Hymas Life

Seems like if you work at OHSU and you tell someone the first thing they ask is if you have ridden the tram.  After a couple years of watching it from our office window we finally decided to take a little outing to see what its all about.  It was pretty cool and well worth the ride if your ever in Portland, OR.  If you get a chance try to do it on a sunny clear day.  Check out my really badly edited video I shot with my Flip Mino.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised. I was watching TV the day after Halloween, and actually saw a Christmas retail advertisement! I remember “the good old days” when it wasn’t until after Thanksgiving that you really started to see Christmas items in the stores and on TV. OH… and even in the mail! I’ve gotten at least 5 Christmas-related toy catalogs already this week!! I guess this is better than all the political ads that have been on.

Anyways…
This week has been a relatively normal week for us. Ryan had school on Monday & Tuesday. They are learned about autumn this week. Next week they are learning about Thanksgiving and talking about what they are thankful for (and what that means).

Ryan & I (Andrea) have been fighting a cold this week. I’m almost through it, but he most likely caught it from me, so he’s a few days behind. Its really not too bad of one, but it always stinks when kids are sick. So far Gage & Evan have been able to avoid it.

Ryan and Daddy had a surprise waiting for me when I got home from work today. They flipped Ryan’s bed over so it is now in its “loft bed” form. He really likes it and does a great job going up and down the ladder. It was time… and with having useable space underneath his bed, it has really helped with storage/floor space in the boys’ room. Ryan’s Sky Bed

Evan has been doing much better with sleeping this week. He is getting more consistent with being able to soothe himself to sleep, and he has been sleeping until around 5am (this with a bedtime around 8:30/9pm). He has started making more “da da da da” sounds instead of his usual “ahhhHHHHHHHHH” sounds. Evan is really starting to chunk up and grow as well. He has quite an appetite…for food and exploration! He is really getting a knack for grabbing things, enough so that now we really have to be aware of things within his reach. We went out to lunch today and he was on my lap for part of it. I was quickly reminded that I may think things are out of his reach… but unless I move them away another 6 inches… I’ll most likely be putting my reflexes to the test! He is just so busy, wanting to grab anything in his reach and really explore his world.

Both boys are growing up so fast! I was looking at pictures from Ryan’s 3rd birthday… not even 6 months ago… and was stunned by how much younger he looked then! He looked like such a little boy in those pictures… barely recognizable from the young man I now have living with me.

view more images from this album


view more images from this album

Ryan has hit another developmental milestone.
Usually when asking Ryan to do a task, such as picking up his toys, there were a few things that needed to be done to assist him with completing the task successfully. I’d have to break down the task into several smaller sub-tasks, and direct him to one at a time. For example, “Ryan, pick up your airplane and put it in the basket. Ok, now you need to pick up those books over there and put them in the book basket. Oopss… don’t forget the Clifford book over here.” At times I’d even have to point out the items I was asking him to pick up as he seemed to have tunnel vision and not see things that were in plain sight. His brain had not yet developed into being able to store so many tasks at a time, and also did not connect that if you have to put the books away that are on the floor, then perhaps that means that the books on the couch need to be put away as well (this also takes “seeing” all the books in the room).
This last week we were doing some cleaning and I told Ryan that he needed to pick up the toys in his room. I did not break down the task as my comment was more to prepare him for what I would soon be asking him to do. After about 10 minutes, Ryan proudly came to me and asked me to come into his room as he had “cleaned it all up”. Based on history, I assumed this meant that perhaps one or two items may have made it to where they belong. I was very surprised when I went in and he had put everything away where it belonged…. books, cars, balls, clothes… it was all where it should be. Of course I let him know I was VERY proud of him for doing such a great job.

I decided to test if this was a fluke or if he had hit the point of his development where he could handle more abstract instructions. I told him “ok, now can you go pick up all your toys in the living room?” Again, there were toys of several different categories… book, plastic animals, and other miscellaneous toys… and each item made it to where it belonged without further instruction. Even more surprising was that there was some plastic play food out in the living room that had been picked up and put into its designated bin in his bedroom!

It is truly amazing how the human brain develops. It also points to the fact that he is growing up!