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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

4 Years + 2 months!

Ryder is very much in a phase where he knows what he wants and when he wants it and good luck to you if you get in the way of that.  It usually involves yelling and sometimes a full blown tantrum.   When we tell him what he needs to do, he will respond to us "I'm in charge!"  He seems to really believe it too!  

My favorite thing he said this month was a funny analogy that he made at dinner one night.  We had recently watched a Dinosaur Train special about the center of the Earth that explained about the different layers of the Earth.  We were having tacos that night and Ryder picks up his taco and announced "This taco is like the Earth."  I asked him to explain what he meant, because I had no idea what he was trying to say, and he told me that the taco had a hard crust like the Earth and that the hot fillings were like the hot lava in the center of the Earth.   Then he ate the Earth, I mean his taco.

Though Ryder still loves dinosaurs, we are back in mostly fire fighter mode around here.  After a couple of months of neglect, the fire fighters and trucks are back out in force.  Whenever the kids are outside, Ryder is playing some kind of fire fighter game.  Sometimes it involves the back of Janda's truck, sometimes it involves the swingset and clubhouse and unfortunately sometimes it involves the actual hose.  Occasionally we find him outside using the hose to fight some imaginary fire.

The most fun thing that we did this month was take the commuter rail to Boston to go to the Public Gardens and see the ducks.  The train ride was an event in and of itself.  Ryder was absolutely pumped to get on the train, to see the conductor, and to see the sights out of the window.  For a while, he enjoyed the view and then he started testing out other seats.  He really like sitting in the small seat across the aisle from us.When we got to Boston, we walked to the Common.  On the way, Ryder has to play with every single fire hydrant that he saw.  Somehow, some way, Ryder managed to get the cap off of one of the fire hydrants across the street from the State House.   That was probably the highlight of the trip for him because he thought that it meant that he's a real fire fighter!

After we got to the Common we had a quick picnic and then started exploring and heading to the Swanboats.  On the way, Ryder started chasing a squirrel, they had a stand-off and then the squirrel jumped at Ryder and chased him!  Ryder thought that was hysterical.  Ryder liked the Swanboats and the duck statues, but we had to hightail it away from the duck pond because we were worried that Ryder was going to fall in while he was trying to pet the ducks.  We had a little time left before we went back to the train, so we stopped at a playground do Ryder could go down the fire pole a million times.  Then on the train on the way home, Ryder played conductor.  He found a bunch of tickets on the floor of the train car and then was handing them out and yelling just like the conductor.  Luckily it was Sunday and the train wasn't that full!



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Enjoying the view

He liked to have his own seat

On the Swanboats

"Feeding" a duck

Catching a ride on Mama Duck

Sitting on a little duck

 Mama Duck again

Checking out every fire hydrant in Boston

Having a seat at the playground

Monday, June 19, 2017

29 Months!

Spring is finally in full effect here and Vivi is loving it.  She wants to go outside all the time!  When we go outside to get in the car before work in the morning she and Ryder run right out to play in the yard and neighborhood.  They chase all the bunnies out of the yards and instantly start playing in the numerous puddles that pop  up in the potholes on our street.

Vivi has been eating up a storm this month.  Shortly after breakfast, she is already requesting her lunch!  She is eating more than Ryder right now, not at every meal, but overall definitely.  She still loves bananas and apples, but doesn't really like many other fruits.  She does eat a wide variety of foods though; she eats pasta dishes and soups and tacos/burritos with all kinds of different vegetables and flavors in them.  Tacos and meatballs are the overwhelming favorites at this point.

One night this month Janda was out for the evening at a baseball game and by some small miracle, I got the kids ready for bed and all tucked in by 8.  A few minutes later, I hear Vivi yelling to Ryder from the next room.  All of a sudden I hear Vivi say "I have a good idea" followed by a loud bang.  I hear a few other suspicious noises, so I went to investigate.  Unbeknownst to me, Ryder had snuck into Vivi's room and he had helped her out of the crib and now they were both on the stairs!  So, now Vivi can escape from her crib (but not her room which has a locked gate) but she hasn't really done it often.

The most fun thing that we did this month was take the commuter rail to Boston to go to the Public Gardens and see the ducks.  The train ride was an event in and of itself.  Vivi loved riding the train in and had a great time looking out the windows and testing out the different seats that were near us.  Once in Boston, we walked to the Common and had a picnic before riding the Swanboats and visiting the Make Way for Ducklings statues.  Considering all of the walking and excitement, Vivi was very well-behaved.  Of course, she slept almost the entire train ride home!

Enjoying the view

Amazed by the train car

On the swanboats

Feeding the ducks some leaves

Riding a duck

Sitting on a duck

Sitting on the Mama duck