Ry's Big Day

We recently had another birthday at our house.  Can you tell this is an exciting time of year for our family?  I promise there won't be anymore to report on for a few months.  A few weeks ago, Ryan turned four! For his birthday he requested a batman, spider man, transformer cake.  But he settled for spider man.  His birthday was wedged right in between visitors and vacations, so he ended up with a low-key day.  But his cousins (and idols) came, so he was as happy as could be.

Being four brings a lot of big boy things with it.  He is suddenly embarrassed to go in the women's restroom with me, he is required to eat a bite of his food at dinner (and actually swallow it, as opposed to spitting it out when he was only three) and he has opinions about what he wears (my girls hit this stage around age 1).  Ryan is such a fun addition to our family.  He is very entertained by his friends and siblings and often laughs so hard that he gets some serious hiccups.  He is a super sweet little boy and regularly comes up to tell me that I look beautiful.  Any chance he gets, he is combing my hair or putting bows and hairbands in it.  A really beautiful day for me is if I'll put in my hair every bow that he brings to me.  He is also very sensitive and if I am having a bad day, he will come up and give my leg a hug and say "Mom, I love you."  He is very curious and asks me about 15 times a day "What is that made of?"  I usually end up saying "molecules."  (It won't take long to be smarter than mom).  He is on his own time table and doesn't like to be pressured into anything.  He still loves farmers and cowboys and sports and trucks.  He can do a flip on the trampoline and ride his trike down our extremely steep driveway.  We love our little man!