It is getting more difficult to remember the day Ryan was born. But I know it is one I will never forget. It seems near impossible that he is 2 now and is no longer my baby boy but a big boy now, so independent, smart and fun.
Last year we spent the days leading up to Ryan's first birthday with Brad's brother's family. At the time they were living in Seattle. We had a birthday dinner with some friends and family in Seattle on the 3rd. The morning of the 4th, Brad, Darryl and Amanda played some tennis while Ryan, Kathryn and I played at a park near the courts. After naps and showers, we packed a picnic supper and headed to a park in Seattle to settle in to watch Ryan's first fireworks for the 4th of July. The next morning we left Seattle and began our trip back home, our vacation having come to an end.
In the last year, Ryan has grown so much. He does stairs by himself now, not having to crawl up them and crawl down them backwards or on his bum, he switched from his infant car seat (finally) to a big forward facing car seat. He stopped nursing all together and started sleeping through the night. He has had his first and second hair cut. He eats so much more, has so many more teeth (although not all of them yet!), can pretty much feed himself (if you don't mind the mess) and has grown (mostly taller!). His vocabulary has grown so much with some of our new favorites being "yup", "candy", "bubbles", "gran-gran","Adam","Darryl" and "no, no, no, no way!". Ryan learned some signs including "eat" and "more". He easily made the transition to a big boy bed. But the biggest change in Ryan and his life this year is that he became a wonderful big brother to the littlest man. He even helped name him. And after a 3 day stay in the hospital and with a newborn in the house, it seemed like Ryan had morphed into a BIG BOY overnight.
click the picture to see the slideshow open in a new window.
This year, the American Melanchuks are living in the Ukraine but they came home for s short family vacation and just in time to celebrate Ryan's 2nd birthday. We started the day with a trip to a friend's farm to visit some animals. I have a post about that coming up later. Brad and I thought Ryan would love all the animals but the only ones he really seemed interested in were the rabbit and the dog. We had a family dinner that night with grandma, grandpa and great grandpa Melanchuk all joining us.
After last year's great American grocery store chain birthday cake in Seattle, and then the disappointing Canadian counterpart, I did not know what I was going to do for a cake this year. I finally gave in and went back to the grocery store and was very specific about what I wanted and paid the absorbent price for the cake. But it turned out very nicely and was a huge hit so I guess that is ok.
American cake:
Canadian cake:
This year's cake:
After the girl cousins were put to bed, we took the birthday boy outside to test his new bubble lawn mower. It was a huge hit! Now he can help daddy mow the new lawn we have.
No comments:
Post a Comment