Bigger (and Badder) and Better!

That would be big brother I’m talking about!  Ryder has gotten so big, when I look at him I can’t even believe what a little boy he has turned into.  Watching Maisy go through all the little baby stages makes me constantly reminisce on when Ryder was a baby and learned the same things.  To think that he will turn 3 years old this year is so unbelievable.  He has gotten so…big!  He can even reach all of the light switches in our house now (that’s what he’ll tell you if you comment on what a big boy he is now).  He’s still small for his age, just now growing into a size 2T, but big to us because he’s not our little baby boy anymore.

His personality is SO big!  He makes us laugh a hundred times a day.  We have such in depth conversations with him about any and every subject, he understands things and asks questions that you wouldn’t think a 2 year old would even know to care about!  He never misses a detail either.  If something in the living room is moved, if I switch to a different purse, put a new case on my phone, add a new app on his tablet…anything different and he points it out immediately.  He has great phone conversations, he talks to Daddy every morning in the car on the way from our house to Nana’s and it is a real back and forth conversation.  I love to hear him talk about what he plans to do for the day and what he can’t wait to do when we all get home.  His memory is amazing, if you tell him you’re going to do something, he will not forget.  He memorizes songs so fast, you can name any show he watches and he’ll sing the theme song.

Aside from getting bigger physically and having that big personality, he has also gotten much BADDER!   Once he turned about 2 and a half he started becoming very challenging for me.  He realized that he got a lot of attention for being good, but he could get even more attention by not listening and doing the opposite of everything we asked.  Our mornings went from smooth sailing to knock down drag out fights trying to get out the door.  Our evenings were a constant battle of Ryder don’t do this, and Ryder don’t do that, and Ryder why aren’t you listening to us telling you not to do this or that??!!  Plenty of spankings and talking to’s later things are finally leveling out.  He’s back to his sweet self but he can turn that bad switch on at any given second.  He gets this look in his eye and does this evil little laugh and I brace myself.  (caught on camera!)

Therapy was another area that hit a rough patch.  We used to be able to pass everything off as just playing, but now that he is older and can do real work they need to ask him to do things…which he has a major problem with.  Our therapy sessions started becoming about 50% work and 50% negotiating with Ryder to do some work.  For his past few sessions I haven’t been going in with him and he is doing much better (sad, but true!).  As much as I want to be with him every second, especially when it has to do with his rehabilitation, I never want to hinder his progress, so if Mommy not being there to baby him or for him to show his true colors around is the solution, then I’ll take a step back and give him that independence.

I did get to sneak in therapy yesterday though and get pictures of him learning to ride his brand new bike!  Even with the behavioral problems he is constantly overcoming previous challenges he faced and continues to get better and better with therapy.

This is what he can usually be found doing at home:

Riding, Riding, and more Riding!  When he’s not riding he’s doing things like this…”Hey Momma, come look at all my vehicles, I lined ‘em up!”

Or playing his tablet and keeping baby sister company!

A post all about Ryder wouldn’t be complete without a few laughs.

One day I asked Ryder what he learned in Church that Sunday and he told me he learned about Jesus in a boat and the waves got big and scary but Jesus was sleeping so they woked him up and the waves stopped.  Wow, I thought, he really retained that story well!  I said “so do you know that means that if you’re ever scared or sad or mad or frustrated, you can do the same thing, you can ask Jesus to help you with that situation.”  He said “Yeah like when my block tower falls over and I get so frustrated I can just ask Jesus to pick it back up” I started saying “yeah that’s right, you can pray to Jesus and…” he interrupts me “actually I could just ask Santa to bring me something better that will help it not ever fall over again, he could probably get it there faster on his sled!” Mannn I knew this Santa thing was a bad idea!

Alan called on the way home from work the other day and asked to talk to Ryder.  Here is how their conversation went:

Daddy: Hey buddy, Daddy’s going to stop at the store, do you want me to pick you up anything?

Ryder: Uhhh yeah I want a hotdog and a slurpee.

Daddy:  Oh okay, looks like I’m going to 7-11.

Ryder: Roger that agent Daddy!

Mommy: Did you just say Roger that agent Daddy??

Ryder: Sure thing co-pilot Mommy!

The other day he came in the bathroom while I was getting ready.  He said “momma can I help you put your make-up on?” I said “sure buddy, here put this powder on Mommy’s face”.  He brushed it on very carefully, nice and even, no lines.  When he was done I said “thanks!  Am I beautiful??” He said “ummm no, I think you need something else!”