Ryder is eleven months.

A quick update on our handsome 11 month old boy!

- Went on his first trip to the aquarium and loved all the moving fish and bright lights. 

- Started eating yogurt and loves it.

- Cut 2 more teeth on top bringing his grand total to 5 teeth. 

- He took 4 steps on his own.

- Ryder's favorite thing to do is pivot in circles while sitting. Every time he starts pivoting I think of that scene from Friends where Ross yells "pivot" over and over trying to move his new coach up the stairs. I can't help but laugh.

- He loves kicking the soccer ball and has very good eye foot coordination

- His favorite toys are cars and balls. It's so cute to watch him drive cars along the floor.

- Ryder will literally hold your fingers and walk all day long if your back is strong enough. Mine is not. I am sore all the time.

- He loves to be outside and loves swinging in the baby swing.

- Ryder discovered my eyelashes and now when he's nursing he will poke me in the eye trying to get them. As soon as he has them in his tiny fingers he starts rubbing them together. It's very tender. 

- He is nursing 5 times a day and eating 3 full meals. He still wakes up once at night to eat, usually around 5:30 and then sleeps until 9am. He takes 2 2 hour naps during the day and goes to bed around 7:15. 

- He absolutely loves the car carts at the grocery store and Home Depot.

- He's been on a couple hikes this month and does awesome in the baby Ergo.

- Ryder did his first slip and slide and surprisingly really liked it. It would take him 3 minutes to get from the top to the bottom on his own scooting his way down but he didn't mind the freezing cold water. He didn't like being pushed down or going fast, but he really enjoyed doing it all by himself.

- He LOVES his blue blankey. He sucks on the corners when he's falling asleep and absolutely cannot sleep without it. 

- And my favorite: his hair is starting to curl in the onset of the humidity. It's so cute! He has 1 curl on the top of his head and the back of his hair is a crazy mix of curls. I'm obsessed! I hope it stays curly.

Ryder is ten months.

At 10 months Ryder:
- Wants to move so badly on his own but can't quite commit. He's more interested in walking than he is crawling.
- He can see the tiniest things, like a small piece of dog hair in the air.
- Loves to play peek-a-boo barn on my phone when I'm getting ready for the day.
- Loves anything round that he can roll.
- Can say mum, dada, calls Caiden "bub" and says "da" for dog
- His first top tooth popped through. I'm not sure if it's the amber necklace or his personality, and I really hope I'm not jinxing myself here, but teething has been a whole different experience. It's hardly changed our day to day at all.
- He has started to grind said teeth and it is driving me bonkers. That is the worst sound in the world. How do I get him to stop???
- Common Ryder sounds: dededede ahhahhahhahh bababababa, laughter, blowing bubbles, and high pitched happy screams.
- Will hold your fingers to stand up then sit down then stand up for hours if you have nothing else to do.
- Started to enjoy his jumper.
- Will not sit in the stroller for more than 10 minutes but will sit in the sling or ergo for hours.
- Recognizes the YMCA as soon as we walk in and immediately starts crying because he doesn't want to be left at childcare.
- Loves ritz crackers, blueberry/banana/spinach puree, and cliff kids bars.

Ryder is nine months.

This blog has basically turned into a monthly Ryder update. Such is life with two kids I guess. This has taken a real backseat to everything else we have going on and all the sharing via social media makes me feel ok with that. But I do want to remember all the things that Ryder is learning and doing. So here we are...

At nine months:

- Ryder is __ and __

- He is one drooly baby. He's currently cutting his top middle teeth, one of them has broken the surface and the second one is right behind. He's still pleasant as pie.

- He loves to shake his head no no no and will do it on command.

- Ryder learned how to play peek-a-boo on his own and laughs so hard. 

- He will dive bomb out of your hands when he sets his eyes on something he wants. He also will try to scoot towards things on his bum but isn't quite there yet so he usually ends up face planting. Poor kid.

- Ryder is much more interesting in standing and walking than he is crawling. He loves to stand up and hold your fingers to walk. I still don't know how those tiny feet will ever hold up his big ole noggin. He's a bit top heavy.

- Ryder loves to clap his hands. He especially loves it when you say yay and good job when he's clapping his hands. If you don't he will say yay for you.

- He loves to point. His stubby little finger will point to exactly what he wants. He's also been known to demand food by banging his hand on his tray, pointing as his food, and then putting his finger in his mouth. He's one smart cookie.

- Speaking of food I started puree'ing his food myself and he loves it. His favorites seem to be anything with blueberries and anything with peaches. He also love ritz crackers.

- The only words he seems to use consistently and to get our attention is "mum" and "da" but he will look for Caiden if we say brother and he knows who Nixon is if we say dog.

- He's taken a liking balls and cars. Those are his favorite things to get his grabby hands on. He thinks everything belongs to him though and will not hesitate to grab whatever Caiden's playing with away. How do you teach sharing to a 9 month old? It riles Caiden's feathers which I think Ryder also likes. He's kind of a stinker.

- Ryder has mastered putting his arms out for people that he wants to hold him (i.e. me) and denying people he doesn't want by turning his body into me. 

- We had a little rough patch as far as sleeping goes for about 2 weeks while we were visiting my family in CT. It was torture. But we are back on track.

- Ryder got to see snow for the first time while we were in CT. He didn't seem to thrilled by it.