Ryder Lee: 23 Months - Toddler Life

I can not believe that Ryder is almost 2 years old. It still feels like he is my little baby. He still nurses, some days a lot, some days only once. I haven't tried to get him to stop, although I have tried to encourage him to cut back by offering food/water first and trying to distract him with something else. I now feel weird nursing in public since I know a lot of people would judge me for nursing such an "old" kid. Oh well. The more I encourage him to wait, the more frantic he gets about me moving around the house, leaving/abandoning him, etc. I have read a little bit about weaning toddlers and based on everything I have read, he really is not ready. So, since I have the pleasure of staying home with him and it doesn't bother me one bit that he continues to nurse, we will wait until he is more ready. Most nights he sleeps in his crib from about 8:30 or 9:00 until 1:00 or 2:00. Then he gets up and walks to our room where he sleeps between Jonathan and I until morning. He has gotten better at sleeping and unless I have to get up really early I feel good most days. Finally!

He is definitely a toddler now and has strong opinions about things like what he wants to eat, play with, or what he wants to wear. Some days he is very adamant that he only wants to wear his "truck" shirt. Other days he is happy to wear whatever I make seem exciting. He knows what he wants and if he doesn't get his way he has started to run and throw himself down on something (the couch, bean bag, pillow) and cry. Too bad, he just gets ignored and it lasts only about 3 seconds. :) He likes to climb on everything, including me, and when he is "high" up he likes to say, "up here!" Ryder has also started to be a hoarder. He will gather all his cars up in something and carry them around, collect all his water bottles (sometimes up to 5) and line them all up, or bring all his stuffed animals out to sit with him on his bean bag. It is hilarious! Sometimes Ryder is too busy to sit down and eat more than a few bites so I call him my baby bird and he will come stand with his mouth open as I spoon feed him. Silly boy! He loves to play with legos (especially the train), throw balls, read books, ride his big car, and play with his little cars. Ryder still enjoys going on walks around the farm, throwing rocks in the pond, playing with the dogs, and petting the goats.

In the last week Ryder has really started talking a lot. He tells me about everything he sees/does/hears/etc. It is really fun to see his development in concepts now that he can share them with us. He knows who he is and likes to point to himself and say, "Ryder _______" and then points to me and says, "mommy _______." For example, "Ryder water" and "mommy water" when he is distinguishing between whose water bottle it is. He will also point to himself and say "me" and then "Ryder." Fascinating! The other day he walked over to me and said, "two truck" while showing me two trucks! I was quite impressed. He says more words every day. Some of the words he uses are really clear... and then there are the one's that we have to translate.

Here is a list of some of his Ryder-isms:

Papa = Grandpa

Buh = Bus

Peep = Sheep

Titty = Kitty

Hor/Her = Horse

Oat = Goat

Bir = Bird

Ow = Owl

Rairee = Raisin

Nana = Banana

Pane/Ane = Plane

Outide = Outside

Tru = Truck

Ars = Cars

Moomi = Movie

Ro = Rose

Nur = Nurse

Bu = Blue

Wight = Light

Here is a list of some words/phrases that Ryder pronounces very well:

Ryder

Help

Mine
All done

Bubble

Two

Bye

Poopy

Mommy/Mom

Daddy

Tractor

Gator

Water

Pepper

Nope

Ball

Nut

Stinky

Hat

Train

Red

Green

Eye

Door

Eat

Up here

Pillow
Gate
Egg
Yeah

It has gotten extremely difficult to take pictures of Ryder because as soon as he sees and/or hears the camera he just wants to hold it and look at the pictures. He will not stand still or continue doing whatever it is that I want to capture on camera. It is so frustrating! So here are the few pictures I have gotten lately. Enjoy!

Shooting elk up at the Jewell Elk Reserve