A Few Random Things

A Few Random Things

First of all I need to take care of business and remind my readers (e.g. immediate family) to comment on Ryan and Charley's birthday posts about your favorite memories of them. Ashley is the only one who has followed instructions and she did this for Charley but is still needing to do Ryan's. I know everyone is busy but surely not too busy to jot down a couple of sentences about your favorite memories of these two precious chillens. Slowing down and thinking of something fun and positive might even help your day go better-he he....thought I'd throw in some psychology.


Onto the business at hand....

A few funny, precious things Ryan has said and Charley has done:


We took them to Breakfast with Santa at the Presbyterian Church. We have yet another picture of Ryan looking horrified while she stands next to Santa with a parent. But this year we have the addition of Charley on Santa's lap screaming bloody murder. Maybe we'll get a good picture next year? We didn't make Ryan sit on Santa's lap at Charley age because it was so upsetting. Sorry, Charley I thought it would be cute to get a picture of you sitting on his lap crying. And I was right-it's cute. I knew when you got bigger like Ryan you could get away so I needed to force you to do it while I could. I'll go ahead and make a deposit into the therapy savings account this afternoon.


While we were sitting at our table having "breakfast" Ryan looked around the room and up at the ceiling...she was just looking things over very closely and then said "I've never been to the North Pole before." I nearly fell out of my chair. What else goes on in the cute little mind that she doesn't say out loud?


Ryan has been learning continents at school. She can name them all and identify them on a map. When her teacher (Lisy) was telling Pat this and having Ryan show him she mouthed "she is very smart." Ahhh, proud Mommy.


I can't remember if I've posted about her glasses. She got them on her birthday and she has done a GREAT job of wearing them without complaint. She looks so cute. She also looks smart and old.


Ryan's mental skills have advanced. She can play a memory game (where you pick up two cards to find a match and put them back face down and have to remember where they were for your next turn if they don't match). She's beat me every time. She also beat her two college senior babysitters the other night. She can also play Candyland. I have been so excited for her to get old enough to sit down and play a game. We tried it in the summer and she wasn't old enough because she got mad by the rules and just wanted to play it her way. However, this time she listened to the rules and knew what to do immediately. She didn't even get mad when I won once. She doesn't like the cards with pictures that let her skip ahead and she discards them for the regular cards even though she won't go as far. Another thing I've been excited about is for her to calm down enough to cuddle on the couch and watch movies. We have done that a couple of times recently and I LOVE IT. I really lay there with my eyes closed but she lets me cuddle with her and it's the best. This is how I plan to spend every weekend as they get older. Who needs activity? Let's just cuddle on the couch with blankets, hot chocolate, and movies.


I continue to try to instill the love of God and awareness of what Jesus did for us into Ryan's head. I asked her if she napped at school the other day and she said "no, I prayed." I asked her what she prayed about and she said herself. She then said that she listened to what God was saying to her. I asked her if He talked to her and she said "no, He just blessed me." She was apparently disruptive during naptime recently and we told her that she could pray if she couldn't sleep. I told her that I pray when I can't sleep and Pat said that when he can't sleep he prays by listening to what God might have to say to him. That was a random conversation a couple of weeks ago and one that you wouldn't think had any impact on her. Yesterday I asked her if she napped and she said she didn't because she did prayers. I think she realized she got such a great reaction that she just said that. I'm not sure if she really did. While we were talking about listening to God she said something about pretending that He was there and I tried to explain that He really was there. Difficult concept!


The other night we were doing our Jessie Tree lesson and talking about having other gods. She then decided she wanted to pretend that she was God. I wasn't sure how to handle this but decided that we don't need to pretend we are God so I told her that there is only one God and we can't even pretend we are God because He is so wonderful. She said that we could be "pretend gods." Pat went walking by the room we were in chuckling...I assume he was laughing because I was in over my head and my "lesson" had gone so awry as to have Ryan suggest we pretend to be God.


Charley has taken 2-6 steps without holding on to anything or anyone. She is getting more interested in trying. She had her one-year appointment and is at the 10th percentile for weight and 35th for height. She's had two ear infections in the last couple of months. She had her one-year pictures at Keith Sturch's and we got them yesterday and they are ADORABLE. She nods "no" when you ask her if she wants something. She's mainly answered with the nod when asked if she wants yogurt or to go to bed. When she is finished eating she will nod "no" and start wiping off her highchair tray really fast where the food flies all around. We've gone from not sweeping our floor (because of Madison) to sweeping it after every meal. She loves to climb up on our little chairs and for us to put her on the big furniture. Everytime she sees the Christmas tree she points and says "uh" (brilliant, I know). She had a several week stint of needing to eat 2-3 times at night and we decided we would have to let her cry it out 3 nights ago and lo and behold she slept all night with very little fussing in the night for three nights. However, last night she cried from 3-3:15 and then stopped for a little while and cried until 4:00 a.m. when she got in bed to eat. The first few minutes she cried and was calling for MaMa. The last bit that she cried she was calling for Ry Ry. That was so sad!!! She gives kisses by opening her mouth wide and then slowly moving toward your face or mouth. It's so sweet. She loves to play ball...she can say ball...when there is a ball around she continuosly points at it saying "ball" as if you didn't know or forgot that she told you that 3 seconds ago. Ryan, Charley, and I will sit in a circle and roll the ball to each other. Venus said that she was fussy yesterday but then got more happy when Ryan got home from school.


OK, that's a good enough update!

KK