Ryebread is a lion! Oh my!

Since Ryebread has his "roar" down perfectly to describe the sound of any ferocious animal (lions, bears, alligators...), we thought dressing him up as a lion would be perfect! First chance for his costume was the fall festival at GNB. When we first tried the outfit on him last night, he was running around, roaring and giggling, but this morning - he was just too tired to get excited for the picture. So here's what a subdued lion cub looks like.

Carving Pumpkins!

Rye is old enough this year to be an active participant in the carving of the pumpkin! Daddy decided to be very creative and carve Elmo into the pumpkin (he even gave him fangs!). Since Rye couldn't help with the carving, he offered his services in the form of scooping out the goo and picking out the pumpkin seeds so Mommy could roast them. Mmmm.

He was a little concerned about sticking his hand into the pumpkin at first, so we eased him into the process by letting him play with the "lid."

Eventually, armed with an ice cream scooper, he was elbow deep in pumpkin guts and loving every minute of it.

So much so, that he had pumpkin seeds everywhere! Including in his hair. Eww. :)

In the end, though, Daddy and Rye had an awesome Halloween Elmo pumpkin.

Movin' on up

Ryebread is growing and maturing at lightening speed, which is a good thing and a sad thing all in one. But with a little sister coming closer each day, we think it's important to begin some transitions sooner rather than later.

After an exciting day on a field trip, we decided to keep the excitement going by transitioning Rye from a crib into a toddler bed. We also got rid of the rocking chair and replaced it with big boy furniture! A table and chairs just for him to color and play with toys whenever he wants.

We're hoping these changes will make Ryan feel like his room is his own personal fun space.

Mommy and Daddy were a little nervous with the toddler bed - both for fear of falling out and for fear he wouldn't stay in when it was time for bed. But Rye has been a trooper. Only fell out once during the first night (and went right back to bed with very few tears) and has been very good about staying in when it's time for bed.

The first nap time on Saturday was the most trying. It took about an hour for him to finally lay down and go to sleep, but nap times on the weekends are never much fun to begin with - and already today's nap was much, much better.

A few pictures of Rye's big boy room - shared with pride and slight apprehension as our little peanut continues growing up right before our eyes.

PUNKINS!

The whole Bachman clan took the day off for Ryebread's first field trip. Destination - Milbourne Orchards. They have all sorts of fruit trees/patches - apple, peach, blueberry and raspberry. They have a petting farm with goats, pigs, cows and other four-legged friends and they do hay (straw) rides and bonfires and anything else related to autumn fun.

Our first stop was the hay ride. Rye actually did really well (he's usually not so keen on moving objects that don't have him strapped into a car seat) and was taking in the scenery, playing with the straw and at one point realized there was a really big tractor pulling us along (you'll see the look of surprise below).

Then it was onto the petting farm. Rye got to oink with some pigs and cluck with some hens and even got to pet a baby goat and feed some of the bigger goats. He had a blast with the animals and had a sound for every one of them.

Finally, we got to pick apples (Ryebread and Daddy searched out the biggest apples they could find) and pumpkins to take home. Although, Rye tried to snag one of the bigger pumpkins, it was a little to heavy.

All in all, it was a great first field trip.

Say Cheese!

Ryan's first "smile" on command...a little weak, but still cute.

Girls love guys who can make them laugh

If that statement is true (and mommy is convinced it is), then Ryebread is going to be quite the ladies man as he gets older.

His sense of humor is amazing. Partly because it's not something (we don't think) that can be taught or learned - it's just innate. And partly because he's only 18 freaking months old (OK - 18 1/2, but he's been working on this sense of humor business for a while now)!

He reads facial cues really well and can tell when what he's doing is going to get a laugh. He even gets so excited when repeating the things that get the laughs that sometimes he can't do it because even he is cracking up. Not to mention he has timing down. He knows to wait a second or two for the build up and then go at it again for maximum laughter. It's amazing to witness.

Fun fall weekend

Well this was a very fun-filled and exciting weekend in Ryebread's world. He spent almost his whole day on Saturday hanging out with Daddy - and even got to watch Penn State football! He learned how to say "touchdown!!" and even learned, "ready, set, go!"

Sunday mommy was on Rye-watch and decided to make it an artsy kinda day. So - after a trip to Toys R Us, Rye got his first experience with...That's right, Play-Doh! He was very intrigued, squishing it between his fingers and pressing it flat against the table. He managed to get some into his mouth to taste it out but quickly discovered it wasn't very tasty and made the "bleh" face for the next few minutes.

We also picked up one of the greatest inventions EVER for a kid who likes to color ALL the time:
Aquadoodle! It's a coloring pad with "markers" that are just filled with water. So when you draw on the pad, it activates and colors but if you color anywhere else, nada. Just water. It's fantastic. Ryebread gives it two thumbs up.

And after all the arts and crafts, Rye and Mommy did some potty time and...

RYE PEED IN THE POTTY!!!!
OK, OK that's not Rye, but it happened too fast to grab the camera. It was just a little bit, but it was so exciting! We ran downstairs to tell Daddy and Mommy gave Rye a cookie for being such a big boy. Then we put the pee in the big potty and said "bye bye" as we flushed it away.

What a fun fall weekend!

17 Month Photo-Op

The same people that came out to take Ryan's first professional photos at five weeks old came back again last month to do a follow-up shoot. They were technically supposed to be his one-year photos, but we're slackers and super busy so it became his 17 month photos. Adorable, nonetheless! A similarity between this time and last time was that it wasn't exactly the best timing with regards to Ryebread's mood, but the photographer was extremely flexible and took the shoot outside (Ryan's favorite place to be!). The smiles came pouring out.