Bike Ride

Last night we spent a good chunk of money on some new bike stuff. Ryder & I got helmets (we'll order Chase a new one online because they only had 1 in store). I got a new bike seat so my rump doesn't hurt the second I get on the bike. And a bike lock so we can keep our bikes:)

Ryder loves his new hat!

 Today Ryder & I went on our first real ride without Daddy! (Well actually it so happened that he didn't have school so Chase rode with us their and then went to work.) We rode to the Library on 1st St and Mesa Dr. it is 2.7 Miles from our house so round trip around 5.5 miles. However we had like an hour brake at the Library so it's not too bad. We go there (Almost) every Thursday for the baby lapsit class. Ryder loves it!

 He fell asleep on the way home. He loves it in his trailer. He cries now sometimes when we get in the car, he'd rather take the bikes. We are hoping to make bikes a main way of transportation for us, a little at a time...

TP

Ryder's I'm so smart moment of the day...

Earlier today I went to the restroom. Yep, I go too! I used up the last of the toilet paper and like usual, I got side tracked and forgot to replace the roll. So later when I needed to go again I find myself sitting on the toilet without any tp... What do I do??? Luckily for me, like usual Ryder followed me into the bathroom. I showed him the empty roll and said “Ryder, can you go in the other bathroom and get me the toilet paper?” He left and came back with the roll! What a smart boy! Then he told me he needed to “poop” which he says for poop and pee so I set him on the toilet. I left him to do his thing while I replaced the TP in the other bathroom. Checked on him and he peed! What a big/ smart boy!

Smoothies

We have been smoothie crazy in the Gibson home lately! They are so good!!! Plus fruit has been pretty cheap lately too. Tonight we had a fun time, Ryder even got to help put everything in the blender. He is such a good helper!!!

Ryder loves doing Cheers!

Story behind the mugs. We love A&W Rootbeer. Unfortunately there aren't many around anymore. On our Honeymoon almost 3 years ago we stopped at one on our way to the Grand Canyon. That is where we got the 2 big mugs. Then when we were in Washington when Ryder was 3 weeks old we went to one there and got 2 little shot glass mugs. It is adorable!!!

So the smoothies kind of look like the antidote from TMNT II, but they were good!!!

Ryder 19 months

Someday I'll get better at this... 

 Ryder is 19 months old and such a big boy! I cannot believe how smart he is. I thought I'd take the time to record the smart, silly, fun things he's up to... 

He is saying so much I can't even count how many words. His newest are Boo Boo (Blue's Clues with hand motions and everything), more, bebe (baby), da (dad) 

 He likes to play a game where he'll point to himself and say bebe? And then he'll point to everyone else to see if they are a bebe. Today he started seeing if he was Da da? 

 He loves watching Blue's Clues and still like The Wiggles 

 He absolutely loves being outside and helping his daddy any way he can. 

He is starting to be able to match animals. We have a file folder game where you match the head of an animal with the tail and he gets most of them right. He gets a few of the colors right. He also has a animal puzzle and he knows where the animals go, he just doesn't quite know how to line them up.

Ryder got a new pet, a beta fish named Red. 

He had his first smoothie last night and LOVED it! It was banana and strawberry. He even got a big boy cup and only spilled once

We went on a family date for Labor Day. We went to the Dollar Theater and saw Lorax. He did great when he was eating popcorn, but then he wanted to get down and play. After that we went to the little play area at the mall. He had fun!

He loves ducks! He loves to shout it whenever he sees one! He thinks every bird is a duck! 

We are slowly working on potty training. My real intent was to work with him so he wouldn't be scared of the potty when we did start trying, but he actually does go every once in a while.

Something I forgot to ever mention, Ryder had his first fili bs experience July 20th, 2012 He got his own burrito and devoured it!

Time Out!

Oh boy! Are we hitting the "terrible twos" already??? We are starting to put Ryder in time out, mainly when it's something we tell him not to over and over again. Or when it's something really bad that we really don't want him to do.

We use to have him fold his arms. That lasted about a day, I didn't want him to feel like he's always in trouble when we tell him to fold his arms for prayer.

We then switched to putting his hands on his head. So we'll have him stand up against something (wall, couch, cabinet etc.) and put his hands on his head. We leave him there for around a minute (if that) and have him say sorry and explain why he was in time out. 

I feel like even though he is only 18 months old he understands. My proof... after he gets out of time out he will go and do that thing that he was just in time out for and then put himself in time out.

Aye aye aye, do any of you have time out success methods? I'm not quite sure he is really getting it...

New Slide

I am SO behind on this! I can't believe it. This should be fun, I don't know why sometimes I get into this rut and think it's a chore. Most of my blogging is done on my craft blog now-a-days, but I don't post a lot of the personal Ryder growing up stuff. 

I'm going to do a bunch of posts and hopefully get myself caught up. Instead of starting with where I left off I'm going to go with most recent and then continue on from here. Then back track whenever I have the time/ motivation.

On facebook I am in a few "virtual yard selling groups". I put that I was in search of a kids slide. I was. Ryder LOVES being outside, but we have nothing for him to play with out there except dirt and sticks (which he loves). Someone had a slide they were getting rid of and was willing to take $5 for it! I was so excited!!! The only downside was that it was in San Tan Valley, like a 45 minute drive. I just couldn't pass this up. It's like a $70 slide for 5 bucks!

So we hopped in the car for FHE and had a fun drive. When we got home none of us could wait to put it back together. And Ryder couldn't wait to test it out. As Chase was still screwing in a piece we started going...

I can't deny it!

Ryder is becoming such a big boy! Right now he is 16 1/2 months old. He amazes me everyday at the things he is learning!

He is awesome at body parts! He knows Head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, elbow, fingers, belly button, toes, feet and we are working on knees. Usually when someone asks, "Ryder where is your_______?" He points to his and then points to everyone else's in the room. It gets a little awkward when it's bellybutton. Hahaha

He loves to read! (He may in fact be squealing for me to read him a book right now.) Throughout the day he will bring me books to read to him. And anytime I change his diaper he wants me to read to him. So I'll usually read one to him and then he "reads" it while I change his diaper. He doesn't really have a favorite book, but there are some he doesn't like as much as others. I'm slowly, but surely making him a quietbook. Hopefully he will LOVE that book.

He eats pretty much everything we give him. I have no idea what his favorites are. Cheese, fruit, cottage cheese. His newest food is chips. Today at the summer free lunch program at Harris Elementary they had Nachos. I let him eat it to see how he did and he loved it! He did so good! He loves to dip his food! I try to include a dip when I can. He usually will just suck off the dip and then eat what ever was dipped. We have been so lucky that Ryder is such a good eater!

Ryder's vocabulary is expanding! The other day we went to the Mesa Arizona Temple and walked around the visitors center. Ryder would point to the pictures of Jesus and say "Jeez". If that doesn't make me feel like a good Mom I don't know what does. Our son knows who Jesus is!!! Some of his other new words is Poot (poop), Sit (used around the dogs, will also point to the ground kind of like how we do when we tell them to sit), boot (Book), He says Dat (meaning he wants something, replacing "ink" if you read his 15 month post).  Ball is still his most used word.

On top of vocal communication Ryder does some sign language. He mostly does More and is starting to do Please. I'm really hoping he'll get the hang of please soon. Right now he just screams...

We love our Ryder Bug and are so grateful to have him in our life!