21 months!

Ryan is 21months today!

At 21 months Ryan is:

•  Strong-willed, stubborn, fussy, lovable and cute
• Is wearing mostly 24 months shirts and shorts but can fit into some 2T pajamas
• Wearing size 5 shoe
• Wearing size 5 diaper during the day and at night. Some mornings we wakes up with a dry diaper and other days it’s soaking. I still don’t think we are ready to start potty training with him yet. He will tell us after he has gone #2, but we are still not close to where he tells use BEFORE... When Nathan was this age, he was telling us before he had to go and pretty much going #2 in the potty at this age 75% of the time. Every child is different though.
• Normally eats 3 meals a day with about 2 snacks. Most days he will not eat anything for breakfast except a banana. He is now on a fruit snacks kick where if he eats all his dinner he wants a fruit snack. This is mainly because we bribe Nathan with one if he will eat all his food and once Ryan hears the word “fruit snacks” he has to have one. Ryan still loves most fruits and veggies and will eat those all day. He still will not eat much meat unless it’s fish sticks, chicken nuggets, hot dogs or turkey sausage. 
• Normally goes to bed around 8:15 and wakes up between 6 and 6:30. He normally takes anywhere for a 1.5-2.5 hour nap
• We are currently working really hard to clear up his really bad cradle cap that he has had for quite some time. We have been going to a dermatologist for a few months and I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. For the past 3 weeks, we have been alternating between Selsun Blue and a medicated cream on his head at night and letting him sleep in it overnight. In the morning we have to wash it off (hence waking up at 6am). He also has to take an antibiotic daily. We have his next appointment on June 19th head looks 95% better. The downside is that is he losing most of his hair though. 
• Has gotten a LOT more teeth since our last update. I think most have either cut through or are cutting through. He still seems to not be cutting one in front in though. Sometimes I feel like I can see it and it just needs to cut – other days I’m not so sure. At our last dentist visit our dentist said sometimes some children just do not have a baby tooth but that does not always mean he does not have a permanent tooth. He went when he was about 18 months so it was too soon to do an x-ray. Speaking of teeth.....Mr. Ryan has developed a bit of a biting problem both at home and at school. If Nathan takes a toy away from Ryan or makes him upset, Ryan will bite Nathan in the back... We are working on it. I know Nathan had a biting problem at school at exactly this age...but this was when he took a 3 month break from school (when we moved from Houston to here and he stayed at home with me till Ryan was born) and by the time he started at his new school here he had kicked the problem. 
• Understands so much and can follow simple instructions 
• Has started talking a LOT more. He has gotten better at repeating words we say and his vocabulary has grown so much that I can’t even keep track of them all anymore. He has also started “talking” to where he says like 4-5 “words” at a time but I have no idea what they are! I can tell he is trying so hard and am grateful that I feel he has shown improvement in the last 3 months. He is starting to learn to string two words together. Last night for example it was thundering so it thundered and then stopped and he would say “boom-boom bye-bye”. I’m sure there are a few more but I can’t think of them right now.
• He has moved up into his big boy class at school. In just the week he has been there I have seen a lot of improvement in his talking.
• Has developed a major love for books. He will look at and “read” books all day long if I let him
• LOVES his puppies and his fishy. Every morning when we walk into the kitchen and every evening when we get home he knows that it is time to feed Meemo our fish. He has learned to push the chair to where the bowl is, climb up and put his hand out to get food to feed him. He also knows how to feed the dogs. He and Nathan feed the dogs together most nights. 
• Loves Mickey Mouse – the show, toys, cups, anything Mickey Mouse. He doesn’t really care for many others shows.
• Starting to have major fits when he doesn’t get what he wants. He will literally throw his full body down on the floor and scream. I just leave him there and after a few minutes he is done and doing/getting what I was trying to do/give him before you threw a fit

All in all he is growing into such a big boy and its so hard to believe he is almost 2.