Flip

IMG_2127
Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Ryan and I go to a gym class on Tuesdays and they taught us this flip, which he loves showing off to everyone. This is our starting position. He gets so excited for it.

Ah Men

Dan and I are on vacation in San Diego right now and last night we were walking around the gas lamp district when a guy asks me, "Are you having twins?" I said, "Excuse me?" and he said, "When are you due?" I told him and then had a little chuckle with Dan as we were out of ear shot. I think he noticed I was pregnant and wanted to acknowledge it with a question, but didn't really know what to say so he said something a bit off. Either that, or I look huge.

In other thoughts...we miss our little man...

Cincinnati with Paula's Side of the Family

Final post from Cincinnati...

We didn't spend the ENTIRE weekend with Gary's side of the family while we were in Cincinnati. We stayed with Paula's brother Jon and hung out with them off and on all weekend. Paula's sister Terry also brought over her kids one night for dinner which was quite fun.

Terry and her grandchild Azirae (I hope I spelled that right) ...


Marla's son Andrew, Ryan and Terry's grandchild Azirae (who is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen) ...




Ryan giving Azirae her bottle back ...


Charlotte (Terry's daughter) and Katie (Jon's daughter) entertained the boys by singing songs ...




Sarah (Terry's girl), Katie, Charlotte, Ryan and Alexa (Terry's girl) try to get Andrew to enjoy the picture taking experience ...

The Big Pour

This is a continuation of posts from our trip to Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago. I meant to do a series of posts but then couldn't get to them.



On Sunday, we went to downtown Cincinnati to watch what was called "The Big Pour." They are building what will be the tallest building in Cincinnati. And it turns out the building will house Sharis' Dad's company - Western Southern Life Insurance Company. The six foot thick concrete slab required that they pour concrete for 12 straight hours and according the Cincinnati Enquirer:

"Contractors expect it to be one of the largest and longest continuous concrete pours in downtown Cincinnati's history with more than 100 on-site construction workers."







In addition to this being Gary's company's building, Sharis' cousin Rick was the foreman for one of the concrete companies.

Rick, Ryan, Sharis, Gary and Gary's brother Dennis ...


There was dump cement truck after dump cement truck lined up to unload their innards ...


Pouring concrete is excruciating work ...


While we were watching the pour, Ryan made friends with the security guard ...


Until I told her to pick Ryan up for a picture and then we went berserk ...






He was not happy with me.

Little Monkey

As Dan mentioned, Ryan can't get enough of the zoo lately. One of his favorite things is the ape house where there are a few interactive activities-like triggering the monkey heads to make their distinctive noises. Running from one to the next is literally hours of fun.
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Odd Day with Potties and Sunshine

Today was an odd day. For one, it got up to 66 degrees - and it's the middle of February in Chicago. Guess that groundhog didn't see his shadow after all. Sharis took Ryan to the zoo to see the lions and tigers again today. He asks all day long if he can go see the lions and tigers by making a claw out of his tiny hand and growling. This was his fourth straight day of going to the zoo - Sharis took him today and yesterday, Sharis and I took him on Sunday and my brother and I took him on Saturday. It's a good thing the zoo is free and is within walking distance.

The other odd thing that happened today is Ryan asked Sharis to go to the bathroom on the toilet - and then he went! Now he is by no means potty trained but he kept pointing at the toilet while Sharis was putting on makeup. He usually points at the toilet and says "ick" because that is what we tell him. But he wasn't saying ick this time. He was also pointing to his little potty seat that goes over the toilet. So Sharis asked him if he wanted to go and he nodded yes. We have done this a few times before, we just let him decide when he's interested, but this time he was really working at it. He tooted and smiled. Sharis congratulated him. Then he continued to work. Sharis realized that each time he was trying, he was peeing a little. He was very proud. After a bit, he signaled "all done" and we finished up the routine (wipe, flush, wash). He has been signaling diaper for awhile when he has a dirty one (or is about to dirty it) and I figured that would be the first thing he did on the big potty, but I am shocked that it wasn't! Such a good Little Man.

So Paula, are you ready to potty train this weekend? Hopefully you'll have him out of diapers by Monday! No pressure. : )

Yes and No

Before yesterday, all Ryan would do is shake his head for "No" - he couldn't say it. He also wouldn't really shake his head "Yes." But yesterday, all of a sudden he started SAYING "No" and SHAKING his head "Yes."

The real question is if he understands what those actually mean.