Pages

Saturday, May 23, 2015

26 months!

I guess we're going to be sticking with the months for counting, even though it seems weird.  Less weird than changing midstream I suppose.

This past month has been a big month for Ryder's vocabulary.  Over the course of two weeks, he must have said a couple dozen new words, or more.  One weekend he was watching a truck video that teaches colors and all of a sudden he was saying the colors.  As the truck of a specific color rolled off the screen, he would say "Bye-bye white" etc... So he wasn't just repeating the color after the voice on screen, he was using them.  Then he was playing with Emma's toy food at my mom's house and started naming a bunch of foods that he had not previously named.  Now he comes up with a word or two a day that I've never heard before and he has gotten super good at repeating words.  Before we would ask Ryder to say a word and he would maybe try to say one of the sounds, if we were lucky.  Now he really tries and usually succeeds at repeating, even longer words like chocolate and dinosaur.  We've got to watch out now, I accidentally taught him "Naughty Daddy" when I made a joke about Janda riding my motorcycle!

We've gotten into a pretty good routine around here now that the nice weather is here to stay.  After breakfast, which Vivien joins us for sometimes, Ryder plays while I do the dishes and feed Vivien.  Then he and I play for a bit, or I clean while he plays some more, or we clean together- which is super cute.  After Vivien wakes up from her nap, we all go for a walk to see the construction trucks lining the road- sometimes there are a couple dozen!  After the walk he has a snack and then his nap, which is consistently 2 hours long now, sometimes close to 3!  I won't let him sleep past 2:30-2:45, just to make sure he'll go to bed.  Then we have lunch and eventually go back outside to play some more.  After that it's dinner, sometimes shower and bed.

I had to take away Ryder's puzzles for a few days this month because they were driving me insane, but when I brought them back out, he still remembered them perfectly.  There are two tree pieces, one for the bus and one for the firetruck puzzle, and they look almost exactly the same.  When he was doing the firetruck puzzle, I gave him the wrong one and he pointed to it and said "Bus!"  He is still all about drawing, now he adds the wheels to any truck I draw and makes pictures that look truck-ish!  He loves his inside chalkboard and was thrilled to learn we have outside chalk too!

The biggest change this month was now Ryder is in his big boy room.  One Friday night we gathered his stuffed animals and seahorse night light from the crib and went into the new room.  He whimpered for a second until we turned seahorse friend on and arranged his animals around him and then he just fell asleep and slept til morning.  He has slept every night and nap in there since, no problem!  One nap involved no sleeping, but that was the idiot on the 4 wheeler riding up and down our street, not Ryder.  So far so good!

This month he learned how to say "Cheese" and look at the camera!

He likes to make toys as dangerous as possible.  After I took this photo, that truck shot out from underneath him and he landed on his backside.

Totally willing to pose this month

Intently inspecting that chopstick!

Always goofing around!

Monday, May 18, 2015

5 months!

Little Miss Vivien is even more smile-y than ever, if that's even possible.  She just lights up with these huge smiles, especially if Ryder or I look at her or play with her.  She's full of giggles now and loves to be tickled.  She really loves Ryder, which is good since he is all over her!  He constantly asks to give her a "Mwah" and squeals with excitement when he sees her on the floor, since he can give her those full body hugs that he loves so much!

She can't sit up herself yet, but she can stay sitting up in the corner of the couch pretty well now.  We broke out the Bumbo chair this month and she enjoys that.  Now she can sit up with us while we eat and play with some toys while we have our meals.  She has a couple of rattles that she likes to grab, shake and eat.

Vivien was introduced to Ducky Friend last month and now she also has Tiger Friend.  She has taken to them quickly.  She loves to grab them and pull them to her face, although she freaks a little when they get stuck on her face.  She starts flailing a little, but she doesn't start crying.  Whenever that happens, Ryder is quick to help her get it off her face.

I have been working on getting her on a more regular sleep schedule, which she seems more amenable to than Ryder did at the same age.  She now goes to bed before we do and before she is 6 months she'll be in her own room, in the crib.  She still fits in the bassinet, but now that she is moving more she hits the side and gets a little scrunched in the corner.  Her naps are a little more regular, though she only goes 1-2 hours between naps; any longer and she gets very over tired.  A couple of times I have achieved the nirvana of simultaneous naps, but it's not a daily occurrence, although I do get some overlap.  On the days that she doesn't want to nap, Ryder usually feels the same way!  What the heck!

Happy smiles!

Always hands in the mouth!

She can sort of sit up unassisted. 

What a face!

Big, big smiles!

With her friends.

Tired girl!