MORNING MUSINGS

Did you know that today is World Health Day? Neither did I until I looked at my calendar to see how much stuff I'm trying to cram into the day, and I noticed the preprinted notation at the bottom of today's block!

Guess it's good timing since today is the start of "Stroller Strength". I think the "strength" part relates to the effort I will have to make to keep Ryan *IN* the stroller! Geesh - this child is NOT going to be happy about having to sit in the stroller... but I'm sure the leader has experienced that issue before so hopefully it won't be a problem. I need to try to remember to pack LOTS of snacks for Mr. R.... THAT might keep him busy!

Spent about 20 minutes with Kevin this morning talking -- he came in after he got dressed. I think he's a bit nervous about going back to school, and he talked quite a bit about Cameron & Garrett's upcoming (July) visit. I guess he's starting to feel nervous about that, too. Poor kid is trying so hard to remember about all their dogs that I can tell he's trying to remember about THEM, too. It IS hard, because with as young as they are the changes are much more dramatic from moment to moment, and it's like they have been apart for a lifetime already with different experiences, habits, likes... It will be interesting, as this could be a really awesome visit for the four of them, or a really painful one! (Hmmm..... guess Kevin's Mom is nervous for him, too!)

Today Ryan is 22 months old. WOW. I've given a lot of thought to babies in the past month and it just doesn't seem like it's only been 22 months since he was born -- it seems like YEARS because he is just such a self-sufficient little guy that he seems so much older than he is. He laughs at us when we try to snuggle because he sees the big boys (well, mainly Patrick) trying to get away when we kiss on him, so now Ryan does the same (sigh....).... and if you ask him if he's going potty, he'll start to try to take his pants down! Guess we'll be working on that this summer (I bought a potty at the Twin Club sale so we could start now, but the whole summer lack-of-clothing thing is soooo much easier!). His words are starting to increase, but only with an interpreter (LOL!). Anything to drink is "bottle" (bodll); doggy & Daddy are rather similar (does that mean that Daddy is in the dog house??); we get "GO!" quite clearly and QUITE a LOT; "ew" means shoe and is often linked with GO (LOL!); his only sentence so far has been "bad doggy bye" since he's often the recipient of Hannah the food stealer who then gets kicked out into the back yard; he'll say Patrick (atak); he says Bobby quite clearly (neighbor kid the boys play with all the time); and right now I'm hearing "OW" screamed over the monitor because he wants out of his crib. By the way -- Daddy is Daddy, but Mommy is actually "MOM!" because that's all he hears the big boys screaming at me. Yep - I get a return trip to Mommy-land courtesy of our little blessing baby, and I don't even get to be called Mommy again!

Well, guess it's time to get him moving. Send positive vibes that I don't end up a panting big blob on the park path today, and since it's World Health Day, go do something healthy for yourself!