Ryan's latest

My goal of writing monthly updates for Ryan vanished a while ago, but I have still managed to jot down most of the important facts. Here's the latest on our handsome boy.

He will celebrate his 1st birthday in 26 days!

He has a tooth! It isn’t much of one yet – more like a tiny white stump, but it’s slowly making its way through! It's his bottom left, and I noticed it Monday. His two top teeth aren't far behind.

Ryan's favorite things:

• Pulling every single wipe out of the wipes container.
  
  
• Pulling clothes out of dresser drawers, books off shelves and just about anything else that looks out of place to him! He has an eye for organization!
  
  
• Pooping right after a diaper change.
  
  
• "Helping" load and unload the dishwasher.
  
  

  
  Notice Mr. Daredevil's going straight for the steak knife!
  
  
  
  

• Dropping food off his food tray, whether he's full or just looking for further amusement.
  
  
• Mom's cell phone. He's quite the texter!
  
  
• Cheetos!
  
  
  
  Recent milestones:
  
  
• Can stand for 5-10 seconds at a time, but shows little if any interest in walking. He is so capable, but has no drive whatsoever. I'm actually just fine with that, to be quite honest!
  
  
• Raises his hands up in the air when he hears someone say, "hooray!" He learned it from his friend, Lasson.
  
  
• Waves and says "Dat, dat!" when he hears someone say "Night, night" or "Bye, bye".
  
  
• Dances on cue (or rather, bounces up and down while smiling with glee).
  
  
  
  
• Is climbing! He climbed his first flight of stairs a couple weeks ago, and continues to climb anything he thinks he can manage. His lack of fear worries me. You'd think after a handful of falls he would learn. But no. He just keeps on climbin'.
  
  
  
  My favorite things:
  
  
• He is more cuddly than ever. During Brady and Sara's family dinner the night before their wedding last Tuesday evening, Ryan fell asleep in my arms. I can probably count on one hand the number of times he's done this! It was so sweet that I just couldn't bring myself to go lay him down. While it isn't often that he'll fall asleep, he will rest his head on my shoulder peacefully and just chill. He's my little snuggler.
  
  
• I'm his favorite.
  
  
• His facial expressions. Especially when he gives me that gummy smile, closes his eyes, scrunches his nose and tilts his head back like Stevie Wonder.
  
  
  
  
• Whenever I tell him "No no!", he immediately shakes his head in agreement. Darling.
  
  
• Everything is "dat, dat, dat..."
  
  
• He continues to grunt, grumble, and groan. He sounds like he's pretending to be a fierce animal at times. Hilarious.
  
  

  
  Just for you, Grandma Susie! Geaux Tigers!
  
  My sweet little boy is just growing too fast! As Fall has clearly made its entrance, I've found myself reminiscing about last year at this time, when Ryan was almost here. My, how time flies. I look at him and can hardly believe he will celebrate his first birthday in less than 4 weeks! It's bittersweet. Of course I love witnessing each milestone and cheering him on. But oh, how I miss the itty bitty baby he was for only a few blinks of an eye.
  
  
  Love you, buddy.

{By the way, I'm aware that some of the photos in this post are cut off on the right side. I can't figure out what the problem is. They are centered just like the ones that aren't getting cut off are.}