Relish these moments, for they soon will pass

People who have kids who are older often tell people with kids who are younger that they should enjoy every moment, because it all goes so quickly. Usually they refer to the sweet moments in life - the desire for your children to always be with you, their reliance on you as a source of comfort and support, their cute faces, first experiences, before they learn to talk back, lie and manipulate. 

We hear what they're saying. But there are other moments, maybe less obvious to the masses, that moms and dads of yonger ones should also appreciate. The moments where our toddlers want to help! They want to take the dog out to the bathroom (so they, too, can go outside), they want to feed the pets, do the laundry, wash the dishes, dust furniture - you name it - all the chores that parents can't wait to pass on to their young (isn't that why we have kids, anyway?? KIDDING!).

Rye's big thing is doing dishes. He wants to do them all the time and will push a chair over to the sink all by himself just to have the "luxury" of turning on the water and cleaning the dishes. As mommy watched him do this the other day, she couldn't help but fast forward ten years, to when Ryan will actually be required to do the dishes and how she is SURE his attitude will be less than accomodating. Luckily for her, she has technology on her side. And will gladly remind Ryan of the days when not only did he not argue about doing the dishes, but he screamed and cried when he was told "the dishes are all clean."

Cuter by the day

Ryan's vocabulary and ability to create full sentences seems to grow leaps and bounds with each passing day. Part of this can certainly be attributed to the kids in his classroom. This is the widest range of kids (2 - 3 year olds) in one room that Ryan has experienced since he started day care. Up until now, the age range has only varied within a 6 month span.

Another cause for his ability to converse so clearly, is practice. Every day, for as long as we can remember, we have engaged in dialogue with Ryan. While he wasn't always able to talk back, he was certainly listening and it's paying off.

This morning, as mommy was getting dressed for work, Rye sat on the floor and watched. As mommy did a final wardobe check in the mirror he said, "You're cute, mommy!" Mommy replied with, "I'm cute?!" "Yea..." "You like my outfit?" "Yea..." "Aw. Thank you, Rye!"

Then, as we were getting ready to walk out the door, he went over to his little sister. He watched her for a moment and then turned to mommy and said, "Lindsey's [Lilly] beautiful [booaful]." Mommy couldn't agree more and is looking forward to the day Lindsey can give such loving compliments to her awesome big brother.

Watch what you say...they're always listening

Now that Ryan has turned into a little human parrot, we've done a fairly decent job of making sure we don't curse in front of him. Similarly, we try to use our manners whenever possible to set a good example. But no matter how conscious we are of our words and actions, there are still habits and nuances that Rye picks up on without us even realizing it.

Case in point - this is what Ryan looked like when Daddy went to get him out of bed this morning.

Clearly, he had a rough night. When he finally rolled out of bed and was getting his diaper changed, he let out a huge yawn. Daddy asked him if he was tired and Rye said, without skipping a beat, "Rye need coffee." Sigh...

Like father, like son

No need for words, just a picture:

Parents are just bigger versions of little kids

Case in point - everyone, no matter their age, LOVES play doh. The smell and feel of it brings out the kid in all of us. The only difference is now we have the dexterity and patience to do more with this soft, salty, multi-colored dough than we could have ever imagined when we were kids. Daddy spent a good 15 - 20 minutes perfecting this snow man while Ryebread watched in awe.

Lazy afternoon

It was beautiful this weekend, so the whole Bachman crew was outside. Daddy and Ryan were busy playing with dirt and outdoor tools, so mommy took Lindsey over to the hammock to relax and enjoy the breeze. Seriously - how CUTE are these cheeks?!

Easter Eggs??

Since actual Easter eggs are still a little delcate for Ryan to spend too much time playing with, we wanted him to have an alternative way to be creative with decorating. Michael's has these awesome foam easter eggs with foam stickers (Rye LOVES stickers!!) with which to decorate.

He didn't seem too interested in them, but one morning before school he suddenly seemed fascinated and wanted to make as many different eggs as possible. Then, he disappeared for a few minutes. When we went looking for him and found him in our bed, he proudly exclaimed, "Rye make Easter eggs!!"

Little did we know - the "egg" was his diaper. He was so proud of himself and when we saw what he had done, we couldn't stop laughing. In turn, Ryan realized that what he did wasn't just innovative, it was hilarious, which made him want to keep saying it over and over again.

Home "sick"

Lindsey had icky eyes over Easter weekend that we, at first, were contributing to the horrible allergies everyone has been experiencing this year. We were debating about whether or not to let her go to school and eventually decided it would probably be best if she stayed home one more day.

Daddy was a little too eager to volunteer to stay home with her and when mommy got home from work that afternoon, his motives became very clear. Not only did he get to spend a whole day alone with his baby girl, but (bonus!!) it was the Phillies home opener and he got to begin the brainwashing on child # 2.

Hoppy Easter!!

Easter weekend was a lot of fun this year. Although Miss Lindsey is still too young to join in the festivities, Rye is much more aware of the traditions and activities regarding Easter. He did a great job of painting Easter eggs this year (only broke the shells on about 3 of them), was extremely excited to see the Easter bunny (on several occasions), and had a great time hunting for eggs in the front yard!

The challenge for us is to make Easter baskets for the kids that aren't focused on candy. Even the grandparents joined in and made sure we had healthy (but fun) gifts for the kids. Lindsey is still a little too young (though she still got some fun things), but Rye's baskets were loaded with great snacks - pretzles and crackers with cheese dip, goldfish, dried fruit, all natural fruit strips and animal crackers.  Beyond that, he got some fun toys too - a mini golfing set, fart putty, a slinky and much more. The Easter bunny was very kind this year!

Ready for her close-up!

Lindsey had her professional debut in front of the camera when she was just 5 weeks old. She was such a photogenic baby - no crying or fussing with her eyes wide open the entire time. Though we only got a hint of a smirk in one picture, she's such a pretty baby that it wasn't even a big deal. Although - with the cute pucker you'll see below, we're sure we'll have our hands full when she starts dating! Luckily - we have decades (right?) until that happens ;)