Ryder: an Update

I keep meaning to do a post about Ryder, and then I keep getting distracted by facebook. Curse that social network! I waste more time there...!

Anyway, Ryder is an absolute delight, except when he's sick. Like he is right now. Which started yesterday, when he woke up from his nap with a temperature of 102. I didn't do much about it at the time, other than putting him down for another nap sooner than I normally would have. I usually figure a little bit of fever will help his body fight off whatever bug he has. But when he woke up from the second nap he was burning up-- just picking him up he felt like he was on fire. I took his temperature again and now it was 104. So then I panicked and called the nurse hotline while giving him tylenol. She agreed he should probably see a doctor, and got the doctor to squeeze him in that day.

The good news is that it's nothing too serious and should go away in a few days. The bad news is that this put a screeching halt to my plans to visit my friend Carla in Los Angeles the next day. Carla has been fighting cancer for close to two years now, so me exposing her to Ryder's virus would have been very bad. And I was going to stay with my cousin, who just gave birth to a beautiful little girl on Wednesday. The brand new baby probably didn't need virus-carrying me around, either. So that trip has been pushed back a couple weeks and we'll hope for better health all around then.

But enough about that! How about if I tell you the fun stuff about Ryder?

-He is completely uninterested in walking. I have to persuade him to even walk holding my hands these days. And don't even think about asking him to try any steps without something to hold onto!

-Instead, he is much more interested in climbing up and down the stairs. He's been climbing up for a while, and then at the Museum of American History, was practicing climbing down the three stairs he found there. Unfortunately, he was going down head-first, which would not have worked well on our stairs which are steeper, longer, and made of wood. So last week Craig taught him how to crawl down feet-first, and now that's all he wants to do. When I close the baby gate, he'll hold onto it and scream until I finally relent and let him go down again. One of these days we just need to take down the gates, but he still slips just often enough and those wooden stairs are so hard that I'm really dreading it. I fear the bumps and bruises whenever he finally falls without me there to catch him...

-He's very opinionated now. This is a good and a bad thing. It's kind of fun when I offer him something he wants (like goldfish crackers) and get to watch him kicking and grabbing with his hands in anticipation. It's kind of annoying when I offer him something he doesn't want (oatmeal), and watch him shake his head No at me. Or if I ignore the head-shaking and try to feed it to him anyway, he'll push my hand away, turning his head and pursing his lips. There really isn't any way to make him eat anything he doesn't want. But at least he knows what he likes!

-He loves loves LOVES dogs. Any time we see one, he'll get all excited and point and squeal, "Ah-dog-uh!" It's close enough to correct that I'm counting that as his first word, actually. This makes our walks to and from Bentley's school very exciting, because we pass several houses that usually have dogs in the yard. Ryder knows where they all are and will crane his neck around trying to spot his furry friends.

-He also loves Bentley, Kendra and Daddy, naturally. Actually, his word for Daddy is remarkably close to his word for doggy. Okay, it might be the same word. So does that mean he has two first words? Anyway, they all do a great job of taking care of him and loving him right back. At the doctor's, when they kept taking his temperature, Kendra would dutifully feed him goldfish crackers to calm him down. And then when it was time for bed, Bentley offered to let him sleep with Teddy. And of course, Craig is just the best daddy all the time. Obviously.

-He loves the song "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." When I sing it, he starts busting up laughing at the part about "washed the spider out." I don't really know why. As soon as I'm done singing, he points one finger in the air-- his way of asking for me to sing it again. (He doesn't do this for any of the other songs I sing. Just this one.)

-Between his birthday and Christmas, he learned how to unwrap presents. It was pretty funny watching him go to work on each present-- he would just dutifully begin tugging at the wrapping paper, but with none of the joy and excitement that older kids display. And then he would move on to the next one!

-He likes to play peek-a-boo. He's been doing this for a while by turning his head away and assuming that was enough to make him disappear. But now he'll suddenly put his hands over his eyes and then pull them away with a smile. It's great.

-Sometimes when he's really enjoying his food, he'll make humming noises with every bite. That's when you know that he's happy.

-Similarly, when I do something that he likes, he'll turn to me and murmur, "Mammammam..." It means he's perfectly content. And that makes me pretty happy.

-He suddenly figured out the toy car he got for his birthday and now he LOVES to sit on it while I push him back and forth. He just grins like he knows that he's hot stuff with his wheels.

-He likes to look at me, crinkle his nose, and then snort through it. And then I do it right back to him. I'm not sure what we're saying, but it's some form of communication! (It also reminds me of my little sister, who used to make that noise trying to imitate a hog in labor, so that always makes me laugh to myself.)

-He also likes to squeeze his eyes shut and smile at people. It's pretty goofy, but also really fun. He's a nut. But I love him.


-And overall, he's just a really happy, sweet boy! Except when he's sick. Like today. So I'm praying for a speedy recovery!