Ryan William

Ryan turns 9 today! So close to double digits! Ryan is a very unique individual! He has definitely been sent to us for a reason and I think it may have something to do with hanging on for the ride! 

At 9 Ryan is quirky and imaginative and alternative. I have two kids cut from the same cloth and one who is so completely different and it is so refreshing and so challenging at the same time. I really don't think Matt and Ben being carbon copies bothers Ryan and he definitely doesn't aspire to be just like them, he is very, very comfortable in his own skin and with his uniqueness although deep inside Ryan rests a competitive soul. Its just the laziness that resides in Rye more often than not wins out over his competitiveness! 

Ryan is affectionate and loving and kind. He has the patience of a saint.....until he snaps and goes completely postal! He loves to help with everything except work! Because his competitive side is often dormant he will be the one to take time out and help another child whilst Matthew and Ben are concentrating on whipping the inexperienced child's butts!

Ryan will endeavor to avoid getting in trouble at school at all costs until his curiosity gets the better of him and he suddenly finds himself in deep doo doo which promptly causes his to lose.his.shit! Last year when I casually asked his teacher if he had had a meltdown yet she said no and went Ryan, surely not! She rang me back a few days and went Whoa! His temper is slow to burn but ignites like a firecracker. We often see glimpses of Ryan's inner mongrel when he is on the footy field. It is impressive!

Ryan has a very developed sense of justice. Very heavily skewed in his favour of course! He knows right from wrong, he is just convinced he is never wrong (I really don't know where he gets that from!) He has always been our most outwardly sensitive child. Hurting Ryan's feeling is as hurtful to him as an uppercut. So being Ben's brother is often troublesome for Rye! Smacking is never, never, never an option as punishment for Ryan. It hurts his soul! However taking away his screen time works a charm!

Ryan is addicted to any form of screen. He has his own galaxy tab, chromebook, Wii, xbox and ds. He would love his own tv but that is never gonna happen. Like ever! If he could he would be on minecraft 24/7. And he has huge issues with Mummy's limited screen time policy and plays Daddy (who is much more lax on this issue!) like a puppet, which usually finds them both in  trouble!

So Ryan at 9 is the most loving, unique, quirky, kind and generous boy but cross him and he will go completely postal on your ass! He is the most comfortable of all my children in his own skin and considering how different he is from the rest that is something to be so proud of!

Ryan William, we love you and think you are growing into a fine young man! At 9 you had many many great qualities and some that are still a work in progress! But most of all Daddy and I love you very, very much! xx

Ryan's Writing

In an attempt to encourage the boys to write more they will be blogging over the summer holidays. This idea stemmed from the Andy Griffiths book "Once Upon A Slime" which I bought for Ryan earlier in the year and got him all sorts of curious about publishing writing. When I explained that my blog was a form of publishing he got super excited and wanted his own.  And when Santa delivered him his very own Chromebook with which he could blog until his hearts content, he went mental! But now that he has all he needs to be a published author I am going to need your help! He is concerned that no one will read it! So I now need you all to click on the link to his blog and leave him a comment!

Thank you! xx

http://ryanswriting2014.blogspot.com.au/

In the blink of an eye....

The Many Faces of Ryan William Rickard

Another free photo collage by Smilebox

Holidays

These holidays have been rather low key! We were minus Matthew one week so we took the opportunity to 'spoil' the other two because they were terribly upset at missing out on all the fun at Grumpy and Nana Bev's holiday house!

 

 Nathan took Ryan and Ben go karting.

 

 This must have been early on in the first week before they decided the disliked each other company without a Matthew buffer!

 Ben was old enough to drive his own go kart! When he got out he exclaimed he was so talented that he didn't need to use his brake at all! Not even to come to a full stop at the finish!

 Ryan has marginally more speed than the last time but he certainly is not a thrill seeker!

 We hung out ta the park with Harry on the new flying fox.

 We had our usual Wednesday date with the Forrest kids which coincided with Matt's birthday cake.

I didn't make the cake this year,  had 6 kids in my backyard all day there was no time for baking!

And now it is time to go back to school for the final term of school for 2012! Where had the year gone?

Poor, poor Ryan

But it really wasn't our fault because all children were supposed to have two art works displayed at the art show. When we were showing Uncle Brenty through the Art show he found one we had missed Ryan's third!

I would have been so upset to miss this one! It is an awesome Viking boat. Especially seeing how Poppy, Nanna and Aunty Teesh have just visited Viking country. Poppy has the hat to match this boat!

A computer geek in the making...

The day after they pulled they washing machine apart I found Ryan in the backyard with the circuit board and a screwdriver in his lap. He was so engrossed in it! I have no doubt that he was trying to figure out how it all worked. That kid is going to be a geeky, science/computer nerd and he is going to love every minute of it!

The Middle Child

Poor Ryan really is the forgotten middle child. I really wonder if his personality is really moulded by his birth order or if he is the way he is because of nature! Because as a baby he was full on! I breastfed him the longest and he also was the longest to learn to sleep through. (Surprisingly enough I felt I coped the best despite all this!) As a toddler I seriously thought he was headed for military school. For a while we thought a life of crime was his calling! But in the last two years he has really calmed down! Or passed on his hyperactivity and naughtiness to Ben threefold! He seriously gets overshadowed by that big personality. And the bigger other one competiting to the death to be the winner! Not that Ryan minds being in their shadow. Ryan's covert, sneaky ops go undetected in that situation!

Lately I have really been noticing how hard Ryan tries to do the right thing. When we go to the mall I never have to remind him of appropriate shopping behaviour. I never have to chip him on his behaviour anymore. When Matthew and Ben are winding each other up and feeding off each other, Ryan is quietly observing in the wings (or dobbing, one of the two but usually the former!)

He is doing really well at school. He recently got an A for science! He quietly plods along, doing what quiet achievers do. Sometimes I feel really sorry for him. A teacher once commented that he forgets that he is there. He said he didn't notice how well Ryan was doing until he looked at graphed results! It was even more surprising for me because I found out how well he was doing when a classmate of his pointed out how clever he was at maths!

He is my no means perfect but he is well on his way! I still have to rev him because he can be amazingly lazy. He is completely absentminded. I can tell him to put his reader in his bag and he will pick it up, put it on his bed as he picks up his bag, take his lunch box out and walk away leaving his reader behind, never to be thought of again! He is completely obsessed with technology, computers and tv. These three things are his currency, therefor making him easier to punish or motivate, depending on the situation!

I am super super proud of his efforts in saving. Last year we were at our wits ends with Ryan stealing money. Seriously, I marched him down to the police station and they showed him through a cell in the hope of scaring him out of stealing money off us! That didn't work but what has was giving him a savings goal. He is saving up for an iPad. He is nearly there! He knows that if he steals money that entire amount he has accumulated is gone! No second chances. He also knows if he doesn’t do his chores he won’t get paid! Nathan has a graph where he puts in his pocket money, where he is at with his savings and how much longer to go. This has worked wonders as both Nath and Ryan speak the same language....numbers!

Anyway to cut a long story short I just wanted to share with you what a sweet, lovely, kind and generous boy Ryan William is growing into!

School Photos 2012

 Matthew Rickard Year 3

 Ryan Rickard Year 2

 Ben Rickard Kindy

Our Big School Boys

Cross Country

It all started with the school Cross Country. All of the boys had been training with their classes.

 In Kindy it is all about participation. In fact, the serious racing doesn't begin until they turn 8, so Ryan is still yet to compete for a spot on the school team. Despite the "non-competitive' nature Ben still ran his fastest and informed me he came 2nd! The boy that beat him had been tousling for the first position for weeks with it being fairly even. I can see a very competitive "friendship" for these two boys in the future. They are very similar and currently it as a very friendly rivalry.

 The winner of the having the most fun race was absolutely Ryan!

 He was very impressed not to have come last this year. I very much think for him it is a case of the race being just a little too short! This kid is full of slow twitch muscle fibres. He certainly didn't get them from his father. His Grumpy ran a marathon so perhaps he inherited it from him......

 Matthew placed a lot of expectation on himself. He knew he came third last year and he wanted to equal or better it this year. He came third again! Which once again meant he was off to Districts. Do you remember what happened last year? His shoe came off in the first 100m and he ran most of the rest of the way in one shoe! Anyway so after last year we thought we had better have a practise to boost his confidence.

 So the weekend before the race we went out to Mt Stromlo forest where the carnival is held. Nice view hey! The little ants in the centre of the midground are Nathan and the boys.

 Funnily enough Ben won the practise. Although we did tell Matthew to not go flat out or he would be too tired for the real race! Daddy came last. He tells us his is NOT a land animal!

 The big day came around and Matthew was very confident. He took off like a bat out of hell and was coming fourth for the first 800m until he got tripped over! I'm not sure who I was prouder of, the boy who tripped him and stopped to see if he was ok or Matt who got back up and kept going even though he was definitely out of the places!

 In the end he came 16th. So very proud of him!

Now we only have to wait two weeks until it is athletics carnival time! Lets see if Matthew came make the treble, the swimming, cross country and athletics district carnivals? Good thing he is a sportmans because he told us after his writing NAPLAN test this week Sportstars dont need to be able to write expositions and when he grows up he is going to be a sports star!

Feb & March wrap up.

OK! So I have been MIA much of February and March but here is a brief rundown of what happened......

 Nathan turned 33 with no desire to have a Thirty Three and A Third party....Spoil sport!

 Ryan turned 7!

 I turned thirty-something-ish

 Ben got his first merit certificate in the social skills program He received it for being successful!!!!!

Matthew's year presented the assembly where he read a piece of his work!

It was super busy. I always thought that when they all got to school things would have a slower pace. Man was I wrong!!!

Disco Dudes

A couple of weeks ago now we had the school disco. Benny was busting to go because it was one of those things he felt he had been drastically missing out on by not being old enough. So he was super keen to go this year. The theme this year was something starting with R.

 So we had a Robot......

 A Rabbit....

 And Rich!

 These are some of their tamer moves!

Ryan did not stop. He owned that dance floor and he was going to work it for all it was worth! Ben followed him around busting out moves at random times!

Matthew got to participate in his first senior school event and went to the late disco. It finished at 9, two whole hours after his bed time! Unfortunately, it was like looking into the future for me at that disco. A group of four girls followed him around ALL night! He danced in a group of about 6 of his mates and they worked the floor too! It was interesting to see the difference a year makes. Year three is definitely all about the friendship groups and the cool kids are starting to develop! Eeeekkkkk!!!!

Anyway they all had a blast and were super excited and the good news is they all got their moves from their Mum rather than their Dad!!!

Because I can't resist...

 Matthew's first day of school....

 At the sign with his best mate Dylan. (They are still mates and Dylan is Alyssa's brother!)

 Ryan's first day

 At the sign

 Ben first day....

with the sign.

I have no words only tears!!!

No more teachers. No more books!

We finished off the school year with both Matthew and Ryan getting merit certificates. (I don't have a photo of Ryan getting his because it was lost before it could be presented to him!)

Both Matthew and Ryan had a great year at school. Their reports were both very good. Matthew has however hit that age where the fact that he can be disruptive and easily distracted was noted in his report! All of us, including Aunty Teesh using her teacher voice, have spoken to him at length about the value of letting others learn and being open to learning yourself. He is big into pulling laughs from the other boys in the class and by the end of the year it became a bit of a competition to see who could be the stupidest!
Matthew pulled B's in French and of all things PE! He would have got an A if he improved his attitude! His skill levels are phenomenal however his win at all cost attitude is holding him back! It is super funny though because when Matthew tells people he is going to the Olympics for swimming, TaeKwonDo and Athletics they do not doubt him!
Ryan's report showed us how well he is doing in maths! For the kid that is most like me it good to know there is a little of his father in him because the maths genius certainly didn't come from me! Ryan has really developed socially this year. Being one of the youngest in the year and a little different has meant that up until this point he has struggled socially. Not with dire consequences but just enough for it to be a concern but by the end of the year his class room behaviour, ability to pull himself back into check rather than fall apart and his ability to build friendships was greatly improved so much so that his teacher commented on it in his report.
I am very grateful that all of my children are keen to learn and they love school. They appreciate not only the social side but also the academic too. I place full credit for this in the hands of the preschool teachers Debbie and Dorothy. I bid a very sad farewell to them both when Ben had his last day of preschool. I have long said that preschool is the best year of schooling! I have found preschool has opened the boys minds to learning, way more than i ever could. It has been a goal of mine to have smart kids. I've read to them from when they could hold up their heads, we have done puzzle after puzzle, only had education computer games etc but none of this compares to how this little play based early education program can expand their little minds. I have found it expanded not only their own interests but developed new ones spawned from the interests of their peers. And because it is generated from their peers they are much more susceptible to taking up the interest themselves. There have been other benefits from the program but for me this has been by far the greatest benefit from preschool so a huge thank you to the preschool team. Nathan and I are so grateful for your dedication and input into our children!

Only Ryan!

One of my kids is not like the others. He is different and we love him because of it and I greatly admire how comfortable he is being himself!