Finished!

I can hardly believe it, but yesterday Ryan finished his reading lesson book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons! Now he's reading early readers and doing a great job! He especially likes one we got from the library called Joshua James Likes Trucks by Catherine Petrie. He's read it to me four times already today!

More Friends

This is the face I get when I ask him to smile!

We met our new friends Dawn and Anneka at OMSI this morning. We met them at the top of Multnomah Falls earlier this month. Anneka and Ryan seemed to take an instant liking to each other, and I thought it would be fun to get together with them again. The kids seemed to have a great time, and I got to make a new friend too! An added bonus was that Ryan left with a fabulous attitude, a major victory these last few days!

Friends

Ryan got to spend some time with his friend Jake today. Last summer I watched Jake when his Mommy went back to work, and they got to play together a lot. During this visit, they played cars, vacuummed, vied for the favorite toy (really cool Tonka garbage truck), and generally made a mess of Jake's room. We all took a quick trip to the Farmer's Market afterward. Ever since, Ryan has been saying, "Maybe Jakey can come to our house today." I think they really miss each other, and we need to get them together more often.

No Surgery Date Yet

Ryan had another visit with his opthalmologist this morning. We were expecting to get a date for his surgery, but she ended up putting it off again. On examination today his eyes were crossing significantly less at distance than they were last visit (though crossing at close up was unchanged and is fairly dramatic). She wants us to come back in two weeks to make sure it wasn't a fluke. If his crossing at distance is still improved then she wants to try bifocals on him. Oh joy! If it was a fluke, then she will schedule surgery at that time.

The doctor said that perhaps as his vision has improved (it's almost 20/20 now) he has learned how to compensate somewhat, so maybe bifocals will correct his distance crossing. I am happy that there's the potential to avoid surgery, but it is still highly probable he will end up needing surgery anyway, so the waiting continues.

Hiding

The kids were sitting on the couch watching a DVD yesterday. I left the room for less than two minutes, and when I came back they were sitting on the couch with the pillows in front of them (sunglasses and all). When I inquired what they were doing, they said they were hiding, of course! It looked so cute, I had to snap a picture.

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Joy to My Heart!

We like to listen to music while we're driving, and both Ryan and Abby LOVE this Fisher Price CD we have that has a song for every letter of the alphabet sung by the "Little People." Mommy gets quite tired of it though, and a month or so ago I insisted we listen to something that I wanted to listen to. I put on a Keith Green CD. When we got to the song "Create in Me a Clean Heart," I told them to listen to this "great" song. It's the words to Psalm 51, and it's a favorite of mine.

A couple weeks ago Ryan began asking me to put the Keith Green CD in saying he wanted to listen to that "great" song. I thought that was cute, and I complied. Then yesterday we were at the library, and I heard him sweetly singing something. I leaned over to remind him to be quiet in the library when I realized he was singing that song and he knew all the words! It gave my "Mommy heart" so much joy to hear my little boy singing scripture and really enjoying it!

Making Progress

Ryan has managed to stay dry for two full weeks! We put away the pullups after his first week of staying dry at night, and he stayed dry for another full week wearing his undies. Unfortunately, Monday night he had another accident (of course I just changed the sheets Monday!), and he was feeling discouraged. I told him to just keep trying, and he was dry again this morning. Hopefully his little body will adjust completely soon. He has a tendency to give up on things like this pretty easily, so I'm tyring to keep his discouragement at bay.

Shall We Dance?

Ryan made a new friend immediately upon our arrival at the top of Multnomah Falls. Her name is Anneka, and she is only one month younger than Ryan. They hit it off, and even began dancing. It was adorable to watch!

Hiking the Falls

Today we wanted to get out of the house and try to keep cool, so we decided to go to the Columbia Gorge and try hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls. We didn't know how far the kids would be able to go since the hike is one mile long and climbs over 600 feet in that distance. It was a pretty steep climb, and it took us over an hour, but the kids did great! They hiked the entire distance themselves without being carried, and when we got to the top they even had energy to jump and run around some more. Ryan even made a new friend named Anneka. Everyone on the trail (including us) was very impressed with our little hikers!

We worked on teaching the kids some basic hiking safety and etiquette (something we saw was sorely lacking in many of the kids on the trail today), and we saw some gorgeous scenery and breathtaking views of the Columbia Gorge. We love living in this beautiful place God created!

Tractor Ride

We went to the zoo again today, which isn't one of Ryan's most favorite activities. He tolerates it, but he's no zoo lover, that's for sure. This big John Deere tractor is one of his three favorite things at the zoo (the other two being the jungle jeep and the train). Because it was 100 degrees today there were very few people around, so he had the tractor all to himself. Unprecedented!

Dry at Last!

Although Ryan has been potty trained since October of last year, he hasn't been able to stay dry at night. This last month we bought a Little People Garage at a yard sale and told him if he could stay dry for seven nights in a row, he could have it. I took it outside on the lawn and he helped me wash it up, which really whet his desire for it!

I thought the incentive would help, but he still really struggled to make it a whole week. Once he even made it six days, but he slept so hard the seventh night, he didn't make it. It was a heartbreaker for all of us! He was so disappointed.

Well, last night he finally did it! He got his garage this morning, and he is so proud of himself. Mommy and Daddy are so proud too! Tonight we switch from pullups to undies and say a little prayer.