Ryker

Ryker has been... difficult lately. But just now as I was flipping through pictures and thinking about what's been going on for him the last few months that I could post about, I'm realizing that there really hasn't been anything special going on for him and maybe that's the problem. Raelin got her puppy, Alaina had a birthday, Landon, being a baby, gets lots of time and attention. Ryker's kinda the odd man out. Hmm. Perhaps that's been the root of our trouble. He's just been SO destructive lately! Part of it is outgrowing his nap and being tired a lot too. But he's just had a compulsion towards pocket knives and Brice's bow and arrows and hammers and screw drivers and scissors and you name it! He also hacked up his second set of blinds so if you drive by our house and think how trashy it looks to have big holes in our blinds, now you know why. But I think my favorite destructive activity he's engaged in these past few months is unscrewing the drywall in his room after having kicked the walls so hard swinging in his swing that he knocked the putty out of the screw heads. And my least favorite was when he smuggled a pocketknife into my car and put gashes, scratches, and holes in a headrest and seat back. Yeah, he's lucky to be alive today.

Speaking of being alive, we went for a walk the other day and we went down this really steep hill. Ryker went FLYING down it on his scooter until he got the speed-wobbles and crashed and burned. Oh, it was a bad one! I watched him as I ran to him to see if he had any broken bones. But he put weight on both hands to get up and do his owie dance. Fortunately, no breaks. Just a big scab that covers his elbow halfway to his wrist, a torn pair of jeans (darn, they were one of the few he had without holes in the knees, but I guess that saved him from a worse knee injury, so it's worth it), and a scabby knee. Poor guy. Despite his extra destructive MO of late, he still has an angelic side to him; that big happy smile and excitement for life will brighten anyone's day!