruise, or scratch! Ryan loves to climb and can usually get down by himself, too. We don't have to use our baby gates anymore as he is comfortable with going up and down the stairs. His favorite place to crawl around is on Momma and Daddy's bed. He likes to dance to music and try to jump (though it's really just squatting and then standing back up).

Lately, Ryan's biggest obsession has been Hot Wheels vehicles. He has at LEAST two of them in his hands at all times ... when we're at home, when we're in the car, even when he's sleeping! He likes to line them up, make them follow each other along a path, have them go "up" and "down" ramps, and carry enormous quantities of them around. Sometimes, when Momma announces that we're heading to the car to go somewhere, Ryan will first make a mad dash around the living room to collect 10 or more toy cars that he wants to bring along.

moving hot wheels cars from one side of the couch to the other

sleeping with cars in hand

Our most recent guess about Ryan's future occupation is sports announcer. Not only does Ryan LOVE balls or anything active, he also loves to "report" what's going on. He will give a running dialogue of the things that he sees throughout the day ... usually in a very excited, loud, sports-announcer-type voice! Hilarious! His vocabulary is certainly expanding, though even we sometimes have to really think about what he's trying to communicate as he attempts to say longer words (like ambulance, applesauce (sounds a lot like "hummus,") backpack, upstairs, or play place). He has started calling himself "Ny-ny" and will seem to do a "family roll call" at least once a day where he names everyone in our family.

It has been fun to watch Ryan's developing sense of humor. He was fascinated one day when Matt attempted to hit a fly on the ceiling with a fly swatter. For weeks since then, Ryan points to the ceiling in our kitchen, says "fly!" and then says "NO!" with a teasing smile. He loves to pretend to hide behind his hands, wait for us to ask where Ryan is, and then pop out with a laugh!

Ryan has gotten much better at going places without Momma or Daddy. He will now go into the church nursery during the Sunday school hour with few (or even no!) tears. Some dear friends of ours have watched Ian and Ryan during the dinner- and bedtime hours for us, and Ryan has even gone to sleep without crying! We're making SO much progress! Next, if we could get past waking up at least once each night ... :)

Ian is certainly one of Ryan's very favorite people. Ryan will talk about "Ee-uh" all the time when Ian is at preschool and wait very eagerly outside Ian's classroom door when it's time to pick him up. (Ryan also seems to intentionally play with all of Ian's favorite toys (which he usually doesn't share) while Ian is away.) Ryan wants to do everything that Ian is doing and say everything that Ian is saying. Nail- and hair-cutting (former battlegrounds) are now much easier if we have Ian demonstrate them first. Ian can still get Ryan to giggle like crazy. Like any brothers, our boys certainly know how to push each other's buttons, but mainly they love their time together.

Our mellow fellow definitely has developed an opinionated streak. He often likes things a certain way and even likes to return things to their original place. He will arch his back, turn into a limp noodle, and protest loudly when we make him do something he does NOT want to do. He'll also let us know if Ian has invaded his personal space or taken a toy that he was playing with. Recently, Ryan has also seemed to be jealous if we're holding someone else. Even when Kim was holding Ian on her lap the other day to read him a story, Ryan climbed up on Kim's lap, too, and started pushing Ian and telling him "OFF!"

At his 18 month well-check, Ryan was 22.75 inches and 26 lb. 2 oz. (both around the 60th percentile). He's growing nicely and eating SOOO much better than he was even six months ago! Interestingly, he is about 2 inches shorter than Ian was at this age, which explains why most of the winter clothes Ian wore at this age don't fit Ryan at all! :)

Some of Ryan's favorites include stickers, taking his socks and shoes OFF, playing the "buddy bucks game" at a local grocery store, hide-and-seek, Cheetos, pancakes & waffles, dogs, and ANY kind of vehicle. His current favorite type of book is the baby-picture-dictionary sort of book where he can point to objects over and over and hear us say their names. (I guess it's a good way to build his vocabulary, though Momma is excited about returning to books with a little more plot sometime soon! Ha!) He'll eagerly say "moh! Moh!" when we're tickling him, playing Ring-Around-the-Rosy, or giving him shoulder or horsie rides. He loves spending time outside -- mainly pushing items (such as his stroller, the Cozy Coupe, or mower), loading up his dump truck, throwing things, or playing in the sand. Ryan is able to sit longer for books and will often bring books to Daddy or Momma, wanting us to stop whatever we're doing to read to him.

We love you, little man! :)

 And some recent pics of a Momma-and-Ryan trip to an indoor playground called Wonderwild.

jumping on the big pillow