Wordless Wednesday: She loves black eye'd peas

Cha-cha-cha-changes!

I cannot believe how much Rhyan has grown and learned this past few weeks! I dont want to forget them!

• She now can sign "eat", "more", "please", "all done", and rub her tummy when something is "yummy".
• She says "daddy", "bubble" and done (in addition to the things she said before...)
• She thinks its hilarious when we cough or sneeze
• She really likes for us to load her fork w/ food and then allow her to feed herself
• Wants us to read to her all. the. time.
• Can go down the slide like a BIG girl, all by herself (its not graceful, but it works)
• Rhyan has moved on from offering Spud his dog food and is now offering him her sippy cup
• She throws a ball quite nicely
• Has cut the top two canine teeth through the gums (those were boogers to get!)
  

She seems to be picking up on things very quickly these days! Man, its a BLAST!

Found in my Inbox

Who knew my child was so smart? This is the email i got from her today, via facebook :-)

Dear Mommy,

I called Granddad today just to talk with him about his upcoming hiking trip (he is typing this message while I dictate it to him). We had a good discussion, it sounds like fun, and he invited me to go with his group on this next trip. He said all you had to do was buy me a pair of hiking boots. The trip is only 1-2 weeks so I won't even need a second change of clothes (maybe 2-3 extra diapers). Granddad will supply everything else. If you say okay, them I'm good-to-go.

Love,
Rhyan

And you have to give the girl props for knowing at such a young age the importance of having a secretary to whom she can dictate letters and such. Just brilliant, i tell you!

But, Granddad, her Dad and I have discussed it and we think she's a little young to be traveling alone with boys. Maybe when she's 30 :-)

Rhyan: 16 months

I tell my patients daily, "I absolutely love being a mom". I think its because Rhyan makes it easy! She has the sweetest personality and is so. much. fun. Although, we are starting to see her frustrated side as she now at times attempts things she cant do (like fit into the bookcase... she wants to sit in it) and gets mad and yells. Its kind of funny for now, but i can totally see the tantrums coming. So we're enjoying every tantrum free moment until then :-)

At 16 months some of the fun things rhyan is doing:

• rubs her belly in a circular motion if you ask her if her food is "yummy to her tummy"
• blows kisses and waves when she's ready to leave or go night night. even if its not time.
• pinches her nose and says (in a very low tone) "bum bum"
• continues to point to her belly button, toes, foot and hair
• now also shows her teeth, tongue and again, points to her nose. we're almost there w/ eyes
• puts her hands together to "pray" at each meal (doesnt close her eyes, though)
• is still a dancing maniac and has dance parties w/ Daddy regularly
• can sit on a riding toy and finally go forwards as well as backwards
• has the two top canines coming in. no official appearance, yet.
• still loves the water
• is down to ONE NAP a day! It starts just after lunch (12:15ish) and lasts till 3ish. Sometimes she wakes up around 2:30 but stays in bed till 3, at least.
• signs "more" and "all done"
• still gasps at everything exciting or new
• can turn on the dishwasher and the gas stove (and has gotten popped for this, alot!)
• sticks her finger up her nose now that she's found it. we try to ignore it. :-(
• loves to get a book and have us read to her
• tries to do the motions to "itsy bitsy spider"
• shakes her finger when i sing the 5 little monkey's song ("no more monkey's jumping..."
• still does "bad face". idk if we will ever get tired of that!
• still eats alot. lately, she's loving fried okra. and black eyed peas. pretty much any bean/pea she will eat. and the girl can eat her weight in fruit of any kind. apples, oranges, pears, watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, bananas, etc... she is also liking chicken more.
• likes to fake cough or fake yawn
• thinks us faking falling down is hilarious, and likes to do it herself (on a pillow... its so cute)
• thinks spud is the greatest thing ever and tries to hand feed him his food. if he doesnt eat it, she will. *sigh* i dug 6 pieces out of her mouth last week. at one time!
• still sucks her fingers when very tired or upset and still wants to cover it w/ a bib or shirt.
• says "baaa" (ball), "up", "bubbnnnn" (button... for her belly button), "boo boo", "daddy", "puh" (spud), "ahh duh" (all done) and possibly a couple of others we cant understand.
• loves her shape box and can correctly get the circle and occasionally the square but mostly she gets frustrated w/ it and throws the shapes. but returns to it moments later.
• tries to put on her shoes, my shoes, any shoes!
• gags herself w/ her fingers from time to time? the dr says its a teething thing...
• occasionally makes a high pitched noise when we ask her what a kitty cat says
  
• is not really a momma's or daddy's girl, but definitely wants me for comforting. she loves us both, and we both adore her.

So, as you can tell, our days are full of "free" entertainment via Rhyan! We love every minute!

Following is her approximate schedule at 16 months with one nap a day:
7:15ish- get her up, get dressed, brush teeth
7:30-8 free play time
8am- breakfast (still something and fruit. eggs/toast/fruit or oatmeal/fruit or pancakes/fruit)
8:30- play time with mommy (i pick the activity... blocks or shape box or little people, etc)
9am-outside play
10am-come in and get washed up and have reading time
10:30- 30 min of independent play (not officially, really... i havent implemented room time)
11am-tv time
11:30ish-lunch
12:15ish- nap
3:30-4 get up from nap and eat a snack
afternoon is free play and play with daddy/family time
5:30-6 dinner
bath, get ready for bed
7pm bed

Myrtle Beach: Day 4

Our last full day at the beach. And my 30th birthday. :-)

The morning started quite nicely. Jeff and Rhyan woke me up and gave me a sweet card along with a little box. There was only one thing I've wanted from a jewelry store for a while now. I cant wear rings or bracelets or necklaces at work- they all get in the way of my gloves or mask or just cleaning teeth, in general. But earrings... now that's something i can do! Indeed, Jeff had picked up on the hints i've thrown out for the last 8 years or so and finally got some diamond earrings for me. They're beautiful. I love them! And as i write this post a full month+ after my birthday, i am still wearing the earrings.

I'd also like to note that one of the many reasons i love jeff is for his sense of humor. Some people dont "get" him or dont like his humor. I think those people are crazy :-) His first words after i put them in my ears were "shew! i'm so glad your ears are tiny so i didnt have to buy the big ones!". hahaha.... indeed, my ears are tiny. And the diamonds are just the right size!

Ok, moving on. After munching on our regular breakfast of toaster struddels, powdered doughnuts, chocolate milk/cappuccino and anything else completely worthless in terms of nutrition, we headed out to the beach. It was again a beautiful day. We soaked up the rays there and at the pool. Not much to note here except that it was blissfully boring :-) Here, we are being lazy in the lazy river!

Jeff took care of Rhyan for a couple of hours for Shlaine and I to just have some girl time. It was great to just sit around and talk. Shlaine has always been more like a sister than an aunt to me. We're close... and she loves my baby like crazy.

I did learn in our girl time that she is not a fan of trying to have more than 2 kids and that she thinks it a bit crazy to have them closer together than 3 years. I love learning these kinds of things about people. Everyone is so different and mine and Jeff's reasoning for how many kids we want and how close together we'd want them are so different from Shlaines. Its just funny how we all look at things so differently :-) Point being, we had great alone time.

Rhyan still wasnt feeling quite up to par, so Daddy was comforting her. Sweet.
(btw, doesnt he look excited to be cuddling!?)

We kept seeing CRABS! So we decided to fish a little. Gotta love this kiddie pole!

Jeff was seriously wanting to go to Crabby Mikes again for dinner (the all you can eat seafood place we ate at on day 3) but knowing that Shlaine isnt a big seafood lover, he was kind enough to not push the issue. We ended up at what i think was named "Joe's Burgers" or something like that. Seriously, all they had was hamburgers, fries/onion rings and a grilled cheese. But it was good. Greasy kind of good :-)

My sweet family on my 30th birthday. Click on the pic to enlarge and see my earrings!

FINALLY, a pic of Shlaine she approved of for me to post! They were laughing so hard at all of the terrible pics i kept getting of her. Seriously, the woman looks drunk in pics!!!

Feeding the ducks. Jeff loves to do this. In fact, we fed the ducks on our first date at rhodes jordan park in lawrenceville. He's just such an animal lover.

I'm not going to post about day 5 because all we did was pack up and head home. Rhyan slept much better on the way home. The antibiotics were finally making her well.

Overall, we enjoyed our short and SUPER cheap trip. What a great way to welcome the next decade of my life.