Simpsons DVD

Ryan loves watching The Simpsons nowadays so we bought him a couple of DVDs. Although it doesn't sound like it in the video, he is singing the song to The Simpsons.

Xmas Present

Video of Ryan playing with his jeep from mum & dad.



Merry Christmas everyone.

Swimming

Ouch!

Ryan had his first major accident today. It wasn't as bad as I made it out to be but it was pretty nasty.

It happened when he was playing at daycare. Apparently, he was running in and out of a bedroom with the other kids. He must have either tripped or got pushed. Anyway, he fell and hurt his chin and possibly bit himself on the lip. He has juju lips and a cut on his chin now. When I put some cream on his chin, I could feel a really big bump. It must really hurt.

I guess this will be the first of many accidents to come.

Videos Of Ryan Playing

Class Photo Time Again

It's been more than a year since I posted his last class photos. Where has the time gone? I was looking at the old and new photos together and boy, has he changed! He's definitely no longer a baby :)

Gardening with Grandma

I haven't been blogging as there haven't been any new update but here are some photos that were taken today.

Is that Ronald McDonald?

No, hang on... it's Ryan Blinman.

Ryan loves shoes and thought he might try mine on when he saw them lying in the living room the other day. Whenever he sees them now, he will wear them. I think it's because they are big enough for him to slip them on easily and not too big, that he can't walk in them. They are also a very light pair of shoes. Doesn't he look cute? :)

Progress Update

It's been more than a month since my last post! I haven't had the time to update it as a lot has been happening.

Ryan hasn't been too well this month. It started off with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease which he got from daycare. His hands were slightly red but he had it quite bad in his mouth. On top of that, he was teething at the same time so it wasn't very pleasant for him.

It was at that time he started waking up a lot in the middle of the night. As he was unwell, we got him into our bed. What do you know? He doesn't want to get back in his cot anymore. In order for all of us to get some sleep, we ended up buying a double bed and one of us sleeping with him. It's not ideal but it's better than not having any sleep.

After he got better from his HFM disease, he had a cold. Got better for a while and now, he's got conjunctivitis.

He also fell down the other day and scratch his nose and has a big scab at the side of his nose now. What's worse is his cold has come back and he is very snotty, and we keep having to wipe his nose... ouch! Poor boy.

With him feeling sick all the time lately, we ended up not going to any swimming classes this term. Hopefully he will start feeling better now that the weather is starting to warm up slightly.

One thing I forgot to mention that got us really stressed out was him not wanting to bath. He just went off it all of a sudden... with no warning or whatsoever. It went on for 3-4 weeks. It's a good thing he's back to enjoying his bath and I'm crossing my fingers that he won't go back to hating it.

That's basically sums up the month :)

Playing

This is too easy...

Guess what I'm saying?

Although he's not saying a lot in the video, he can actually say quite a few words. He was very talkative until I had the camera pointed at him :)

Yum Yum

We were told by daycare that Ryan is feeding himself there so I thought I'll post video of him eating by himself. Unfortunately, the video doesn't show much as the battery was flat.

I didn't put the suction rubber under his bowl as it doesn't work on that table. We will have to change the table. Don't worry, he didn't go without food that night. He ended up asking his dad to feed him.

Daycare

Ryan has been at daycare for quite a while now and I don't think I have written anything on his progress there. So here goes...

The daycare changed its structure recently. At 18 months now, Ryan was supposed to be in the next class but because of the change, he will be staying in the babies' room till he turns 2 years of age. This makes him one of the older kids in the class.

Ryan loves daycare and is very comfortable with his surroundings there. Although he can't say the names of his classmates, he knows who they are.

Daycare has a theme every month which helps them learn and I must say, he has learned a lot. We hear new words coming from him quite often. He has a couple of Samoan teachers there and has even learned a Samoan word. The funny thing is he used it on Ashley when we went to picked him from daycare yesterday.

The word is 'awa'. It means don't or no. He was on the swing when we got there and Ashley went to get him of it but he kept saying awa to him and won't let him take the safety bar of him.

Daycare is expensvie but we don't know what we would have done without it.

Away From Home

My parents wanted to have Ryan spend the night at their place so we gave it a try last weekend. We were a bit nervous but apparently, he was a really good boy and we had nothing to be nervous about. It felt a bit weird to not have him at home and we did miss him but it would have been good for him though.

He spent the night there again last night as I had a function to go to and as it was held in the city, Ashley and I decided to have some time out. That's 2 Friday nights in a row that he hasn't slept at home!

By the way, if you have been following this blog, don't be shy to write comments as we would love to hear from you.

Me and My Shades

Don't mess with me...

Better Late Than Never

It's been a while since Ryan had his haircut but I only just got the photos now. Look at his sad, sad face...

Spoilt Boy

My dad is forever telling us not to buy things for Ryan as he already has too much. He's always saying that we are spoiling him but the truth is he is the one that buys him everything and spoils him the most.

It was a Saturday and as with most Saturdays, my parents were babysitting Ryan. My dad wanted to buy some stuff from Bunnings (for those who do not know, Bunnings is a hardware shop) and my mum and Ryan went along. Once there, my dad did his own shopping while my mum took Ryan to the kids area. When my dad went to look for them, he was having fun playing with the toy house that was there and...yes, you guessed it. My dad decided to buy it for him!

He was quite funny when we went to my parents' place to pick him up. He was so happy and excited with his house that he couldn't wait to show it to us. He was talking away non-stop and kept pointing us to where it is.

Here are some photos of it. Enjoy them.

High Fever

Yes that's right. Ryan had a high fever on the weekend.

He wasn't like his usual self the week before he got sick. He is usually a very good sleeper at night but he woke up a lot at night that week and wouldn't go back to sleep. He will be lying on his cot with one of us sitting in his bedroom but once we leave, he will cry. He ended up sleeping with us on our bed quite a lot that week.

He was at my parents' place the day he got sick. It was still manageable that day but he was really clingy and grumpy the next day and wouldn't stop crying at one stage. We decided to take him to A&E and ended up staying there for more than 2 hours. He had a high fever and they wanted us there till his temperature went down. He was given pamol and was only wearing his nappy but his temperature kept going up. Finally, they decided to give him a stronger drug. It was only after that his temperature went down. He was a completely different boy after that and was so noisy in the car when we were on our way home. I said he was high on drugs :)

He is still coughing and has a runny nose but other than that, he's fine. Although, I can't say the same for Ashley and myself. We are soooo tired as we haven't had any proper sleep for a while. It's terrible sleeping with Ryan. I was kicked in the chest and stomach and at one stage, he even slept on half my face! I don't know about Ashley but I need at least a week of not doing anything, except rest, relax and sleep to recover.

Anyway, I'm sure a lot of you will know that's one of the joys of being parents :)

Birthday Invite

Ryan had his first birthday party invite from his mate, Riley, from daycare. It was Riley's 1st birthday and the party was at Lollipops Playland in Ellerslie. Ryan had fun there. He had lots of naughty food and there were also lots of things for him to play with. We were so tired by the time we left. Him, from eating and playing too much and us, from looking after him.

Attached are photos from the party room.

Having a Fun-tastic Time on the Swing

New Hairdo

My dad has been complaining about Ryan's hair being long for a long time. It was a bit long but it didn't look too bad to me so we have left it, and we weren't looking forward to taking him to the hairdresser. Anyway, my parents were babysitting him yesterday and when we went to pick him up in the evening, he has a new hairdo.

Yes, my parents took him to have a hair cut. They went to a barber and both 'koong koong' and him went under the barber's clippers. He was ok until the barber turned on the clippers. Apparently, he was crying the whole time and kept turning his head left and right. He didn't manage to finish it that's why his hair at the front is still quite long. It was a good thing it was them that took him and not us hehehe. My dad took some photos but I can't post any as they are still on his camera.

Here are a few photos of him with his new hairstyle. He looks so different. What do you think?

One Week to 15 Months

Weekend Away

We made a trip to Turangi with my parents this weekend. It was Ryan first time spending the night away from home. I was a bit worried about him sleeping (as he doesn't sleep at daycare) and also, the drive down there. It turned out I didn't have to worry at all. He was a lot better than I thought. Ashley and I were so surprise.

The drive down there and back took us a lot longer than usual but this was because we had to make quite a few stops so that Ryan can stretch. It wasn't a big deal as we weren't in a hurry and it gave us a chance to visit other places. He did grizzle at times but we can't expect him to behave himself the whole time, as that will be asking a bit too much. The only time he really went off was when we were less than 2 hours away from Auckland and it was only because we were in the car for too long. I was getting a bit uncomfortable in the car myself.

As for his sleeps at night, he woke up a few times the first night but it was only for a maximum of 1 minute each time and he fell asleep again. I'm wondering if it was because it was too hot. He was really good the second night though and slept the whole night without waking up. Putting him to bed was a bliss too. The only difficulty I found was sleeping with him in the same room. His cot was beside our bed and every time I moved, I had to make sure I didn't make too much noise as I was afraid I might wake him.

Overall, the trip was quite a success and Ryan enjoyed himself. He still threw quite a few tantrums but I'll say he had a lot of fun too.

Here are some photos from the trip (I would put more but it takes forever to upload)...

Ready, Steady, Go!

It has taken him a while but Ryan is finally walking on his own. It's only a few small steps but it's a start.

He has been standing without any support for a week now but just wouldn't take the first step but when I went to daycare to pick him yesterday, his teachers told me that he took 1 1/2 steps unsupported. When I went to daycare today, he was with one of his teachers and took a few tiny steps to me. It was very exciting to watch. He came home and started to walk a little bit too.

I think he probably figured that it's about time for him to start walking. We were at a mall on the weekend and after lunch, I put him on the ground to walk. Ashley's sister was holding on to one of his hand and I was holding on to the other. He walked quite a distance and as we neared the exit, I thought I'll carry him instead but he got very upset. He was happy as soon as I put him back on the ground. It was quite funny.

Words

These are some of the words that Ryan can say.

Dad = Dada
Ball = Boh Boh
Bath = Ba Ba
Food = Mum Mum
Shoes = Shuse
Thanks = Ta

Let's Go To The Zoo

Ryan loves animals. His favourite DVD is a Noah's Ark Baby DVD which shows lots of animals. Everytime we turned it on for him, he will be mesmerized by it. He also gets excited whenever he sees cats and dogs. With these in mind and the sun shining (with Winter on it's way, I don't think we will be getting a lot of sunny weekends anymore), we decided to take him to the Zoo.

Going to the Zoo is very expensive nowadays. The entrance fee for an adult is $18. Luckily, it was free for Ryan. I found the place quite disappointing initially as we didn't see much. All the animals were hiding somewhere in their enclosures. We did 2 circuits and managed to see a bit more the 2nd time but Ryan was too tired by then and was fast asleep.

I wouldn't call it a great day but it wasn't too bad. We will have to take him there again when he can walk by himself. It will be even better if we can take him to Taronga Zoo in Sydney as I love that Zoo :)

Easter 2008

Easter has long gone, I know but we didn't have a digital camera on that day and had to rely on my old trusty film camera. Remember how it used to be? You have to take the roll of film to have it processed (and there's no same day processing anymore) and once you have the photos back, you have to scan the ones you want on the computer...

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of Ryan having his Easter chocolate.

How Cool Are My Shoes?

His dad got these shoes for him when he was only 2 months old because he liked them himself. He couldn't even roll over yet!!!

Daycare wanted some shoes for him as the ground is too hot when he plays outside so I bought 2 pairs for him. The pair for outdoor turned out to be too small so Ashley and I went back to the shop to exchange for a bigger pair. Guess what? They were still too small. So we tried him on the pair of shoes that Ashley bought him when he was little. They were a whole size bigger than the new ones we exchanged and they fit! We had to go to the shop again the next day to swapped the ones that we exchanged for a bigger size which were meant for kids that are 18-24 months. He's got big feet!

Here are some photos of him in his Retro Jordan V (please ignore the mess in the background)

Walking

Ryan is 13.5 months now. He only started crawling just before his 1st birthday and even though he was able to, he didn't like standing up. About a couple of weeks later it was a different story, he started to stand at every opportunity he got but that was all he did. We tried to teach him to walk but he hated it. Well, he surprised us tonight. We had him behind the trolley we bought for his birthday, but instead of pushing and walking on his knees, he was actually pushing standing up and walking! Daycare told us yesterday that he has started doing it but we only witnessed it tonight. He was walking really fast too!!! That was very exciting for us.

The other thing he has learned to do is climbing up the slide. Again, he started doing it at Daycare. I thought he won't be able to do it with the slide at home as it's longer than the one at Daycare. I was so wrong. He climbed up without any help from us. He is going to be a little troublemaker :)

First Bike

Ryan, if you ever wonder what you first bike looked like when you are older... here it is.

It's an orange tricycle that is designed in Germany and comes with a handle which can be steered by the person that's pushing you. You love riding on it... not that you can cycle yet... but you love being pushed around on it.

Bethells Beach

It was a really nice sunny day and we decided to take Ryan to Bethells Beach. It was his first time going to the beach. We should have already taken him but we did not get the opportunity. It was really hard work. We (or rather Ashley) had to carry him from the carpark to the beach and the sand was scorching hot and then there were all the cleaning up after - him and everything else but he really enjoyed himself so that was all worth it.

He didn't go in the water. We just put his feet in it when the waves came in. However, we did put him on the sand and he loved it. He was just sitting there playing and got sand all over himself. He was so tired after that he fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car.

Here are some photos of him playing on the sand.

Year of the Rat

For those of you that celebrate Chinese New Year, Kung Hei Fatt Choi. We wish you and your family a happy and prosperous year of the rat.

It's actually Ryan's 2nd Chinese New Year. There's finally something on this blog that is not Ryan's first :) Anyway, it was just a normal day for us. Ryan still went to Daycare. The only thing that was different was Ryan's trip to the dentist.

Yes, he went to the dentist on the first day of Chinese New Year :) She didn't do much though. She was trying to make him smile so she could look at his teeth but this is Ryan we are talking about. Those that have met him would know that he doesn't normally smile at strangers. Anyway, he started to cry and that was when she managed to look at his teeth. By the way, he has 8 teeth now and we have both been bitten by them!

Back to CNY... as with tradition, we went to my parents' place to wish them and get our angpows hehehe. We put Ryan in his Wong Fei Hoong outfit which my mum bought for him when she was in Hong Kong last year. Luckily it still fits... just... but it was too difficult to do the Chinese buttons up. We took some photos before we left the house. Isn't he handsome in the outfit? :)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Ryan

Lots of love,
Mum & Dad

Birthday Party

Ryan has just turned one... well, not exactly. There is still one day to go but we had a party for him today to celebrate. He was a very good boy throughout the whole time. We had quite a few people here and he was very well behave. As with Xmas, I had to open his presents for him and there were quite a bit of them too (more mess in the house).

The cake we got for him was of a drum which is his favourite toy at Daycare. For those who read the Xmas post, you will know that we bought one for him for Xmas as well. It was his favourite toy until he started moving and get to things that he is not allow to.

Thanks to everyone who came and helped made this party a success. We had a great time and hope you enjoyed yourselves as well.

Here are some photos of the day.


1st Birthday Cake



With Por Por, Aunty Shradha and little Jay


With Daddy and Mummy


Jealous of mummy holding on to baby Emilie



With Koong Koong and Granddad


Chatting to Grandma about his birthday presents


Family photo with the cake


Present from Aunty Donna