Ryan

Ryan is at an age where he is more active than I think I have energy for. His passion in life is climbing on things, especially high objects that could cause a lot of pain and/or damage if he falls. Right now the kitchen table is his climbing apparatus of choice and if you leave a chair out even a smidgeon he will pull it out, climb on it, and get on the table. One time Jeff was playing the guitar and I was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, both right by him, but all of a sudden I heard a little laugh and I looked up and he’s got a big smile on his face as he is sitting on the table. Once he’s on the table he looks like a little doggy chasing his tail. He likes to go around and around and yet doesn’t seem to get dizzy, although we get dizzy watching.

He loves music and whenever I put on Jenny Oaks Baker playing the violin, especially “Ashokan Farewell” he oohs to it. He also likes to dance to his music. We have a Thomas the Train book that plays sounds and a few little songs and when he hears the sons he waves his arms up and down. And if he’s on his hands and knees he pops his back up and is pretty impressive in his moves. We have yet to catch it on video since he stops whenever we film, but it’s really funny. He and Lily love playing in the van together and could spend an hour in there: turning lights on, pressing buttons, turning on the wipers and whatever else you can do in there. Tonight I was in the house and wondering why no one had come in from the garage yet and when I went out Jeff was playing with two very happy children in the car.

Ryan is 16 months and still not walking. We have struggled knowing what to do because every time we try he just gives up after a little bit. We bought him a y-bike, which is a physical therapy tool, and that seems to help if he’d use it more. We will just keep praying and home that he gets a desire. I’m 20 weeks right now and don’t know if I can keep carrying him the bigger I get since he’s a big boy. He’s strong though and with all his climbing and activity he’s using that body of his a lot.

Kids Getaway at Mama Baer's

The kids stayed with the Baer's for a few days after Christmas while Jeff and I got a lot done and enjoyed some downtime, which was wonderful! Here is what Sandy wrote about their visit:

Sarah, Diana and I enjoyed Lily and Ryan so much last week. They are so sweet and fun to be with. Everything is very exciting for them and Lily played really well with Ryan and shared almost everything. Ryan was Lily's little shadow. He loves to follow her around. They were happy and had a good time with us and we kept them super busy. At the museum, Lily ran from room to room and loved the freedom. The museum wasn't very busy, so it was a perfect day to go. Ryan surprised all of us by crawling the fastest we've ever since him crawl. He did not want to ride in the stroller until right before we went home when he was worn out. He quickly figured out that he could press the little buttons on the exhibits and they would make an animal noise. He loved that and pressed them over and over and then he would giggle or laugh. He also stood at each exhibit and then would walk along holding the railing until the railing ran out when he would drop to his knees and crawl as fast as he could to the next railing. Sometimes he would walk just holding on to the railing with one hand, so he's ready. He just needs the confidence that he can do it and I think he doesn't want to be bothered because it's too slow. I often wonder what goes on inside children's heads.

Lily was so sweet and asked me to sing to her every night when she went to bed. I loved that! It was such a tender moment for me and she told me every day that she loved me and "I like your house, Mama Baer!" She was very free with her kisses and hugs and even let me lay on the couch with her when we watched a DVD after we came home from the museum. She made "slipper" princess cookies with Sarah that we forgot to send home with her. They also made snowmen cookies and Lily said we could eat the snowmen cookies, but she needed to take the princess cookies home because she's the princess! I hope she forgot about them and wasn't sad that we forgot.

I felt bad that Ryan started crying the minute he saw you since he was fine the entire time you weren't there. All my children used to do the same thing and Ron would say jokingly that they were fine until I appeared and often they would burst into tears. When Jeffrey was little and he broke his arm, Ron took him to the emergency room and Jeffrey was so brave - didn't shed a tear until I showed up. The minute he saw me, he cried and cried and I felt terrible. Maybe he thought he had to be brave for Dad. Or maybe little children instinctively know to be on their best behavior for others, but they can break down when their moms are around. I'm not sure why that is. Anyway, thanks again for letting them stay. I enjoyed it immensely.

Lily loves the missionaries

We had the missionaries over for dinner and Lily pretty much put on a show. She prayed for dinner and is always very appropriate with her prayers and said we were thankful the missionaries could come over. After dinner she wanted to sing the “Latter-day Prophet” song to them and then did it again. When it was time to pray she wanted to go first and then wanted each of the elders to pray so we had lots of praying in our house that day. It was pretty funny how happy and excited she was to have them over since in the past she has been terrified of the missionaries.