Category: 12-13 month

What do I mean by the big change

I mean…daddy day care.  Mommy went back to work and daddy has taken over.  Let’s just say that it wasn’t easy but also it wasn’t as hard as I thought.  Ryan took it kind of hard not to see mommy all of the time.  The first week or so he wouldn’t make eye contact with her when she came back for work – he ignored her for almost a half hour.  He was mad at her!!  We were both shocked at how much of the cold shoulder he gave mommy.

The hard part for daddy was feeding time (having enough food in time) and diaper changes.  Now that I have been doing this for a few weeks it is much easier and I’ve found lots of activities that we both enjoy.  A friend of Grace’s gave us a really nice backpack for carrying a toddler in.  The weather has been amazing here so we’ve been taking some hikes (which Ryan loves).  We’ve hiked through the woods.  Ryan loves it when I give him a stick to hold so that he can hit the trees and poke daddy in the back of the neck (he really finds that funny!).

These photos are from our new cell phones.

We have also done a few hikes up and down to wreck beach.  For those of you who don’t know what wreck beach is – it is the nude beach on campus and is a really difficult hike up a cliff (with stairs).  It really is a lot of fun for both of us.  I like the challenge of the climb up the hill with Ryan.  The other day a nude man came over to say hi to Ryan.  Ryan didn’t know what to do.  He kind of hid behind me….I completely understood – I wanted to hide, too.

The last two weeks have been very exciting for us.  Ryan’s Uncle David and Aunt Justine came to visit and stayed with us for 5 days – it was a blast!  It was very nice to have them up for Ryan’s first birthday too.

That same weekend Ryan’s Uncle Bunnie and Aunt Shrek came up to visit with Hero (great grandmother).  They were on their way to a Vancouver-Alaska cruise so we got to hang out on both stops, albeit just for a few hours.  uncle Bunnie and Aunt Shrek have a boy (Tyler) who is 7 weeks younger than Ryan.  We had a good laugh when we went out for a walk – we let Tyler take Ryan’s red car, and Ryan was going to walk.  Well, as soon as Ryan saw someone sitting in his car, he knew exactly what to do…..push them!  We captured a few photos of this moment.

I have come to learn from Ryan that it isn’t easy to learn how to walk.  Sure, it doesn’t take too long but when you are impatient and want to run around, you will have accidents.

The other day Ryan woke up from his nap and wanted to run around.  He turned the corner but forgot to turn his body and wiped out.  On his way down his face hit the side of our speaker and he cut himself on the cheek.  Yowch!  He wasn’t very happy about that.

Anyway, he had a bad scrape on his face which looked really bad.  We took some pictures to show you.  It is healing much better now but still not 100%.

If you are wondering why we gave Ryan a beer…well, wouldn’t you need a drink if you cut your face?

Here is a video of things Ryan did on his birthday.

Ryan had a really fun first birthday.  He invited over all of his friends and we threw him the best party we could.  We baked him a light chocolate cake and since daddy hates the sugary frosting on most cakes we made him a whipped cream topping and topped it with fresh blueberries and strawberries which Ryan loves.  You can also see how we emphasized him being 1.

The morning started off with Ryan being in a super happy mood.  We recently bought a nice leather red chair for Ryan from our neighbors who are moving away in a week or so.  Ryan seemed to love the chair and got comfortable right away.

Later in the morning Ryan started dancing to his heart’s content – I think he knew it was his birthday.   We had a big party planned and had plenty of balloons and decorations.  We also had lots of food for the party.  Grace’s brother David and his wife Justine came up to visit from LA.   We had a blast hanging out with them.  Our party was a bit bigger than originally planned but it was a lot of friend.  In the end you can see in the picture below (2 babies didn’t make it in time for the official baby photo)

Then came the time for Ryan to eat his cake.  It was a fun experience and started out a bit slow.  Ryan was a bit hesitant to eat the cake and it took him getting a few bites before he started getting it all over his face and eating the cake.  He really seemed to like it in the end.

The party was a success, I don’t think a single baby cried.  Ryan was really sweet and walked over to greet most of his friends at the door when they arrived.  Ryan no longer crawls and is very steady with his walking.  He still falls occasionally but that is from him trying to run and his feet not going as fast as his body.  Ryan did love opening all of his gifts

At the end of the party Ryan played with his ball popper.  He really loves this toy – and puts anything and everything he can find into the tube.  It is not designed for that but he loves it anyway.   Ryan’s uncle David certainly found his own unique way to enjoy the toy too.  Kind of reminds me what I would do with my nieces and nephews.