17 months old; 27 pounds, 13 ounces.
.
.
Ryder continues to think that being chased around the kitchen table, island, or Family Room chair is the best game around. He has also showed a new/stronger interest in books, and loves for us to read with him. He has figured out that Patrick and I will pretty much drop what we are doing if he wants to read, so he is constantly bringing us books - now, if we could just convince him to select a variety, rather than the same 5 or 6 books!
 |
| Ryder loves clementines! |
 |
| Playing with the shape ball. |
 |
| Reading with Patrick. |
 |
| Right before we left for Colorado at Thanksgiving, Ryder discovered the "ball popper" he received for his birthday. He thinks it is particularly funny to play with it on the tile, since it makes more noise! |
 |
| Ryder loves M&Ms (I can't imagine why), but he seems to be quite messy with the blue ones. None of the other colors have this problem. |
 |
| While in Colorado, Ryder loved emptying out some of the pennies from the jug, and putting them back one at a time. Randomly, though, he would try to sneak one in his mouth. |
 |
| Decorating the Christmas Tree! Last year, we had just moved in the house, and Ryder was only 5 months old, so we put up our (pre-lit fake) tree, but didn't decorate it. This year we tried . . . Ryder was interested for a few minutes, but thought running around was more fun! |
 |
| Ryder splashing in the tub! |
 |
| Ryder loves helping load (or, really, unload) the dishwasher. |
 |
| Reading together. |
 |
| Patrick bought a "Shark" to clean the floors (Black Friday!!), and when we got home, he tried it out. While he was getting the Shark out, Ryder saw the broom, and had just watched as Patrick had swept. He did a remarkably good job in his effort! |
 |
| Ryder showing me his ears. I MUST get a picture of him showing me his nose - it is so funny! |
 |
| Ryder no longer likes to close doors, he prefers to close them on himself now - he thinks playing peek-a-boo is super fun! |
And, finally, we spent 8 days in San Diego this past week - following is one picture from each day!
 |
| We stopped in Vegas on the way down - Ryder was very interested in "Red", but also a little unsure when we got too close. |
 |
| Riding the Carousel at Seaport Village. He enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with Patrick before the ride. Once it started, he didn't love it as much - it was an old Carousel, so it wasn't the smoothest ride. |
 |
| LegoLand - Ryder standing on the tower we built! |
 |
| San Diego Zoo - Pointing to the animals. |
 |
| A self-portrait at the SeaLife Aquarium (part of LegoLand) - sometimes Ryder is good at self-portraits, but most of the time he is looking completely away, or getting upset that he is being held. |
 |
| The New Children's Museum in San Diego - coloring with crayons on the easel. |
 |
| Our day at the ocean was the worst weather day - Ryder still loved running around in the wet sand, just not in the water! |
 |
| How Ryder spent much of the drive home - barefoot, and eating snacks/drinking juice. |
Last email Ryder was still at 7 teeth - the 8th one popped through soon after, and he decided that the best time to cut the bottom 2 molars would be while we were on vacation!
.
.
Also, the day following the last email, Patrick traded in his Ford Ranger for a Nissan Frontier Crew Cab. So, both cars are ready for 3 kids!
