Babysitting Sofia

A couple days a week, I watch a friend's daughter, Sofia. She is a few months younger than Rychen P. So I get the challenge of juggling two toddlers, eight hours a week. It's a handful, but it's a lot of fun too. Sofia is so adorable. It's fun to compare her personality to Rychen's (basically it's the complete opposite). Sofia loves Rychen!! She wants to put her hands all over him. She is sad when she gets dropped off, but as soon as she sees Rychen, she wants to get down and play with him. Him? Well he'd rather she left him alone! He just has no time for her. It's hilarious! The other boy in this picture is our friend Wyatt, who lives here too. He comes out to play with them every once in a while.

Waterbabies

So everybody told us we should do "Waterbabies," a swim class for kids from 6 months old on up. Sounded like fun - Rychen P. was experienced, could already go under water and jump in, and loved water. But recently he had been showing more interest in crawling around the sides of the pool... Oh yeah I should have taken that into account. So we started the class, and he just had no interest in it whatsoever. The shallow pool was full of cute veteran kids who had been doing this all their lives. They followed the instructions superbly. They laughed at the songs, splashed, blew bubbles, dove in, and basically did what their parents encouraged. Rychen Parker? "Nah, I'm good, Mom." Yeah he was more interested in the Lifeguard's stick, or in that little blow-up killer whale on the ceiling. But not enough to look at it from a back float.... so yeah 8 classes of that, and now we can say we've done the Waterbabies thing. (okay so he did enjoy himself, mostly.)

Rychen P. and Daddy

This second picture is my favorite. How cute my boys are! Rychen Parker loves spending time with his Dad. Mostly, they play different ball games

(we have about ten different kinds of balls around here). Rychen P. is learning early, and is already voluntarily putting golf balls!

Sometimes Rychen P. is getting really tired before Dad comes home from work, but as soon as he does, he's wide awake and excited to play.

In the first picture (excuse the nudity), Rychen had just returned from a business trip to St. Louis. He brought a few trinkets back, including this blow-up egg ball. It's so fun to see him come back home, with exciting toys to share. That reminds me of when I was just a pre-schooler and my Dad worked out of town. On the weekends, he'd come home with little gifts for us.

Rychen Parker is pretty darn active 90% of the time, but he can also be very sweet and cuddly. He saves his best hugs for Daddo. Sometimes he'll be playing, and then just come over to Dad and lay against his shoulder for a second (like a puppy, in so many ways).

Mealtimes with Rychen P.

Like most children, Rychen P. loves to eat. He likes trying all sorts of new foods, so if you're eating in front of him, Watch out! He's a pretty good veggie eater--He even eats things that I don't like (e.g. overly-pickled zucchini, and raw broccoli). His favorite meal is pasta. He also loves any sort of fruit, like the figs we pick at Daddy's work! It is not uncommon for him to wander the house, toys in one hand, and half-eaten apple in the other. He certainly is a grazer though, so mealtimes can get a little tricky. We sure are putting the broom and vacuum to good use!

Playing Outside

Rychen P. loves playing outside! I chose these pictures because they show how eager he is to get outdoors and get moving! Rychen P. plays pretty well inside, but only for so long -

until he goes to the door and whines like a little puppy to be let out! Even at 6 am he will insist on going out. Now he can even open the door on his own, so we have to be careful to lock it always.

In the second picture, he is strolling along the sidewalk outside our apartment. Sometimes he'll just walk back and forth along the sidewalk, easily entertained. But it's not going to be sunny for long! Oh boy, we're in for a long winter.

Ready..Set...Go!

Here we are, beginning our blog. We have photos online, but I thought it adds so much being able to read comments and explanations of the pictures, but also stories of how we're doing. I really love keeping up with the websites of my friends and family, so I hope you will enjoy this too - and perhaps even start your own!

For your reference, our complete photo album is kept at: http://photos.yahoo.com/rjones501. The albums are organized by month, so each month there should be a new one.