2 Years Old

My darling Christopher Sawyer is two years old! I can't believe how quickly this last year has flown by. He is a joy and brings us so much happiness. He is a very good child, not too fussy or whiny, lots and lots of fun. Talkative like you wouldn't believe. And he loves to sing and laugh. We are so very blessed to be his parents.

Last night being one year old.

Playing in the "pool" we made.

Camping and getting dirty.

Four-wheeler ride with Mom.

Splashing.

Throwing rocks with Daddy.

Cupcakes at the zoo with cousins on his birthday. The frosting was a great success.

Helping Mommy mop the floor.

Camping is the best thing for little boys!

His two year measurements are:

26 lbs (26%)

33 3/4 inches tall (41%)

47 cm head (12%)

Some Videos

I heard Sawyer singing in the backseat and finally figured out what he was singing: Ring Around the Rosies! I have not sang that song to him in about a month. I can't believe he remembers it! The "ashes, ashes" part sounds more like "horsie, horsie" but I was still impressed.

This one is sideways but I heard Sawyer just saying names and when I walked over he was looking at family pictures. He did say more names before I started recording: Ollie, Natalee and Anya.

I used up the last of my flour and Sauce found his way into the bucket.

20 Months!

15 Months

Weight: 23 lbs 2 oz - 30%
Height: 30 3/4 inches - 37%
Head: 46 1/2 cm - 30%

• Words: Dada, Ruru (Ruby), uh-oh, oust (outside), ocks (socks), "Baa" (when you see just about any animal), Mama (FINALLY!), up, please, and you sign "more"
• You fold your hands for prayers now
• One of your favorite things is to go out the doggie door and play in the backyard
• Your current favorite toys are cars. You love to make the sounds that Daddy makes when you play with them. You will play trains with him for a long time.
• You are getting really good at feeding yourself (cottage cheese at this very moment!) and you always want a utensil.
• You love to eat what Mommy and Daddy are eating
• You love to feed Ruby a treat.
• You love to do pretty much anything Ruby is doing, you will push her out of her bed so you can lay down in it
• You have a great love of books already. This makes Mommy very happy
• You love animals, especially dogs, and like to make noises at them
• You love to have talking/screaming matches with Daddy
• When one of us comes home at the end of the day you run to us for a hug
• After we change your dirty diaper I put it in a bag. Then you want to take it "oust" all by yourself. You carry the bag downstairs, to the door and then down the sidewalk to the garbage can. 
• We traded you to a convertible car seat (still rear-facing) for our trip to Yellowstone and you loved it. There was so little fussing the entire trip! You really liked being able to see so much
• Today you have been saying "Up, please" for the first time ever. You want to sit at the table with Mommy. It is so precious
• You sleep about 12 1/2 hours at night. We are currently transitioning from two naps to one. 
• You wear size three diapers still. We just put away your nine month clothes
• You love to sit behind the steering wheel and "drive" the jeeps
• You are very good at having alone playtime. You are starting to show some small interest in playing with others, except Daddy whom you LOVE to play with

One Year!

Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz 24%
Height: 29 1/2 in 39%
Head: 46 cm 37%
Wearing 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers (still!)

Took your first steps on your first birthday. Two steps to Daddy. Really figured out the walking on Sunday, July 6th. That morning you went eleven steps which was your record. When we came home from church you had figured it out. You spent all afternoon walking around the front room and kitchen. You learned to push yourself up to a standing position with out anything to help you out. We were so proud of you. 

You learned how to go out the doggie door all the way on July 1st. I laughed pretty hard.  
We have pretty much stopped feeding you baby food and formula. We have just a little bit left to finish up. You really enjoy eating grownup food and using your own fork or spoon.

You call Ruby Dew  "De-yew"
You like peek-a-boo and putting items inside other items like a ball into a cup or bowl 
Love to drink out of my water mug and daddy's sports bottles

Routine

This was a fun little find. It is the list of instructions I left for a babysitter for Sawyer. It's interesting to see which parts of the bedtime routine we have had to change and which parts remain. :)

"Saywer will eat around 4:30 (while I am there) and then again around 7:30. He will probably take up to 5 oz (we warm it up). He is usually good about burping for me. And these days there is always a little spitup, too. Then he can have some playtime. Around 8:00-8:15 we start bedtime (he is flexible so you can take care of your kids first if you want).
Bedtime: We change his diaper and put on the nighttime diaper (it is the blue-ish one). We put on pjs (white thermal with orange and grey foxes and socks if needed). We give nose spray and gas relief (o.3 mL). We read The Bear Snores On then read a couple verses of Scripture. We swaddle him up with one arm out (doesn’t matter which) and then say a prayer. Then we hold him and hum Families Can Be Together Forever and lay him down. He sometimes gets fussy in here so you can give him his binkie whenever he is ready for it. We lay him down with his snuggle buddy but check on him to make sure he hasn’t covered his face with it (he likes to do that) and once he is asleep we move snuggle buddy out of reach.

"It’s about 50/50 if he goes right to sleep quietly or if he needs to cry for a few minutes. Usually if he cries I will go back in after 5-ish minutes and give him his binkie again and then he goes to sleep. He gets pretty warm when he is tired so that is a good sign. :)
He should sleep until I get there to pick him up. If he is excessively crying at bedtime and doesn’t have a burp then you can feed him a little more. Hopefully that won’t be a problem. The game should end around 9:30 and I’m guessing by the time we are back to our car and I’m up there it will be 10:30."

One Year in Pictures

Sawyer Growing Up!

This little bitty boy is growing up so quickly. Here is proof:

Sawyer on his first horsie ride.

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Laughing at Daddy during lunch.

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Trying to sit up...but that darn wall won't get out of his way!

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Playing with the doggie door is lots of fun for you. As long as you don't crawl out there...

Spring 2014 151 from Ryvrstyx on Vimeo.

Trying to climb the stairs for the first time. Yikes. Time for the kiddie gate!

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Laughing at Mommy during breakfast. His giggle is so precious to me!

Spring 2014 055 from Ryvrstyx on Vimeo.

The first time he climbed the stairs he did two in a row! It was April 15th. Obviously I had forgotten to put up the gate. We now have foam pads on the tile just in case...

On April 10th, 2014 our beloved Grandma Riordan (Chris's grandma, Alan's mom) passed away in Las Vegas. We went down for the funeral. It was very nice and sweet. Small, but that was because she did most of her living out East. I sang Each Life That Touches Ours For Good and Chris read the eulogy. Afterwards we went to Mom and Dad's house and took some pictures. Here is Sawyer with both grandparents.

I realized that I didn't have any pictures with just Grandma and Sawyer so we took a few of those too.

A "cousin" was watching us and decided he needed to be in some too. This is Travis. He's a sweet boy and he sure enjoyed playing with Sawyer, the only other person under 35. :) He was a good little buddy.

For Easter we went to Wellsville. It was a wonderful time with the family. We took some (beginning to be) traditional pictures in the flower bed. Sawy-boy is just so cute.

At least most of the time he is cute.... :)

While we were in Wellsville we went to the Baby Animal Days at the historical farm. Right after we got there I fed Sawyer then put him SAFELY on the backseat and shut the door so he couldn't fall out while I got the stroller. Well, that didn't work because as soon as I opened the door again he fell out and landed on his head/face. He cried and so did I. My poor little guy had a small bruise high on his forehead but his nose got the worst of it. I felt so bad. I think he was investigating the door handle area and when I opened the door I basically yanked him out of the car. Poor little guy! But he was a trooper and after the initial cry he hasn't been fussy about it at all.

On April 7th our sweet baby was officially outside of me as long as he was inside of me.

I can't believe how the time has flown. He is learning and growing so much these days and really isn't a baby anymore. He is a toddler and has started crawling a little bit more each day. He still prefers to scoot places but I know that will soon be changing. I just love him so much and am happy and sad that he is turning into a little boy. But as long as he's MY little boy I guess it will be ok.