Please...anything but a Puppy!!!

Some may say that I love to torture my 11 month old son. Yes, I made him start his day by trying on Halloween Costumes. That wasn't the plan for the day. But...as I was digging through his closet this morning and sorting out all of the things that no longer fit, I came across two Halloween Costumes I bought on clearance last November. One of them was THE CUTEST puppy costume. When I bought it, Ryder was this sweet little bean of a baby that still spent most of the hours of his life sleeping away! I envisioned being able to paint his nose black and add little whiskers. Oh how ten months will change things! We have an obstinate one on our hands, who as of this week, has decided to start throwing full blown tantrums. I digress..that is for a whole other blog. I had already decided that there was probably no way I was going to get the black nose and whisker's on his face. Even if I had Matt hold him down, he'd have his hands on it smearing it everywhere right away. So, I will just make due with the cute costume, right?? No!!! Not if this morning was a testament to how he would act dressed in that for a whole evening! He hated it and that is putting it gracefully! I made him stay in it, tugging at the ears long enough for me to take a picture. So now I'll be onto plan b, whatever that is, once it gets closer to Halloween. I guess I will be on the lookout for something without a head piece!

A break in crying and he still looks pitiful!

Did Somebody Say Cheese?

It is amazing to me how babies are like little sponges, picking up on things so quickly! I was cooking dinner and Ryder was scootin' around getting into things he was not supposed to. I decided to get my camera out in case anything became picture worthy. As soon as Ryder saw me holding the camera, he stopped scrunched up his face and smiled! Assuming he thought I should take his picture, this was the dialogue that followed...

Me: Say Cheese, Ryder!

R: Bounce up and down while scrunching his face and making a ridiculous smile ( See Above)

Me: Ryder, Smile Pretty for Mama

R: See Above. It was too funny!

And, since according to my blog, my child never cries. He always has a huge smile glued to his face. Ha! I thought I'd set the record straight. This was the melt down (ok, lets face it, the tantrum) we had last week. I was trying to get some pictures for his Birthday Invitation since that is next month (hello??!!! Where has the year gone??). No smiles that day, but I made due with the shots I got!

All Played out....

So we went to my parent's house on Saturday and Ryder did not want to take a nap! Guess he figured with everybody there he would surely miss out on something! After spending the day exploring at Gran and Granddad's he was so tired! We started back home and the minute we were on the highway he was out like a light! He looks like such an angel when he is sleeping...even if I am biased! We've made it to the 20 lb. mark so we got him a big car-seat, only problem is his head does this when he sleeps. That surely has to put a crick in his neck??!!

Love This!!

OK, so anyone who has a child that is Ryder's age knows that there independence is starting to emerge. Ryder wants to do things himself, but he is not always successful! For Example, he wants to hold his cup himself...but that is a feat. Either A. We are going to spill it everywhere or B. We try a sippy cup, but don't grasp the concept that you have to tilt it back for anything to come out. Until Abracadabra! I found the most amazing cup. It uses the concept of a straw, but it is leak proof! You can throw it across the room and nothing comes out. Alright, don't hold me to that, but it is pretty amazing! We can now sit in the kitchen and drink our milk out of a cup, by ourself...just like a big boy! I recommend! Munchkin Brand at Target!

Much Better!

Finally, it looks like the little summer stomach bug has worked its way out of Ryder's system! He seems to be back to Old Ryder today. I never thought I'd be so excited to say that he is getting into trouble! Since the middle of last week he hasn't had the energy to cause trouble, but today we were back to breaking plates in the kitchen and making a stair escape any chance we could get!

I also had a true Aggie moment today...ummm...how many Aggies does it take to put up a kids tent?? I bought Ryder this tent a few months back that I thought we'd take with us to the Beach in June. We actually did take the tent, but once we got there I was afraid I'd never be able to get all of the sand out of it and decided against using it. So, since that time it has stayed put away in the closet. For whatever reason, I decided to get it out today. My Mom has made him a little fort out of the Pack-N-Play before and he really liked it. So...I thought he'd probably like playing in the tent just as well. And, he did! Exactly an hour later when I finally got it put together! In my defense (I know there really is no defense, but just pretend with me here...) the directions were not that great. The saddest part of the whole ordeal was that I found that I was explaining myself to a 10 month old as he just sat there staring at me trying to assemble this thing! Embarassing yet I still share with you...anyway ended up being pretty cute once I got it up!

Tummy Troubles

Our poor Ryder has been having tummy troubles for a few days now. It is so hard as a first time parent to decipher if and what is wrong with this little thing who can't talk. Thursday he had some runny diapers, but other than that acted more than fine. I attributed it to teething which in the past has sometimes given him some messy diapers. I decided that teething was not the culprit Thursday evening when I was trying to feed him dinner. He really was not interested in eating...a green look came over his face which then resulted in a fountain shooting from his mouth. Now we have had a spitter-upper on our hands since pretty much day one, let me say that spit-up in no way compared to what I experienced. It was an Old Faithful like event. I called the Doctor, but being that it was after hours I talked to a nurse who said a Bug was going around and that all should be better within 24 hours although some messy diapers could linger. And they have...my poor little man. His biscuits (what we call his rear) are so raw and the yuck just leaks through his clothes..we can't go anywhere. I have been worrying so much about dehydration, especially since we are in the Hot of the summer, and made the executive decision last night to make an appointment this morning. I always fight with whether to or to not make a Doctors appointment because what if he really is or is not sick and the Doctor may leave the office saying crazy first time parent....but what has been going on in this little tummy just doesn't seem right. Keep your fingers crossed we find some relief!

Fun with Sprout!

I know that there is a lot of debate regarding whether TV is or is not beneficial for children and yikes even worse babies. Never the less, I have found a a PBS affiliated channel called Sprout. This is a channel that I let Ryder watch. Here are my feelings: I want my child to develop language skills. A lot of days it is just Ryder and I at home. Although I do talk to Ryder throughout the day, there are a lot of times when I have noticed that I get in a zone and am not talking. It is those times that I turn on Sprout if for nothing more than for Ryder to hear people talking. I have found that almost all of the shows have some kind of a lesson and I really like the programming. At any rate, Ryder loves this character in the Evening named "Star". He is basically a stuffed animal that talks. Yes, very corny, but my child loves him! He will stop in his tracks and laugh with excitement at the TV. Matt and I decided to go to Sproutonline.com and see if we could find a "Star" Toy to get Ryder for his Birthday. No luck, but it is really a fun site. Especially for the Preschool aged child. Ryder and those his age (Evan, Trevor, Morgan, Prestley, Charlotte..you get the idea) are still a little young. I had fun making a picture of Ryder with Elmo and just thought I'd sing the Sprout praises!