22 Months

I'm a little late on this post...about 3 days late.  We have been incredibly busy, even though we shouldn't be  (more on that later), but my weekend will be even busier so I'm stealing a few minutes to post now.  This past month seems to have gone by so fast, and with not much change in Ryne.

Ryne has spent the majority of this past month OUTSIDE!  We've had very warm weather here lately and Ryne just can't stand to be inside.  A lot of the usual day-time play-time/teaching activities have gone by the wayside.  Ryne doesn't seem to have changed much to the extent he has in the past months.

Weight:  rougly the same - 25ish lbs!  It's amazing because he eats a lot and eats almost anything we give him.  The nickname of "the goat" seems to be quite fitting!

Language Development:  Ryne still knows over 200 words at this point, but he's not learning a new word on a daily basis - that we can tell.  Ryne is still VERY reserved with language and seems to use it mainly when the occasion specifically calls for it.  Adam and I feel his enunciation is getting worse to some extent, but the rest of the family says it seems to be getting better because they can understand him more.  The reason Adam and I are a little  concerned is because Ryne is dropping the end of a lot of words that he has been able to say fully in the past months.  Apple has become "app", etc.
However,  I did come across some research recently that discussed use of pronouns in toddlers around the age of 2.  Ryne has been using pronouns correctly for several months now - since roughly 16/17 months old.  He uses "I", and "me" correctly.  He also seems to understand possession quite well, but then again he seemed to understand that at 13 months when he started saying "my baba", "my dadda", etc.  He likes assigning seats now or telling us which items belong to whom.  All in all, Ryne is still doing quite well, but I'm eager to see if he has another language spurt before in the next few months.

Comprehension:  I think I say this every month, but it is truly amazing what children this age understand.    You can explain complex things, mumble, talk to casually to yourself, talk to someone else and he understands every bit of it.  He just soaks it right up!  He also seems to understand time to some extent.  He knows "tomorrow" is not today and "later" is not right now.  We are going to start working with an actual clock and days of the week soon to see if he can understand it better.  He also knows that when I say "Mom" or "Dad" it means my mother or father.  So if I ask him, "who is my momma?" or "who is Momma's momma?" he will say "Boo Boo," which is his name for my mother!  He does the same when I ask him who is my daddy.  He's a huge PaPa fan, so any chance he gets to say "PaPa, " he's a happy boy!

Puzzles:  Still rocking the jigsaw puzzles!  We are trying to move him more into puzzles with no board underneath and he will assemble some off their board.  It is getting harder to find puzzles/toys that are age-appropriate since he is still so young, but seems to fly through them.

Potty:  Ryne pooped in his potty all on his own the other day!  It scared him a little, but he got several Elmo stamps for his accomplishment!  He actually covered himself in Elmo stamps!  In the next few weeks we are going to make the move to real underwear.  Last week (before he did the aforementioned accomplishment in the potty) Ryne was playing games with us when it came to potty time.  He would say he had to go and then he'd run into the bathroom, lift the lid to his potty, take his diaper off and then he would say he wanted to get in the bath...but he wouldn't.  Then he'd try to make a break for it and run through the house naked!  If we mentioned a diaper, he'd say he had to pee pee again and go back to the bathroom, only to pull the same trick on us.  What we've found with other activities that Ryne does, he gets bored of an activity before he even masters it.  He gets bored very easily!  He pulled tricks on us when he was doing puzzles, ABCs - anything.  It's as if he has to make a game of it to make it interesting, even though we read, sing, etc to him when he's on the potty to keep him occupied.  
Several mothers have told me to stop potty training because he's too young, but if that's the case and if that is what we had decided to do, what do you tell a child when they tell you they need to use the potty and then actually go use it?  I don't feel like it's the best thing to tell him "No" when he can actually use the potty on his own.  I feel like if we up the ante with underwear, and Ryne meets the challenge then he's obviously ready.  If he doesn't...then he's obviously not and we can stop for awhile.  Either way, I don't feel like he's too young.  Our pediatrician, the nursing staff and a specialist all recommended we start trying months ago.  I know some think we are probably pushing him but we really aren't.  This has been in the works for 5 months now, so we are taking it rather slow and we don't really have a deadline set for when we'd like for him to be potty-trained.

Arts and Crafts:  Ryne is really enjoying coloring, drawing, making things, etc.  He almost holds a pen correctly, which is great.  I'm hoping to make a felt board soon so we can teach him some Bible stories and do other fun felt activities on there.

Pretend Play:  This has really taken off this month.  Everything becomes a car these days - a shoe, a block, anything that he can move and say "vroom vroom" to!  He likes pretending to talk on the phone by holding his hand up to his ear.  He will also pretend play with his stuffed animals, which is the cutest thing ever!

Outside play:  Do you need your yard mowed (with a toy mower that only blows bubbles) or mulch strewn about wildly distributed in your flower beds?  Well Ryne's your man!  Do you need some handy man work done?  Ryne loves playing with is toy tool box set - driving nails, turning screws, etc.  We bought a nice wood toolbox from Smart Toys and Books and Ryne can't seem to separate himself from it!  He has been digging in my parent's garden, helping plant some flowers, and watering the trees we transplanted at our house.  Our pool also opened last week, so Ryne and I spent a day splashing around in there as well!  Ryne just wants to be outside!  Ryne already has a insane farmer's tan and apparently he's inherited my Native American blood because he's getting DARK on his arms.  Can you imagine how gorgeous he'll be by the end of the summer - dark skin, his hair will lighten up, and those deep navy blue eyes!  Get ready to swoon!

Sports:  Ryne is really getting into sports now too.  He has an arm on him for sure and his aim is getting MUCH better.  However, what's most impressive is his ability to kick a ball!  He's been able to kick well since 15/16 months, but he's getting better!  Ryne still stumbles and falls some when he's running, but if you give him a ball to kick, his balance seems much better!  He looks like a little soccer player when he runs and kicks a ball - so fluid, so effortless, so efficient.  I wish I could get some video of him, but every time we pull out a camera or video camera, he just wants to play with it!  I also plan to teach Ryne some swimming skills this summer too.  He kicks very well, but we need to work on some other skills.  Adam and I are adamant about Ryne learning to swim at a young age and not relying on arm floaties or life jackets to swim in a pool.  There is a time and a place for life jackets.  But from what we've seen and experienced, especially as lifeguards, the moment your lifejacket-wearing child is around a pool without a lifejacket on, they forget they aren't wearing the lifejacket, jump in as usual and almost drown.

Well that's all I have time for this month.  Seems like a lot considering it seemed like a rather slow-learning month!  I think Ryne is learning A LOT from being outside - physics, technical skills, etc.  He seems to understand time to an extent.  He's also having a lot of FUN outside, which is probably the most important thing!

Until next month...!

21 months

I cannot believe that Ryne is 3 months away from being 2!   Ahh!  It's killing me!  It seems like yesterday that we celebrated Ryne's first birthday.

So here are his stats:

Weight:  25lbs 2 oz.  Really this kid eats like a horse and barely gains an ounce.  His level of physical activity is through the roof so I guess he's burning calories like crazy.  We recently started buying summer clothes and we've had a bit of a change in size.  Ryne is wearing 9 month shorts and 12-18 month shirts.  I'm going to assume since Adam wears a size 36 in the waist of his pants that Ryne has my waist!

Language Development:  During this age, it's so hard to keep up.  We know Ryne says over 200 words at this point, which is wonderful.  He is using some interjections like "wow", "whoa", "yay" and conjunctions like "and."  He is getting a little better about naming things when we ask what they are, but he is still quite reserved with his language.  He talks to me and Adam the most, but when he's around other people he uses less words and shorter phrases.  He also likes pretending to be asleep and making the snoring noise...through his mouth!

Comprehension:  At this age, the level of comprehension is quite astounding!  It's hard to believe kids this age even understand half of what we say and do.  He understands complex directions, details and storylines.  He has for quite some time, but his understanding seems to be evolving even more.  He is very good at problem solving, but sometimes solves problems so well that it's actually quite scary.  He wants to be a grown up so bad that he will do almost anything a grown up will do.

Speaking of doing things that grown ups do, he can undo almost any babyproofing device.  He can completely unbuckle himself from his carseat - which is a BAD thing.  He can also put car keys in the ignition and start a car and buckle himself up in the front seat, with no carseat.  We did not teach him this, so obviously we NEVER leave Ryne alone in the car, even if it's turned off with no keys, because that's just a dangerous combination with little Houdini Knies!  He can unplug the HDMI cord from the DVR and put it into the PS3 all by himself because he wants to watch Elmo.  He can put his shoes on the correct feet, do a zipper and button pants.  He can almost completely dress himself and tries to put on his own diaper - which means it's time for training pants!

Potty Time:  or "pee pee time" as Ryne calls it.  Ryne is working hard at potty training.  He is still not consistent enough with potty training over an extended period of time, but there are days when he does quite well!  Some days he will only tell you when he wets or dirties his diaper.  Some days he will tell you that he has to use the potty and he will sit on it patiently, but we wait and wait and nothing comes out!  Either way, he's getting there and I think he could be in mostly training pants by 2, but we aren't pushing it.

Music and songs:  oh my goodness, Ryne loves music!  He loves to dance to it!  About the only time Ryne watches a show on TV is when the music comes on.  He sings songs that he makes up and he will hum other songs that he knows, but he wont really sing a song, like the Wheels on the Bus or the ABCs.

ABCs:  Ryne seems to know quite a bit of his alphabet.  He usually will not tell you what they are if you ask, but he will just bust out the letters when he's not prompted to do so.  While doing one of his jigsaw puzzles the other day, he saw the title "Picture Puzzle" at the top of the puzzle and pointed and said "P" "C" "T" and "E".  Some of the letters were lowercase, which I've never exposed him to.  He still will not say them in order, even though he knows several chunks of the alphabet in order.  Order is not Ryne's way of functioning, apparently!

Puzzles:  Ryne is doing jigsaw puzzles with little to no help.  I finally figured out a way to teach him how to do puzzles by looking at the picture some and not just the shape.  He can do puzzles that have no outlines, guidelines or pictures underneath.  Since he has mastered most of his puzzles, he is putting them together off the cardboard frame thing and learning animals names and the names of the United States in the process.  As long as he masters puzzles and enjoys them, we are going to keep challenging him.  I really recommend puzzles to any parent because Ryne is learning so much in the process.

Reading:  he is learning to read a few words.  My mother taught my brother around 18 months so she suggested seeing if Ryne could as well.  He can read a few words and sometimes we wonder if he's not reading more than we realize or if he has somehow deduced the meaning of words from other things.

Ryne is such a sweet little guy, but he is still so challenging!  It's becoming more and more obvious to us that he learns in a dramatically different way than most.  However, we are also learning that he learns VERY much like Adam!  I am blown away almost daily and challenged daily.  These monthly postings are just a glimpse into Ryne's monthly achievements and some things are leftovers from previous months.  As I'm sure almost every other mother of a toddler can attest to, there's not enough time or space to write down even half of what toddlers accomplish during this time of their life!  It's such an exciting time and again, we can't wait to see what the next month holds!

March Wrap Up

Holy Cow (said in my best Harry Caray voice)!  Happy Opening Day!  Today is Opening Day for Major League Baseball.  It's kinda a big deal in this house.  Normally Opening Day falls on a Monday.  Adam's dad always grills hamburgers and hotdogs for Opening Day and since Mondays are Adam's late days at work, we don't get to celebrate with the rest of the family.  We actually aren't celebrating today either, but we will be tomorrow!  We are having the in-laws up for, wait for it...salmon!  When we originally made the plans to celebrate Opening Day on Friday, we all forgot that Fridays mean no meat for Catholics, and I just wouldn't feel right eating a nice juicy burger in front of the rest of the family!  So we decided to go with salmon instead.  Not quite Opening Day food, but we will make it work!

Ryne started saying "baseball" and "play ball" a few weeks ago!  Just in time for the season!  We bought him an outfit and everything!  Also, if you've never heard this, listen to Dan St. Paul's impersonation of Harry Caray for the First Baseball Game!  Google it.  It's hilarious!

On to the child, which we call, Ryne.  He is plowing through jigsaw puzzles, without my help and on ones he has never seen before!  He's learning to recognize words - which leads to reading.  He is obsessed with cleaning, and mowing!  Hopefully he'll be a good little helper one day!

On to us.  We've had a few house showings recently!  Fingers crossed that it sells soon.  Bad news on the building front.  The builder we were originally going to use and the one that built our current house is closing its doors in a month or so.  They are honoring the current contracts they have, but we don't have a contract with them. Soo...that means they wont be building our house.  There are pros and cons to that.  They had a bigger floorplan for less money, but it's a cookie cutter home like the one we have now.  We are going to look into custom building a home with my best friend's husband's company.  We shall see....

I'm really loving a new book, I picked this week.  It's called, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  I LOVE it!  I thought it looked interesting and so far it is!  I consider myself much like the author in the area of happiness.  I'm happy.  Not depressed or anything like that, but I could be happier.  She writes about a year-long happiness project and covers different areas of happiness in each month/chapter.  She went to law school, so I love the way she writes - profound, yet down to earth!  I'm currently in the month of March, which has the topic of Work.

Speaking of work, I've been doing a few photo shoots recently and honing my skills!  I am going to get the biz up and running very soon!  I am currently working on a business plan and pricing.  This isn't going to be easy to start, but it's what I enjoy doing.  I am going to have a photography blog up and running soon also, to use as a virtual portfolio.  I'm also starting another photography class next week to learn even more skills!  Lots to do!

There is a lot to learn in photography.  It's not so simple as putting your camera in the basic settings and letting the camera do the work, not if you're wanting it to be professional.  It's telling the camera what to do!  I kinda like being the boss!  Editing is time-consuming for now, but I will get faster with practice.  Equipment is expensive, to say the least!  I wish they gave out student loans with these classes!  I'm nervous but excited and I know that in time, I'll be able to do weddings and fun things such as that!

Not So Puzzling

Ryne has FINALLY been able to do an entire jigsaw puzzle on his own!  Whoo hoo!  I'm so proud of him!  He's been working on jigsaw puzzles recently and doing quite well; however, I figured out the way for him to start completing them on his own.

I had an inclination that Ryne is more of spatial thinker.  That's probably why he has done so well with peg board puzzles.  So jigsaw puzzles created another level of complication with puzzles.  He does have a board puzzle that requires more visual awareness to complete it and he has been able to complete it for quite some time, but it didn't come as easy to him as the other puzzles.

Ryne is very good at matching.  We use the cards from a Memory game to do matching.  That obviously requires the visual perception, so he obviously has that ability, but he tends to rely more on spatial awareness and perception when completing puzzles.  So, I decided to take a two jigsaw puzzles that have a board underneath them to contain the pieces and outline the shapes of the pieces.  It made a huge difference!  Ryne completed the 9-piece puzzle almost instantly!  It's like it finally clicked!

Ryne actually did better with the 25-piece jigsaw than the 9-piece, prior to outlining the pieces.  The pieces were more complex in shape on the 25-piece, so Ryne could distinguish where they went better.  Now that I have also outlined that puzzle.  He is now able to complete about 75-80% of it on his own and finish the rest of it with some coaching.  He understands if you tell him a pieces should go "up at the top/bottom/left/right."  We also didn't realize that he knew left, right, top and bottom, so that was a cool discovery as well!

Ryne will sometimes pick up the right piece, but try to put it in upside down.  That's where some coaching comes into play, and we discuss what's actually on the puzzle piece and where a similar thing is on the puzzle.  Sometimes he will also try to stick a piece into the wrong place and if you ask him where it goes, he will point to the correct location.  What a stinker!  Sometimes I think he just wants someone to tell him or do it for him!  He does have a 24-piece jigsaw puzzle that has no board under it that he can almost do on his own completely.  It's one of his favorites and one he has had the longest so I think he's possibly memorized where the pieces go by this point.

I'm so proud of Ryne!  He definitely doesn't work a puzzle like I do.  I'm such a visual person.  I can pick up almost any piece of a 500+ piece puzzle, look at the picture on the box and tell you where that piece goes.  I hardly look at shape.  Ryne is totally different!  Maybe he's more like Adam - he seems to be in almost every other way!  Anyway, I'm glad that I have finally found a method to teaching Ryne the visual aspect of puzzles without either one of us getting frustrated.  I'm also glad that I have cracked the Ryno code at least in one aspect of his thinking and education.  Although sometimes I wonder if Adam should take over all the teaching stuff, since he and Ryne seem to be on the same wavelength.

Anywho, puzzles should be fun and I'm glad they continue to be to Ryne!  I hope one day that Ryne will be able to jump in on the family puzzles that we do at Mom and Dad's house.  We all dive into a 500+ puzzle and have it done in no time!  Ryne sits and watches us and tries to put a few together, and I just know he wants to be able to do what we are doing...he always does.

"Santa" and Elf the Roger!

This past weekend was a blessing, but a CRAZY blessing!  Earlier in the week, Ryne said "Santa" for the first time!  We haven't talked much about Santa since Ryne is so little, so I guess after hearing it once, he had it down pat.  Santa Buddies came on TV and we knew Ryne would want to see the dogs, since he is so obsessed.  I was explaining to Adam that the dogs are Santa's buddies.  As soon as I said "Santa, " Ryne  repeated it!  It was so cute!

Thursday evening we moved into my mother's house for the weekend.  We visited with Jonas and Lily at the Knies house and River at Mom's house.  Mom has been doing the Elf on the Shelf thing with River this year.  One day they asked River what the elf's name was and he said Roger.  However, whenever River talked about the elf he called him Elf the Roger.  Thus, the elf is now referred to as Elf the Roger!

Friday morning we celebrated Christmas at Mom's house, since River would be there.  The expression on River's face was priceless!  His eyes bulged out of his head!  It was such a precious moment!  Ryne still doesn't really know what's going on, but he did find his coloring book that Santa left for him and he liked opening his gifts, once he realized that he was supposed to.  Ryne is so particular.  When we opened his gifts, it wasn't enough to just take the wrapping paper off.  He wanted the entire gift opened and assembled -  at that moment.  

Saturday (Christmas Day), we had Christmas at the Knies house.  Ryne got even more cool toys and clothes.  Then it was off the Adam's Aunt's house to visit with the Sexton side of the family!  Mamaw gave Ryne a toy vacuum, a toy remote control and a puzzle.  Ryne has taken to the toy vacuum and remote better than I expected since he is obsessed with the real ones.  The puzzle was a cute puzzle with momma and baby animals one it.  I'm not sure what the age was (I'm assuming 2+ years) but Ryne completed it within seconds!  Mamaw was shocked!  She asked how many pieces were in it and I told her that there were eight.  She asked how many pieces he could do and I told her that he was doing puzzles for 3+ years!  Again, she was shocked!  Ryne did get a few more puzzles that are a little more challenging.  Hopefully, that will keep him busy for awhile!

We were blessed with many wonderful gifts this year, but the greatest gifts were the time spent with our families, giving back, and celebrating the reason for the season!

17 months

Yesterday, Ryne turned 17 months!  This means we are a month away from the big 1-8!!!  These bigger milestones drive me crazy!  I worry because I want Ryne to be on target for all the 18 month old accomplishments!  They also drive me crazy because he's getting older and bigger and not so much my "baby" anymore (even though he will be my baby for his entire life)!
So what is going on in the world of Ryne?  Everything!

Language:  Ryne is saying new words almost daily!  I'm surprised sometimes by what he learns.  He is now busting out full sentences.  Yesterday he said "I want my dadda." (tear) and "help me."  He still has his baby jabber as well.  It's not like he speaks full sentences or phrases all the time, but before 17 months is pretty darn good!

I started "teaching" Ryne (sorta).  We are going over a new color and a new letter of the alphabet every week, although the ABCs may be 86ed shortly.  I'm  not sure if he's ready for them.  He can pick out an A and he can say "A" but he's still not quite grasping the concept, and I'm not sure he should!  He now uses "A" in phrases.  So "bite bite" has become "a bite", etc.  Who knew a child could learn to use articles so early!  He also picked up the word "apple" which usually sounds like "babble" but he can point one out...and he loves to eat them!

Physical:  Ryne is continuing to climb on EVERYTHING - coffee table, tv console, chairs, sofa, etc.  He has also started sitting in a regular chair when he eats, instead of the high chair.  He will occasionally sit in the high chair, but he wants to be a big boy, I guess!  He's also using a spoon and fork (toddler size and regular size) very well - anything to be like Mommy and Daddy!
Just today, he learned to turn the vacuum on.  He is obsessed!  I had to vacuum the entire house...twice, to keep him from screaming "back back" at me!  I guess I'm glad we are still in a tiny house!

Sleep:  Tonight is night #2 of the "Back to Sleep" campaign.  I'm not sure why Ryne started waking up at night about a month ago, but it's been torture.  I took him to the doctor yesterday to get him checked out to make sure he wasn't crying at night for a legit reason.  The doctor (who we LOVE, by the way, ) crossed his legs and said "you're going to have to suck it up!"  We had been letting him cry with no success and we had been rocking him, with no success, and Adam committed Baby Sleep Sin by letting Ryne watch TV in the middle of the night one night!  Nothing was working.  So we are now back to controlling his bedtime a little better and last night he didn't wake up (YAY!!!).  Pray for us that this works!

Bottle:  I'm cracking down!  I've declared Momma Law!  Dr P. said 18 oz of milk is more than enough right now.  Ryne is having double (sometimes more than double) that in a day!  He won't drink milk out of a sippy cup, but he will drink juice and tea from a sippy, so I've decided to use that to my advantage.  His reflux is 100% gone (Praise the Lord!), so we have been able to give him watered down juice and tea in a sippy cup with no problems.  Today I got him down to 24 oz of milk and honestly, if I can't get him lower, I'm not going to worry.  That basically leaves him using a bottle just in the morning, before a nap and bedtime.  I'm fine with him drinking mostly milk, but he's not eating as much so we have to cut back.

Puzzles:  He's now completing some of the harder puzzles for 3+ years!  He's obsessed and it's something we can do together so I'm happy to let him do it!  Next we are going to work on jigsaw puzzles!

Music and Dancing:  Ryne loves both!  I think we are going to try out Kindermusik after the New Year in lue of The Little Gym.  I think Ryne would get more out of Kindermusik right now.  He participates, to an extent, at TLG.  He's strangely not into the group stuff at TLG, even though he is incredibly social there.  He likes to sit off away from everyone else and do the activities, but some activities he just refuses to do!  If you put on a good beat, though, Ryne will drop it like it's hot!   It's the cutest thing EVER!

I'm excited to see what the next month holds!

Gifted is Challenging!

So, I'm not expert on the matter, but as I have mentioned before, Ryne seems to be a little "advanced" in some areas.  He is now completing an entire ABC puzzle (26 pieces, obviously), although he has two pieces that cause him trouble at first so he sometimes saves them for last!  I will say that the reasons, I think, he has trouble with those pieces are that they are the same color and shaped similarly to other pieces.   Ryne has mastered every toddler puzzle in the house and the ABC puzzle is for 3+ years!  I am amazed!  I wouldn't have even opened it for him, except he saw it and wanted it opened.  I had no idea he'd be able to master in such a short time.
Anywho, I Googled "being good at puzzles" or something similar and several "gifted" websites were listed, so I decided to check them out.  One listed early signs of giftedness in children, and my jaw dropped.  "Nail on head" were the only words I could say!  I felt like I was reading a checklist that very accurately described Ryne, except for a few of the signs for older children and things that he has not really been exposed to.
It was comforting to know that some of the issues we have with Ryne, are early signs of giftedness, and not psychosis!  High activity level was one of them.  I know I tell people my child is high energy, and most people say that all toddlers are, which is true.  Then they meet Ryne, and they are blown away (almost literally because he runs by so quickly!).  He's non-stop, which is one thing that surprised me about his puzzle skills.  It requires being in one place for a certain amount of time.  Even when Ryne is sitting, he is moving - squirming, tapping his foot, shaking a leg, etc.).
Another sign was "seems to require less sleep".  If you've read my posts before, you know my child hardly sleeps!  Tuesday night, Ryne didn't go to sleep until about 10:30 pm and woke up at 5:30 am Wednesday morning!  He took an hour and fifteen minute nap on Wednesday and didn't go to bed until 11pm Wednesday night!  I love spending time with my little guy, but whoa, that's too much!  That's a lot of time to keep him stimulated/entertained!
Over the past few weeks, I thought Ryne was saying "I want ba ba," but the "I" sounded weak, so I didn't give it much consideration.  However, now, the "I" is more pronounced and he uses it in other phrases.  He started using two-word phrases at 12 months and now 3-word phrases at 16 1/2 months.  That's almost a complete sentence!   He seems to have the concept of possession down pretty well.  He says and understands "my", "I" and now "mine" or "mine mine mine."
He also has started understanding other concepts.  When he wakes up in the morning, he usually walks around looking for Adam, saying "Dadda, Dadda."  I tell him that Dadda is at work and Ryne says "bye bye Dadda Dadda."  Interestingly, Ryne has hardly ever seen Adam leave for work because Adam leaves at 6:30 am and Ryne is usually not up by then.
He has great problem solving skills.  I remember when Ryne was about 6 months old, he was obsessed with his spoon.  I set it down on the tray of his highchair at the front edge so he couldn't get it.  He grabbed the burpcloth that I had sitting on the tray and held onto one end and threw the other end at the spoon, to drag it towards him.  Earlier this summer, while at my parents' house, Ryne wanted a spice out of the pantry, but couldn't reach it so he grabbed the wok lid from a shelf, put it down on the floor and stood on the top, so he could reach the spice jar he wanted.  His newest (and dangerous) problem solving (timeout causing) trick is climbing on the tv console.  Why is that problem solving?  Well, Ryne likes to push the button on the TV to turn it on and off - all day long.  So I call him down every time he stands in that corner where the button is.  So now, he goes to the other side of the TV console and climbs up onto it and across to try to push the button...although he gets caught and goes to timeout before he can push the button and sometimes before he actually climb up on the console.  Find a way or make a way - that's his motto!
There are some other things that Ryne does or has done that were on the checklist, but this would be a lengthy blog!  I'm so excited and comforted to know that Ryne's not some wild child, who derives energy from the devil, and might just be a little "gifted".  However, we may have new challenges to face and I don't know what to do!  Gifted children often have discipline trouble and issues with depression and such, if not handled appropriately.  That's the last thing I want!  Ryne has his 18 month well check in January, where I will most definitely talk to his pediatrician about his little gift, but in the mean time, I don't know really what to do.  I've read that they need to be intellectually stimulated - if they are completing advanced puzzles then give them more advanced puzzles, etc.  However, I don't want to rob him of a childhood.  I want Ryne to be happy, which he seems to be.  I'd rather he continue to have a warm personality than be able to recite the ABCs forwards and backwards by the age of 2.  However, with all the little fits he throws and clinginess, I wonder if he isn't bored out of his mind and need more stimulation.  I feel like I'm walking a tight rope and waiting a month and a half to talk to Dr. P seems like forever.  I mean, the child completed a puzzle for a 3 year old in just a matter of days - a month and a half is a long time to wait if he should be learning more or challenged more!
If any of you have raised a gifted child and have advice, PLEASE let me know.  I know our parent's are good sources, but there is so much more known about giftedness in infants and toddlers now than there was twenty and thirty years ago.

16 months!

We time flies when you're having fun!  I'm already getting sad that Ryne is almost a year and a half.  Yikes!  Ryne is becoming more and more "fun!"  He's a ball of energy and learning new stuff everyday!

Ryne is by far rocking his puzzles now.  He's mastered most 2+ years puzzles that we have and he's moved on to a 3+ years puzzle of the ABC's.  He LOVES doing puzzles!  Now he will take all the pieces out by himself and then put them back in all by himself.  Hopefully we can incorporate other aspects of the puzzles like colors and shapes, but for right now, he's not very interested in that.

Ryne is also doing well with kicking a ball.  I know it seems silly, but he is very fluid in his kicking.  He can continuously run and kick the ball without stopping.  Adam and I are thinking that we may have a little soccer player in our future!  Adam hates to watch soccer, so this will be interesting if Ryne develops a talent in it!

Ryne has also learned how to undo the top harness latch on his car seat = not cool!  He will also put the latch together when we get in the car, which is helpful, but not as helpful as not undoing the latch!  I read on the companies website that the top latch is supposed to be easy enough for an adult to get the child out of the car, especially in emergencies, but requires too much dexterity for a child to undo it.  HA!  Ryne uses both thumbs to push up on one side and down on the other to pop the latch.  He knows how the crotch latch works too, but he has yet to undo it, but it's only a matter of time....

Language-wise, Ryne is learning new words everyday!  He can say "outside" now.  He told Jo Ann and Frank's dog to "stay" (with hand motion) the other day and now he says it to people in public!  Ha!  Ryne can also say "shoes" and "socks" - they are necessary for going outside, so of course he would learn those words!

We are STILL struggling with the bottle issue!  UGH!  Ryne will drink from a sippy cup or even a regular cup, if and only if, it does not contain milk.   He will only drink milk from a bottle, and since juice and water still causes him to reflux some, he drinks mostly milk.  The doctor did approve decaffeinated tea that has been watered down a bit to cut the sugar, which seems to be better than juice and water, but I don't want Ryne throwing back tea all day either.

Ryne is such a sweet little boy.  He is giving LOTS of kisses now - open-mouthed, slobbery ones, but they are the best!  Now that Adam and I have our own GOOD camera, we will be sharing more of the magical moments!  And if you want any pictures taken, let me know.  I need some practice!  Who knows...I might make a business of this...if I'm good!