Ryan’s new hobby (besides driving) is sorting and organizing objects. He likes to line up his stacking cups (he sometimes also goes down the line and places an object into each one). Several times a day, he also gathers his cars from all over the room and “parks” them together in one location.










He LOVES his water activity table, as we predicted he would. He mainly likes to pour the water all over the deck -- and cracks up whenever it splashes my feet.










(The bluish marks on Ryan’s upper arms are “Mongolian spot” birthmarks – not bruises!)

What a cute pair of feet :-)

Our Little Blog Star

Ryan wore his "Blog Star" T-shirt yesterday (from http://www.cafepress.com/heartonasleeve/2955108). When I tried to get a picture of him in it, he decided to pose with his ball and hat.

Ryan ate breakfast with a bucket on his head this morning. Our social worker is coming for our 1-year post-placement visit tonight, so this is probably part of his preparation for showing off!

As we approach our one-year anniversary as a family (July 9), we've been looking back at pictures and reflecting on much Ryan has changed since last summer. I've been trying to get a picture of him at the same spot next to the coffee table as a comparison to this picture from last August, when he still had the "baby" look (I miss those chubby legs!):




I haven't been able to catch him at exactly the same spot, but close enough:



Our little boy looks so grown up!

Ryan is fascinated with water -- sticking his hands under the faucet, dipping things in the dog's water dish, etc. (Amazingly, he hasn't discovered the toilet yet). So the other day we got him a water activity table to play with outside. I opened the box and emptied all the parts onto the living room floor, but before I had a chance to start assembling it, Ryan dumped all of his alphabet blocks into the "tabletop" piece and climbed inside.







He also enjoys "stirring" the shapes from his shape sorter.


I know it won't be forever that he's this easily entertained!

Ryan the Rubbermaid king:





The disappearing act...









Peek-a-boo!

Happy Father's Day!

Rob and Ryan had lots of father-son time this weekend.

Playing ball....









Cuddling....



Watching the U.S. Open (Ryan loves to follow the ball across the screen)....





In the middle of Grandma and Grandpa's visit earlier in the evening, Ryan decided to drop his shorts....




...and show off his basketball skills.



Happy Father's Day to all the dads and dads-to-be!

A picture of Ryan in his new favorite hangout. He crawls inside, shuts the door all the way, and sits in the cupboard laughing when I knock.

Overdue for a haircut:


Much better!


(Ryan's hair grows like a weed, and we don't like the hippie look, a la Kate Hudson's son :-), so this is the 8th haircut he's had in less than a year.)


In other news, Ryan started daycare at the end of May. I've been home with him nearly full-time for 11 months, so we’re easing into the new arrangement gradually (probably as much for my sake as for his!) He's only going to daycare 2 days a week for now, then maybe we’ll increase to 3 days in the fall. I’m very thankful that I had the opportunity to be home with him for so long, but I was starting to crave more adult interaction and more intellectual stimulation from work (I had only been working about 15 hours a week, mostly from home), and as Ryan approaches age 2 we thought he'd benefit from more social interaction with other children. According to his daily “report cards,” he's doing great. He has enjoyed fingerpainting, bubbles, playing outside, and (not surprisingly) was very excited when they got a new supply of balls the other day.



He has been talking more lately, especially trying to imitate words as we say them. He still has about 10 favorite words that he says frequently and spontaneously:

▪ ball
▪ cup
▪ deer
▪ car
▪ bird
▪ bye-bye
▪ Alba (his version of our cat's name, Alby)
▪ baby (pronounced "bay-bay")
▪ uh-oh (pronounced "uh-oo")


A few more recent pictures of our little sweetie:





It's hard to believe we'll be sending our 1-year post-placement report to Taiwan next month!

First Family Vacation

We took our first vacation as a family this past week (4 days at a mountain resort with Rob's family). There were a lot of thunderstorms, plus we were all getting over being sick, so we spent a lot of time relaxing indoors, where Ryan had fun reading Grandpa's books (mostly upside-down), running laps through the condo, and hiding in the cupboards. By the third day, we were able to go swimming, go out for ice cream, and take in the view from the summit. Ryan is in a "daddy's boy" phase right now -- you'll see that Rob is holding him in all the pictures.