Baby Friends Valentine's Party!

This evening R hosted two baby friends, Penelope and Ryder, in the playroom for snacks, coloring and lots of playing. Rutherford has been getting his two canine teeth (plus another tooth on the bottom) over the past week and has not been a happy camper. I feel so bad for him! Well, the party got him in a great mood and once he warmed up he had a fun time with everyone. Ryder and Penelope both made ADORABLE handmade Valentines (R gave out bubbles), and we have such pretty artwork to admire from our baby friends! Here's some pics and a short video of R and Penelope playing hide-n-seek.

 Penelope and Rutherford getting the party started.

Ryder stuffing balls into the microwave and letting them pour out all at once.

 R playing ball with Nathan.

 R high-fiving Ryder.

 Penelope and Rutherford playing hide-n-seek!

 P had hearts on her tights!

The aftermath.

Fruit Slide

R has a little play structure at the Ranch, and he invented a game with it. He picks up fruit in the front yard - limes and tangelos, mainly - and drops them into a little bucket. Then he rolls the fruit down the slide. Hours of entertainment.

PB & Doggies

R giving Lucky and Boo a lil treat. Everyone loves peanut butter!

Lips

Rutherford has learned to put on chapstick. He LOOOOOOVES doing it, and whenever he's in our room, he keeps saying "lips," "lips," "lips!" It kind of sounds like "yipse." He runs over to the table near the rocking chair, where Neddie keeps all of R's bedtime routine items - toothpaste, toothbrush, chapstick, orajel if necessary, that sort of thing - and carefully grabs it, pops the top and smears it all over his lips. A bit on his chin and cheeks, too. He squeals and says "Papa!", then runs to put some on Neddie. Then he laughs and says "Mama!" and puts some on me, too. He is the very best little boy.

Plastic Ball Silliness

Rutherford LOVES it when Papa stuffs his shirt full of balls. Haha!

Changes

Some big changes have happened in the past couple weeks!

First, R has graduated 100% off the bottle. Neddie had still been giving Rutherford a nice big bottle at bedtime, after his nap. But Dr. G said by our 18-month visit (coming up soon), we had to be done. So instead, R has milk with his dinner and now Papa reads him a story after brushing his teeth. R took it in stride, no fussing or anything. Sometimes you're just ready for a change :)

In other news, R just started gymnastics class and it is SO MUCH FUN. I get a great workout, and I was quite frankly shocked at how game R is to try everything. Today was his second class and he flipped around on the bars (with help, of course), marched on the balance beam, did a somersault and even jumped into the foam pit all by himself. He is such a brave little guy, I just love this class. We're still doing music class, too, and Rutherford has just graduated into the next age group up, 18 mnoths - three years. Our first "big kid" class is this week, I think it will be a lot of fun.

 Watching Mickey in bed post-nap!

 Rutherford loves to run run run at the park!

Wagon

We finally got Rutherford his wagon. It is AMAZING. It's a Radio Flyer, but it has all the bells and whistles - two flip-up seats with seatbelts (love that), four cupholders (hahahaha!) and the handle even tucks under the wagon so I can easily throw it in the back of the car. Might try to take it to the park today for a spin, R thinks it's the best thing ever :)