Ry and Coop Dot Com

Jenn’s away at a music conference and Ryan and I are rockin’… no time for deep philosophical thoughts, heck there’s barely any time for thoughts at all.  How do single parents do this again?
|

One quick additonal note.  After posting this video, I received an email from Google telling me that some or all of the audio posted in this video is copyright infringement.  In order to protect myself from legal action, I’d like to make it very clear that Ryan set this camera up on the ceiling and recorded himself and used my youtube account to post online.  He’s been grounded and will no longer be allowed to listen to Miley Cyrus.  Miley, if you or your staff have any questions or concerns, please contact Master Austin directly. I’ll let you two work this legal issue out.

It finally happened. We knew this day would come no matter how hard we tried to prevent it. Ryan found the toilet. To a 17 month old, the toilet is simply an over-sized version of the water bowls they use in daycare. To us older folks, we know better than to use the toilet for any purpose other than it’s intended function (with the common exception of a few weddings) but this young man had different plans.

This morning, I got a frantic call from Jenn while I was on my way to ESPN’s headquarters. “Do you know where Ryan’s other shoe is,” an obviously irritated mother asked me,” and ……oh man….Ryan…no!….Ryan….I have to go, Ryan decided to throw his mittens in the toilet.” Strangely, the only thing I could say was to tell her that the temperature was in the 50s and he probably would be okay without gloves. I’m sure this was not very helpful advice but, in my defense, I couldn’t react fast enough…apparently Ryan can though?

If I haven’t told you the story of a young man and his wife who, in the course of their life’s events together, stumble upon a legendary beast that sucks the life force from their very being, well I apologize.  I should’ve warned you.

The past week to ten days, Ryan hasn’t really seemed to act himself.  His appetite is less vigorous and he seems to cry for no apparent reason.  He’s happy and playing one minute and then loses all control the next.  At first, I thought he was pregnant or had mysteriously become a teenager but I quickly ruled out both possibilities.  Then, after doing some research and talking with folks, I’m told it’s much worse.  It turns out his eye teeth are coming in!  It’s interesting to read about the eye teeth.

Did you know, ironically enough, that the eye teeth are less commonly known as the “canines.”  I’m not a dentist but I believe this term was derived from the fact that, much like a dog, the children become the beasts of the animal kingdom.  If it weren’t for the locks on the doors, I’m fairly certain Ryan would run out on a full moon and start chasing cars and eating cats.  It really has become that bad!  One dentist cleverly describes how cute it is when the baby’s first teeth come in saying, “The real joy is watching your little baby become a child capable of eating small amounts of solid food.”  Cute..yeah sure.  That same dentist wisely describes the eye teeth as, “the teeth most aptly used for tearing food.”  He continues, “they typically erupt at 16 months.”  Erupt!  That, my friends, is the understatement of the century!  As I prepare for bed, I laugh at the word erupt.  Whatever is going on in this young man’s mouth is far from done “erupting” but I think my tear ducts might “erupt” if we can’t make it past this stage.  Of course, my boss Marc was kind enough to remind me that the terrible twos are just around the corner.  Oh, I can’t wait.

We spent this evening celebrating my grandfather’s 81st birthday. Isn’t that

amazing! Honestly, to think that there is so much potential in life is both awesome and daunting. I’m 51 years younger than my grandfather and I have a whole lifetime ahead of me. I think many times the uncertainty of life makes it almost difficult to look too far into the future but this old man we celebrated tonight reminds me to enjoy life and look forward to the years ahead.

Ryan, who is nearly 80 years younger, could learn a lot from his great-grandpa…if only he weren’t so busy using his cousin as a pony! Here’s to making more family memories!

For those of you who keep up regularly on this blog you know how cute and yet how challenging our young man can be. For the second day in a row Ryan has decided he’d choose to eat the absolute minimum amount of food to sustain himself. Taking his little peace march all the way through dinner, Ryan went to bed with a full stomach of milk and not much else.

As I finish my sixth chocolate chip cookie of the evening, I can’t help but wonder how his appetite is proportionately so much less than mine. I’d normally hope he gets his mother’s eating habits which are generally healthier than mine but at this point I’m thinking he should follow my lead.

I’m in trouble. Experts suggest that toddlers should get between 12 and 14 hours of sleep per night but the average toddler only sleeps about 10. Ryan went to bed tonight at 5:30! I honestly thought he was just taking a little nap but it turns out he hasn’t really woken up. It’s 11 right now. If Ryan were to set sleep records for his age, I’m still looking at a 7:30 wake-up call. What’s more likely is I’ll be watching Law and Order reruns this morning around 3am.

It’s midnight on Thanksgiving night and I just finished a long and drawn out card game of “Golf” and am in no condition to write a meaningful or prolific blog entry tonight.  It could be the fact that it’s midnight and my young broodling will be awake in five hours, or it could be the six pack of Saranac Black and Tan, but one or both of those are good enough reasons. 

I’m going to close by avoiding all the cliches about being thankful for family and friends.  I’m thankful for them every day and I don’t need to stuff myself with turkey and beer to remind myself of their place in my life.  So, I’ll close by letting everyone know that I’m thankful for Gatorade and Advil because, it seems, every year I celebrate “Thanksgiving” and the only times I recognize how thankful I am for those products is the morning immediately following Thanksgiving.  So, merci beaucoup Monsieur Gatorade and Monsieur Advil. 

There’s a new guitar player in the house tonight and if tomorrow is anything like the last gig, our little groupie won’t be able to get enough. It’s one thing to rock out to John Foggerty or Clapton (Robert Johnson Clapton not Tears in Heaven Clapton) or mom’s version of Tingalayo, it’s quite another to do it with Uncle Joey. Another jamming session starts tomorrow!

Yesterday was Ryan’s first treatment of Synagis, a drug designed to vaccinate against RSV. My mother is an expert in this arena as she served on one of first research studies for the drug. I’m not an expert. Here’s what I know about RSV. RSV is like a really bad cold that can kill children who are susceptible to chronic lung issues like…ummm…..asthma!

I digress. So Ryan will be receiving yet another drug and, though it worries me that we have a milkaholic walking pharmacy in our house, I think RSV is a lot worse! So, for now I say “bring on the drugs” and I stress “for now” because I don’t think that is a lifelong sustainable mantra for our young CVS Pharmacy.