The Lake, Birthday Party, Cooking..

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.......

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

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..

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

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....

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!

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)