I interrupt the Christmas post extravaganza to bring you one very important Birthday post.
Ryne William Lewallen is three years old today!!!
What a fun three years it has been with this little fella of ours.
Okay, so that fun has not come without its fair share of challenges....a fussy newborn, terrible twos, refusal to potty train....but the fun has certainly outweighed the not-so-fun times. This boy makes us laugh every single day.
He likes to make up his own words. My favorite Ryne word lately is "slirmy." When trying to put him down for a nap recently he told me that he couldn't go to sleep in his room because his bed was too slirmy. When I asked him what slirmy meant he said, "not very good at all." Slirmy is now a term in our family's vocabulary thanks to Ryne.
He comes up with silly stuff all the time. Just the other day he said to me, "Mom, I love you. You're nice. I'm going to call you Bobby because you're nice." Or how about these as shared by his daddy....
Nothing is a good idea unless it is his idea. For instance I can pick out a shirt for him to wear and he will refuse to wear it because he claims he doesn't like it. Two minutes later he will bring me the same exact shirt and say, "how bout this shirt? I really like this one." Then put it on happily because it was his idea. Almost on a daily basis something like this happens. It might be just a lunch selection that goes something like this..."Hey, Ryne how bout a peanut butter sandwich?" I ask. "No! I don't want a peanut butter sandwich," he replies. To which I respond, "Well, what do you want for lunch?" "Ummmmmm, let me think...Oh, how bout a peanut butter sandwich? I like peanut butter sandwiches," he says. Of course he does, once it is his idea!
He really has a super quick whit about him. He responds to questions will silly answers without taking time to think about it. And then he doesn't even act like what he said was silly, which makes us laugh even more. Need an example? Okay, so lately Ryne has been making up his own language sometimes when he talks to the babies. It doesn't sound like a bunch of babel but like a real language that we just don't understand. After he tried out some of this language on Tyce the other day while C.G. and Monk Monk were here the other day, they asked him, "Ryne, was that French or German?" Without missing a beat he responded, "Oh, that was French." Does he even know that French and German are languages? I don't know but he sure acted like he knew exactly what he was talking about.
I feel like there are lots more laughs to come in our world because of his silliness.
Ryne is quite the artist. He really, really, really likes to paint. He gets super excited when I bust out the paints for craft time at home. And I cannot count the number of days that he has come home from preschool sporting a little extra paint from his creative time at school. I think he just might be a bit artsy...not in the "everything has to be in a perfect spot" kind of way...but in the very abstract and creative kind of way.
Most of the time Ryne is in his own little world and we just watch him and wonder what is going on in his mind. We've given up trying to figure it out and just enjoy watching and wondering.
Ryne loves cheese of any kind, and will eat chicken nuggets, french fries, cheeseburgers, noodles, crackers, popcorn, pancakes, cereal, waffles, bacon, ice cream, anything chocolate, and get this baby food veggies. And will drink apple juice ALL day long if we let him. Yep, he's a pretty picky eater which is new to us because big brother Kade has always been willing to eat anything. I think our saving grace is that he does like baby food veggies so I don't feel like he is a complete carbohydrate junk food junky. Looking forward to the day when he decides other foods are good, too.
Ryne weighs 34 lbs. Dad says it is a pretty tough 34 lbs when it comes time to wrestle.
Besides wrestling, Ryne enjoys playing with Kade...as long as they do the things that are Ryne's idea of course. He is a big fan of Angry Birds, super heroes of all kinds, pirates, Curious George, Cars, all things Toy Story, playing outside when it's not raining, going to his class at church, making friends with grown ups who will play with him, and loving on his baby brother and sister.
He absolutely loves going to preschool and has learned a lot. He knows all of his colors and definitely recognizes the letter "R" as his letter. Every time he sees an R somewhere he says, "Hey, look, it's an R for me." He enjoys singing songs that he knows from school. I think twinkle twinkle little star is his favorite right now. He believes his teachers are his best friends and gets very excited when he sees them somewhere outside of school. He is a good counter and especially likes to count down....10, 9, 8, 7.....
Something else Ryne is really good at is being sneaky. My favorite is when he is trying to sneak away from us. He has this very slow walk with each step being big and deliberate. I know when he starts off in this gait that as soon as he thinks he is a safe distance away from me he will dart off like a flash of lightning. I seriously have no idea how he can go from crazy slow to crazy fast in the blink of an eye like he does. Makes me laugh every time. Well, now that I know to anticipate the dart at the end of the sneaky walk it makes me laugh. We often compare him to a turtle because he can dart under something, be it a table, chair, bush, etc like a turtle sucking up into its shell to get away from you. It is hard to get a hold on Ryne if he really wants to get away. Thinking he is going to make a great football player one day.
However, he may just turn out to be a great actor instead because he can be quite dramatic at times. He can fall apart like it is the end of the world because I gave him the wrong sippy cup. Or squeal for joy simply because Tesa smiled at him.
His imagination is unbelievable. I adore listening to him when he is playing because all of his toys talk to each other...and they apparently talk to him as well. I tell myself almost every time that I need to be getting video of him.
We had a chance to celebrate his birthday early with C.G. and Monk Monk while they were here for Christmas. We surprised him with Angry Bird cupcakes and he was super thrilled.
He was also happy to know that he would still get to have the Curious George party that he requested with his friends. Who wouldn't be happy to get two birthday parties?
Kade was happy for him, too. Why not? Cupcakes now and cake later!
Here is Ryne "turning his candles out." He might would say those candles are blow-able. He likes to add "-able" to words as much as possible. He saw a knife once and said to me, "that is dangerous because it could make me bleed-able." He also prefers to say "upside backwards" when either "upside down" or "backwards" would be appropriate. So many Ryne-isms in our world. I really should start writing down more of them.
One thing is for sure. He is a loving little fella who thinks he has it all figured out.
He know he can get anything he wants from his C.G. So maybe he does have it all figured out.
He adores attention from his Daddy and will do all kinds of crazy things to get it.
He thinks his number one job in life is to entertain his baby sister and brother. Can't tell you how many times we have said, "Ryne, just leave the babies alone and let them get a break." I think he loves them more than anything else in the world.
Well, he might love cheese more....it would be a close call.
He will wander around and talk on the phone for hours to anybody who will stay on the other end and listen to him ramble. He doesn't necessarily care about carrying on a conversation, just enjoys having someone listen to him when he wants to talk. He walks around holding the phone up to things as though the person on the other end can see what he is showing them. And while some might actually get to enjoy that kind of technology, it hasn't become a part of the Lewallen world just yet. He just likes to pretend that it has.
I cannot imagine our world without Ryne! So thankful that God chose to lend this special guy to me and Kyle to parent. While parenting certainly has its share of challenges, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be Mom to Ryne, or Bobby, or whatever he might choose to call me on any given day. I'm just glad I'm his and he is mine for the time we've been given. I pray that God will give Kyle and I wisdom to teach Ryne just how special he is and what an amazing plan God has for his life. So excited to have the opportunity to watch that develop as he grows up. I am blessed. Very busy but very blessed! If I could show you how happy I am about my blessings in this life it would look much like this....
Thank you to Kade for lending me his happy face!
Happy 3rd Birthday, Ryne!! I love you!!!
