Now go, write it before them…and note it in a book, that they may be for the time to come forever and ever…

Yesterday morning Rianna surprised us with her first steps! Ben tricked her into taking one step adn after quite a bit of laughing from both Rianna and Ryder, we were able to get her to take 3 more steps to me. Each time she does it, she can’t believe we ‘tricked’ her into doing it adn just laughs! Ryder thinks its pretty funny too. She doesn’t walk too often or by herself at all yet, but she has taken her first steps and is on her way to being a little walking gal!  And she even took a slight shuffle step by herself!  My little girl is sure growing up!

Ryder had his 15 month check up today.  He is growing up so fast!  He’s measurements are: Height: 29 1/2 inches       Weight:20lbs 15oz      Head Circumference:46cm.

He is mostly in between the 5th and 10th percentile.  He’s a little guy, but all muscle!  He has met all of the developmental milestones (walking, more than 4 words, stacking 2 or more blocks, ect).  He had to have 2 shots today and while he was not happy that he had to have them, he was thrilled when he went to the store afterwards and I bought him a orange balloon for being so brave!

Rianna had her 2 month appointment today as well.  And what a big girl she is!  Her measurements are:  Height:21 1/2inches      Weight:9lbs 4oz (wow)      and Head Circumference:37.4cm

Rianna is above the 10th percentile in everything!  So she is my big baby!  She is also meeting all milestones (smiling, cooing, turning towards sound, grasping).  Poor girl though, she had to have 5 shots and the oral retro-virus.  She was really ticked!  After the 2nd shot she just turned red and was so mad there was no noise and no breathing until all shots were done.  She has been sleeping ever since.

So both kids got a clean bill of health today! Yeah! No more checkups for a few more months!

Ryder has become such an amazing little guy!  So I wanted to share a few things that he does that just amaze me.

Last week, Ryder spent the better part of an hour sitting in the corner with an empty water bottle trying to figure out how to put the cap on.  He managed to figure it out and even turn the cap!  Now we have to be a little careful if we leave one of ours on the table where he can reach or we end up having water everywhere!

We also had him take this chopstick sized stick and hold it on one end with just his finger tips (no entire hand for this kid unless it is just something big).  Then he started threading the opposite end of the stick into one of the holes in Rianna’s binki!  The kid has very delicate and coordinated eye hand coordination.  I think he’d make a fine surgeon with how delicate he can be with his hands.

And now for the things he says.  He actually has quite a vocabulary I think, he just has to want to use the words he knows.  Some are: water, i water (I want water), cracker, apple, bottle, cheese, all done, lean back, click, bread, duck, ball, daddy, mom, cake, and walk are the ones I can think of right now.  I’m sure there are others that I’m missing, but those are sticking in my head right now.

Today is Ryder’s FIRST BIRTHDAY!  I woke up thinking about how amazing it is that this kid survived this past year.  Here are some things he survived this year:  a crazy mother, airplane ride, falling down stairs, falling out of a shopping cart, being stuffed into a Halloween costume, frying a hard drive, falling out of and onto just about everything imaginable, and having two very crazy parents who like to see what will happen ‘if’.   He is one lucky kid to have survived being a Merrill.

Ryder’s favorite things:

Food: Banannas!  He would turn into one if I’d let him!

Friends: Girls!  Any girl, actually….he only has one friend that is a boy.

Game: putting his toys into the air intake vent and pounding on everything

Rhyme: Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Wheels on the Bus

Words: dada, nana, and da-dee.

Animal: Fish (he stares at them like I do…scary).

Ryder is such a happy and energetic kid.  If he is awake he is moving, and he definitely keeps me very busy.  He loves to pat my tummy when I ask him where the baby is, and loves to give big wet open mouth kisses.  He loves taking showers with us and always tries to get the water.   He can’t wait until daddy gets home and loves to just sit and play with him.  He has done the same hand shaking thing since he was in the womb , it has just evolved.  He is my very special baby and I am so greatful for all that he has taught me.  I never knew my heart could be filled with so much love for one little person.  I am so excited to watch him continue to grow and learn.  The Lord blessed me with a wonderful son and I look forward to teaching him and growing with him.

Today we bought Ryder his first pair of shoes.  He’s had a few pairs, but we’ve never put them on him for some reason.  I guess I just didn’t really see the need to do so.  Now that he is almost one (4 days!),  and has taken his first steps so he will be walking/running all over the place soon, I decided that he needed some shoes.  The three of us went over to Old Navy in hopes of finding some for him.  We found some cute little blue shoes that have a soft sole in his size.  He was just fine when I put them on him.  But then we went to the park.  It was his first trip to the park and we thought it would be fun to have him walk in between us with us holding onto his hands.  Apparently he didn’t think it was much fun.  He went up on his toes and just didn’t want to walk at all.  We heard a lot of complaining from him over having to be in shoes.  Then Ben had a great idea!  Lets take off the shoes!  Nope, more screaming because the grass is still hard and prickly.  So my wonderful idea of going to the park on a nice sunny day to enjoy being together in the sun and have some fun in the park failed…quite miserably too.  For a child who loves it when we go outside, he certainly did NOT like walking in shoes or being bare foot in the grass.  I think I need to put those shoes on him more so he gets used to them.  Otherwise he is going to have one miserable summer not being able to go outside.