Ryders 21 Month Picture *Happens to be on Thanksgiving, which was fantastic. We ordered from Balducci's.


Coincidentally, a few pretty big milestones happened today:
1. He has learned to climb out of his bed so we've transitioned his bed into a "big boy bed". Yea, last night, I was changing his diaper and turned around to deposit the diaper and when I turned back around, he was standing on the outside of his bed, feet on the lower rail, hands clutching the top rail. So, tonight is his 1st night sleeping in his new big-boy bed. It took him a while to go to bed, but he is currently asleep. We'll see how the morning goes...
2. As the picture indicates, he is sitting in a big-boy chair! He no longer likes his high chair. So we put him in a regular chair w/ a cushion to prop him up. He ate dinner like that and did a great job.

A few Ryder updates:

• Much like Zoe when she was younger, Ryder has developed issues with stray hairs around the house. While Zoe used to flip out and scream "Hair!", Ryder points at the hair and says "Fuzzy?"
  
• He also says "paci" referring to his pacifier.
  
• We've already begun watching "A Christmas Story" and both kids love it. They really get into the movie.
  

I'm going to backtrack on a lot that has been going on and I just haven't had time to blog about it...

Incidentally, As I'm writing this, Ryder is under the table pooping. Thats his M.O. He goes off into a corner or under the table, all surreptitiously, to do his business and then comes back like nothing happened.

• Yesterday, we had a Daddy/Daughter day. It was me, Swett, James and Carlos. We took our girls to the National Harbor to the Grinch Ice Exhibit. For the most part, the kids had a great time. Zoe was not a fan of the Ice Exhibit. This picture summarizes her experience:
  
  Here are some other pics from the day:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And finally... THIS is how Dads do Daddy/Daughter day (Zoe took this picture):
  
  
  
• November 14th, Zoe and Kia made a Sweet Potatoe Pie. It was amazing!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We had a special Ryder only day where we took him to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was really nice to get some alone time with our boy:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• On November 11th, I picked Zoe up from school. On the way home she says "I want to marry Abraham". Abraham is a schoolmate of hers. She loves him because "he's the best tire swing pusher and pushes the highest"... When we get home (35 minutes later), our neighbors kid (Jude) is in his front yard raking leaves. Zoe looks at him and says: "I think I want to marry him".
  
  
• On November 9th, I was in the "play room" with Zoe. The TV was on (Yes, we put a TV in the play room). A kids channel was on and a commercial came on. It was advertising a game called Zoobles. At the end of the commercial, Zoe says: "I'd like to buy that toy".
  It occurred to me that that was her 1st exposure to kids commercialism. I reminded me of when I was a kid and they'd have these awesome commercials of "remote controlled cars" where the car is zooming around, jumping rocks and landing on its wheels perfectly... Then, when you got the car (thanks Mom), it was not nearly as cool as the commercial.
  
  
• Halloween Pics:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• October 30th, Kia went to the "Rally to Restore Sanity":
  
  
  
  
• In October, my cousin Lindsey came to visit with a friend of hers whose name is also Lyndsey. Both Zoe and Ryder had a great time and Zoe idolized them both. Cousin Lindsey let Zoe play games on her I-Phone and Zoe was enthralled.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Zoe calls an "Ambulance" an "Alambiance"
  
  
• A while back, I came across a picture that I thought perfectly captures Zoes personality. This is an old picture, roughly around the time we moved to Virginia. I call it, "Quintessential Zoe":