Ryan

Ryan is the littlest Lathrop, and he is a joy. Such a happy kid - and so good!

Ryan's newest obsession is naming everything around him. He especially loves pointing at every vehicle of every kind he sees or hears or thinks he might be hearing. His favorite is "helicoptor!" He always says this while pointing high in the air, with great joy. He's usually wrong - it might actually be a plane, or maybe even a lawnmover a few houses over. But he is always hopeful...




Ryan loves music - he sings and dances and pretends to play instruments all day long. He has defnite musical tastes too - right now his favorites are The Music Class' Giraffe Collection (of course), anything by Ralph's World, and the Barenaked Ladies' new CD for kids - "Snacktime!"

And if I do say so myself, I can usually figure out what he's singing because he has pretty good pitch for a barely verbal two-year old.


Now lest you think that I have the perfect child, let me tell you - Ryan is also a horrible eater. And when I say horrible, I mean HORRIBLE. We have a list of what he will eat. Here it is:

yogurt
oatmeal
peanut butter & jelly (which he eats by peeling it apart and smushing it up against his face while chewing from the center of the bread slice out)
applesauce
ice cream (he couldn't be a Werner-Lathrop if he didn't love ice cream!) popcorn
bread/muffins
chicken
smoothies
Sometimes he'll eat other items, like peanuts, or raisins, and (rarely, but it happens) cheese - but those are subject to his whims.

Where he totally drives me insane is when I present him with something I know he will like - such as cake, or cookies even, and he WON'T EVEN TRY IT. If it looks different, no way. So, I've taken to hiding his veggies and fruits in bread form, or in smoothies. I've even found a new cookbook called "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld - it gives tons of recipes where there are hidden vegetable and/or fruit purees within the meal so that kids get their nutrition even if they won't eat it in "pure" form. I may talk more on this later, when I have more experience and can say if it's working or not.

So that's Ryan in a nutshell. I'll get to Ben and Nathan soon - feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!