22nd Month

(Rylen saying "Cheese!" to the camera)

Rylen is 22 months old today. Just a mere 2 months away from being 2 years old. We have his progressing height penciled in on the wall in his bedroom and we are just amazed at how much he has grown. His personality is so wonderful and he makes us laugh at every turn. He has quite the sense of humor.

Stats
Rylen has finally managed to stay above 22lbs in his weight which always surprises me because he eats so much food all the time. His activity level is just so high that it seems he can't keep the weight on. His height seems to be around the 30" mark. It is hard for me to get a perfect reading, but that seems to be about as accurate as I can get. Rylen has also managed to get 2 more molars already! Yes, those 2 year molars have already started pushing in! I was quite surprised to find, not one, but TWO molars a few days ago. I thought we were going to have a little bit of time before we tackled those, but it looks as if we are already heading down that path. Well, once those are out of the way, we should be free and clear for a while. I know many are wondering about his haircut. Well, we are STILL putting it off. There are days that I think his hair is just way out of control and needs to be seriously cut. Then there are the days that his adorable curls in the back make me cringe to cut them off and force him to look older. So, we are still waiting. Maybe we will cave when he turns two. I can't let it get much longer or he will start looking like a girl, but for now, he is a cute, bouncy toddler with, yes, a sort of mullet on his head. Keep in mind this is not just a mommy decision. I asked Robby if he wanted to take him to get his hair cut today and he also voiced his hesitancy about making our little boy grow up too fast. So, the 1st haircut will just have to continue to wait.

Physical Achievements
Rylen is still progressing at lightening speed and has taken quite a liking to baseball. I'm not really surprised about this because Robby has the game on at every possible moment. What is amazing to me, is Rylen's knack for picking up elements of the game. He has recently taken to "pitching" balls at us. He will stand sideways, look at us for a second, kick his leg in the air and then proceed to thrown the ball. He is literally pitching the ball! It is hilarious! And he has quite an arm I might add. He also bats very well too. He will swing the bat and hold his stance at the end. Of course he does all of this with his very serious "game" face on. I can now see how children like Tiger Woods took to sports at such a young age. Sometimes, they are just really serious and really intrigued by a sport to the point that they mimic every aspect. Who knows what may be in Rylen's future with a pull to baseball like he has.

Verbal Achievements
On a verbal note, we are moving in the right direction. Rylen definitely tries to say words, but the annunciation is not as clear as it could be. I'm sure this will come with time and practice and Rylen definitely DOES practice. His gibberish is all the time and we are starting to be able to distinguish some of the words. Though sometimes there are a few phrases that he could be saying, so we just say all of them back to him hoping one of them was right. Signing is still big with him, but we have at least transitioned some of those signs to the actual word, such as "ball".

Rylen's Schedule
We have a pretty good schedule during the day, so hopefully that will mesh well when the new baby arrives. Rylen gets up around 7:30-8:30 and has a breakfast of champions (oatmeal with pears and flaxseed). Then he watches his "Your Baby Can Read" video which he still finds very intriguing. In fact, we started the last of the videos today. After a couple of months, we will just sift through all 4 videos so he is exposed to them randomly. After our downstairs ritual, we head upstairs for Mommy to check work email and to do household chores, read books and play with Rylen, or take a morning walk around the neighborhood until he is ready to have his nap at around 12:30-1:30. Rylen is on one official nap now and will sleep about 2-3 hours depending on the day. This has been wonderful in allowing me to get some much needed work done. Upon waking, we head downstairs for snack time and outside play. I have started implementing a smoothie snack at least every other day that has vitamins in it. Rylen has become pickier with his veggies, so I wanted to make sure that he was still getting those much needed vitamins. It typically has yogurt or keifer, a little whole milk, greens mix (the vitamins), colostrum, tocatriene protein, fresh fruit and some frozen fruit in it to make it cold. It is quite tasty and he gulps it down pretty easily. On the days I don't give him a smoothie, I try to have his veggie muffins available. Both have been pretty easy snacks that he loves. While Rylen plays and has snack time, Mommy proceeds to work on dinner plans for the arrival of Daddy. With Daddy home, typically around 6-ish, we eat dinner and spend time together before Rylen's bath time at 7:30. Bath and bed is Daddy's domain and Rylen loves this time together. I can hear the giggles all over the house. After bath, he brushes his teeth (very well, I might add), we comb his hair and into the pajamas he goes. Then its a few books read by daddy (and sometimes mommy depending on the book) and 8:30 marks the magical minute that #19 on his CD player begins to play. By the time #23 finishes its last note, in to the bed Rylen goes for a good night's sleep. I am hoping to start some fun activities when he turns two from some homeschooling curriculum that I have come across. I am very excited to implement it.

Final Note
Rylen has been quite a blessing to us in many aspects and though we know our time will start to become divided having another child, we know that Rylen will always have our love. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that you will not be able to focus as directly on Rylen, but we know that God has equipped us with the ability to love even more and therefore give both of our sons an abundant amount of love. Besides, Rylen will soon be getting younger brother love too. Over all, I never knew how much love I could give until we had Rylen and I found my love for both my son and my husband has expanded beyond what I ever imagined. Seeing Robby as a daddy makes my heart grow bigger every day! Isn't love a wonderful thing. It just simply multiplies!