Ryder caught a bug of some sort last week and was running fevers in the 104 range for a few days. As a result, he was as cranky as possible. NOTHING made him happy and he cried over any/everything. It was brutal. His fever finally dropped and it was like Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde. It was like we got our boy back. He is once again happy and smiley.

We went to the National Zoo yesterday and had a great time.
We brought our 2 kid stroller only to wind up carrying both kids most of the way. The kids crashed hard on our way home nonethless.


Bonus Pics of Ryder chowing down on an ice cream sandwich:

Ryder at 16 months:

Ryder is beginning to repeat words.

For example, yesterady I told him to say "puppy" and he did a pretty good job of repeating it.

Although he can't yet talk, he understands a ton of the things we say to him. For example, if we say "do you want to eat?", he'll say "yah" and make his way to the kitchen table. If we say "are you ready for bed?" he'll say "yah" and make his way to his bedroom.

Zoe and Ryder are beginning to play better together as well.

Zoe can read!
Last Monday the 21st of June, we were watching some kids show and the word "Howdy" appeared on the screen. Out of nowhere, we overheard Zoe say "Howdy".
The next thing we know, she opens a book and begins to read it! Her first books were the Dick and Jane books. She is now on to reading Green Eggs and Ham.

Zoe's 1st Ballet Recital:

-Ryder @ 15 Months-
Yes, I'm late posting it... if you'd sleep through the night, maybe I'd have more time/energy to devote to ya'lls blog!

Ryder has been saying "mommy" of late. He used to say "mamma" and has switched to "mommy".

We decided to put Ryder in a toddler bed. Kia saw him trying to climb up/over his crib so we decided it was time; before he succeeds and crashes to the floor. Anyway, I build his bed and we got it squared away. After 2 nights of fighting for hours to get him to go to bed, we decided to re-build his crib and put him back in it. Heres hoping he never succeeds in climbing out!

Zoe is learning to read. She has ALWAYS loved to read and seeing her beginning to figure it out is great.

I took Zoe to Grandmas house for dinner this past Tuesday night. We had a great time. Grandpa Steve (Pop-pop) built an awesome pond in the back yard and Zoe christened it by throwing in the 1st pennies (and 1 nickel).

Zoe also had her 4th Birthday:
So far she's had 2 parties and we owe her a 3rd. Its a Birdsong thing....















Me and Ryder at the park:













Current Events:

• The BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast - maybe it will be cleaned up by the time Zoe and Ryder graduate from College.
  
• Lakers vs. Celtics in the NBA finals. Its currently tied at 2-2. Rajon Rondo has emerged as a legitimate star. Kobe Bryant has answered any questions as to who is the reigning best player in the NBA... it's NOT Lebron James, not yet at least.
  

-In The Moment-
This past Sunday, I took Zoe to see “How to Train Your Dragon”. I wasn’t sure what to expect considering our last attempt at going to a movie (see HERE). The experience was amazing! We had an incredible time.
I have often thought, but never verbalized, that one of the challenges to being a parent is trying to be “in the moment”. And, I didn’t think it was possible. I thought that being in the moment was like the proverbial carrot being dangled in front of the horse… unattainable. From the moment they are born, it seems you are always trying to catch up and slow things down.

However, I theorized, if you constantly attempt to be in the moment, you’ll have brushes with it and that's the best you can ask for. Taking Zoe to the movie disproved my theory. You CAN be in the moment, if for only fleeting moments.
To Zoe, it was just a fun time at the movie. To me, it was a rare occasion where I was in the moment. And by that I mean, I was fully able to appreciate, embrace and bask in fatherhood. I left the theater thinking “this is what its all about”.

OK, I know its been a long time since I've posted...

Lots has happened since the last post...

Some milestones:

• Ryder is now able to climb onto and off of our couch
  
• I may have mentioned this before... but Ryder LOVES bananas. He calls them "Nana".
  
• He is super fast so we have to keep our eyes on him at all times.
  
• He like sot sing... in the mornings we put on BackYardigans while he eats breakfast and when the song comes on, he starts singing in his out of tune voice...
  
• We've put Zoe in a new Montessori and she seems to like it way more than her old school.
  

Here are some pics:
Here are the kids in their Easter outfits:



And here they are with the Easter Bunny:



and a bonus Zoe pic:

And the kids hunting for Easter Eggs at Uncle Rays house:




****
Incidentally, in the place we live there is a family of squirrels that has nested behind our kitchen cabinets. Our landlords have named him "Ole one eye" cuz one of his eyes is damaged. They also call him Nutkin. At any rate, they are burrowing further and further into our home and we've asked the landlords to come handle it. They are attempting to use "humane" means to catch and relocate Nutkin.

So there is a trap in the back yard with food inside it. Here is a picture of Nutkin and the trap (note the food in Nutkins mouth):

Zoe takes a spill and really hurts her nose!
Kia took her over to Uncle Ray and Aunt Leahs to babysit Jaydon and Riley. As they were playing, Zoe fell face first into a corner of a wall.

Here are pics:

Last night, Ryder was up from 1am to 5:30am, after sleeping through the night the night before. GET IT TOGETHER RYDER!!!

Anyway, he finally fell asleep at 5:30 and woke up at 7:30am. When I went in to his room to get him, he was standing in his crib. I turned on the light and before any words are spoken, he's in his crib pointing at his diaper bin. So I check his diaper and sure enough he had pooped.

Kia mentioned the night before that when putting him to bed she asked him "do you need a new diaper?" and he responded by pointing at his diaper bin.

Pretty cool stuff... If you're into that sort of thing (babies and poop).

Also... yesterday morning as I was leaving for work, Zoe wanted to give me a "hug and kiss" just like we do every morning. This particular morning, she ran over to me with open arms, and as we were going to hug, she stuck her pinky in my eye. It really, really hurt! In fact, it hurt all day.

Current Events:
The House of Reps has passed "Universal Health Care" bill. Its not quite universal, but a step in the right direction.

Last night, Ryder slept through the night and didnt wake up until 5:45! A big deal.

When I got up with him, it seemed as though he had crossed a new plateau as far as his development. He just seemed to be more confident and sure of himself. We used to notice these "leaps" with Zoe. You wake up one day and have a "new" kid.

For example, for the 1st time, we were able to put him and Zoe upstairs by themselves and they played together without us needing to be there. Normally, Ryder flips out and screams at us. But we were able to enjoy our coffee in peace.

Charlton and Deb stopped by today with their 3 month old twins. Wesley and Samantha:
Super cute babies who slept the entire time! Kia and I commented that our kids NEVER did that.

Ryder was Mr. Personality during the visit. They brought him a belated birthday pressent (a Spider Man ride along thingy) and Ryder loves it.

Ryder is beginning to form words.

For example, he and I were in the bathtub last night and he began to "knock" on the bathtub tile. I said "Say Knock, knock", to which he replied "kno, kno".

He will also repeat Momma and Dadda.

He will also sing. I'll make one of his musical toys play a song and he'll begin humming completely off tune, but its very cute.

He LOVES to dance too. When watching Yo Gabba Gabba, when they do a song, he starts getting his groove on.

Zoe just told me the following:
"You're my best Daddy, in my heart".

So sweet.

So for the past couple of weeks, Zoe has been occasionally asking me if she can shave her face like I shave mine. My usual response is, "Honey, girls don't shave their faces, only boys shave and only when they grow up"; and she ponders my answer and moves on to something else...

Well, yesterday Zoe decided to take matters into her own hands. She went into our bathroom (which is normal for her at this point) and proceeded to grab my razor and attempt to shave her chin. As you can imagine, it didn't go so well.

She took one "stroke", apparently sideways as opposed to down and cut her chin pretty badly. To make matters worse, my Razor is the type that has a button you push to enable the "vibration" feature (a useless feature in my opinion, I NEVER use it). So at some point she pushes the button and that freaks her out even more.

According to Kia, the fallout was terrible. Below is a picture of her cut, the day after:



Lesson learned: I need to put my Razor out of reach from now on.












Other news:

• Ryder is beginning to wean himself from nursing.
  
• It appears the worst of our 1st Winter back in the DC area is coming to an end. Temps are nearing 60 degrees, thank GOD.
  
• We have put Zoe in a new school. Its a Montessori and she likes it 100 times better than the old daycare we had her in. To use her words: "No more stinky Daniel and Abel!!!"... No offense Daniel and Abel, whoever you are.
  

Thought I'd post this for comparison.

Ryder @ 1 Year old


Zoe @ 1 Year old

Ryder is 1 Year Old!!!


Ryders Birthday was Feb. 26th. We celebrated it Feb. 27th.

Grandma came over to help celebrate.

Some notes:

• Ryder signed "Potty" the other day. I was trying to put him down for a nap and he wouldn't fall asleep. I'd give him his pacifier and leave the room and he'd take his pacifier and toss it out of his crib. This happened at least 7 times. Finally I went in to his room and he was laying down looking up at me signing "Potty". I looked and low and behold, he had gone potty.
  
• Ryder refers to his Sister Zoe as "Yaya". He'll scream out Yaya!!! When he wants to see her.
  
• We have Ryder and Zoe in daycare 1 day a week. Ryders "overseer" is a woman named Miss Fran. He seems to have taken to her well. It took a few weeks, but he seems to like her.
  
• Ryder has observed us all talking on the phone so much that he likes to imitate us talking on the phone. He'll grab his toy phone, put it up to his ear and start babbling into it.

Current Events:

• Kia and I went to see the movie Avatar today; we saw it in 3D/iMax. It was an incredible experience. The movie was fantastic and both Kia and I were blown away.
  
• The US lost to Canada in OT in the Olympic Hockey Gold medal match. Booo!!!
  
• A monster earthquake rocked the country of Chile. It was 8.9 on the Richter scale.

As I type this, I'm feeding Ryder his favorite thing in the world... Bananas.

He'll pretty much eat an entire banana. He's also a big fan of mac and cheese.

Ryder First Words
Ryder has been saying "dada" for a little while now. He has also said "Mama". Whether or not he is referring to US is up for debate. However, this past Saturday (the 13th of February) he said his first definitive word. Kia and Zoe were at Zoes ballet and me and Ryder were "kickin it" at home. I was practicing some sign language w/ him. I was trying to get him to sign "ball". So, he's watching me do the sign and I'm saying "ball". Rather than sign it, he said "ball".

Speaking of sign language, Ryder also signs for:

• Milk (when he wants mommys milk)
  
• More (when he wants more)
  
• All done (he signs this one frantically)

Current Events:

• We just survived one of the, if not THE worst snow storms in Washington DC area history. It was actually 2 snow storms, one after the other. 2 weeks ago, it snowed roughly 30 inches. A few days later, it snowed an additional 20". It was kind of cool actually because I had about 6 days off from work (paid).
  We did lose power one night. That wasn't so cool. Fortunately, it was only out for a few hours; although the temperature in our house got down to 58! We all huddled onto our couch to stay warm and slept that way.
  
• The New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl. They beat Peyton Manning and the Colts in a great game.
  
• There was a disastrous earthquake in Haiti about a month ago. Really bad.

One other newsworthy item:
2 Days ago, Ryder began to clap his hands. He'll pick up a ball and "throw it"; and by throw it I mean drop it, but after he throws it he looks at me and starts clapping.

A few updates:

• Last week, I was hanging with Zoe and Ryder in the playroom. All was going well. Out of nowhere, Zoe picks up a tool (I think it was a wrench) from the kid toolbox and throws it "to" Ryder. Well, it hit Ryder square in the face. Ryder, of course, immediately began to cry as I scooped Zoe up and punished her by sending her to her room for the rest of the morning.
  
• Ryder gave his 1st hug this past Thursday. Kia says to him "Ryder, give Zoe a hug!" And Ryder walked right over to Zoe and gave her a great big hug, with his head to the side and everything. He has since done it a few more times. Its the cutest thing ever. We'll have to get it on tape asap.
  
• Ryder has learend to wave to people.
  
• A few weeks ago, Zoes old friend Peyton was in town with our friends Beth and Mike. These are friends from Arizona. Peyton and Zoe were good friends when we lived there. It was great to see them. You wouldn't know it, but Beth is pregnant in this picture.
  
  
• Today we are going to Sophias 4th Birthday Party.
  

Ryders 11 Months old!

Last Saturday, Zoe had her 1st Ballet recital. It went well. She started out doing great, and then when she realized their was such a big audience she was overtaken by the moment and kind of "shut it down". Kia stepped in attempting to get Zoe to participate again and she eventually (by actually doing the ballet with the kids and talking to Zoe) got Zoe to re-engage. It was a great job by Kia and a super brave moment for Zoe.

Last Sunday, we went to the Baltimore Aquarium with Uncle Ray and his family. Here are some pics:






We have begun the "Sleep Lady Shuffle" with Ryder. He has been waking up at around 1am every night wanting to eat. For a while, we indulged him, but decided it's time for him to start sleeping through the night. So, we went out and bought an airbed and put it in his room. Kia has been staying in his room and implementing the "shuffle".
The 1st night (2 nighs ago) was rough. It seemed to me that he cried all night. But Kia said it wasn't that bad.
Last night was much improved. He only woke up once at 4:15ish.

Currently, he and Kia are in his room napping.

As I type this, Zoe is playing a game on one of our laptops, and I'm typing on the other. I just jinxed myself. No sooner than I typed that last sentence, Zoe swallowed a whole potato chip and it freaked her out (you know... the feeling of a hard potato chip in your throat).

Current Events:

• Dallas lost to the Vikings in the NFL playoffs. Daddy and Ryder were bummed.
  
• There was a massive earthquake in Port-au-prince, the capital of Haiti. It was absolutely devastating; especially to a country that was already on the verge of devastation.

A few updates:
Last Wednesday Jan. 6th, we took the kids to their 1st day of daycare. It was not easy.

Last night, Zoe and Mom were watching TV and somehow, the topic of "Talking" came up. Zoe looked up at mom and asked "What makes me talk?".

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Baltimore Aquarium. We met Uncle Ray and Aunt Leah. Zoe and Jaden had a blast playing together the entire time. It was fun (but exhausting) for the parents as well.

Last night, Ryder came down with a fever. He started crying at around 1:30ish so I went to check on him and he was a furnace!

So Zoe is at the dinner table, playing with her stickers while Corey and I finish dinner. She's doing her usual yacking and singing while playing. I looked at her and just really saw my girl in all her wonderfulness, with her creamy skin glowing in the light and her curls and her total immersion in her sticker project, singing Dora and Backyardigan songs. I said, "Zoe, can I give you a big hug because I love you?". Miss Smarty Pants goes, "no.", then without missing a beat, says, "Okay, just one. Okay, maybe two." I give her the first big squeeze of a bear hug and she says "or maybe three" while smiling. So we hugged three times and we loved it.

Ryders 10 month Picture!
technically, Dec. 25th (Christmas 2009), but close enough... We've been busy.


Ryders 9 month Picture!
and incidentally, Thanksgiving 2009 which we spent at Uncle Ray & Aunt Leahs House.

Ryder can walk!!!
You began walking about 2 weeks ago, but it was only baby steps, and few of them at a time. Well, those baby steps have developed into full on walking. For the most part, you can walk as far as you want to with an occassional fall to your butt.

Unfortunately, it's hard to pinponit the exact day because it was a gradual process. Whereas with Zoe, she just put it all together in one day and began to tear it up.

So, Ryder, you officially started walking at 9 months old. In case you are wondering, Zoe began walking at 11 or 12 months old. It's documented in this blog somewhere. NOT that its a competition or anything...

Dad... not so much.
So... This weekend, mom and Zoe are at Zoes Ballet class. You (Ryder) and I are home doing "man stuff". I decide to let Lucky out to use the bathroom. Because it's cold outside, I stand in the mud room with you in my arms. As I'm watching Lucky, he begins to use the bathroom in our main yard (we don't let him go there). So I yell at him and simultaneously step down to the next step.
Well, I miss the step altogether and completely loose control. I fell forward down the next 2 steps (3 steps in all); somehow I managed to partially twist my body so that my side made impact with the ground 1st, allthewhile keeping you safely cradled in my arms. As I made impact with the ground, I took out 4 or the "Candy Cane" Christmas lights we put up rolled over once and then stopped.

I immediately got to my knees and looked you over having no idea what to expect. It all happened so quickly! Did I land on one of your arms and break it? Did your face or head make contact with the ground? Did my body weight crush you??? All of these things raced through my head. As I looked you over, amazingly I could see no visible signs of damage. You cried for about 15 seconds because the fall scared you (probably not as much as it did me) and then you were fine.

I could not believe it and was sooooo relieved that you were OK. Sorry about that son. Dad will be more careful from now on.

A few bits of info on Ryder:

• You have begun blowing "raspberries". They generate a ton of drool.
  
• You have begun to play in Zoes playroom. Your favorite activity is opening and closing the doors to her kitchen play set ovens.
  
• In addition to the fact that you can walk, you've also begun to crawl. You are officially mobile. Much to moms chagrin.
  
• Mom took you to the doctor for your 9 month checkup last week. You were 20.3 pounds and 27 inches tall.
  
• This morning, you and Zoe got in your first fight! Mom left you and Zoe in the playroom for a moment. She heard a thump and then you crying. She investigated and Zoe confessed to pushing you down. She got sent to her room for a while.
  
• Zoe and Ryder saw their 1st snow a few weekends ago. We got a few inches and went out and played in it. Here are Zoe and Mom having a snowball fight:
  

Ryder: You have learned to stand up in your crib!


Current Events:

• Tiger Woods was caught cheating on his wife
  
• Obama has decided to send 30k more troops to Afghanistan.

UPDATES:
Zoe, over the weekend you and I put up Christmas lights this past Sunday morning. We had a great time doing it and you were a big help. However there was one point where I was working on a particularly difficult strand of lights (they only worked if you shook them for a moment and then gently set them down). Anyway, I'm getting frustrated with the lights and you are talking and touching the lights, so in my frustration I blurt out "ZOE! DON'T. TOUCH. ANYTHING!!!"
Shortly after that, realizing that I am probably ruining the moment, I look at you and say "Having fun yet?" to which you replied "yes daddy". The incident reminded me of a scene from the classis Christmas movie "A Christmas Story".

Zoe, Grandma took you and mom to see the Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center. You had an "amazing" time. I was worried that you'd lose interest after 10 minutes, but you were enthralled throughout the show! You have been talking about it since you went. In fact, when you got home you showed us some of the ballet moves you picked up while watching the performance!

In previous posts I stated that Ryder was beginning to take steps. You continue to take steps and you're getting better by the day. A new development now emerging (since this morning) is that you have found a new method of transport, crawling.