Dear Ryan,

My little man – you make you smile every day & I can’t believe you’re TWO!  You have quite the personality these days that keeps me laughing, smiling, shaking my head or pulling my hair out and I love it.  You have a little bit of the split personality syndrome going on . . . you are either soft and kind and want to smother everyone with hugs, kisses and pats on the back or you are scratching, hitting and pulling hair with this determined look in your eye.  Luckily I know your facial expressions and can usually tell which way you’re going to act.  I smile every time you give big hugs and kisses. 

It’s obvious that you love your brother, Nate.  But you’re not always very nice to him.  Nate almost always has a cut or scratch with a scab that’s trying to heal from you going at him unexpectedly.  But when you wake up - you ask for Nate. When Nate’s at school or at a friend’s house – you ask for Nate.  You always want to know where he is and what he’s doing.  And sometimes you guys do play well together.  Lately your favorite thing to do with Nate is to make beds all over the house and pretend like you’re sleeping.  You want to do everything Nate gets to do.  You say over and over. “school – me”  or “class-me” or “golf-me” when Nate gets to go somewhere.  You can’t wait to be big enough to do everything Nate can do.

You are talking like crazy.  Some days it seems like you’re coming up with a new word every hour.  It’s so fun.  I love watching you be able to express yourself with WORDS.  It makes me smile and laugh . . . the things you come up with are funny.  A chunk of your words aren’t completely clear to everyone else but either your dad, Nate or I always know what you’re saying.  And your voice inflections & facial expressions when you’re excited or mad are the best.

You have a love for babies that I’ve never quite seen in a 2 year old little boy.  You LOVE them.  Every time you see a baby [especially one that we know] you say “hold. hold. hold” over and over until you get to hold them.  You even want to hold 1 year olds – you think you’re so much bigger than them.  And you are never the one who wants to stop holding them – you’d sit there for an hour if the baby would let you.

You love treats, cookies, candy, root beer, gum . . . anything that’s loaded with sugar.  Often times first thing in the morning as we’re walking down the stairs you’re saying . . . “candy?”  You throw many tantrums in the day when I say no!  You don’t always like to eat a meal. In fact, there are lots of days when you eat hardly anything at all but somehow you still keep on growing so I don’t worry about it.  When you do eat – your favorites are cucumbers, pizza, Café Rio, edam me, pears, apples, raspberries, blueberries, mac & cheese, noodles, & smoothies.

You love to cook at a play kitchen.  You’re quite nightmare to shop / run errands with.  You love your lion and binky’s.  At church you love nursery but sacrament meeting is no fun.  You love books and will often plop yourself down on the floor to look through book after book on the shelf.  You love to play with all things boy.

You’re a pretty good sleeper – thankfully!  You are ready for bed around 6:30pm or 7pm and sleep a good 12 hours before we hear from you again.  [Although lately, you’ve gone through some crying spurts at night but you eventually get over it on your own and go back to sleep.]  Up until the last few days, you welcome a nap in the afternoon.  You’re ready for a little shut eye.  But the last two days as we’re finishing up lunch you say “no night night.”  Yikes.

You are a lover of the park.  Lucky for me we pass 2-3 every where we go and you yell for it every time.  You love digging and building in dirt and would love to play and play outside all day long.  You can walk quite a ways for a guy your size.  You are over the stroller, you’d rather walk a mile than have to sit in there.

You recently discovered the television.  And you’re slightly obsessed.  I quickly realized that letting you watch it no longer meant for only 5 minutes.  You love Cars, Lion King & Three Little Pigs.

You are constantly asking for Nate, Ali, Tripp, Abbie, Daisy, Grandma, Papa, Sam, & your friend Blake.  You just want to know what they’re doing.  You’re okay with an answer like “Abbie is with her mom.”  You’re a curious one.

For the sake of recording, here are your 2 year stats:

Height: 36” tall

Weight: 30.6 pounds

Ryan - you are one big ball of fun and we love having you in our family!  There are absolutely challenges that come with a 2 year old but we are loving this stage with you right now.  You are learning and doing something new every day.  You make me smile!

Love, Mom