Two and a half!

Ryker was spoiled this year for Easter.  He had 4 Easter egg hunts.  I think that the first one he ever went to in his life, probably spoiled it for all the others.  At a local mega-church, they had the Easter bunny flying a helicopter and dropping eggs onto a football field where the children could then run out and collect them.  They did the helicopter egg drops every 7 minutes for a little over 2 hours.  It was crazy!  Then he had the egg hunt at his Grandma Voorhies' church, one with his friends, and of course ours at the house on Easter day.  He really was not a die-hard easter egg hunter.  He would walk to get a few eggs and be completely content, which was great because there were so many kids (and sadly parents) that were running, pushing, and shoving to get eggs that were all gone in just a couple of minutes.  It was nice to not be caught up in that and just enjoy his wonder without all the greediness. In addition to egg hunts, the Easter festivities included dying eggs, bounce houses, decorating sugar cookies, playing with friends, and meeting the Easter bunny (he was not a big fan).

Was not thrilled being so close to the Easter Bunny

Loved seeing the Easter Bunny flying a helicopter

Dying Easter eggs

Easter fun with friends

Egg hunt with Grandma Voorhies

Ryker is definitely a daddy's boy.  He loves his silly dad tons and misses him so much when he is at work.

Ryker went and got Jon's work backpack, put it on, and went to the door.  He told me, "Bye bye Mommy, I am going to work with Daddy."

Then he went outside, got on his car, and said it again, waving as he drove away.

Ryker is so lucky to have so many people that love him just like family.  Across the back alley at our temporary residence at our friend David's, there is a very dear special friend Ryker calls "Miss Kaffy" (Kathy).  She has become like a "bonus grandma" to Ryker and she got this amazing vintage Huffy Puffy train with which Ryker adores playing.

Science time with the Siows

Some of Ryker's favorite sayings of late are:

• Stop it - we are working on making this one into something a bit more polite when he is asking someone to stop something...like "no thank-you".
• All by myself - he will completely undo something if he wanted to do it by himself so he can do the complete activity totally on his own without any assistance.
• I huff, I puff, I blow your house down - he loves to say this when he is outside the door, or at the pretend houses at the playground, but will do it at any time followed by some pretty intense blowing.
• Oh, okay - he uses this all the time after you tell him something.  He kind sounds like a valley girl when he says it.
• What is that? - Starting to get the inquisitive questions over and over.  Typically my answer to him is followed by the phrase above.
• Hooway, hooway - His version of "hooray, hooray" when he is jumping up and down excited about something.

Sleep eating ice cream...in true Brewer style (Don't mess with our ice cream).

He really enjoys playing with his "beach in a box".  It is a flour and baby oil mixture that can be shaped like wet sand.

Ryker loves to sing.  His favorites are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, 5 Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day, the Batman theme song (Na na na na na na na na BATMAN!), the ABCs (his occasionally skips some and doesn't quite articulate LMNO), and songs that he makes up.

Ryker sings the ABC's (he skips some sometimes, this happens to be one of those times).

New summer haircut...I just adore this sweet face!

Having fun with a can of shaving cream and sliding on a tarp in the backyard.

Ride 'em cowboy!

Ryker has such a sweet spot for babies.  He absolutely adores them and tries to give kisses and hugs and talks in his "sweet baby voice".  When he sees one at the store he begs me to follow them.  One time he was cooing at a baby at Target while the proud new mom of the newborn showed off her baby.  When the mom said goodbye and started pushing the cart away, Ryker threw himself on the floor of Target and had a tantrum because we couldn't take the baby home with us.  A little embarrassing, but so sweet!

Meeting baby Landon

This boy is nuts for parks!  We usually go to at least one a day.

Looking comfortable on Uncle Colin's mic already.

I love the songs he makes up.  One especially for me - the Mommy song.  I love how he goes into rockstar/yelling mode to change things up a bit.

The car song...must tune the guitar, of course.

And a little harmonica.  Love how he thanks the "audience".

These sweet friends have been hanging out together since they were about 3-4 months old.

Sweet kissing friends.  Hopefully her daddy doesn't see this video!  I love his kissing face.

Thumbs up for TONS of pool time this summer.

Ryker loves the water.  He spent hours climbing up the ladder, sliding down, and then swimming across the pool to do it all again.  He did it over 50 times!

I am amazed daily at how incredibly clever a two year old can be.  For example, Ryker asked for some fruit snacks (a rare treat for him).  When I said no, he got pretty upset as most 2 year olds do and kept asking.  He got over it and I forgot about it. About 5 minutes later he came in holding his doll and patting her back.  He kept saying, "It's okay baby".  I asked him why baby was crying.  He replied that she wanted fruit snacks and we better give her some fruit snacks to make her feel better. Seriously?  If he is this manipulative now...we are in trouble!

Ryker celebrates his half birthday!

2.25 Update

Oh man!  Once this little guy got to talking, his personality is really starting to shine through.

He has wonderful manners, and says thank you very often completely on his own without prompts.  He also likes to say, "Thank you, you're welcome" as one complete phrase; as if he is telling himself he is welcome. So funny!

He has endless amounts of energy, and often asks permission to run and when granted he will run crazy laps around the house, playground, or wherever.  He will just keep going, and going, and going!

He continues to be pretty bossy (I prefer the term...leadership capable).  He has just been introduced to the Thomas the Train show and loves it.  He loves to listen to the song at the beginning and end of the show, and when anyone tries to sing along with it, he tells them to stop singing.

TV and videos are pretty new to him because he never really got to watch them much. When Daddy showed him a short video clip of Superman flying, he immediately became fixated on everything Superman.  He pretended to be Superman flying around the house, he tells people how Superman flies and helps people, and I think "Fly Superman" is his clearest phrase he has ever spoken. He now has a Superman shirt complete with cape, Superman pajamas with cape courtesy of Aunt Amy and Uncle Jimmy, and a Superman figurine with a motorcycle (I'm completely stumped why Superman would need a motorcycle when he can fly).  He spends at least an hour or two each day pretending to be the man of steel.

Ryker does this sweet little gallop when he is happy or excited, like he can't even contain himself.

The "Tickle Monster" is now a very real part of our household.  Ryker has turned this imaginary creature into an imaginary friend for himself.  Sometimes he is afraid of the tickle monster, and hides from him, and other times he plays with and takes care of him like a friend.  Sometimes I even have to "help" him down from the ceiling fan so he can eat breakfast with us.  Apparently the Tickle Monster sleeps outside in the tree.  One night, Ryker woke up at 3am worried about the Tickle Monster and had a hard time falling back asleep even after I assured him the Tickle Monster was just fine and sleeping in his tree outside.  Oh boy!  We sometimes pretend to be the Tickle Monster and play hide and seek, or tickle Ryker under the covers.  He has such a great giggle!

Strutting his stuff in big boy undies!

Sweet friends

Ryker loves hanging with his triplet friends

Sleeping beauty

Superman obsessed

Lions, tigers, and elephants...oh my!

Choco-holic just like his mommy

Rocking the fuzzy hat

Cars & guitars...what more could a little (naked) boy ask for?

Gave sweet kisses and hugs to all the chimp statues

This is just how he rolls.

Picasso Jr. at work

Nothing better than warm laundry fresh out of the dryer.

Zoo trip with friends

Handmade chair from Mr. Sewell

Now if I could only get Ryker to look at the camera and smile like the goat...

Brrr!

Texas winter wonderland...about as winter wonderland as it gets.

Photo-bombing his friend's photo

Cars, cars, cars

Water fun at the Perot museum...notice the Voorhies cocked eyebrow

More Perot fun digging for dino bones in the sand...mostly just playing in it though.

Singing "Let's Trash the Place" with Dad and Uncle Colin

Sings about what he knows best...Potty Diapers song.  

Someone has a major case of the giggles!

2 years - Christmas, New Years, and Birthday

I forgot to add some of the most important events to Ryker's last 2 year update, so here goes...

Christmas 2013:
Ryker was extremely spoiled this Christmas with cars and gifts galore!  We got to celebrate Christmas with Uncle Dooden (David Sewell) and his dad, Grandpa Ed, saw some lights, and visited Ryker's godbrother, Leo.

Our little elf

Checking out the lights

Leo and Ryker

Cutest godbrothers ever

New Years:

We followed our New Years tradition of dressing up and going to St. Pete's, with Ryker in tow.  He had a blast listening to his "Uncle Colin" and socializing with everyone there.  He is such a social butterfly!  He even got up and sang a bit with Daddy and Uncle Colin!

Colin's #1 Fan

As soon as he heard Colin start singing, he ran up and pulled up a chair!

He kinda stole the show...

Singing with Daddy

La Bamba

Ryker's 2nd Birthday:

We continued the tradition of completing an act of kindness for each year for Ryker's birthday.  This year we picked up trash from a wooded area nearby that was in desperate need of some TLC.  Ryker is very conscientious about picking up litter when we see it on our walks, and when we would walk past the woods he would see all the trash in there and want to pick it up, so we made it one of his birthday acts of kindness.  He also helped me bake some oatmeal raisin cookies and bring them to a nearby nursing home.  He was swarmed by lots of adorable old ladies and a few gentlemen in wheelchairs as soon as we walked in the door.  I know that they enjoyed having a little one visit them and relived all their stories of their own children and grandchildren.  

We had a fairly low-key second birthday.  We planned a last minute outing to Chuck E Cheese for Ryker's first time to celebrate his birthday.  It was a lot of fun!  He also continues to thoroughly enjoy his birthday present - a microphone.  

Litter patrol

Throwing away all the trash from his birthday act of kindness

"Helping" me make cookies for the nursing home...mmm hmm.

Chuck E Cheese birthday celebration with family and friends

Delicious cupcakes!