Category: 3 Years

Daddy was surprised on the Father’s day when Ryan presented him with a mug that Ryan had painted himself.  It was quite a special day for all of us as we went to the park where they had tons of bouncy castles set up.  Ryan showed off to everyone how he could scale and climb to the top of the huge bouncy castle with a rope.

After the bouncy castle we went swimming at one of the awesome indoor pools here in Vancouver.  We have signed Ryan up for swimming lessons starting in July so we are trying to get him as comfortable as possible in the water.

Here is a photo of Ryan and daddy with his new mug.

On Friday night we went to the local carnival.   Ryan was very excited to go to the carnival and we planned to have a picnic there, too.  Once we arrived all Ryan cared about were the rides.  He ate a few bites and ran over to the rides.  Daddy bought some tickets and soon we were in line to ride the rides.  After a little bit Ryan met up with one of his friends from Canada Goose (his old daycare).  Ryan has always been very fond of Ella and Ella has always been very fond of Ryan.

For the remainder of our time at the carnival Ryan and Ella went on each ride together and held hands the entire time.  They were laughing and having a blast.  Ryan even met up with one of his good friends Oliver from Canada Goose but still would not let go of Ella’s hand.

Here are photos from the carnival.  Look how happy they were together.

Ryan trying to be suave while being checked out.	They had so much fun together.
Riding in a helicopter together	Holding hands nonstop!
Riding the rollercoaster together	Look at how much fun they were having.

Ryan has really taken on the role of big brother quite easily.  He seems to like the responsibility and is very loving and caring around Madeline.  He is so excited to see her everyday after school and wants to hold her and play with her as much as he possibly can.  Here are some photos of Ryan as a big brother.

As you’ve probably read earlier – we had a bunch of birthday parties for Ryan.  What we didn’t mention is what he wanted and what he got for his birthday.  About a month or two before his birthday Ryan started asking for a bike with pedals for his birthday.  We thought he was crazy and probably was basing it on the other kids he saw riding bikes with pedals at his daycare (ages 3-5).

I asked around at the daycare and one of the workers thought that Ryan was quite young for a pedal bike but advised us to get him what he asked for.  After some research we decided to bite the bullet and get him a pedal bike.  We were quite concerned about his starting and stopping and just how fast he would be able to go.

In choosing a bike for Ryan I went to a bunch of local bike shops and asked around what to look for in a kids bike.  The main thing I learned was to avoid a heavy bike so that he can maneuver  easily and to make sure that he could reach the ground while seated.  This does not put his knees in the perfect setup but is much safer for someone his age learning to ride a bike.

On his birthday daddy took him down to the park for his first ride.  It was a beautiful day and daddy was a bit nervous as the entire neighborhood was there to watch as he tried out his bike for the first time.  It took just a few minutes before Ryan was telling me to let him go.  For Ryan it really was a natural transition from walking bike to pedal bike.

The hardest part for Ryan was learning how to start and stop on his own…it is a work in progress.

Check out the videos of Ryan on his bike.

Well, at this point Ryan must have been thinking that we could make a cake out of anything into any shape imaginable.  We asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday (at home) and he said a garbage truck.  Not to be outdone, daddy made a garbage truck cake.  In the end, it was done as manly as any cake I’ve ever seen –rough edges and frosting.  But the spirit was there and Ryan loved it anyway!

It might seem like we went a bit cake crazy this year (and we did!).  We were finally happy to not be working (both of us!)  and bought some cake decorating tools at Marshalls so we decided to practice by making as many cakes as possible.

One of Ryan’s gifts this year was a cutout of all of the Thomas trains we could find. We went online and downloaded and printed out all of the trains from the website.  We laminated them and cut them.  I think, in the end, we made about 50 trains.  Ryan loves them!