Life with Ryder

So let me tell you about life with Ryder right now... Oh how things have changed! Ryder is not that sweet little baby who laid around in one spot, played with one toy, and had no opinion! It is amazing to me how every day we face a new challenge. I am constantly on the internet looking up the "right way" to do things, trying to figure out what he "should" be doing/eating at his age, and how to let him have his freedom to explore but still keep some kind of authority so he doesn't turn into a terror child... sometimes I just wish I knew if I was doing it right.... here are some of my dilemmas.

Talking: You here all the time of these ten month old babies saying all sorts of words. Ryder looks at us like we are dumb when we try to get him to say certain words. Ma-Ma and Da-Da he has conquered with no problem. He says them all the time in all sorts of situations. Everyone is his da-da... It is definitely his choice word. We are currently working on the words kitty and Chloe (a good friend's little girl loved to say their dogs name Cody at Ryder's age... so I figured it's close). Ryder is very interested in our animals lately so we figured since they pop up a lot it would be good to start relating their names to him. When we say the names he just continues to get excited, but definitely not talking. How do you go about getting them to actually talk?!



Eating: This is a subject that makes me so proud sometimes and so discouraged at other times. Sometimes our little man can chow down some food... which is usually the case. Ryder has completely given up on baby food. His Grammy didn't try to work past his stubbornness while he was visiting with her and now it's a lost cause! It is ok minus the days he won't eat anything I give him and it upsets me because I feel like he's hungry. I guess if he's hungry enough he'll eat it! Anyhow... in the mornings he has fruit, some cinnamon raisin bagel, yogurt, and some juice. Fruits he likes to eat are strawberries, banana, blueberries, apple, and cantaloupe. Sometimes he doesn't want to eat the fruit after a few bites so I push them into the bagel and he doesn't even notice :) For lunch he always gets some sort of meat.. usually turkey or chicken. I usually get some more fruit in the mix, and he seems to love tomatoes so I cut some of them up. Veggies are a big issue for him. He almost always doesn't like them. Potatoes are pretty easy, but as far as carrots, corn, peas, green beans... they usually end up back on the tray all mushed up. I do what I can, but am having a hard time. Any suggestions? For snacks we are trying to get creative. His new love is raisins!!! It is so nice because we just put the little packages in the diaper bag and he can have them in public when he gets fussy. This is also a food he has mastered picking up and getting in his mouth on his own so it's very nice! He also has been liking granola bars and still loves his yogurt melts. Sometimes we also give him some Publix macaroni salad.... a huge favorite of his! He seems to love pastas, but the doctor said to try to lay off them a little. Sometimes is all we can get him to take though.



Music: Ryder loves music! Especially when I sing and dance for him... which no one else will ever see :) If he is upset I'll play some music from the computer and it calms him right down. We just bought a cd at babies 'r us yesterday which he already loves :)



Tantrums/Screaming: We are getting these under control at the moment, but wow like a week ago they were out of control! Ryder was learning to just scream when he wasn't getting what he wanted. Remember my story about his breakdown at the pond? The other day he was hitting the cable box and after me telling him no quite a few times Derrik finally took charge. When his da-da told him no he held his breath and screamed the loudest scream i've ever heard come out of his mouth and then hit the box again... oh how he loves pushing our buttons! Derrik and I both laughed pretty hard about this situation when he wasn't looking... with this screaming comes my next question...

Punishment: at the age of ten months old what kind of punishment do they understand? Right now we tell him "No" very firmly and he gets his hands spanked (lightly of course!) when he is into something he shouldn't be. His favorite things to get into that he shouldn't be into are the kitty litter box (promise he only gets close!), the animals food bowls, and cords. We tell him no and spank his hands, but literally it doesn't look like it is sinking in what-so-ever! At what age do they start to get that things are good and bad?

His Noggin': Ok... so with all of this wandering and exploring Ryder does to find new things his poor head is taking quite a beating! All the time he is falling and bumping and I feel like at a certain point it's got to be too much. Sometimes if he's really having a bad morning or afternoon it can happen quite a few times. It's like he becomes uncoordinated or something :( Do all babies hit their heads this much or is my baby just hopelessly destructive :(


Clapping and Waving: We've got it folks! Ryder loves to clap. We clap when he's a good boy and eats his food, when we are singing and dancing, or when he learns something new! He loves to clap when he accomplishes things... or sometimes just for fun! Waving bye-bye has all of a sudden taken off too! Just yesterday someone told him bye-bye at babies 'r us and he waved without me even telling anything to him! We are going to start working on blowing kisses next :) He thinks it's pretty funny when we show him!

Walking: don't get too excited... not yet! But... He wants nothing to do with us taking his hands and helping him walk (Thank God because that stuff hurts my back!) He is scaling furniture with no problem and just yesterday we bought him a baby shopping cart that is helping him to walk. He's doing great with it so far! I think we'll have it down soon :)

That's all for now... I thought i'd update some on my little man and his personality right now. He is just so full of life! He loves smiling at people and playing with his toys. His new found love... watching our tailgate on our suv go up and down... i'll get a video up later! Ryder misses everyone and is so glad he can show off for you all on our blog :)