Ryker T

Thomas Live at the Fox

2009-06-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2009-06-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-27T04:17:00.001-07:00

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".

Halloween

2008-11-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was Halloween and Ryker had a great time! He was dressed up as a Train Engineer, and he looked adorable! He wasn't real excited about the hat or bandanna, but he got used to it after wearing it for a while. Mamina and Pa came over to go Trick-or-Treat with us, which was a lot of fun. We went to about 4 houses, then Ryker was done. He was scared of people in masks so we couldn't go to far. Mamina and Pa gave Ryker a little goodie bag and in the bag there was a pen that would light up when you hit the Pumpkin on the end of the pen. Ryker thought this was the coolest thing. When we went to our neighbors house to Trick-or-Treat, Ryker proceeded to walk in their house and show them his "pumpkin patch pen". They got a kick out of him. Jason, Lisa and Vince came over later and we let the boys play for a bit before we put them down for bed. We had a great time. Check out the pictures of our little Engineer.

Go DAWGS!!!!

2008-10-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

This evening Ryker and I were sitting on our front porch having a snack. We have a GA Bulldog on our front porch, that Ryker likes to talk to and feed. He was trying to feed the cement Bulldog some french fries. Luckily I was able to stop him before he tried to wipe ketchup on the Bulldog, as this would not be too easy to get off. Anyway, he was "petting" the Bulldog when he decided to "ride" the Dawg. He said, "Look Mommy ride a horsey", then he said, "No ride a doggie." I grabbed the camera and this is what I got.....

He is the funniest kid! He keeps us laughing all the time.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-19T13:00:00.001-07:00

We went to the Pumpkin Patch today with Jason, Lisa and Vince. Ryker was nervous when we first got there because he didn't like all the scary decorations, but he warmed up quickly. They had an area with a lot of little jumpy things (made for 2 kids) and it was perfect for Ryker and Vince. We bought tickets to the Jumpy Land and let them play for a while. They were jumping around and wrestling with each other, it was really cute! Then we went on a hunt for our pumpkin. We bought a really big pumpkin to carve and Ryker picked out 2 little pumpkins for himself. We probably let his pumpkins stay inside so he can play with them until Halloween. He really liked the pumpkin patch. He has really been into "punkins" this year so he had lots of fun checking out all the cool Halloween stuff.

On another note, last week was his 2 year doctor appointment. He did excellent and we didn't have to get any shots! He weighs 30 lbs even and is 36.5" tall. He is in the 70th percentile on weight and the 91st percentile in height. We have been concerned lately because he has not been eating well, but the doctor told us that he is growing well and on track with everything so not to worry, it's a 2 year old thing. When she was looking in Ryker's mouth she gave Ryker 2 of the wooden sticks to hold so he wouldn't grab hers and when she gave them to him and said, "Thank You". The doctor turned to me and said she had never had a 2 year old tell her Thank You without being told to do so. I was so proud!

Vacation and other new stuff

2008-10-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have posted, but we have been so busy! We went on vacation the week of September 20th and we had a great time! Ryker is such a little water bug. He loved the pool and wanted to have his floaties on with no one holding him. He did very well with the floaties and he just swam around on his own. We were suprised at how well he swam on his own. As for the ocean - he loved it! Again he wanted to go into the ocean without anyone holding him. We did not put his floaties on him in the ocean, and we did hold on to his hands while in the ocean to keep him from getting hung up in the current. He thought the waves were fun and we spent a good amount of time in the ocean. The weather was beautiful and the ocean was crystal clear. There were some huge Jelly Fish, but they were few and far between and you could see them so it didn't deter our fun in the ocean. He also enjoyed playing in the sand, which he calls "playing sandals". He and Da and Papa made tunnels for his trains and spent time just digging in the sand. He also had a blast with Madison and Kellen. Madison is his buddy and she is really good with him. She swam with him and also helped make castles and tunnels in the sand. Kellen wasn't too keen on the pool or the beach, but he and Ryker played a lot inside with all the toys. We all had a great time at the beach!

After we got home from the beach we went straight to see the new baby in the family - Brennan Marie Lowe (Stephen and Stephanie's daughter). Ryker didn't want too much to do with her, but he did come over to her from time to time to show her the trains he was playing with. A couple days after our first visit with Brennan, Ryker and I went back to bring dinner and he was again not too interested, until we left. When we were saying goodbye Ryker looked over a Stephanie who was holding Brennan and he said, "come on baby Brennan". He wanted her to go home with us, it was really cute! Of course I asked him if he was ready for a baby sister and he said, "OK Mom", but he says OK Mom to almost everything. Don't get excited, there is no baby sister planned for the immediate future, but we'll see what happens down the road.

Once again Ryker is just excelling at everything. He loves to sing and he sings pretty darn good for a 2 year old. We sing in bed at night and he just sings anytime he feels like it, which I love. He also loves books. He got a lot of new books for his Birthday and we read about 6-7 books a night before he goes to bed. I think some of it is to keep from going to bed, but he is really into every book, so we keep reading. He is talking a lot more too. Just this morning I came down the stairs and he said, "Hi Mom, what's up?" - OMG my 2 year old is turning 12!! He is almost too smart for his own good. He likes to give "family hugs" which Jason and I love. He puts one arm around Jason and one around me and we have a "family hug". After we hug he pushes mine and Jason's faces together to make us kiss. He does this about 2 or 3 times and laughs. It's so cute and something we do almost every night. He is still into Thomas the Train, almost more so now than before. We bought him a new train yesterday (Gordon) and he was going crazy. We were in Wal-Mart and he was going, "Look, Gordon!" to everyone we passed. He is so funny and animated, it makes giving him gifts so much fun. Speaking of gifts, Aunt Tracy, Madison and Brett came over last weekend to give him his Birthday present. They gave him a deluxe box of Mr. Potato Head (it contains 3 potato heads of different sizes and all the accessories you can think of). When he opened it, he laid on the floor and cried for Thomas. We thought it was so funny. Of course after Madison started playing with the Potato Heads, he started to get into them and now he really likes them.

Monday we got out our Halloween decorations and put them in the foyer to make sure everything was working. Ryker really liked them and he kept saying, "Punkin, Punkin". He also likes this little "spooky tree" we got from the Hallmark store last year. It sings a little Halloween song, but he's still a little spooked by stuffed animals that move, so he won't touch the tree, but he likes to stand away from it and watch it sing and dance.

Each day he continues to make us laugh, fill our hearts with love and shocks us with new sayings and ideas. He is such a special little boy.

Ryker's Birthday Party

2008-09-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (9/14/08) we had a Birthday Party for Ryker's 2nd Birthday. He had a great time! Vince, Ethan, Grover and Kaylee came to help Ryker celebrate. The boys played really well together. It was so cute because all the little guys wanted to help Ryker open his gifts, which was fine by Ryker since he really doesn't care much about opening presents, he just wants the toys inside. We ordered a Thomas the Train Birthday cake from Publix and it was great! It looked just like Thomas and Ryker thought it was a Giant Thomas for him to play with. He was frustrated for a little while because he could not figure out why we would not let him play with the cake. He got over that quickly once his buddies showed up. He got a lot of great stuff (Thomas the Train trains, Mr. Potato Head, Books, Puzzels, Remote control car, step stool, Thomas the Train play hut, Curious George Train, clothes, DVDs, Airplane, balls, Wonder Pets Fly Boat, race car - just to name a few). It looked like Santa had been here, and he's not done yet. We will be at the beach for his actual birthday (9/22) so we are having a small party for him there with my family, so he'll get a little more stuff. WOW what a lucky kid to have so many people love him so much!

New stuff

2008-09-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately and Ryker has been changing so much lately! He is talking so well. He is able to carry on a conversation with you full of questions and funny comments. Last night we were laying in bed with him reading stories and singing (our usual bedtime ritual) and he was really tired. We turned out the light and he was laying there, then he started saying, "My eyes, my eyes, turn on the light". The next thing we know, he was fast asleep. Apparently his eyes were tired and he wanted us to turn on the light so he wouldn't go to sleep - smart boy! Last week Aunt Hollie and Uncle Collin came by for a night (they had to evacuate NOLA for hurricane Gustav). Ryker was excited to see Hollie again, and he was even friendly with Collin. He showed off a little by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and running around like a little goofball. He was happy to see them, as were J and I.

Some of his other new sayings are: "Check it out!", "Jason Da", "Thomas Train Track", "My favorite", "No". Some of his favorite songs are: the theme song to Bob the Builder, the Friends song off of his church CD, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC song. He still loves Thomas and recently told J and I that he did in fact Love Thomas the train. He also likes race cars of any kind, and our dog Benson. He loves to read books and listen to music and dance. He is such a great kid, J and I are so blessed to have such a wonderful child.

Next weekend is his 2nd birthday party, which will be a lot of fun. We are having a small party for his friends and his grandparents, as we will be at the beach on vacation on his actual Birthday (9/22) where we will have a family party with my family. I know he is going to have a great time, so look out for the next post as I'm sure I'll have some great pictures to share.

Two Pacis

2008-08-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

Ryker is still addicted to his pacifier (paci). We have several around the house. Yesterday he came to me and said, "Mommy two pacis!" He was so excited. The next thing I notice he has both pacis in his mouth at one time, grinning from ear to ear. He cracks me up!

He has also learned a new song recently, Shake Your Booty. J and I were laying in the bed with him singing night night songs (our normal bedtime routine) and I just started singing Shake Your Booty. He thought it was hilarious, so he started singing too. He just keeps on amazing J and I every day!

Being Silly

2008-07-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Ryker just cracks us up! Today he was on the landing of the stairs looking at his Barney Says book. The book has a Barney hand puppet that fits into a cutout on the cover of the book. Ryker was just looking at it, then he called J and I and when we looked over at him he had his face in the cut out. We cracked up. He is so funny! I can't believe he thought to to do that.

Our little superhero

2008-07-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Ryker is growing up so fast! He is starting to sing the songs in his videos and he is talking so much. He really likes Backyardigans and Wonder Pets. Wonder Pets is his favorite right now and it is so cute to hear him say, "wonder pet". Speaking of Wonder Pets, he wanted to have a cape on one day, so I attached his little blanket around him. He wore it for about 5 minutes, then he was done, but he was our little superhero for those few minutes.

Tonight he decided he was going to push his highchair around the kitchen. He has never done this before, but I pushed him in it from the dining room to the kitchen tonight, so I guess he got the idea from me pushing him. He got it out of the kitchen and in the dining room, but he ran out of room. J and I were laughing because his highchair is so big compared to him, but he was determined to push that thing around. We also had some fun with stickers. Ryker and I went shopping tonight and we found some Thomas the Train stickers, so we had to buy them. When we got home J stuck one on his hand and he did not like that so we started sticking them on a piece of cardboard. He thought that was fun, but after J and I walked away he started pulling the stickers off the cardboard and sticking them to his leg. It was hilarious! I picked him up to try to get a picture of him standing, but he wouldn't put his feet down. I guess the stickers were pulling his skin or something. Anyways he eventually stood up and I was able to get a couple good pictures.

He is still calling J Da, but he has begun to say Daddy recently, and it's really cute. He calls me Mommy, but he has also been calling me Mom. I like both, but with him calling me Mom it really hits me that he is growing up and he's not a baby anymore, he's actually a little boy. He also says, "sorry" and "I like it". It is amazing to watch him grow and change everyday. We love our little superhero so much!

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

We had a really busy weekend this past weekend. Friday was the 4th of July so we went to Peachtree City to celebrate with Uncle Jaybo, Aunt Amy, Baby Kellen, Mamina and Pa. Kellen and Ryker had a great time playing, as they always do. There was another family at Jeremy and Amy's who had a little boy a month younger than Ryker. Ryker towered over him, but he had fun playing with him as well. His name was Noah, but Ryker kept calling him Baby Kellen. He thinks everyone who is smaller than him is "baby Kellen". We took the golf carts over to Jeremy's Golf course to watch the fireworks. It was lots of fun riding on the golf cart. Ryker wasn't too happy about the golf cart when we first got on, but he warmed up after a few minutes. After the fireworks Ryker fell asleep in my lap on the golf cart as we were riding back to Jeremy and Amy's. We all had a great day, but we were all exhausted once we got home that night.

Saturday we had plans to go see Ethan's new bedroom (he got bunkbeds) and to check out Baby Brennan's room. Both rooms are very cute. Ethan's room is definately a little boys room, with the outdoors theme and all. Brennan's room is really cute and pink! Definately a baby girls room. We had a lot of fun playing and Ryker slept well in Brennan's crib!

Sunday we went to Ted's 4th Birthday party. (Ted is one of my good friends son). It was a lot of fun. Ted has a lot of girl cousins, so there were a lot of girls at his party. Most of the girls were older (6-10), but they loved Ryker. At one point they had Ryker upstairs in the playroom and they were spinning him on the Sit-n-Spin. Needless to say he loved the attention and had a great time.

Although our weekend was busy, we all had a great time!

Amazing Stuff

2008-07-02T18:39:00.001-07:00

Ryker never stops amazing J and I. Yesterday he was playing in the vent (ours are on the floor), he loves to feel the air blowing on his face. We had a balloon from Vince's Birthday party and Ryker took the balloon and put it over the vent and of course the air blew the balloon into the air. He thought that was the coolest thing, so he kept putting the balloon in the air and hitting the balloon to keep it up in the air. I was amazed that he knew to do this. Then last night we were reading a bedtime story - What's Up Duck? - is the name of the book. It is a book about opposites. It has one word on each page, example: front, back; happy, sad. We read it often so Ryker is familiar with it, but for some reason the first time we read it last night he was so into it. He wanted us to read it a second time, so we did. This time he would tell us some of the opposites. I said happy and then he said sad. One of his favorites is slow and fast, he loves to say fast! He did such a good job, we read it again. This time he was almost able to tell us what all the pages said! We were in awe! I am so amazed that his memory is so good. I can't wait to see what he is going to do next. Prior to our bedtime story he was downstairs drinking his milk and he was going back and forth from Elmo to Cookie Monster, feeding them his milk. At one point his milk leaked on Cookie Monster and he said, "Yuck" and was wiping it off of Cookie's fur. It was hilarious.
The other thing he says a lot now is Thank You. J and I have been working with him on his manners, mainly please and thank you. He doesn't say please until we tell him too, but he has been saying Thank you on a regular basis. It is so cute because I'll give him some juice or a snack and he'll look at me and say Thank You Mommy. I just melts my heart.
He is also started to ask us and his stuff questions. Today he came down stairs and said, "Whoa, what's that? Airplane, cool", all in one sentence. I couldn't believe it! He is actually answering his own questions. He repeats a lot of words now and it just amazes me that he can say somethings, like: butterfly, rainbow, penguin. He is just so smart!

The Lake, Birthday Party, Cooking..

2008-06-29T12:13:00.001-07:00

We have been so busy lately doing a lot of fun things and watching Ryker grow up. He is talking so much more now, he can make sentences and he is able to tell us what he wants and doesn't want, which is great! He has been fascinated with the oven, not such a good thing, but he loves the oven mitts. Every time we take something out of the oven he wants to put the oven mitts on and "get" Jason and I. It's really funny. Speaking of "getting" people, he loves to scare people and be scared. He likes for you to chase him and he likes to hid behind the sofa or under the table and yell "Boo". He has really begun to play a lot more and he is more apt to play with you or other kids than he has been in the past. This morning we were watching TV and he came up to me and said, "Mommy play?, Mommy play?". It was so cute, so of course we played, and he wanted to play Thomas on his train table, which is probably his favorite toy right now.

This weekend we went to Lake Blackshear with Stephen, Stephanie and Ethan. We had a great time. The boys played well together both indoors and outdoors. They really get along well and they love each other, which makes trips together a lot easier. J got Ryker to get on a jet ski with him. Ryker wasn't too sure about it, but J took him for a quick spin, until Ryker was "done". Ryker and Ethan played in the baby pool outside, and ran around the yard. Ryker did not want to get in the lake at all, which kind of surprised J and I because he usually loves the water. I guess it was just too big and unknown to him. I hope he does not react this way to the ocean when we go to Florida in September. Inside the house there was a little tent that Ryker called a tunnel. He loved the tunnel, but he wanted Ethan in there with him all the time. If Ryker wanted to play in the tent he would start saying, "E tunnel, E tunnel", then Ethan would run in there and they would have a great time rolling around and "getting" each other.

Yesterday we went to Vince's 2nd Birthday party. Ryker and Vince are great buddies and they are only 3 months apart, which works out well because they play really well together. Ryker was funny, he was more interested in Vince's new playroom than he was with the Birthday party. After most of the other people were gone, we stayed for a little while and Vince and Ryker and Ethan all played together. They were too cute. They chased each other around the house and shared snacks (Ryker calls snacks Yum Yums). We had a great weekend packed full of lots to do, but Ryker was excellent the whole time. Just a few little times of whining, but besides that he was a angel.

Next weekend we are going to Peachtree City to visit baby Kellen and Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Amy for the 4th of July. We're looking forward to a fun day of golf cart riding and fireworks. We are also heading to another Birthday party next Sunday, so we will have another busy weekend. Stay tuned for new posts next week.

I Love You.......

2008-06-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a day for firsts. Ryker started saying "I Love You" today. We were in the grocery store this evening and he was in the front driving the little race car (we get one of those carts with the race car on the front). He was peeking back through the cart and looking at me and talking, he looked so cute so I said, "I Love You Ryker T" and he said, " I Love YOU". My heart just melted! He says it just as plain as day like he has been saying that forever, but he accentuates the YOU. I kept saying it to him and kept saying it back. When we got home I tried to get him to say it to J, but he didn't. Then when J was feeding him dinner J said, "I Love You" and Ryker said it back to him. It just makes me smile to know that he knows he is loved and to know that he has heard I Love You enough in his short life to be able to say it back. He is a precious precious child and J and I love him with all our hearts.

In addition to saying I Love You, he also experienced his first adventure in one of those moon walk jumpy things. Our neighbors granddaughter, Lana, had her 3rd birthday party today and she invited Ryker. They rented a princess castle jumpy thing. When we first arrived Ryker was not into it at all. He didn't even want to get near it. After about 20 minutes he wanted to get in, so we stuck him in there. He crawled around and called for me and J, then he kind of warmed up and was having a good time. He wasn't really able to stand up on his own in there, but he had a good time crawling around. Then our neighbors other grandchild, Kristofer, who is 6 got in the castle and he was playing with Ryker. He would stand Ryker up, then they would fall down. Ryker thought it was hilarious, so he kept laying there laughing. He had a really good time. In addition to playing in the jumpy thing they also played on the wooden playground my neighbors had in the backyard. Ryker swang and went down the slide. There was a little girl there who was 14 months and Ryker was mesmirized by her because he is so into "bebes". He followed her around a lot and wanted her to be with him everywhere he went. It was so cute. We all had a really good time!

For the love of popsicles

2008-05-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

Ryker has developed a love for popsicles. His Papa introduced him when he was about 7 months old and it has turned into his favorite food! He wakes up in the morning and wants a "pop", of course we have to hold him off until about 11am, but he loves them. He knows exactly where they are in our house and at Mamina and Papa's and when he's ready he will take you to the fridge and pull on the door and say "want pop". He also likes to share them, will kind of. He will let you lick it, but then he wants it back and if you have one too, he wants yours as well. He was eating a pop the other day and he wanted Cookie Monster (he calls him "cook") to sit with him in his chair. So, I put "cook" in his chair and he was sharing his pop with "cook" - it was the cutest thing!

Last night Vince, Lisa and Jason came over to visit and Ryker wanted to have a pop with Vince. Lisa and I sat them on the front porch of our house and they were so cute. Ryker had popsicle all over his lips and down his shirt and Vince leaned over and said, "Ryker T you have it on your lip", it was so funny. Of course Ryker finished his first, then he wanted Vince's.

Besides popsicles Ryker has really begun to love Cookie Monster and Elmo. He sleeps with them and he wants to take them everywhere with him when he's at home. When we go play on the back deck he has to bring "cook" and Elmo outside so they can watch him play. Last night when I got home from work he had put both of his Elmos and "cook" into a laundry basket. He turned around and looked at me and said, "Bye Bye Mommy" and then off he went pulling the laundry basket through the house. I just cracked up, it was so cute. He is really growing up and changing everyday.

What we've been up to lately..

2008-05-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, but a lot has happened since then. We bought Ryker a bubble mower because he loves bubbles and he likes to push stuff, so this was the perfect toy for him. Needless to say he loves it! He will point to the top of the mower and say, "Mama, what's that" and I say it's a lawnmower, and then he just continues to ask me what it is. He's too cute! Ryker also enjoyed his first ride on Ethan's Gator. Ryker is really into driving so we thought he would love to ride Ethan's Gator with him. He was OK at first, then he held onto the the handle and kept saying, "No, No, Mama, Da, No, No". So we took him off the Gator and he pushed an old baby walker of Ethan's while Ethan drove his Gator around. J really wants to buy him a power wheel, but I think we'll wait a bit, at least until Christmas.

Last weekend we had a garage sale with a couple of our neighbors. It was fun for a garage sale, but getting prepared and cleaning up is the worst, but we made some money, so that was good. Ryker was great at the garage sale. Our neighbors daughter has a little girl named Lana who is almost 3 and she came over for the garage sale. Ryker loves playing with Lana, and they get along so well. Lana always wants to ride in the wagon. It's so cute because they sit in the wagon, but neither of them talk, they just look around and ride. After the wagon ride Ryker wanted to "dribe" so we put them in the Tahoe and let Ryker "dribe" and Lana rode in the passenger seat. They looked adorable. I was going to take a picture, but the glare from the winshield was really bad. They had a great time and we had a great time watching them and talking about how cute they are. We call Lana Ryker's little girlfriend because he lights up when he sees her ( :

We used some of our garage sale money to buy Ryker a train table. He is into trains right now, as well as airplanes and Bob the Builder, but we have an old Brio train set that has been through Jason's family that we needed to display, so the table works great! I picked up the table Monday night and J and I put the train set up so it would be ready for Ryker on Tuesday morning. Tuesday's I work from home, so Ryker and I came downstairs that morning and I was all excited to show him his train table. He looked at it and said, "Cool Da........Yeah.....WooHoo", in that order. I thought it was so funny, especially since J was not even there and he was saying Cool Da - that's one of his new phrases. After he checked the table out for minute he noticed that we put one of his frogs on the table, so he ran over there and grabbed the frog saying "ribbit, ribbit" and he continued to play with his frog. After a while of playing with his frog he finally started playing with his trains. I know he will really enjoy the train table.

In addition to all of the new things above, Ryker has really started to change. He talks a lot more, including putting some words together, he loves airplanes and is always listening for them. When he hears one he stops and says "Aeplane" and he'll look up to the sky to find it. Maybe he'll be a pilot someday, who knows. He also shushs the dogs. He puts his little finger up to his mouth and says, "Shh BenBen", it cracks us up. He has also gotten into saying, "Oh No" and he says loud and as clear as can be. He was saying this through the grocery store the other night, it was pretty funny and some of the shoppers found it be amusing as well. He still says "Hello" a lot as well as ball, Da, Mama, Pa, MamaMama, BeBe (for baby), and anything else that comes into his little mind. He is growing up so fast!, but he will always be my baby!

Ryker and Baby Kellen

2008-05-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well today was the first day that my Mom had both Ryker and Kellen all day. I was worried for my Mom's sanity, but she reminded me that I was one of 4, so she should be able to handle 2, no problem. When we showed up to my Mom's house this morning Ryker was so excited. Kellen was laying on the bed and Ryker was just looking at him saying "Hello Bebe". He would get close to Kellen, but for some reason he wouldn't touch him this morning. Kellen was just watching Ryker and cooing. Later today my Mom said Ryker was trying to feed Kellen a bite of his popsicle and apple, of course Kellen cannot eat those (he's only 3 months on the 12th), but at least Ryker shares, for now. ( : He is going to be a great big cousin, and hopefully a great big brother one day! Sorry no pictures, I had to work and didn't get to share in the fun, but I will get some next week of the 2 of them.

Growing up fast....

2008-04-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we took Ryker to the Doctor for his 18 month appointment (I know, we're a little behind schedule). He weighs 27.5 lbs and is 34 inches tall. He is in the 66% for weight and 88% for height. Dr. Smiley said he was the best 18 month appointment she had seen in a while, as he was a good boy and actually cooperated and showed off a little bit.

Now that we are on our way to the terrible 2s I can see some little differences in him. He is really testing J and I and he will try to play us against each other - smart boy! If I get on to him, then he runs and cries to J and vice versa. I have a hard time not laughing sometime, but we have to stay firm otherwise we will have a little monster on our hands. He has also started this screaming thing. If he's happy or he just wants to be heard he will just scream, then start laughing. I think it's funny, until he does it at dinner when we are out at a public place, but what can you do? Speaking of laughing he has also started "fake" laughing. I don't know why or where he picked this up, but he will just make himself laugh and he'll cut his eyes over to J and I to make sure we're watching. It's really cute!

If you've spent any time with Ryker lately, you know he is a huge outdoors fan. We have a hard time keeping him in doors, but it's fine for us as the weather has been beautiful. He gets this little walker out that he can push and he runs down the sidewalks. When I say run I really mean sprint, as J and I have to actually run beside him to try to keep up. I'm scared to see what he is going to do after practicing the sprinting behind the walker! J and I will probably have a hard time keeping up with him.

One thing I noticed the other night that melted my heart is the fact that he has a big heart and he wants to share with his friends. We went to dinner with Stephen, Steph and Ethan on Saturday and I was giving Ryker these little Pringle sticks. Each time I would give him a stick, he would give it to Ethan. I thought it was so cute, and I know those little guys love each other! I just hope he still likes to share when he gets a bit older, but we'll see.

Counting, Watering, Taking off his clothes!

2008-04-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how fast Ryker changes. He does something new everyday! Since my last blog he has counted to 7 on his own (well I started with 1 and he counted 2-7). I was so excited! He did this in Target last night. After the first time I was so proud and I hugged him and said WooHoo. The next time he did it, also in Target, right after he said 7 he said WooHoo. It was the cutest thing.

Today I was working from home and he was playing and listening to his little CDs. I heard him in the Den grunting like he was frustrated, so I peeked in the Den and he had almost taken his shirt off. He had one arm out and the other one was stuck. I helped him take his shirt off and he had to stay like that for the rest of the morning. It is amazing to me that he is already learning this at such a young age!

Later in the day we went outside for a little break. I was watering our flowers and he was so interested. When I was finished he grabbed the watering can and pretended to water the flowers. He did this for about 15 minutes, it was adorable. After that he noticed that some of the water from the flower pots had spilt onto the ground. So, what does my child do? He bends over to lick the water off the ground. I was going to stop him, but it was so funny I had to let him do it, plus it was a good photo op. The summer has started off well, I can't wait until our pool opens. I'm sure he will have J and I down there every weekend.

(PS - there are errors with uploading photos at this time, so I will add some additional photos later)

Ryker's Blog........Finally!

2008-04-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome Family and Friends!
Jason and I finally decided to get a blog going for Ryker so you all could follow him and his busy little life. As you know he is 19 months (OMG) now and he is full of energy! He's really into Thomas the Train right now, and of course any type of ball. He also loves to "drive". He gets in our cars and wants to pretend he is driving. This probably isn't the right time to teach him about driving, but he is Jason's son and we all know how much Jason loves cars and would really love it if Ryker was a Nascar driver (Go Jimmie)!

Ryker experienced his first time helping Moma and Da plant flowers. He didn't really want much to do with the flowers, but he loved playing in the dirt. He ran through the dirt mound and picked up a couple of handfulls of dirt, then of course he threw it. What can I say.......he's all boy!

We just booked our vacation trip to the beach. We are going with Mamina and Papa, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Amy, Kellen, Uncle Justin, Aunt Tracy, Brett and Madison. We can't wait! We will be there over Ryker's 2nd Birthday, so that will be a lot of fun!

Thanks for checking out Ryker's blog. I promise to keep it updated as often as possible.