Ryan, Who Speaks for All

Our sweet, wonderful youngest child Ryan is our biggest boy now.  A mere 5 lbs 5 oz when he was born, he's now 41.25 inches and 37 lbs.  He is built solidly with muscular thighs and not much paunch. Ryan is a big kid with a tender heart.  He has unfortunately inherited his mother's grace and is constantly spending quality time getting reacquainted with the ground.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he doesn't pay attention to where he is going rather than complete clumsiness.

Since birth, Ryan has been our most curious child.  I remember trying to feed him in the NICU and having trouble getting his attention because he would rather look around and see what was going on.  He is constantly asking questions.  He wants to know where, when, how, what, and why for anything and everything.  He asks questions he already knows the answer to, and when I repeat the question to him, he will answer it himself.  He cracks me up with his strange little quirks.  When he doesn't want to eat something, he'll tell me "I can't like it."  It's not his fault that avocado is yuck, he just can't like it.

Ryan is definitely my baby.  He likes attention.  If someone else hurts a knee or an elbow, Ryan is right there to claim the same injury and specialized attention.  He is most likely to fake a cry after a fall or a loss of a toy, etc.  He loves to be one of the gang and special all at once, and he manages to do it with guileless cunning.  

Ryan is always on the go.  He is the least likely child to be found watching TV.  He is always playing and loves to be right in the middle of things.  He plays well with both his brothers, and when one of them is upset because Ryan is playing with a toy that he wants, Ryan will usually hand the toy off to his brother because he hates to see either of them sad.

He is always coming up with new phrases and interesting ways of saying things.  His newest quirk is to say "mine."  For example, "Can I have mine toy?  Where is mine shoe?  Is this mine daddy's car?"  He has always said "my," but I guess the mine is too tempting.  Another favorite word of late is "almost."  When you tell him it's time for bed or time to take a rest, he says "almost."  After noticing how often he uses the term, I did a self examination of our daily conversations, and I'm pretty sure he got the almost from me.

All of my three men are great little loves.  They all will sit on my lap, cuddle up in the bed with me, and  come and give me lots of love both solicited and unprompted.  Ryan is probably my biggest love bug.  He is always grabbing me for a hug.  The boys like to scream "wake up" when you pretend to sleep, but I've taught Ryan to wake me up with kisses.  He will give me lots of air kisses and then I have to "wake up."

While James and Michael will sit and watch a movie or a show with me and snuggle up for a long time, Ryan is much too busy for that.  We have recently unzipped the crib tents (we still like having the option of the zip), and Ryan is always the first out of bed.  He bounces into our room and proceeds to jump all over the bed, sit on my hair, play a baseball game with "mine daddy" on the PS3, all before 7 a.m.  For those of you who know me at all, you know morning is not my best time, but obviously, it's Ryan's.  Usually, he's not too far ahead of his brothers in jumping into our bed.  One day last week, I had two tigers and a dinosaur fighting on top of me while I tried to gain precious moments of sleep.  I sometimes wonder if it's possible to be a victim of too much testosterone.

Ryan is a tiny version of Bob.  He like to listen to Bruce, watch baseball (in fact, we are starting to watch some pre-season football, and Ryan wants to know where is his baseball), obsess about Star Wars, use the "force," and is most often the child who will pay attention to whatever it is Daddy is up to.  He checks the mail with Daddy, and any time the car moves, he likes to be inside it and go somewhere.

Ryan is our first child to actually use the potty.  I have not the stamina to spend the time necessary to convince all three of our children to use the potty.  Ryan has perfected the pee in the frog potty and has moved on to peeing standing up.  He doesn't do every pee in the toilet, but he is starting to tell me when he needs to go, so I think it is only a matter of time before he's fully trained.  The last two nights, he has pooped on the potty as well.  He is doing such a great job that I try to focus on him and not think about the hours Michael will sit with no progress and the refusal of James to even think about coming near the potty.

Two handsome Ryans for the price of one.  Ry is an effective iPad/Phone user, but he is usually the third man on the totem pole for the use of an internet connected device.  He likes to take pictures and to have his picture taken.  He is very fond of the library, the beach, the splash park (or the water park depending on what he's decided it's called), and the zoo.

Ryan is our biggest talker.  He is always willing to deliver a large quantity of information.  He willing rats out himself and his brothers with honesty and regularity.  He will answer questions for his brothers so that they don't have to talk.  Bob is always asking him "is your name James/Michael?"  He always says no and proceeds to answer whatever question was intended.  Ryan is also an independent young man with a taste for go-gurt popsicles and chips.  He is always able to help himself to whatever he wants.  He is a master of invention and ingenuity.  He is nothing if not resourceful and self-sufficient and a truly fantastic little man.