My Eleven Month Old!

Ryder is 11 months old today.  He is a crazy little guy!  I love him more than i ever thought possible!  He still has an obsession with lights and fans on the ceiling.  Any room we go into he has to stare and point for a while.  He has started cruising around the furniture and is actually doing really great with it.  He does try to do things he can't quite do yet and as a result he falls at least a couple times a day.  So he has been getting a lot of bumps and bruises on his head/forehead.  He keeps going back for more though!

His favorite song right now is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree."  His whole face lights up when we sing it, even if he's in the middle of crying.  He'll stop and smile and listen.  He moves his hands around and says "tuh tuh tuh", which is his version of the words.  His favorite part of the song it when it says, "it wasn't really so..."  When we get to that part, he shakes his head like "no" and wags his finger like he's saying "tsk  tsk".  It's so cute!

He also loves saying "uh oh" lately.  He will start saying it before he even drops something (on purpose, of course).  I think he just loves the way it sounds.  When he says it, it sounds like "uh uh"  and when he really gets into it, he'll say the first "uh" loudly and then the second one really soft.

He loves his cousins, Payton and Riley.  He and Payton are especially little pals.  She is 7 months older than him and now that the gap of his abilities vs hers is closing more, they are so cute together.  Sometimes they will put their foreheads together and turn their heads back and forth while smiling.  It's adorable!  Ryder really loves other kids or babies in general.  Sometimes I will just look up videos of babies on youtube and he watches them and smiles and makes little laughing noises.

Ryder loves Kevin so much!  It's so funny sometimes to see just how huge his reaction is when Kevin walks in the room after coming home from school.  Ryder practically lunges out of my arms to hug his daddy. I love it so much!

Ryder is scared of loud noises like the vacuum, the blow dryer, the mixer in the kitchen, etc...  He gets this terrified look on his face and bursts into tears when he hears those types on noises.

He seriously has such attitude lately!  He is becoming more and more stubborn and freaks out if he doesn't get his way.  Not to mention he only has one volume lately, which is LOUD.  He loves to scream everywhere we go.  In the car, at the store, at church...  It's great fun.

Sleeping has been horrible lately!  Ever since he figured out how to stand up in his crib.  He constantly wants to practice standing up, but then I guess he doesn't know how to get down.  So he gets scared and starts crying.  Eventually I go in and lay him back down.  Within minutes he is right back up though. This goes on and on for hours at a time.  I have not been getting much sleep lately, and I'm afraid that makes me super cranky most days...  I just hope he figures out how to sit down soon...

Ryder really is amazing.  He tests the limits of my patience daily, but he also makes me smile and feel so happy countless times everyday.  There are always so many times throughout the day where I feel like I'm not even coming close to where I want to be as a mom.  However, I keep trying to do my best and above all, I definitely make sure he knows I LOVE him!

 Hanging out with Grandpa Briggs

 Grandma and Grandpa Briggs

Trying to walk

 The other day, Ryder and I were playing outside in the backyard.  I was pushing him on the swings and we were having so much fun!