Walking!

Ryan has been changing by leaps and bounds. He started taking steps a few weeks ago and is walking now like such a big boy. He also says "dog" and "dada" fairly reliably, and will neigh like a horse, clap or wave good bye if you ask him. Then again he's also fairly reliable at eating toilet paper, putting his fingers in outlets and beginning each day by head-butting something:) He stopped wanting his bottle this last week and eating solids as if he has a hollow leg. He likes to chew on the sippy but unfortunately won't drink from it yet so we're working on trying to get enough liquid in him each day.

After a brief hiatus from the lake in December, we've made it back down the past three weekends. It was beautiful down there with all the snow and was warm enough this past weekend that we enjoyed a fair bit of time outside. We also got to see our friends the Riggins and Collins's and it was fun to watch all our little boys play together. Ryan absolutely loves bath time so we hope his affinity for water continues and he enjoys being a lake baby this summer.

here's Ryan walking over at the Riggins' (with a lego in his mouth)

I was having trouble uploading the video so if you can't view it, it's also posted on FB at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=1328309375921.

Happy New Year

taking advantage of all the snow and free time

standing - while playing with my phone

Maggie, Olivia, Katie, Ryan, Jack and Jon

Our child care was closed the majority of the last two weeks and fortunately my office was too so Ryan and I were able to spend several days together. We kept busy and enjoyed the time together, although we're ready to return to our normal schedule tomorrow. We started offf our vacation by going to Lawrence to take my nieces and nephews bowling for their Christmas present. They're so well-behaved that they make it possible to do such an activity with six kids. The next day Ryan and I went swimming at a local community center with a nice indoor zero-entry pool. He absolutely loves the water and had a ball so we'll definitely be returning sometime this winter. Before our family arrived for the holidays, Ryan and I visited all the Horton kids and grandkids, many of whom I haven't seen in several years.

After celebrating Christmas with the Abplanalp side here in KC we got another week of vacation which was wonderful. Since the snow was plentiful, Ryan went sledding for the first time. He was so stinking cute all bundled up, but couldn't move in his suit so when he tried to crawl he just face-planted in the snow. Since I'm not nearly as entertaining as his little friends at child care we squeezed in a play date for some toddler interaction. Then my mom came to town for a couple days to car shop so Ryan got to enjoy some spoiling from Nana. We celebrated New Year's Eve in town at the Morrison's new home. They graciously let us bring Ryan and stay over since sitters are impossible to get on NYE. We had a really good time and are glad we got to stay over so that we could enjoy the entire party. New Year's Day our friend Ryan Kiliany's dad Dennis was in town and hosted a pizza party which hit the spot after NYE. He used to work at a Chicago pizzaria back in the day and makes a mean pizza - and even sends you with a to-go pie.

We wrapped up the vacation by heading to the lake for the weekend. Ryan barely left his pj's the entire weekend, and we did lots of playing together. He's standing and capable of walking but doesn't have the motivation to take any steps yet (which is okay by us because he's hard enough to keep up with as it is). Ryan is a very busy child who is always on the move trying to get into whatever he can get his little hands on. He also knows how to clap now and excites himself when he gets going. It's hard to believe he's 10 months old already but we're loving watching the little guy grow and change everyday.