Swimming!

This summer has been so hot that we have spent a LOT of time at the beach!

Digging a hole

Wading out

Burying Emma

"Swimming"

In deep

Her too

Throwing rocks

Splashing

Drying off

40 Months!

We are still in the terrible three's here, but we have been focusing a lot on listening and following directions and Ryder has been doing a great job.  One of the areas we have been working on is not going in other people's yard and now when Ryder chases a bunny and does not go into someone else's yard he proudly let's us know.  We still have a long way to go, but it's progress.

Ryder loves the water more than ever this year.  He trots right out up to his neck in the river and then yells "I'm so deep!!!"  He lost his footing once and went under for a second and we had to pull him back up, so that has put a little healthy fear into him, but in no way deterred him from going deep!  He does his own version of swimming and floating, which he is very proud of.  He also loves to check out all the sea life down at the river too, as well as building things in the sand.

Ryder helped plant our garden and he loves to harvest too.  He runs in to get our basket whenever he notices anything ripe.  He also loves to yell at Vivi when she picks something green!  He really loves to be out in our yard all the time, whether it's gardening, riding his bike, running over the ramps, walking on the slack line or just playing in the dirt. 

He talks up a storm nowadays!  He talks to anybody about anything and everything.  He has no problem talking to people he doesn't know that well and telling them all about his favorite subjects- fire trucks, fire fighting, trash and recycling, etc...  He especially loves talking on the phone...poor telemarketers!  We usually ignore the home phone, but Ryder runs right over to get it.  

Not totally on board with the photoshoot this month!

Playing with firetrucks

Taking a Curious George break in the middle of the photoshoot

What a cute face

Looking for bunnies to chase

19 Months!

This past month has been a lot of fun because we have been on summer vacation for most of it and Vivi is at the cutest stage, I think!  I love 18 months- 2 years.  This stage has been a happy go lucky stage for both Ryder and now Vivi.  It seems like Vivi is smiling and laughing most of the time.  It doesn't take much to get her to break into a huge smile.  She does make other faces now too, which are hysterical.  She has one look that seems like it's supposed to be a "Take me seriously and do what I want" face, but then she cracks up laughing.

She is still an avid milk drinker and a so-so eater.  We have been making sure to stick to the 24 recommended oz of milk and trying to get her to eat more.  What she seems to be liking most nowadays is dinner food.  She loves pasta, pizza, grilled foods.  She also loves snack foods, like cereal and goldfish, but she still only likes melon, bananas and clementines for fruit!  I'm sure that next summer she and Ryder will be fighting over those berries, but this summer, not so much.

Vivi is talking a ton now.  She can say a bunch of body parts, most of the foods that she likes, the names of several different people and various other useful words.  She has been saying "More" a lot lately!  In addition to "Up" now she also says "Carry" when she wants us to hold her.  My favorite word this month is definitely "Pizza"  It is just so darn cute the way she says it and she gets so excited!

Vivi, more so than Ryder if I remember correctly, loves to be held.  Ryder liked to be held during the night, but she loves it during the day.  She is a strong little girl now, so even if I don't want to hold her anymore, I can't really detach her!  She holds on super tight to my arm and really grabs my waist with her legs.  I can let go and she doesn't go anywhere!  It's hysterically adorable and hot during the heatwave!

She loves playing outside.  Sometimes she likes to chill in the shade with her milk but mostly she is getting into everything.  She is practically independent on the playset now.  She loves getting into the garden stuff- she likes to pick things, regardless of whether or not they are ripe!  Vivi has really taken to "swimming" this summer.  She wades right up to her chin in the river and shrugs off our hands when we try to hold them.  She loves to splash and be swished around- she always has a big smile on her face down there.

Her curls look like a halo in this one

Sitting still for a second

A good smile

Ugh she's so big!

Always happy

There's that face

She loves fire trucks too, too bad Ryder doesn't love to share them

Fiesta time!

This year Ryder was absolutely thrilled with the Fiesta, the carnival, as he calls it.  We went to go on the rides twice and we went to watch the Seine boats and Greasy Pole twice.  As Ryder and Vivi were both saying "Viva!"

Watching the races from the beach

Splashing around during Daddy's race

Representing Daddy's team

There he is in the back seat

Getting ready for the Greasy Pole

Eating at the Brewery

Eating at the Brewery

Waiting for Daddy's practice to be over so we can go into the carnival

Of course we found a fire truck

Ryder's favorite ride.  After he got down he would get back in line and run up the stairs to go again.

He is ready to go

Second favorite ride was the "horsies"

39 months!

This month has been the month of boundary pushing!  We are definitely in the midst of the terrible threes here.  We were lucky and really missed the terrible twos altogether, but I guess everyone gets it eventually.  The majority of the poor behavior comes just before nap and bedtime still, so it's definitely the product of being overtired mostly.  The biggest meltdowns come before bedtime.  We have had to lock all of the doors in the house to prevent our escape artist from disappearing and once that happens he has been known to try to get upstairs to wake Vivi up.  When he gets really upset like this, even when it is at us because we won't let him do something, he still wants to come over and hug it out with us.

It seems like every day Ryder is saying something that I want to remember but never seem to get written down.  He talks so well now, it is really amazing to me that one year ago he could not make any sentences.  One of my favorites, that he has been saying for a while, is "Watch this trick" or "Look at this trick" and then he'll do something that he thinks we'll find cool and impressive.

Ryder is still a very good eater.  He doesn't eat everything and there are things that he won't even try, but he does eat a wide variety of foods.  It is fresh fruit season now and he loves it.  He would eat a quarter of a watermelon or a pint of strawberries all by himself no problem!  He loves picking strawberries from our garden and he is really interested in all of the other fruits and vegetables that we grow.  So far peas and cilantro have been a hit.

Since February we have been doing "projects" at home- particularly of the baking soda and vinegar variety.  Every so often he will ask to do a "project" and out comes the food coloring and a few other ingredients to make a fun mess.  One time he was doing a "project" and ended up covered from head to toe in purple shaving cream!

About to jump, of course

What a smile!

Most of this shoot was spent focusing on those blueberries!

Sitting still for a second

Of course he's playing with a fire truck or two