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!