Letter to Ryder

Dear Ryder,

Before this week is over you will be ONE! How is that even possible? I have heard from so many people to enjoy your kids because it goes by so fast. They were not wrong. It has gone by so fast! Even though your first year of life was 365 days long, just like your brother's first year, yours seemed to go by twice as fast! Seriously. I'm kinda sad about it. It makes me wonder if we have a third baby if his/her life will go by 3 times as fast?

Wow, so much to say about you little man. You fit our family perfect. I love having a baby in our home, and its sad that you are quickly learning and growing and becoming so much less our baby.

Its safe to say that you are more challenging to me. I think when I really look at other people's kids, you are not challenging at all, so I don't know if its because I have two of you wearing me out or if its just that you do things way more differently than your brother.

Speaking of differences... I know that I constantly compare you to Brody. I want you to know (obviously not now, because you are too little, but someday...) that I don't compare you to make either one of you feel like you are deficient or lacking in some areas while the other one shines. I do it for two reasons. One, after having kids I have seriously lost some brain molecules or something. I have a hard time remembering who did what and at what stage. By writing it down and comparing I can keep it together! The second and biggest reason I compare, is because I've been told that every child is born with their own distinct personalities. My Brody Boy and Ry-ry are no exception to this! You both are your own little individuals and I love to see how you learn differently or how you handle situations.

Ryder, you are the typical 2nd child. You are much more relaxed at about everything. Your brother would tend to just do things without a second thought. He walked, got teeth, everything, without much trouble. You little one are a little different. Its just like when I had you. I was dialated 5 weeks before you came, I was ready, you were ready, BUT you needed a little nudge. I had to be induced before you would come. You-I KNOW- are ready to walk, for example. You hold on to the furniture and walk around it, you love when you can walk behind the basket with wheels on it and go all over the house, but you just don't want to walk. Today your dad even stood you up and let go without you realizing it and you stood their for quite a while....until you saw he wasn't holding you and you immediatley sat down. YOU CAN DO IT!!!! I guess you'll just have to be nudged.

You still just have 2 teeth. That doesn't hold you back from eating. If we get sub sandwiches for dinner I get a footlong and have it cut into 4 pieces. I eat 2, Brody eats 1, and the other one usually gets wasted, until now. I decided to try letting you eat some. You ate a WHOLE piece to yourself! That was more than Brody ate! Hahaha. You never slow down when it comes to eating. Your dad thinks he may have to get a second job to support your eating habits! If this is how much you eat now, we can only imagine what it'll be like with you as a teenage boy.

I have noticed lately that you seem to be a critical thinker. You see Brody's legos and you try to fit the pieces together. You can't do it, but somehow you know they should fit. We also have a ton of wooden blocks. There is one particular piece shaped kind of like a doughnut and another like a long cylinder. You will work and work until you can make the cylinder piece fit into the whole of the doughnut piece. Another toy you've recently discovered is the barrel of monkeys. You dump out the monkeys and then put the monkeys back in, but your favorite part is trying to make the lid fit back on the barrel. It amazes us that you know these things.

You aren't saying any words but you do like to mimic us. You'll make noises or faces that we make to you. You wave hi and bye. You don't say our names but you seem to know who we are talking about when we say dad or mom or Brody. You love to play peek-a-boo and games where we chase you all through the house.

Ryder you are such a joy. You make us all laugh. People stop us all the time to say what a cute little boy you are, and we have to agree! Happy Birthday big little boy.