Eric, Lindsay and Rylie

Eric, Lindsay and Rylie

Sunday, November 14, 2010

No Caden Yet, but Ballerina Rylie is Here

Caden seems to be a late comer. We are 5 days late and counting. The fun thing we learned today was that when Caden does come Rylie will no longer be a horse, she will then become a unicorn. She has been a horse for months so it will be fun to have a unicorn for a while.

Rylie also started ballet last week. We had thought that grandma Disney would have to take her since it was the day after Caden was due, but since we are still waiting on him all 3 of us got to take her to the 1st class. We don't get to watch since they are better listeners when mom and dad aren't in the room. Rylie thought it was a lot of fun. They had a yellow dot sticker on the floor that they had to stand on and then put their left foot out and point their toe, then do the same with the right foot. She seemed a little surprised that the did not teach the class how to spin around with their hands over their heads and they don't stand on their tip toes. I'm just waiting for her to ask where the dishwasher is so that she can use the handle for a ballerina bar.


Friday, October 15, 2010

Less than 4 weeks to Go

So we are counting down the days until baby Caden gets here. Part of me wonders if Rylie has given up hope that he will ever come. She is funny though, I asked her yesterday if she had a boyfriend, and she said yes, Caden. Huh, not really true, but cute. She will also tell you what she is going to do when baby Caden comes, she is going to help give him a bath, because he will be dirty when he comes out of mommy's tummy. She is going to put soap on her hands then put the soap on him. Every week it is something new. The best was when she told me that when he comes out of my tummy we are going to have to put his head back on because it will pop off. Not sure where that came from. For a while she would tell you that baby Caden will pop out of mommy's tummy and fly up in the air, then fall on the floor, then fly up in the air, then fall on the floor. Guess this proves you don't remember anything about being born. We have also been talking about her being done with daycare for a while. When I asked if she was sure she wanted to stay home from daycare I was told yes, but she wanted to take her baby Caden into school to meet her friends. Maybe when she is older and doesn't like her brother I can bring up that before he was born he was HER baby Caden. Best of all she still remembers who is going to change all the dirty diapers...Dad!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Pumpkin Patch


We went to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. They had a lot of animals that you could pet. As Rylie was walking back from seeing the birds she feel into the dirt and started to cry because she was dirty. We then showed her the pig, who was very dirty and she stopped crying. She got to see some furry cows, some ponies, a very old horse, a couple donkeys and a potbelly pig. She liked the black pony...aka Black Beauty, but he would not come when she called. She thought the potbelly pig was pokey. She went on a hay ride. And she got to pick out her pumpkin after dad picked out her first pumpkin...she now says the big pumpkin that dad picked out his dad's pumpkin where as the little one she picked out is her pumpkin. I don't think dad has figured that one out yet. Oh and by the time we left Rylie found great joy in playing in the dirt. She has now said that she has to play in dirt because she is a horse and that is what horses like to do. I keep trying to remind her of the dirty pig and how pigs like to play in dirt not horses.



Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Can Baby Caden Come Now?

We were tying to explain to Rylie when Caden would be here, so we told her that he would be here after Halloween. A few days later she came to us and said lets have Halloween now so that baby Caden can come. We thought maybe we needed to also add a situation that was not in her control, so we said we also have to wait for the leaves to fall off the trees. Well one night we were walking through the neighborhood and someone had cut a bunch of branches off a tree and it looked like a pile of leaves. Rylie points and says look the leaves are falling off the trees, now can baby Caden come? The poor kid she can't catch a break with getting to be a big sister. Well now we have 6 weeks left and the leaves are falling off the trees and stores have Halloween out, so hopefully she understands that it will be soon for baby Caden to come.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Guilty

Friday night while sitting on the potty, Rylie began to cry. When we asked what was wrong she told us that she had hit Lily on the head at school that day. We asked why did you hit Lily? To which she told us that when she told Lily she was a ballerina princess, Lily told her she was not. Therefore she hit her on the head. We are not sure if she got in trouble at school for this, but we do know that the guilt did hit her that night. Well what do you say, don't hit that is not nice and of course you are a ballerina princess.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Shoe Shopping

Saturday night we went to a couple stores. Rylie and I went to Marshalls while daddy got some new shoes. Will I was looking at some shoes for Rylie, she picked up a shoe box and looked inside. Then I started to walk away and she followed with the shoe box. I said "what you got?" To which she replies, "I'm going to buy these for my baby Caden". They were a pair of boy black and white canvas shoes. I had to tell her that buying baby Caden shoes right now as not a great idea, because babies don't wear shoes and when he does wear shoes we will need to be sure to buy him some that fit. She seemed okay with that and put them back.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Learning about Sports

This past week the daycare topic of the week was sports. On Monday we were told to talk to our kids about what sports they have played. Dad did not read the sheet when picking Rylie up so I got to be the one to teach her about sports. Right off the bat I told her that the best sport was shopping. To which she said "no mom, Capris (her teacher) said shopping was not a sport". Dad did not think that me telling Rylie that shopping was sport was a very good thing. I tried to defend my answer saying that it involves competition and skill, and if you get a good deal then you win. I then decided we offer her a number of options for sports: swimming, biking, ballet, even basketball. Then it hit me her sure to be favorite sport...horse back riding.
On Tuesday when I picked Rylie up her teacher came to tell me how proud she was of Rylie, when they had asked the kids to name sports that day in school the kids threw out answers like "purple" "hat" and then our little Rylie was the only one to name an actual sport...Horse Back Ridding. She was so excited to tell everyone that it was a sport. I was kind of sad that she didn't share shopping as a sport and when I told her teacher that she said at the level that most kids were naming sports, shopping might have been a pretty good answer. I guess we are lucky she actually named a sport. Smarty Pants:)

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Potty Training Continues

We have had a very good potty training week. The big deal was that every morning of 5 days in a row now Rylie has pee-ed in the potty when she has woken up in the morning. Because daycare is not very consistent with the potty training we have not been to serious about it. On Thursday night Rylie opted for not reading a book so she could spend about 30 minutes sorting out her big girl underwear and putting it in piles. I stopped re-folding it after folding all the underwear 3 times. So Friday morning I told Rylie she could wear some big girl underwear when we got home from school and work. We broke out the Ariel underwear pee-ed once then had she wondered into the other room and started to cry that she pee-ed in her underwear, surprise for me it was not pee. Saturday we tried again with the big girl underwear while we were at home. No accidents, and no accidents when we went out and she wore pull-ups. We went to Maple Grove Days in the morning which is a festival of sorts at a near by city. She got to jump in the bouncers and go to the business expo where she got a lot of free stuff (ie. candy, water bottles, whistles, etc.). Surprising to us she made it home still dry and in time to pee in the potty. We would have had a perfect day, except we went to a couple stores after dinner only to get stuck in a tornado warning/straight line winds on the car ride home. Daddy had to do some serious defensive driving to avoid the flying branches and trees in the street on the way home. Rylie and I sat in the backseat and held hands. We got home ran to the basement and after it was finally safe to come out, Rylie had pee-ed in the pull-up. Have to say I don't really blame her for that one. Guess we'll go for a perfect day tomorrow. Won't daycare love it if she goes to school on Monday in big girl underwear, then they will have to deal with the potty training.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Track


On the 4th of July we decided to take Rylie to experience what every 2 year old should experience the horse track. This was the perfect day and year. Not only did they have free admission for the year, but it was family day with free pony rides, a petting zoo, free hot dogs and wiener dog races. We met our friends there since they live in the area. Sad for them we got there earlier and were able to spend time petting the horses and donkey as well as get a pony ride in before they arrived. We then watched a race, which is pretty exciting except that only last about 1 minute. Rylie was not really sure what was going on during the 1st race since they stated so far away you could hardly see them. By the time they got near us, I think she was just surprised to see horses. It was crazy hot outside. Our friends made it through 1 race and a ice cream cone before leaving us to brave the heat alone. We watched another couple races, went on another pony ride, pet the ducks and looked at all the wiener dogs. We thought that would be good except Rylie really wanted to see the wiener dogs race. So back to the race track we went to see these silly dogs race about 20ft. Rylie loved it...it was her favorite part of the day, and that is saying a lot since she had 2 pony rides. When we finally did go to leave we had to pretty much drag her kicking and screaming out of the place. She did not want to leave. As a special treat we did stop at Toys R Us on the way home, that was just as hard of a place for her to leave. She informed us that she was going to live there. The aisle of Princess toys was like her idea of heaven, she wanted everything. All we could say was maybe for your birthday.

Fireworks

Since Rylie remembered the fireworks from Disney World, she was very excited about going to see them again. Little did she know that we didn't have to go to Disney to experience that fun. We actually went to the fireworks on July 3rd, because I figured it would ensure she had a nap during the day. I found a city that was suppose to start the fireworks at 9:30, thinking that would be nice and early. The problem there was it is not dark here until after 10. We waited for about an hour, until 10:15 for the fireworks to actually start. The nice thing was we were able to sit at our van so Rylie spent most that time playing in the car and watching neighboring cars set off their fireworks. When the fireworks finally started she was extremely excited. They were all "so beautiful" and I think each one amazed her more than the last. That fun lasted about 15 minutes into the 30 minute show. As she lost interest I started to clean up our chairs and get her into her PJs. The best was when I went to change her diaper and she asked if I had wipes. I've never had that question come from her...little did I know that wipes were very much needed. Of course I was not ready for that dirty diaper, no real wipes (only hand wipes), no lights and Eric busy enjoying the fireworks. After getting him to get me what I needed we all missed the end of the fireworks. The sad part is if we had not had a dirty diaper we could most likely have missed the mad rush to leave the parking lot. Unfortunately we got stuck waiting with all the other cars. It was only 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot, but boy did it feel like a long time.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Pretty Dress

Yesterday when Rylie woke up and saw that I was wearing a "pretty dress" she said: "Mommy you are wearing a pretty dress! Are you going to wear a crown to work today?" Wouldn't that get me some weird looks. Sadly Rylie couldn't wear a pretty dress to school because they had to wear red, white and blue and she only has pink and purple pretty dresses.

Rylie also got a scraped up eye at school because as she tells the story "I was running to fast mom and fell down. I won't run fast again." Poor kid:-(

Monday, June 28, 2010

Back from a Break

So I kind of took a break from the blog for awhile. Mostly it was due to pregnancy #2 and the overwhelming need for sleep. Well now that 2nd trimester is here, sleep is not as needed so lets recap:

Early March: Trip to Chicago and the Shedd Aquarium
We thought it would be fun to take Rylie to see Grandma and Grandpa Disney and go see the Dolphins. This was also a test for the pre-Disney trip that was going to happen at the end of April. Not to test Rylie but to test if Grandpa Disney could handle an all day trip to the Magic Kingdom or if he would need to bring his own car along. Grandpa Disney failed the test (see next recap). He was pretty much ready to leave the Shedd when we got there. The line was a little too much just to buy tickets. Rylie on the other hand thought the Shedd was great. She got to see the dolphin show, which also included Beluga Whales and a sea lion. She got a dolphin stuffed animal which she named Lucky all on her own. She was also very excited to see the sharks, though they were kind of scary. Overall the trip was a success.

Late April: Trip to Disney World
This was the trip of her life. It started off with a ride on a school bus (not really a school bus, but to her all buses are school buses), this was a big deal. Then we got to take a plan ride. We had prepared her for this since the day she saw an airplane in the sky, telling her “look an airplane, they go to see Mickey Mouse”. So every time she see’s an airplane she says, “look they are going to see Mickey Mouse”. (We now need to fix that because the next time we take an airplane it will be to Uncle Spencer’s wedding and I don’t think Mickey Mouse will be there). We had 3 flights to get to Disney with 1 plane switch in Chicago. She thought landing was great and she got to do a lot of it. The first full day we spent at the Magic Kingdom. We got there nice and early and followed through on the plan to stay until close. Rylie’s first ride was the Goofy Roller Coaster which she really wanted to go on even though mom told her it was scary and that mom would not go on it. Ended up it was really scary. She then got to go to Minnie’s house, to see the Princesses (this was her high light of the trip) before more rides (tea cups, Winnie the Poop, Peter Pan, Small World) all of which were scary. We think maybe we should have held off on the roller coaster until later in the trip, that may have been what put the fear into her. At lunch time she was pretty crabby and would not eat anything…this was the point where Grandpa Disney decided he had had enough fun for the day and went home. After that Rylie turned around…I think it was because of her favorite ride, Cinderella’s Carousel, not because Grandpa Disney left. We rode the Carousel about 3 times and she was thrilled. We went on some more rides, they started to get better, not as scary. We also spent a lot of time looking for a Bambi stuffed animal. Of course the one thing she really wanted was next to impossible to find, but we did find it. After dinner Grandma Disney got a call from Ariel (a former co-workers daughter) and we went to a special meeting with her. It was a feat too get to see her, but it was the best part of the trip for Rylie. She got a private meeting and Ariel hugged Mom, Dad and Grandma Disney, not just Rylie. She got a lot of pictures with her and Ariel talked about how next time they could go swimming together (we are still hearing about this today). Ariel gave Rylie a big kiss on the cheek, leaving a lipstick mark, to which Rylie was very proud of. After the visit we watched the fireworks, which she really liked, then we headed home (11pm). It was a long day. The second day we went to Animal Kingdom. Rylie enjoyed seeing the animals. She got a Thumper to go with Bambi as well as Nala and Simba stuffed animals. Her favorite part was the dinosaur statutes. She wanted to see all of them and have her picture taken with them. This is not at all like Rylie, she doesn’t like to have her picture taken, but how do you miss the chance at having it taken with dinosaurs? She got some pictures taken with other characters, but they were all kind of scary. This was a much shorter day and a nice end to the trip.


Summer Activities: June/July
Rylie got to go to our city’s Father Hennepin Festival with Grandma and Grandpa Disney. She got to ride a pony, which looked like Rain, this was the highlight of the day. She was concerned that the pony was stuck in the fence and wanted to take it home to live in the back yard. (I can’t get Eric to pick up after the dogs, could you imagine a pony). She also rode a Carousel, a car and a train. It was fun but Grandpa Disney got board and we had to go home. Rylie got to go to the zoo with Grandma Dayle, Grandpa John and Aunt Erin which was fun. But the best part was that they had a Carousel which is always a hit. She got a horse comb and a horse cookie cutter, that was very special for her. The sad thing was when we made cookies with the cookie cutter they puffed up so big they didn’t really look like horses, and she wanted to eat the one circle cookie that was made from the remaining batter first. Swimming has been the activity of choice for most weekends. Rylie is very happy just playing in the baby pool for hours on end most weekends. The big thing we must remember is to either fill it up very early or mom ends up carrying out a lot of buckets of hot water because it is too cold.
Big Sister Knowledge: Current
We have been talking a lot about Rylie becoming a big sister in November. She seems pretty excited about the idea. She understands that her old baby room is now the new babies room. She has requested that the baby get her a big Dalmatian stuffed animal for her birthday (don’t worry he is). I am more concerned with the potty training. I told Rylie that mommy can’t change her diapers and the babies diapers, to which she told me it was okay she would change the babies diapers. I’m not betting on that one. She got to go with for the 20 week ultrasound and see them take pictures of the baby, she seemed very interested in that experience. She has also latched onto a name for him. I suggested to Eric one night the name Caden and now Rylie is sure that the baby is named Caden. If you offer up another suggestion she turns it down. The only other name she came up with one day was Poopie, but luckily that didn’t last. I think the name is growing on Eric, as he is the only one not sold on Caden. Rylie may turn that around within the next few weeks.

Potty Training: Current
We are also hitting potty training strong right now. She got to take a potty seat to school, after learning that a big issue is her fear of falling in the potty at school. Then yesterday we bought a bunch of small prizes for the “Potty Bucket” so every time she goes in the potty she gets a prize. This has had its benefits and it’s downfalls. The benefit was she told me for the first time last night that she had to pee. The downfalls were she would not get off the potty because she really wanted a prize. We explained that if she drank water and read a book that she might have to go then, so she did and that was when she told us she had to pee. Then about an hour later she called again that she had to pee, we were a bit late that time. The other downfall was that the first prize was great for about 30 minutes then she wanted to trade it in for something different, this went on for about 3 trades. She was very upset about the prizes and it was getting close to 10pm so we finally had to stop the prize trades. This morning though she was dry and when we sat on the potty she peed and got another prize. The big test will be if she goes at daycare. That is the key to all this potty training business, we need her teacher to follow through with the trying. Her second prize from the potty bucket was blue nail polish, so for the 4th of July we gave Rylie red, white and blue toes.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Deer Watching

On Saturday we went to a forest preserve near our house for their weekly deer watching. We thought that Rylie would get a kick out of seeing the "Bambis". We got really lucky, as soon as we got there some deer began to arrive. They had a building/nature center that you stood in and right outside the window they had corn out for the deer. There were 2 rooms on different sides of the building so for a while there were 3 deer on each side. It was still dusk out so you could see them very well. The bad news was that there were cross country skiers who stopped to watch from outside and scared the deer off. They then brought out some coloring pages so we could wait for the deer to come back. They did come back, but Rylie had lost interest, she found something more fun that deer...a big black snake that they had in the building in a glass cage. He must have been 5ft and was very social. If you put your hand to the glass he would follow it. Rylie and dad spent most the time watching him while mom watched the deer. The funny part was when Rylie saw the squirrels who were also eating the corn, she thought they were skunk...must be that Bambi thing again. We were not there much longer than a half hour, but it was a fun experience, for mom anyway.


Monday, February 1, 2010

Monster Mystery Solved

After the monster nightmare we have been trying to figure out what triggered it. Over the weekend we had a break through. Rylie continues to talk about the monster on TV eating fingers. We are thinking originally that it was due to her watching Jurassic Park, but she denies that the monsters are dinosaurs. Then we asked her what color is the monster. To which she replies white. That is when the light went on for Eric, it was the Abominable Snowman in Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. At the end of that movie when he has no teeth he is bitting his fingers...which leads to the monster eating fingers.

Friday, January 29, 2010

No Bananas For Dad

The other night Eric got a banana for a snack. He sits down on the couch and Rylie comes over and asks to have the banana. Eric figures he can just get another one so he gives her his. Rylie eats the banana all gone. Eric then goes and gets a banana for himself. As he sits down Rylie comes over and asks if she can have his 2nd banana. He can't tell her no, so she got banana #2. Eric was sure to get the 3rd banana while Rylie was still eating her second so that she couldn't take that one too.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Walking with Dinosaurs?

About a year ago Walking with Dinosaurs came to Minneapolis. It is a show where they bring in these huge dinosaurs that are people dressed up but HUGE and they walk about the basketball arena. As soon as Eric saw the commercial he was all about going to see it. For the reason that Rylie was only 1 and because it was such a short showing we didn't go. Well all he has talked about since is going to see this next time it is here. Well they don't have any showing in Minneapolis, but it is going to Chicago in July and Eric is ready to pack up and go. He showed Rylie the commercial online and she said that "this is my new favorite show." I am worried because in the commercial they are interviewing kids who are about kindergarten age and they are saying how scary it is, and we are going to take a 2, at that point almost 3 year old? So I come up with the idea to let Rylie watch Jurassic Park, if that doesn't scare her then nothing will. So we watched it. She was pretty involved, which is not normal with real people movies, she much prefers the cartoons. There were parts when she would sit and shake. She was very concerned at the part when there was a dinosaur in the car, to which dad told her it is always important to check the car for dinosaurs before getting in. We did cover her eyes for the part when the man is eaten on the potty, mostly because we don't want to cause her fear of potties as we are trying to potty train her. Then at the end when they are being chased by the little mean dinosaurs and the T-Rex comes in, she was so excited that the nice T-Rex saved the people from the mean little dinosaurs. It was so nice that she could see something positive out of that ending. I guess we will see what happens in July if we go see Walking with Dinosaurs, I still have my fears.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pre1

On Wednesday Rylie got to spend the day in the Pre1 room (1st level preschool room) here is what they had to say about her day:

Rylie had a super day visiting pre 1. She explored the room. She liked mixing red and white paint to make pink paint. She played on the big playground:)

We asked Rylie afterwords if she wanted to go back to preschool and she said no. We think the reason for this is because she really loves her teachers in the toddler room. But the funny thing is that when we told the teachers this they were surprised and said that when ever the door between the rooms is open Rylie runs right over to the preschool room. She was also the only one to volunteer to go on Wednesday when they asked all the kids who wanted to go. Now we really want her to move for good for the tuition decrease and the fact that they told us that once kids move to that room most are potty trained in 2 weeks. That means a savings on not having to buy so many diapers. They said that typically kids move at 31 months of age, but that is depending on what other moves are needed at daycare. We are hoping February or March will be the magic time.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Learning to Sleep In?

Rylie has been getting better about sleeping in her big girl bed these last few nights. This morning I went into her big girl room to wake her up for school. She was tired and didn't want to get up. Go figure on Monday morning she wants to sleep in, when on Saturday and Sunday she was up a 1/2 hour earlier than on school days. Anyway this morning I told her to stay asleep and I'd carry her to her baby room and get her dressed. She didn't go for that. So she got dressed and I put her down to walk to the bathroom. I went ahead of her and got her toothbrush all ready and the comb and rubber bands out, but Rylie had not followed me. So I go back to her baby room to see what she is doing and she had gotten in her baby bad and gone back to sleep. Maybe there is hope that Rylie will take after her mom when it comes to sleeping in:-)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Rylie Dictionary

Some Words that were created by Rylie for Rylie:

Glassable - meaning breakable

Cornahorna - meaning unicorn

BirdDuck - meaning how Bambi says "Bird"

Monday, January 11, 2010

A Late Christmas with the Eden Side


The Eden side of the family was finally able to get a break in the crazy snowy weather and come up to Minnesota this past weekend. The snow tied to keep them away yet again, but was a little too early. Rylie was excited about the grandma coming so that she could get more presents, it had been a bit of a break since Christmas and the new toy thrill was beginning to wear off. All week she was telling us that she wanted horses and books. She got to help me put the Christmas presents under the tree on Friday night which was pretty exciting for her. She was very persist as to where she put each present. She didn't get to wait up for everyone to get here, but was very excited for her 3rd Christmas morning on Saturday. I think she assisted everyone in opening their presents as well as all her own. I guess she is lucky that she is the only child so there is no competition. She was trilled to get the My Little Pony Nursery from Aunt Erin and Uncle John and of course she got more horse from Grandma Dayle and Grandpa John...just what she asked for. She got a lot more presents and has been pretty busy playing with all the new gifts. When we went out for a couple house on Sunday all she wanted to do was go home to play with her toys. In addition to all the Christmas fun, Nala made a new best friend or at least Charly (Erin and John's dog) made a new best friend in Nala. The good new for Erin and John is that Charly had so much fun that she may sleep for a week.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Eden Christmas 2009 (34 photos), by Lindsay Eden


I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Monday, January 4, 2010

Let's Talk

While we were home all last week, we got in the habit of "talking" about the days events after Rylie had her bedtime story. We would talk about the movie she saw, then the swimming pool, etc. Each night the talking got longer because we would recap all the past events. Rylie enjoyed this and instead of going to bed would ask to "talk". After we finished the major adventures we just asked her what she wanted to talk about, mostly it was about her riding Spirit's Mom round and round and up and down (the Carousel at the Mall of America). Tonight I finally got a new topic out of her...she wanted to tell me what everyone was afraid of:
  • "Nala is afraid of Monsters"
  • "Kodi is afraid of People"
  • "Rylie is afraid of T-Rex"
  • "Mommy is afraid of Triceratops"
  • "Daddy is afraid of Funny Looking Dinosaurs" (see photo below)

Friday, January 1, 2010

A New Pet

The fun was suppose to be done, and then we went to Target, who had all their toys on clearance and dad and Rylie got some new fun...


Meet our new pet...Spike