12 JunLife of Ryan

I’ve kept journals for each of my kids. These include the near real-time entries from when they were toddlers to the letters I write them now as adults. Are you the parent of young children? You think you will never forget your times together, but you will. These entries don’t remind me of past times so much as they inform me of our life together. This is the first entry for my third son. The names have been changed.

September 1, 1991

Dear Ryan,
You are a year old now and it is time to start your journal.  What a character you are.  You look so different from the other two boys, but of course they look so different from each other.  Your hair is kind of a strawberry blond right now.  Your mom and I are wondering if you are going to be a red head.  You tend toward Ted’s complexion.

You have learned how to walk and walk you do.  You are constantly scouting over the apartment for anything you can find.  When the door to outside opens you are out immediately.  Of course we can’t let you out yet unattended so sometimes I have to run out and get you.  You see me coming and run as fast as you can as if you could get away.  Of course with your cute, expressive baby face the other kids love to play with you.  Often, when I come home in the afternoons, you are outside with a bunch of the girls in the apartments who love to watch you.  Most of the time you are only wearing a diaper.  People like that because then they can touch your soft baby skin.

You are very demanding, like most babies.  It makes you furious when you aren’t allowed to do what the other boys are doing.  They get furious because you don’t understand what they are doing and you mess up their game.  The other night, during family home evening, the boys were putting the full armor of God on a little paper figure.  You wanted so bad to join them, but you kept trying to rip their paper figures up and to eat the glue sticks.  Mom took a glue stick you couldn’t open and threw it across the room.  You were delighted and chased it.  After bringing it back to mom she threw it again.  You squealed with laughter and chased it again.  We kept this up until FHE was over.  Everyone was happy.

You really surprise mom and I with how observant you are.  You need only to watch something once to be able to do it too.  You know how to open and close the dishwasher, how to set the table, how to drain the tub, how to mess up my computer, etc. . . .

What I love most is when you climb up into my lap at night and fall asleep on my shoulder.  It isn’t an accident either.  You decide you are tired so you climb up, shut your eyes and go to sleep.  Your little body goes limp in my arms and you breathe deeply.  I could put you right to bed, but I enjoy holding you so much that I wait.  I love you.