Tall and Thin (except for the belly!)

Ryan had his 15-month checkup today, and, according to the pediatrician, is "perfect" (which, of course, we already knew!) He weighs 22 lbs. 12 oz., and is 32 1/4" tall, which puts him in somewhere in the 10th-25th percentile for weight, but the 75th-90th for height -- tall and thin! (Rob and I sure wish we shared _those_ genes with him!)

Our current parenting challenge, which Ryan's pediatrician encouraged, is to eliminate his daytime pacifier use so that it doesn't discourage him from talking. We've noticed that Ryan has become increasingly dependent on his pacifier recently. He keeps it in his mouth for most of the day (whereas he used to forget about it while he was busy playing), and has a mini-tantrum if I see it laying on the floor and put it away. Even when he already has a pacifier in his mouth, if he spots another one somewhere around the house, he demands to have that one too (one in his mouth, one in his hand). So we have a rough 2-3 day period ahead while Ryan learns that the pacifier stays in the crib from now on.

We never post without pictures since we brought Ryan home, but we hadn't taken many since the holidays -- until last night when we were observing how cute his belly looked in his thermal sleeper!

6 Months as a Family!

It’s hard to believe that Ryan has now been a member of our family for 6 months. We just mailed our first post-adoption report to our agency, to be forwarded to Taiwan. The time has gone by so quickly and Ryan has grown so much since we brought him home in July!

Our little guy at 15 months (with the usual cracker in hand and drool-stained shirt):



Ryan’s adoption video, which “premiered” with our families over the holidays, was a big hit (and also reminded us how little he used to be!) It brought tears to our eyes to see again how sad and confused he looked when we first drove away from his foster mom’s home. He attached to us pretty quickly after an initial adjustment period, and fits into our family so well that it’s easy to forget, as we live our daily life as a family, that he wasn’t with us from the very beginning of his life. We hope that Ryan will be glad to have this video footage of himself with his foster mom when he gets older and starts asking questions about his life before he joined our family. For now, he LOVES watching the video. He reaches up to touch the TV screen every time we play it, and smiles and laughs when he sees himself.

Ryan’s latest achievement is learning his body parts. So far he can point to his head, ears, belly, toes, and nose, although he sometimes confuses the last two. Also, instead of pointing to the tip of his nose, he always sticks his finger up one of his nostrils (Daddy must have taught him that one). It’s been so much fun watching him learn new things every day -– we think 2008 will be a really fun year (at least until the terrible twos commence!)

Christmas, Round 2

We spent this past weekend and the New Year with my parents (a 5-hour drive away). Ryan is becoming quite an experienced little traveler. He does much better on long car trips since we were able to turn his car seat front-facing, and no longer clings to me 24/7 when we're visiting long-distance family, as he did on our first few visits.

Ryan was thrilled to be in a house with a Christmas tree he could walk right up to and touch!



Hanging upside-down, again! (We are beginning to suspect Ryan's ancestry is half Chinese and half bat.)



Parallel-playing with one of his cousins:



"Who needs pants? At least I'm half dressed this time."



Stopping to give Daddy a hug:



Checking out the view:



Happy New Year to everyone! We hope 2008 will bring lots of referrals and court rulings for all the waiting families.