Thomas Live at the Fox

This past Saturday, June 27th, we went to see "Thomas Live, A Circus comes to Town" at the Fox in downtown Atlanta. Ryker was really nervous. He loves Thomas and trains in general, but real trains scare him. I think he thought we were going to ride on the Thomas train or that they were going to be close to him, but it is more of a theatrical show. I bought tickets way up in the balcony in case he didn't do well. It really worked out well for us. We had great seats, right in the center, it wasn't too crowded and Ryker was far enough away from the big trains so he was comfortable. When we got there we had to buy some Thomas stuff, of course they have it all out in the lobby as soon as you walk in. He wanted a Thomas watch, keychain and Thomas light up thing (which of course has broken now, 1 day later). We got him his "prizes" and proceeded to make our way to our seats. I noticed an elevator sign and knew our seats were way up, so we hopped on the elevator. It was really cool. It was an old-timey elevator, the kind where you have to manually open the door with the fence type door also covering. There was a very nice elderly man who was working the elevator. It was huge too. Ryker thought it was fun. The show was really great. He did really well sitting for 90 minutes, I was suprised. It was a very special event for us as a family to share together. We had a great time and it was good bonding for us. He is just so special, J and I want to be able to give him all the good memories we can and allow him to experience as much as we can afford. It was a great day!

Getting Smarter!!!

Ryker just amazes J and I. Everyday he has a new saying or a new way of doing things. Today he and I were snuggling on the sofa. He proceeded to tell me that I could have his blankie, pacifier and Thomas keychain. Then he said, "Mommy now you can have me!" It was the cutest thing. He cuddled up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss, my heart melted.

We have been doing really well with brushing teeth lately and he asked if he could spit, I guess he watches us, so he wanted to spit. J lifted him up and let him spit in the sink. After he spit he said, " that was disgusting". J and I cracked up!

We've been listening to country music lately and Ryker really enjoys it. His favorite song at the moment is She's Country by Jason Aldean. Everytime we get in the Tahoe he says, " I want to hear Country loud Mommy". I'll play it and then he wants to hear it over and over. He will sing sometimes, just the chorus. It goes, "She's Country, shoot, with her cowboy boots and her down home roots", but Ryker says, "Country, shoot, with cowboy boots and bad girl roots". It cracks us up.

He keeps us on our toes and he amazes us everyday. He is such a special child and Jason and I are so blessed that he is ours!

Catching up

2009 has been a busy year already! Ryker is doing great. He has an incredible vocabulary for a 2.5 year old. He shocks me and J everyday with his knowledge. One of his new phrase is, "I have an idea", then he will tell you what he wants to do. He likes to use this if he wakes up in the middle of the night and his idea is always, "wanna go downstairs and play?" He is also really into racing and playing hide-in-go-seek. He keeps J and I running around the house, which is good exercise, but can make you dizzy. He actually understands the concept of counting while playing hide-in-seek. He will lean against the wall and count to 10, then say, "ready or not here I come", it's adorable. The funny thing is if J or I count so Ryker can hide, he ends up just standing there looking at us, then he growls at you to "scare" you - too funny.

Ryker is beginning to learn how to share, and this is a hard lesson for him. Since he is not in daycare and he isn't around other kids everyday, when the opportunity arises where he has to share, he gets kind of upset. He is spending some time with Kellen at Mamina's house, which is usually where he gets upset when needing to share. We're working on it, but we still have a ways to go. He has a big heart, he just doesn't quite understand yet.

We haven't begun potty training yet, but we're close. We bought a Ryker potty a month or so ago and he was thrilled. He wanted to sit on it all the time for the first week, then he was over it. He is getting to the point where he tells us as soon as he pee-pees, etc., so we're going to start the training and hope he will be trained by summer. We'll keep you posted on his progress.

We are also about to move Ryker into his own Big Boy bed! He is getting a full size bed for his bedroom within the next weekend or two (compliments of Mamina and Papa) and we are really looking forward to this. I think this will be a great change for him and a big step towards being a big boy. Wow, I can't believe how fast time has gone by!

We took Ryker to the Yellow River Game Ranch recently to see all the animals. Mamina and Papa went with us. Ryker really enjoyed the animals, but he was kind of freaked out if they got close to him, especially the chickens and ducks. At the Game Ranch they have a bunny area where you can get into the fence and pet the bunnies. Ryker and I went in and I was expecting that he would like it. We were standing near the fence and a bunny came hopping over to Ryker. He started to freak out and turned to his Papa and said, " Papa help me! Help me!" Papa picked him up over the fence and Ryker was fine then. It was really funny but I wanted him to get over his fear, so we put him back in the bunny area with me. He finally got up enough nerve to pet one of the bunnies. I was so proud of him and he thought is was "really awesome".