Hesselblogger: Ryan

Ryan turned ten months old a couple of weeks ago and the excitement just keeps rolling around here :)

This month, he learned to pull himself up to standing on furniture (and our legs, and his crib, and in the tub, and everything else in the house...) Pulling up quickly turned to sidling along the couch and ottoman, so he is more mobile than ever now. It has opened up a world of exploring opportunities for him. His favorite standing activity is finding papers, the tissue box, and other wonders in the storage box we keep on top of our ottoman. It has also made us realize how TALL he is! He is in the 75th percentile for height, but with his skinny little frame, he seems even longer. We are getting scary close to the walking days here.

Christmas happened this month, and while he was too little to "get" it, he did really enjoy a lot of the activities surrounding the day. It took him a while to get into the groove of opening presents (of which there were many, thanks to the Grandmas). Which was shocking to me since so many of my unread magazines have fallen prey to the paper shredder that is Ryan! Meeting Santa (thanks Grandpa!) on Christmas was a real mixed bag for him. He loved the jingle bells and he looked amazed and amused seeing Santa in his big red outfit. But when it came time to sit on his lap, he was not so sure and I had to sit with him so he wasn't so alarmed. Another fun Christmas event was going to the Polar Express up in Williams, AZ (about 2 hours north of here) with our friends the Johnsons and their son. After work one Friday, we all drove up to their cabin in the snow and hung out for the night by the fireplace. The next morning, we did a little sledding while the babies napped, and then it was off to the train. It was a fun time - they read The Polar Express and hand out cocoa and cookies to the kids during the ride, then Santa boards the train and gives a sleigh bell to each of the passengers. The kids age 5-8 went NUTS for it, and loved the yelling and singing that were encouraged on board the train. The little ones ranged from apathetic (Ryan) to scared (Zev), but all in all we had a good time.

Tickle Me Elmo

Family Portrait on Christmas Morning

On the Polar Express

Admiring his sleigh bell

Not too sure about Santa...

Ryan is just getting the hang of waving goodbye to people when they leave, and he will now (spottily) dole out high fives. The waving is adorable - he gets really into it and smiles and flaps his arm pretty intensely. The high fives he is a little more tentative about, but will lightly pat your hand if you hold it up and insist :)
We bought a membership to the Phoenix Zoo, and after our first trip (at 9 months) I was afraid we had just wasted a lot of money. He didn't really understand pointing or objects at a far range at that age, so Matt and I basically just wandered around looking like idiots pointing out animals in vain to him. I took him back during month 10 and it was like a whole other baby! He loved seeing the animals, especially the monkeys that you can get really close to (since you are IN their enclosure and they are roaming around free - it is awesome!) While the weather is nice, it will be fun to take him back again and again so he can meet more of the creatures we are always reading about.

Looking at the giraffes

Lastly, this month we took Ryan somewhere that I loved so much as a kid: Organ Stop Pizza. It is a restaurant in Mesa that is outfitted with one of the largest theater organs in the world. A very talented man plays the organ and takes requests, and I remember him being able to play any song you can think of. There are lights and horns and dancing cat puppets. It was a magical place, and I always wanted to go for my birthday. Fast forward to about five years ago, I took Matt there after talking up how great the place was. Turns out that it is a little cheesy, the songs the organist plays are all Disney songs or music from the 1920's, and the dancing puppet cats are sort of mangy and creepy. It was a good laugh. So when my sister Kim decided to re-live the magic herself, we brought Ryan along. Guess what? He freakin loved it. And the mangy cats were his favorite part. Ah, the tradition continues :)