3 year stats!

Ryan had his 3 year well baby appt. Wednesday and his stats are:

Weight: 32lbs. (slightly under 50% tile)
Height: 38" (slightly above 50% tile)

He was measuring 38 1/2" at the surgeon's office in early June but I remembered that was with his shoes on and the nurse at the pedi office was real particular with how straight he was standing and made sure his head was straight. He's tall enough for one of the other kiddie rides at the theme park now (but we knew that already because he went on it while on vacation!)

He had a vision & hearing test which surprised me. For the vision test they had a chart with symbols on it (just like the adult charts with letters) and the nurse stood about 8ft. away and had Ryan tell her the shapes on the line second to the bottom. He did great with following directions for that (holding one hand over one eye, telling her the shapes etc) except for some reason he didn't want to say the "star" shape. Eventually, he got it out though. For the hearing test the nurse took a handheld device and placed it in his ear then told him to tell her "beep" everytime he heard a noise. Well, that didn't happen. I expected him to blurt out "what's dat?" because that's what he says everytime he hears a noise but he just sat there. His eyes would get wider or his eye brows would go up so that's what the nurse went with. So, he can see & hear..yay!

We finally got to see his pediatrician that he's seen since he came home from the NICU. She had a preemie herself so I value her opinion a lot. We were suppose to see another pedi. the day after Ryan left the NICU but when we got to the office, they didn't have Ryan down for an appt. and that pedi.was already backed up. Hence, why we had to see Dr. C. I think it was meant to be. She's been so good with him (and with us--all of our questions/concerns that comes with having a preemie) and did not mind at all that we chose to delay some vaccinations. The past two well check ups, she's had emergencies come up and we've had to see another pedi so I'm glad we were finally able to see her this time. She told us he can be switched to 2% milk since he doesn't need the extra fat from whole milk, which is good because I don't mind using that (in recipes). We can contact the dentist anytime to have Ryan's teeth checked out so I'll probably do that once I slow down at work and she thinks he'll come along soon with potty training is not concerned at all. She thought it was quite funny that he is pretty much fully pee trained while we are out and about (he loves to go in all the bathrooms when we're shopping/running errands) but not at home..usually it's the other way around. If I had time to stay at home for a long weekend I would just put him in underwear or let him run around naked, but I don't so I'm just going with the approach that he'll do it on his own when he's ready. There's no pressure really since he's not going to preschool (the one we had him in this past year required them to be PT'd at 3). The daycare we are sending him to 3 days a week in September doesn't require them and will definitely help out. He did get the MMR vaccine which we had delayed. Actually all his shots were delayed by 2 months in the beginning but when he got to a year old, we just didn't feel like he needed the 12-18 month shots that the CDC recommends which are the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Varicella (Chickenpox) & 2 doses of the Hep A. He wasn't in daycare or preschool at the time so we delayed them. At his 2 year appt. he got the first dose of the Hep A and we did intend to go back a couple months later and get the second dose and then eventually the MMR & Varicella but then he started getting those never ending colds that as you have read, didn't get resolved until he had his adenoids removed in early June. So, we'll go back in a couple weeks to get the second dose of the Hep A and then sometime before daycare starts, we'll get him the Varicella. He didn't cry at all when he got the shot but did say "my boo boo hurts". I'm sure it was sore.

We've been taking Ryan to Vacation Bible School in the evening this week so it's been nice to have some quiet time to ourselves..although we've run errands & cleaned up a bit both nights. We ate at Chick-fil-A one night and it just happened to be kids night..haha! But it was still nice not to have to share our food (he gets his own but Dean gives him pickles off his sandwich and I give him tomatoes & cheese & croutons off my side salad). Hopefully I can get to the vacation post with pictures soon.

Firsts

Ryan has had lots of firsts during his first week at being 3 years old and he had such a fun time...WE all had such a fun time.

First Vacation

First overnight hotel stay

First roller coaster ride (the kiddie one of course)

yes, he's in there..7th car back

First movie-Toy Story 3

First time eating popcorn (ate it at the movie but it was dark so

I didn't get a pic right then--but he ate some more at home in his new

TS popcorn container)

Many more pictures & posts about our vacation to come later this week!

Ryan's 3rd Birthday Party

We've been celebrating Ryan's birthday all week by being on vacation. It wasn't a big extravagant vacation but we certainly had a fabulous time...I'll post more on that soon but for this post I wanted to show off some pics from Ryan's 3rd birthday party. We had his party last Saturday the 17th since we were leaving Sunday, the day of his actual birthday. I will admit that I didn't really want a party for Ryan. I just wanted it to be a family affair this year, since I really wanted to save our "party money" for vacation. Dean was all about having a party and assured me we could still have a nice vacation. His party theme this year was Thomas the Train...of course!

the morning of his party

He has loved Thomas for almost a year now (right after his 2nd birthday). Finding Thomas decorations was a challenge and I guess it was good not having so many decorations we could buy (since those can get expensive). We saved money by only getting enough Thomas plates for the cake & ice cream and getting red & blue plates for the food. We also decided not to get an expensive cake and just went with one from the local Wal-Mart. Ryan's 1st birthday cake was actually from Wal-Mart and was actually pretty good. I won't say I will never buy another birthday cake for Ryan there again, but....I might not. It was ehhh, okay. I'm sort of a perfectionist when it comes to some things...like party decorations & cakes. I want things to be perfect in my eyes and this cake just didn't meet my standards but it was only $25 so I got over it.

My dear friend made the favors; chocolate candy trains of all sizes and put them in a small bag with Thomas the Train photo viewers. The kids bags also had a Thomas whistle. The guests arrived, we ate, chatted, opened gifts, had cake & ice cream and then all the kids (and some kids at heart) took turns hitting the train pinata. I'm glad I listened to Dean and we had a party because Ryan had such a fun time.

Disney Cars book set

more presents

cake time!

mmmm cake

pinata hitting

this balloon soon went flying

me & Ryan

if your interested more pics of the party are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mom2apreemie/RyanS3rdBirthdayParty?feat=directlink

The Prince turns 3!

My preemie prince that is! Actually, mine & Dean's prince. Happy 3rd Birthday! As I sit here typing this I'm already starting to get emotional. My little baby is not so little anymore. I'm sure I'll say that every year from now on but it's so true. Not only is Ryan's weight & height hard to believe (he's 32lbs & 38 1/2") but developmentally he's not a baby..he's a full fledged, active, let me do it myself, opinionated 3 year old!

This past year brought many new things for Ryan with his development & speech. He can now jump & climb, has fantastic upper body strength which he shows by trying to stand on his hands (yes, I'll have to get a pic of that) and as I stated in an earlier post, his speech has taken off. He's speaking in sentences now and tells us what he does & doesn't like. He can dress himself (shirts & shoes) and let's it be known when he doesn't want to wear what we've picked out for him. He likes to walk everywhere and doesn't want to sit in the grocery cart or stroller.

I'm sure this next year will bring lots more changes and while we probably don't know what's ahead, we'll try and enjoy the ride!

with his new Lightening McQueen radio/Cd Player

photo viewer (these things have sound now...unlike when I was a kid)

Goodbye Early Intervention!

Ryan's been seen by our state's Early Intervention program since he was six months old. Early Intervention is  a free service to assess any child, birth through age three, that may have a developmental delay or a medical condition that can delay normal development; such as Ryan’s prematurity. Ryan was first receiving therapy services for a physical delay and was released soon after he starting walking at 14 months old. At 18 months old, we had him accessed for speech and it was determined he had an expressive communication delay and he then began therapy services. In early May, he was released from ST (you can see that post here) but was not released from Early Intervention just in case I still had a concern later on. Well, now that Ryan is almost 3, it was time for him to be officially released from services. Our wonderful EI Coordinator has been with us since the beginning so despite missing her visits every few months, we are glad this part of Ryan's life is over. He has progressed so much even since he was released from Speech Therapy just 2 months ago. He is now speaking full sentences...not all the time mind you, but he does talk! For example, yesterday morning as we were walking up to my mom's front door he saw a bunny in the yard and says to my mom, "Nana, I see a bunny. Where did bunny go?" (since the bunny hopped away). He is pretty much constantly talking about something or will repeat what we say..almost like he is trying to absorb it so he can remember it and will repeat it later. We've learned so much from our therapists & our EI Coordinator and will truly miss them.

Are we crazy???

Yes, we probably are crazy but it had to happen sometime...

Yes, we took Ryan to Chuck E Cheese's for the first time! He's almost 3 and we've put it off this long and probably could have put it off longer, but we were invited by my friend and godson and really couldn't think of an excuse  didn't have anything else going on so we bit the bullet. It was Sunday afternoon so it actually wasn't too crowded. Despite a couple irritating issues we had a fun time...Ryan had a blast of course! One thing that irritated us was when one of the party groups ran out of time at their party table and decided to move over to a regular table to have their youngin' open gifts. The party attendees proceeded to stand in the middle of the aisle which was where people needed to walk through to get to the gaming area, salad bar & drink machine. The other was that fact it took 30 minutes to get an order of fries and then when they finally arrived, they were cold. Dean had gone to ask about them 20 minutes in and they told him it would be right out...I don't think that meant 10 minutes later! So, off to the manager we went and waited 5 minutes for her to come out and then asked her why it was taking her employees so long to bring out an order of fries! She didn't know but offered to give us a new batch and our money back. At this point Ryan wasn't going to continue to sit and eat, even french fries, so we just got our money back. Plus, I'm paranoid and the thought occurred that someone in the back would spit on the new order.

So, he got to do most all the games and even won several tickets from them. There is one game that when you put the token in, it lands on a flatbed and there are arms "sweeping" the tokens to the edge and with each coin you put in, it might make the coins on the edge fall over, hence getting tickets. Ryan put a coin in and it landed in the bonus hole so he won 40 tickets! In total we ended up with about 600 tickets and got to turn those in for prizes. He got a Chuck E Cheese tin lunch box, some dum-dum pops, some stickers & then we gave the rest to our godson for Cotton Candy.

on the fire engine

no, that's not how you play skee ball Ryan (and yes, he did

end up throwing it overhand making it land into

the other lane..ha!)

getting the hang of it..sort of

in the play tunnel

down the slide

Gone Dog Wild

It's no surprise that Ryan loves dogs. Our family is a dog loving family. Both my parents had several dogs growing up, my grandmother raised show dogs & we had a family dog which we got when I was in my mid-teens. My brother got a dog late last year, a pure breed Golden Retriever named Baxter. He is such a cute, loveable & very energetic puppy and Ryan adores him! When we tell Ryan we are going to see my brother, he immediately says "see Baxter too?" We met at my parent's house for a Father's Day cookout last month and my brother didn't bring Baxter because they had just gotten back from a 3 hour road trip and Baxter was hot & tired (remember he's a Golden with lots of hair). When my brother walked in the house without Baxter, the look on Ryan's face was of pure pity. He was heartbroken and was about to cry. So, for the 4th of July cookout, we didn't mention that my brother was coming just in case he couldn't bring Baxter. Thankfully, everything worked out and Baxter was able to come and my brother's girlfriend brought her new dog...a rescued 13 year old Beagle named Grandpa Albert. Ryan couldn't have been happier! At the end of the night he gave both dogs a hug and said he loved Grandpa Albert...he hasn't even told Dean or I he loves us!

Uncle Steve, Ryan & Baxter

Baxter (about 9 months old)

giving Baxter a tennis ball

petting Grandpa Albert

taking a break outside

Flashback Friday

Only 9 more days until Ryan turns 3! So of course I've been looking at pictures from when he was an infant up through now. It's amazing that he came into this world almost 12 weeks early weighing 2 lbs. 13oz. and to look at him today weighing 32 lbs.!

can you tell how small he was? even the preemie onesie was too big!

(click on the pic to make it bigger)

His 1st Birthday! (19lbs)

A couple weeks before he turned 2! (around 27 lbs)

Last weekend at the playground

(32 lbs..I think the pedi will be surprised when we go in a couple weeks from now because

last year she said he "may" gain around 3 lbs.)

The Aquarium

We ended up taking Ryan to the aquarium on the 4th of July instead of to Toy Story 3. We have a really nice aquarium and realized we've never taken him there. We'll still take him to see the movie soon though but will probably do so during the week when it's cheaper (in case he ends up not liking it or sitting for that long). He loved the aquarium and all the fish, sharks & turtles. We spent several hours there and he barely made it to lunch without crashing so afterwards, it was lights out for him once we starting driving home.

Kamodo Dragon

up close view of the Kamodo (to the left)

fish tanks

the dolphin viewer

Jaws!!

touch tank

getting a ride back from the nature walk

You can see the rest of the pics here:

VA Aquarium

Jumping, climbing & more

Ryan is such a jumper and climber these days. He's come a long way since starting PT in late November and the past 3 months he's improved dramatically. Before he started PT he did not like those inflatable bouncy's or slides. In March we took him to a play place that had inflatables but didn't think he would be interested (we more or less took him for the other play areas/rooms). To our surprise he did enjoy it. This weekend we found a brand new place that just opened near our house that had the inflatables. The owners/staff were super nice, the place was clean & our godson went along with us and they let him play as well even though he was over the age limit...probably because we were the only ones in there. Ryan had a blast & showed off his climbing & jumping skills to the limit!

easy peasy

this one would scare me but it was Ryan's fav.

We then went to Red Robin for lunch and my godson played games with Ryan and they came back to the table with this:

My godson said Ryan won it by himself! I'm not sure how much my godson helped out or what the game was but it's one for the photo book for sure!

3 Year Portrait Session

Today we went and had Ryan's 3 year pictures done. I know some people think it's so funny (or weird & dumb) that we always seem to be getting his pictures professional done but what can I say, I love pictures. I'm not all that great at taking pictures..I mean I take a lot, but honestly, at this point in Ryan's life I cannot get him to sit still or smile when I want. He does much better for other people. When Ryan was in the NICU, when he first came home and for his first Christmas, I was privileged enough to have my brother take pictures. That was such a blessing. My thinking is that he is growing so fast and if I can get professional pictures done that bring out his personality, it's worth the time & money. I always try to get the first appointment in the morning so it's not crowded so we only end up spending about 45 minutes there & JCP always has great coupons for their portrait sheets. We ended up with the same photographer he had for his Easter pictures and I think this time she got some good poses and smiles from him. Here are the favorites: