25 months!

Vivi is really talking up a storm now!  The best thing that she said this month was "I love you!"  When I'm changing her, she loves to give me a big hug right in the middle, which I love because I get to feel and smell that soft baby skin.  One day when that was happening, she exclaimed, "I love you!" out of the blue.  She has said it before, but only after I have said it to her, this was the first time she said it on her own.

Her favorite toy nowadays is Play-doh.  Almost every day since Christmas, when she got a bunch of presents to replenish her stock, we have been playing once or twice a day.  We make balls and snakes, squish it through extruders, roll it out and cut out shapes, or sometimes just squish it in our hands!  It is nearly endless play for Vivi and Ryder and they are actually pretty good at sharing it; as long as each color is cut in half, everyone seems pretty happy.

Vivien has finally taken real interest in books over the past few months.  She really loves Sandra Boynton's silly board books; in fact she sleeps with a few of them.  She still doesn't like to sit through long books, but she has several favorite board books.  She doesn't always want us to read them to her, sometimes she likes to read them to herself- "I do it!"

Vivi loves outdoor adventures; she never turns one down.  If you ask her to go for a walk, to go out in the yard, to go for a hike, anything outdoors and she is up for it.  She usually immediately gets her coat and hat and boots.  Unfortunately, she is little and has short legs and small lungs, so usually after a few minutes she says "Carry you!"  which means she wants us to carry her.  She really does love exploring and climbing and having adventures though, so we love that.

She loves that beanbag!

Getting out the Play-doh tools

Really focused on making stuff

Couldn't even get her to look up

She finally looked up, to show me her Play-doh

What a cutie

Look ma, two colors!

Some winter adventures!

Out for a walk at Halibut Point

Out for a walk at Halibut Point

Enjoying their ride around the yard courtesy of me!

It was an interesting way to sled down the snowbank!

He was ready to go!

A little family walk down to the river

Of course the kids had to get wet!

It was a beautiful sunset

Vivi watching the "waves" roll in

Ryder looking at that sunset

45 months!

This past month was a very exciting month for Ryder.  He totally and completely understands Christmas now and loved every second of the holiday season.  We have been telling him all year pretty much that Christmas starts after Thanksgiving, so the weekend after Thanksgiving he was ready to go for Christmas.  He loved every part of it: the lights, the decorations which he helped place, the tree, the crafts and the other fun activities that we did.  It was awesome to see him so excited and having so much fun!

This month some of my favorite phrases from Ryder have been mispronunciations- I just love them so much!  Some of the Christmas crafts that I got for Ryder were a bit complicated and he loves to consult the "constructions" to find out what he needs to do and to make sure he's doing everything right.  He was also very excited to go see the new "compartment" that Emma is moving into.  Aside from that cuteness, I also love how he asks Vivi a question and then instructs her to "Say yes!"

Ryder still loves numbers and since it has been getting cold, we look at the temperature in the morning to see what we need to wear.  He likes to know what the temperature and then if that means it's warm or cold.  He knows some of the different numbers that warmish and then other ones are cold.  He also comment on things he sees when we go out to the car, like how it much be really chilly when he sees ice.

Now that the cold weather is here, it has been great fire weather.  We have a fire most every evening and Ryder loves nothing more than helping build the fire.  He crumples the paper, puts in the kindling, watches carefully as it gets going, kicks the embers that pop out onto the bricks and then shuts the door once the fan kicks on.  Most of the playing now happens right in front of the fireplace; the warmest spot in the house!  A boy after my own heart!!

Hanging out on his beanbag

What photoshoot is complete without a snack?

The staircase has been everybody's favorite place to play lately

Getting that fire going

A boy and his fire!

Not quite as interested in the seated photos as the fire photos!

And now I have two people goofing on in my photoshoot ;)