Ryker in Avo's Backyard

AVO & Ryker

AVO tried to get Ryker to say "AVO." He did get it once but he had no idea what he was saying. Fortunately, AVO still knit him a sweater - a gorgeous, red Aran Isle. She even started another one that is blue/brown/cream. Being the knitting fiend she is, she also made Keelin a lovely purple chenille sweater and got her lots of beautiful dresses at her favorite shop: Sal Armani's.

Kissing THE Virgin

For some reason, Ryker was drawn to the statue of the Virgin Mary in my mom's yard. Several times he crawled over, pulled himself up and started sucking on her head. Who knows what that was all about.

Chasing Ollie

"Oh, wow, a kitty cat. I think I saw a kitty cat." Too bad Ollie wanted nothing to do with Ryker. It didn't stop him from crawling after him again and again.

Revival of the Cookie Monster

AVO pulled out the Cookie Monster again. Ryker was a bit scared of it over Christmas. This time he loved it and kept grabbing it, dancing to "it's a blue Christmas."

Patiently Waiting...

We went to Newport to visit my mom, AVO (Ancient Venerable One). Getting there was a fiasco: my car was in the shop so we had to take a shuttle to the airport, flight was fine, shuttle refused to transport us to Newport because I didn't have a car seat (which was not a problem in DC and they didn't tell me when I called to reserve space), so I went to rent a car, but discovered my driver's license expired - 8 months ago! - so they finally rented me a car seat. We had to wait for the next shuttle (a total of 4 hours). Finally got to my mom's after 9 hours of traveling. It would have been faster to drive, but - oh yeah, my car was in the shop. Thankfully my mom had a glass of wine waiting for me upon arrival...

Ryker was actually very good despite all of these adventures. The weather was glorious and I found a nice patch of grass with trees blooming all around. Ryker and I played peek-a-boo with my jacket.

Check Up

Ryker was 10 months and a week by the time we got in for his 9 month visit. I had to reschedule it because he had a tummy bug. He is now 27 3/4 inches tall, 18 lbs 13 oz. (13 lbs more than when he was born). His head is 45 1/2 cm which honestly doesn't mean that much to me either. He LOVES ripping up the paper on the examining table.

Dirty Face

I do my best to keep Ryker clean, but he's a pretty messy eater. This is what he looks like after eating a cookie all by himself.

Rolling Around

There are many uses for an Ikea pop-up laundry basket. Ryker usually uses his as a toy basket. Recently he discovered that when it was empty he could crawl into it and roll around. Wheeee!

Brushing his Teeth

Ryker has 4 teeth and another 4 coming in pretty soon. Since his cousin Jonas has 3 cavities, I'm trying to stay one step ahead and get him to brush his teeth. But, really he just bites on it and then tries to clean the floor with it.

Playing with the Gourd

Louisa went to Mali and got Ryker a really cool, painted gourd. Sometimes he likes to play hide-and-seek with it and sometimes he just bangs it on the floor.

Olive Fun

Marilu and I take Ryker to the National Zoo near our house. There is a giant pizza made out of foam. Ryker likes to climb through the olive and slide down the wedge of cheese.