30 months!

Ryder readjusted to my return full-time work more easily than I did, I think!  Luckily he gets to hang out with his cousin before and after school and he gets to see all the school buses going to her school, so that softens the blow I guess.  Now that he's older, he is better at realizing I'm leaving and when I come to kiss him goodbye he usually says "I love you."  Which is the best thing, ever.  The other day when I came home he told me that he "missed me and loved me all day."

He talks almost constantly now.  He gives a constant, running description of everything he is doing and sees.  He is definitely listening to everything that we say and copying/repeating things that we don't even know he has heard.  Like "Oh sh**"  He did use it in context though...

Ryder is the king of the bike now and begs to go ride practically every day.  He tools around the point now, with us chasing him and trying to teach him things like how to not get hit by a car.  Janda has introduced him to riding over jumps and now he and Ryder build all kinds of ramps in the front yard.  He comes down the hill in our side yard and flies over the planks.  Even when he crashes, he is still happy!

He still loves to help us cook and he has even started trying to make his own food.  He was left in the kitchen (which is unusual) for a couple of minutes and he turned the gas on and dumped cinnamon on everything in an effort to make French toast.  He is a very good helper when I make muffins and he has totally bought into the idea of licking the spoon.

He really knows how these photo shoots work now

Usually smiling!

Do not know what was going on here!

 I love that face!

9 Months!

The first few weeks back to school have been tough- mostly for me!  Vivien will not drink from a bottle or a cup, so I am constantly worried about her being dehydrated and not getting enough milk.  She occasionally will suck some water off of a spoon, but that's it!  The pediatrician says to keep trying and eventually she'll come around- but we've been trying for months.  She is stubborn!

Luckily for us, she was eating solids well before I had to go back to work, so she has plenty of sustenance while I'm gone.  This month she has started eating more table foods and prepared foods.  She likes French toast and muffins quite well.  She's not in love with yogurt, but she will eat it.

At the beginning of this month she started creeping around- we call it the "Marine crawl."  She crawls all over the room, chases toys and people and checks everything out.  If she hears our voices in the other room, she will crawl right to us.  Sometime this month she also became an expert at sitting up on her own.  She can sit up and play with toys for an extended time before rolling over and crawling away to do something else.  She loves to sit next to Ryder's bucket of Legos and pull them out one by one!

She is very much in the grabbing phase and constantly has a handful of my hair to yank on!  I try to keep it out of the way, but she always seems to find it.  She's good at getting Ryder's too; he thinks it's funny and puts his head right next to her hand.  She's also a bouncing machine.  When you sing to her, or music is playing, or if you start bouncing her, she starts bouncing as hard as she can.

The first few weeks back to school haven't been the easiest for our sleep routine either- she still has been waking up 2-4 times per night!  That makes for a very long day at work.  She has been going to bed much earlier now though; we have been managing to get her into bed before Ryder the past couple of weeks.  She is starting to go to bed awake and fall asleep on her own as well as putting herself back to sleep occasionally overnight.  Hopefully she'll continue to get better at that and begin sleeping through the night on a more regular basis soon.

Sitting up like a champ

Trying so hard to eat that block!

All smiles!

Hey, where are you going?  This is a photo shoot!

What a face!