:: 2.5 ::

Ryan has overall really settled into the past three months pretty well, but he's getting way more bossy, opinionated, and naughty. Now that he knows so many words and can get across his point and what he wants, he's a lot more sassy, and when he has a tantrum, it's an all out one. Still, I think he's probably the easiest of my kids as far as this stage. My older boys were ridiculously more difficult: Cashel was a biter and Kendrick a pincher, and well...Ryan, although he occasionally will slap you, doesn't do it to the point where he is labeled as a "slapper"...at least for now. He's overall just the happiest little guy, and he makes me smile and laugh and feel loved every day.

Physical Development

Ryan is still easily in 3T clothes comfortably, and the waists on those pants are getting a little less loose than they were 3 months ago. He took it upon himself to start working on potty training (oy!), but we're not going to go hard core until the big kids are back in school to make it a little easier at daycare (and home!)

Teething

This entire quarter has been pretty quiet on the teething front, aside from a few very short spurts of whiny behavior or clinginess. Still no new teeth or bulging gums or anything. Ryan holds the record thus far for the longest teething Johnson kiddo.

Sleep Habits

Ryan is still napping pretty well around 1:30/2pm every day, but the length is variable.

At nighttime, Ryan is such an excellent sleeper now, and even if he's not sleeping, he's just playing quietly in his room. It's SUCH a welcome change from a few months ago, and he's so much happier of a kid now. I love how well he is adapting with quiet independent play, as it used to be that if he was awake, he'd want to be entertained.

Speech Development

Ryan is learning tons of new words all the time, and most of the time, he repeats what he hears, or at least close to it, to the point where if you are even thinking remotely in the same ballpark as to what he's saying, you're going to be able to figure it out most likely. It's great!

Eating

Ryan has been on a milk binge for a while now, and while he's not typically super irritable, I think it's teeth. He just pushes his food around on his plate most of the time, and might take a bite or two, but usually it's just "cuppy, milk, Mommy".

He is definitely really fond of "snacks" and will eat most of whatever snack it might be. He is oddly not very overly fond of sweets. If you give him a cookie, there's a good chance that the cookie will sit there with a tiny bite out of it and Cashel or Kendrick will find it and finish it for him. His favorite meal is "cheese and cocks", which means macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. I really hope he never learns to say it right, because it's so adorable when he says it lol

He hasn't been sitting in a high chair OR booster seat both at home and restaurants for the past 2 months for sure, but it has been a while longer. Kinsley has claimed the high chair, and that works for us. He's messy as all get out, but he was just as messy in the high chair too, so we deal.

Toddler Behaviors and Discipline

Ryan has certainly amped up his tantrums, and the intensity of them leaves bystanders very concerned for his wellfare, I'm sure: Especially when I am extremely nonchallant about them. The thing is, he sounds like he is in horrendous pain or something, but I know there is a slight difference between pain and anger, and about 99.9999% of the time, he's just angry. He no longer gracefully lowers himself onto the floor to kick and scream, but rather throws himself on the ground, and the vast majority of the time, it's because he isn't getting something he wants - ESPECIALLY the ride on tractor of Kendrick's. (The kid is going to be an excellent driver by the time he's 16, right?)

I've been working with ALL the kids on following the 1-2-3 Magic program, and for the most part, it's working alright. For the big boys, it works really well, actually, and I can usually either halt the behavior or they will listen to me to "take 5" almost immediately. If we are in public, they will just ask me where they have to go for their "take 5" time. However, with Ryan, he just likes to count along with me while being deviant and watching me like a hawk, and when he ends up having to take 5, he throws the motherload of all tantrums and refuses to listen when I tell him that he has to be CALM before his 5 minutes starts, so it goes on FOREVER.

I HAVE, however, been trying extremely hard to focus on making sure his needs are met on time, however, to keep the unnecessary tantrums at bay. If he's tired or hungry, I give him a little more slack, especially if I'm an hour late getting him his lunch or supper, or he hasn't had a nap and it's 3pm or something. He's generally a really sweet kid, but he's just a typical tantrummy toddler at this point. I'm very grateful that his behaviors don't seem worse than the typical toddler in light of the hard times his first couple years of life.

Likes

• He is OBSESSED with big brother Kendrick's ride-on tractor
  
• Sucking on those two fingers...ALWAYS. I realized I haven't taken a picture of him doing it lately, though.
• His Siblings! he adores these guys :)
  
• Elmo's Potty Time. I think I'd better gear myself up for lots of poo in the near future. ::sigh::
• Parades!
  
• Trains of all shapes and sizes! His mind is going to be BLOWN in a month when we go on the North Shore Scenic Railroad's Pumpkin Train on our trip to Duluth.
  
• "Coloring" with big brothers. It usually consists of him doing this, followed by biting the tips off all the crayons.
  
• Swinging
  
• Brown Bear Brown Bear. Argh. I just really hate it when my kids cling to this one. I grow weary of reading it every.single.night. The repetitiveness makes me feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.
• Riding his dang 3-wheeler in the road. I'm CONSTANTLY pulling him back onto the sidewalk. I don't get why that is so hard!
• Being one of the "big kids".
  
• Kinsley Jo...He loves her almost TOO much
  
• "Do it, me, Mama!" This kid likes to take control, and don't you dare try to take his job!
• Picking apples
  

Dislikes

• Being told he can't do something.
• Not having things go his way.
• Not being able to physically do things or get places that he wants to do/go.
• Not having his cuppy before bed.
• Not having his cuppy before Jody's.
• Not getting to "go owwwside" with the big kids.
• Any pjs but his "Pawtrolls" or Santa ones.

Overall, Ryan is a very happy-go-lucky kid. He is really calming down now that Daddy is out of the house, but he is quick to ask to video chat him every night. I'm so glad that he still desires a relationship with his Daddy, even if he's not home with us. He's a good little kid, and adorable to boot! I can't wait to continue to watch him grow :)

.::TWO::.

My baby boy is TWO! This sweet, cuddly, little man, who I was certain was my last, is now thriving in his role as big brother. He is funny, sweet and makes it his mission to get the most laughs possible. He loves big, his hugs are the best, and everyone in our family just adores him. While his big brothers may fight like cats and dogs, they are both sweet on "baby" Ryan.

Physical Development

Ryan is probably the tiniest of the Johnson boys, which amazes me, since he started out the biggest. He is now 30 lbs and 36 inches tall. We just started him in size 6 diapers and 3T pjs, and while he is mostly in 2T clothes now, some of them are getting pretty small on him, he's just not nearly tall enough for size 3T clothes just yet. He wears a size 9 shoe.

Ryan hasn't quite gotten the hang of opening doors just yet, thankfully. He loves to turn lights on and off, and just recently got tall enough to do both without standing on something, although sometimes he still does.

He loves to run, and he's getting a lot faster. He always dances while pumping his right arm back and forth, but keeps his left one sedentary, which is so adorable :) He loves to be the center of attention, and if you aren't paying attention to him enough, he'll demand it by crawling all over you.

Speech Development

Ryan LOVES to read "bookos" like his big brother Cashel did at this age. If I read 20 books at bedtime, he'd just be in heaven! But he's very specific about which book he wants to read in which order. He doesn't really call any books by name just yet. He specifically loves Leslie Patricelli books as well as "That's Not My..." USBorne books. His favorite, however, is "Where's Baby's Belly Button".

He's really beginning to blossom as far as speech, although we haven't had anything more than about 2 words strung together at a time. He's very capable of communicating what he wants, it just isn't always with words. I feel like he has an explosion of words coming soon, just based on how quickly he seems to be picking up new words the past week. He will repeat what you say pretty well much of the time, although...truthfully, I think we need to deal with some excess ear wax build up and I think he'll be able to hear more clearly. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, but sometimes I think he maybe just doesn't hear it clearly enough. I had been using wax drops, since he has always had ridiculously waxy ears, and he seemed to sleep a little better, so I need to be back on that soon.

Ryan is extremely opinionated, and if you don't understand what he wants, he gets a little worked up and whiny (or rather, screechy).

He knows how to say "Mommy", "Daddy", "Ca-shul", "Ken-ick" and "Kis-ly". He also says "cup/cuppy", "milk", "wa-uh" (water), "no", "yes", "Barney", "Choo choos" (for Polar Express), "sissy", "butt", "booko", "Up", "that", "this", and probably another dozen that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Favorites

His favorite BOOKS include any and all books by Leslie Patricelli (Binky, Potty, Hair, Yummy Yucky, Boo, etc.), One Moose Twenty Mice (in which he can find the cat every time), and probably a dozen others that I can't think of at the time.

He loves KISSING He is probably the most normal kisser of any of my babies at this age. Like...he legit gives a kiss without slobbering lol

He loves WATCHING MOVIES. I attribute this to the time of the year right now. His favorites are The Polar Express and Emoji Movie, and he'll carry them all over the house and put them in the various DVD players. He also loves all the Barney movies and Baby Einstein.

He loves DADDY. It really warms my heart, you guys. Truthfully, Mark isn't the Daddy he used to be. He doesn't understand that he's different, but it's pretty obvious to the older boys - especially Cashel. So for Ryan to take to him the way he does and still engage with him, it makes my heart so happy.

Teething

We haven't had hardly any teething issues for the past few months. He'll go through little tiny spurts, but I have a feeling the worst is still ahead with those two year molars. He only has 19 teeth as of now, because he has that one tooth in the front that is actually two teeth on the bottom still, but I don't even hardly feel any bumps in the far back near those other molars.

Sleeping

Ryan is a pretty good napper, and he sleeps pretty good at night right now, but he never stays in his bed all night. He usually comes up and crawls in bed with us by midnight/1am every night.

Ryan takes one 1-3 hour nap (depending on the day) sometime after lunch. Sometimes he goes down by 1pm, but some days it's not until closer to 3pm. He has an 8pm bedtime. He usually sleeps from 8pm-5:30am. So overall, he sleeps between 10.5 and 12.5 hours a day.

Eating

Ryan is totally hot and cold with food, and it seems to depend on the following things: 1) If he's actually super hungry, 2) If he likes what we're having, and 3) If he's teething. Overall, he's a fairly good eater - especially if we hold off supper until closer to 7pm. He prefers things like cheese, grapes, grape tomatoes, and chips. That's not to say that he won't eat other things, but he has to be really hungry or else he's not a great eater. Sometimes I think that maybe he's just teething or something, though.

Likes

• Snuggling with Mama
• Making people laugh
• Splashing in water
• Barney
• Snow
  
• Milk
• Ketchup. He'd consider ketchup a meal. Anything that has a dipping sauce is his favorite, but he will actually just eat ketchup if you put it on his tray.
• Reading
• Sucking on those two fingers still :)
  
• Cookies or cake
• Jumping into the pool with Daddy
  
• Swimming with Daddy :)
  
  
• Sissy kicky pants :)
  
• Filling cups with water from the fridge
• Dumping said cups of water in rooms with carpet - grrr!!!
• Riding "bikes"
• Being outside

Dislikes

• Being told "No"
• Going to bed when he's not ready.
• Being read the wrong book...or the right book at the wrong time.
• Being strapped in for meals.
• If you don't let him buckle himself into his carseat.
• Someone else getting to pick a show to watch.

Family Dynamic

Admittedly, our family dynamic has been strained this year, but we're still pretty solid as a family unit overall. Ryan is slowly warming towards Daddy a little more, even in the midst of these frustrating mental health struggles, but Mommy is definitely the favorite.

Ryan fits in great with his big brothers, but he tends to hang out more with Mommy and Kinsley than the big boys most of the time. Granted, he loves to get crazy and run around with the big kids as well. His brothers like to include him a lot of the time. He's going to be the kid that fills the gap really well between the older two and little miss Kinsley, and I have a feeling they're all going to be really close as they get older.

Ryan is so sweet and tender with Kinsley, and he loves to get right up in her face and make her smile and laugh. It is seriously the most adorable thing! He's an awesome big brother!

Overall

I just know that Ryan is going to do great things! He has a "can do" attitude, listens fairly well (granted, we're coming up on the toddler years, so all bets are off!) He is almost always smiley, likes to snuggle, and fills that gap perfectly between the big kids and Kinsley. I'm looking forward to hopefully tackling potty training this coming year and finally be down to just ONE in diapers for the first time since we only had one kid haha He's entering some of my favorite years of toddlerdom, where, in spite of the fact that they become bossy and destructive and drive you crazy, they also blossom tenfold, finally get done teething, and start sleeping significantly better. Not only that, but they begin to tell you what the heck all those grunts and whining and non-words actually mean, and the whining starts to lessen considerably.

Farewell, one, and hello two! We can't wait to see what's in store ahead!