Our little Climbing Koala Ryan

Amy has always given little names to each of our boys. She has always called Matthew our little Matthew monkey and she has been calling Ryan our little koala bear. In particular the way that Ryan hangs onto Amy almost makes him the perfect little koala.

This week Ryan started to climb up everything. It is like he started to become the koala bear that Amy wanted him to be. In the picture above you can see the second time that Ryan climbed up his car seat. The first time the car seat was not at such a step angle and he walked all the way up to the top and was ready to take the next step in to the armoire.

Ryan has also decided to master the stair climbing. He can now go all the way up the stairs in about a minute. Obviously, we had to put the gate back up at the bottom of the stairs. The problem is we taught Matthew how to open the gate and he thinks that he is supposed to help Ryan open the gate whenever he wants to go up the stairs. So we have told Matthew not to let Ryan go up the stairs. Let's hope he listens and obeys.Family home evenings, or family home evening treat night as Matthew calls it, is always an adventure. Matthew loves all the pictures and learning about Jesus. Matthew has the Book of Mormon reader and loves the stories. Sometimes we hear him talking about the Nephites, King Benjamin, or some other person from the Book of Mormon. It is amazing what he remembers.

Matthew also likes to play the piano. Sometimes he plays along with dad but he is very particular about the songs he plays. Of course he can't read so the songs are the pictures. His songs usually describe the pictures on the pages of the Children's Song Book. Here are some other funny things that Matthew has said or done this week: One day as Matthew was getting dressed he pointed to his chest and said, "Look mom, these are my breasts. They have milk in them." When Amy told him that only mommies have milk, Matthew quickly responded, "But I have milk swimming in my tummy!" Matthew also likes to go around and ask people if he can see their happy face and then their sad face. It is kind of funny that when you need a smile he will ask, "Can I see your happy face?"

We are getting ready for Matthew's birthday and we are looking for ideas. One day I was looking at ToysRus and Matthew was sitting next to me. I believe I had returned a search for about 600 items and as I scrolled down the page Matthew kept repeating, "I want that. I want that. I want that." Several times I encouraged him to just indicate what he didn't want but he just kept saying, "I want that. I want that!"

Matthew is always very helpful. Sometimes he is too helpful. The other night we had put the vaporizer in Ryan's room, Both Ryan and Amy have a summer cold this week, and Matthew felt like he should plug it in. Even though Matthew knows he isn't supposed to do that he did it anyways. We quickly sent him to time-out and when he came out he said, "Sorry, I plugged in the plug when I shouldn't have." Wow, apologetic, and he admitted his faults. Wonderful. Matthew has also taken to climbing trees. I guess we have a tree that he really likes to climb. Personally, I think the tree is getting the best of Matthew because every day I come home from work he has a new wound from climbing the tree. Matthew is also very good at placing an order for a meal. We are pretty sure that Matthew thinks Amy is a short order cook. This morning after a bowl of cereal he announced, "Now I would like a pancake with butter and syrup and a glass of milk."

Ryan loves balls. He will chase a ball around for hours. Ryan also loves Matthew's bike. If the bike is out Ryan can track it down. Ryan is really a pleasant boy. He has learned to shake his head from side to side, clearly indicating his disapproval for your actions. He is also starting to babble long stories and he no longer likes to have his food served to him...he will do it himself. He can also say "mama" very clearly but won't try to say "dada" yet.

This week was also stake conference. We had it at the Provo Tabernacle. The first part went really well, but after about one hour and fifteen minutes the place seemed to erupt with activity, i.e. crying, fussing, squirming, and wiggling kids. It is amazing that we have our children trained to sit still for the amount of time a sacrament meeting usually lasts and that they know when the time has gone over. It was really kind of funny.