This is the face you get when you catch Cason having an accident in his pants. Vicious.
He's finally getting to an age where he really enjoys playing and can interact with other little ones. Before, it was more of what they call "parallel play." Now it's definitely, "let's get into trouble together play." 
With Brayden...
At our house in his sea of toys...
With Aunt Mandy at Sammy's birthday party...
Family shot at Sammy's birthday party...
Cason has been super busy this summer! He's hung out with friends and family, seen lots of fireworks (he is officially obsessed with fireworks - which he calls "crackers"), been swimming, and even started potty training! It's been an eventful few months. He has done so well with every new experience. Meme got him some water wings and taught him to swim around on his own and he's even gotten brave enough to jump off the stairs. Nana started with the potty training a few weeks ago and he's done awesome! I even bought him some little boxer briefs so he can feel like a big boy when we're lounging at home. I look at him every day and wonder where all of the time has gone. He is definitely a little boy now, and not a baby. His 18 month check-up went great...he's right on target with all of his stats (90% for height, 50% for weight and head circumference - 26 pounds and 34 inches tall). When we were at this appointment, the nurse asked me a whole series of milestone questions, as they always do. When she was finished, she pulled out her notebook and wanted Cason to point to the cat in the lineup of animals. I suddenly realized this was his first test, and got really nervous. I even said, "Cason, this is your first test!" I'm sure the nurse thought I was crazy, but whatever. He definitely knows what a cat is, along with 20 other barnyard animals, plus their noises, but he was not interested at all in pointing to that cat. Mom was at the appointment with me, so after several attempts, she took the notebook from the nurse and tried to get him to point to the cat...to no avail. He was walking around, more interested in everything else going on besides the animal lineup. Mom and I laughed when we left at how serious we got about it. It's funny how you want your child to succeed, even at this level. I can't wait for team sports one day...I think I'm going to be THAT mom.
Hanging out with Autumn...
This is what we do for entertainment on Saturday nights...
Fourth of July...
We've had so much going on lately, I haven't had time to post! I did want to at least get these two shots up of Cason. He is getting bigger and doing/saying something new each day. He amazes us with how observant he is. He will mimic things you didn't even know you were doing (this could be a good or bad thing). He LOVES the grill outside and begs to go look at it every night when Ryan gets home. Ryan taught him what an arrow is (go figure) so now he says, "rarrow." Ryan also bought him his first fishing pole and it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. He totes it around the house trying to poke Sabyl with it. Consequently, she runs around the living room and kitchen trying to escape which only entertains Cason more and he starts dying laughing. I can definitely say he's well on his way to being an outdoorsman like his dad. He is mesmerized by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Blues Clues, and Jack's Big Music Show. He loves pickles and oatmeal with honey (not at the same time). He learned to say, "love you" this week and gave me his first voluntary hug when I picked him up from my mom's house yesterday. I melted. Ryan's birthday is today, so Happy Birthday Bo! I'll be posting more pictures soon, but just wanted to give a small update.
We had such a fun-filled weekend! Saturday we went with Ryan, Michelle, Brayden, Leette, Eric, Sarah, and Skylar to the Hiram Easter Egg Hunt...always exciting to mingle with the locals. Cason was especially impressed with the helicopter that came by and dropped eggs. He has a noise he makes for aircraft of any kind, but I will not attempt to spell it out because I don't even know where to start. After that, we went to eat BBQ and after he finished his lunch, he had his first two Oreos and a sucker. He was not happy when I took it from him to get in the carseat. After a nap, we ventured back over to dye eggs with Michelle and Brayden. I use the term "we" lightly...this consisted of me dying the eggs and Cason watching while snacking on Cheetos. He did pick up a crayon and draw on one of them. Sunday morning we started the usual holiday caravan...first to Renee's house to see her and Tyler, then to Mary & Ricky's house to see my family, and then to Doug & Lorrie's to visit. It was a very tiring day, but I always say, it's a good problem to have so many close family members to visit!
Me and Cason went with my family to the circus on Sunday. It was so cold outside but we made it through the elements (from the parking garage to Philips arena) and had a great time. Cason danced the entire first hour, and then after intermission, his batteries started to run out. I think he really enjoyed seeing all the animals, lights, and hearing the music! Half of the show was fluff, and the other half was really cool. I think they could have just shown the cool stuff in the first hour and been done with it. Have you ever seen 7 idiots on motorcycles inside of a metal ball all at one time? If not, catch the show the next time it comes around.
He has a fascination with poking everyone in the nose.
I didn't use my flash on this one so you could see how hard he was concentrating on the show.
1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Fox News, the Outdoor Channel, or re-runs of Burn Notice
2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Caesar
3. What's one food he doesn't like? Sour cream - I try to play dumb every time I make black bean and rice casserole and say, "Honey, do you want any sour cream with it?" He always says, "Steph, don't you know by now I don't like sour cream?" And I always respond with, "Well, I just thought I would check again and see if you had changed your mind." He never does.
4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Coors Light
5. Where did he go to high school? Harrison - our high schools were huge rivals
6. What size shoe does he wear? 10.5
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Deer heads...they're slowly taking over my house!
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? He really doesn't eat sandwiches that often...but I would say a grilled chicken from CFA
9. What would this person eat every day if he could? Tuna steak with sauteed squash and zucchini
10. What is his favorite cereal? Cinnamon Toast Crunch
11. What would he never wear? Dress clothes! He complains every time.
12. What is his favorite sports team? Georgia (because of me) & Georgia Tech (because of Tyler) - I know, it doesn't make any sense to us either
13. Who did he vote for? McCain
14. Who is his best friend? Me! - I'm going with Kristen's response on this too
15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Interrupt him when he's on the phone to ask questions. I'm a girl, I can't help it!
16. What is his heritage? I'm not even sure of mine, so I'm omitting this question
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? His mom always takes care of this part. But I do bake him sugar cookies from time to time.
18. Did he play sports in high school? I believe baseball and football
19. What could he spend hours doing? Hunting
20. What is one unique talent he has? He's like my dad...he can fix anything!
Your turn!
I can't believe it has already been a year since the sweetest little boy ever made an appearance in this world. What a wonderful year it has been! Our lives have changed in ways we couldn't imagine and we are all different people for having loved Cason. He has been the best, sweetest, smartest little thing and I can't imagine our lives without him. Although he isn't walking yet, he will take four or five steps and then resort to his quickest form of travel, the army crawl...with one leg out at times. His extended vocabulary includes momma, dadda, nana, papa, hottt (as in coffee because me and my mom are always drinking it), deer (shocker, I know) - which actually sounds more like dee but we get it, ball, oh wow - sounds more like oooh oww, tttt tttt - this symbolizes anything that he wants really bad and points at, boo - when he's trying to scare us, yuck, bye bye, and uh oh. He has also said Elmo and blue, but these are few and far between. His animal noises include dogs, elephants, monkeys, and pigs. He LOVES fans, lights, light switches, vacuums, bath time, Blue's Clue's, Franklin, peek-a-boo, opening and closing doors, banging on the drier, feeding Ryan's fish, taking walks in his wagon, and reading books. He is very curious and likes to try and understand how things work by investigation...poking at wheels as they move and turning everything over to see the underside. He will imitate anything. This morning in the car I moved a piece of my hair and then happened to look back in the rear view mirror...and he was moving his hair with his hand looking at the back of my head. I choked on my drink the other day, and he started coughing too. It's actually pretty comical that he pays attention as much as he does...which tells me we're really going to have to mind our P's and Q's before too long! Happy birthday Cason Rycher...we all love and adore you to pieces!
Seems like only yesterday...
4 months...
8 months...
The birthday party...
