Rycie growing up

I swear Bryce has grown up so much just over the week or so of vacation. He is talking more (or attempting to talk more anyway). I swear he said "Dave" repeatedly but he doesn't say "Mommy". Whatever. He signs (sign language) up a storm now. He is also comprehending so much these days. Here are two cute stories from the past few days that I don't want to forget.

On Saturday morning, we were getting ready to leave the townhome so I was taking suitcases and bags out to the car. Bryce saw me and acted like he wanted to go with me as I came in and out of the house. He found both of his shoes and got all excited, holding them up to me. I told him to go give them to Daddy so he walked over to Kelly and handed his shoes to him. I went back outside to throw something else in the car. When I came back in, Rycie had his shoes on and as I grabbed more bags, he ran over to the door. It was as if he was like "okay Mom, I got my shoes on, I can go with you now!"

When we got to the hotel in Charleston, he loved running down the halls to and from the elevator with Cason. One time, the elevator door opened on our floor and he wanted me to set him down. I put him down on the elevator floor and he started toward the door to get off. Then he turned back to me and pointed to the room key. I gave it to him and he ran out of the elevator. He stopped at the first hotel room he came to (not our room) and he held the key up as high as he could towards the handle. I guess he had been watching us open the hotel door with the key and he wanted to give it a try too!

When Cason was 18 months or so, I would babysit my friend's kids a few times a month. Their second child was 6 months older than Cason and he would eat off bowls and plates and use silverware perfectly. I always marveled at that. Cason couldn't be trusted with plates and bowls until he was almost 2. And he STILL has to be reminded to use his silverware often. My friend told me that it must be a second child thing, they want to be like their older sibling. Now that Bryce is here, I must agree.

I wasn't sure how Bryce would do without his highchair on vacation. He pretty much always ate off his tray and I never really gave him a plate. I had just started giving him bowls a week or two before, to kind of prep him. I ordered a "toddler safety belt" off amazon for $5 that we could just strap around him in a regular chair to hold him in place. Thankfully, the chairs at the rental house had arms so it ended up working out just great. Anyway, he totally surprised me and did awesome with plates and bowls. So much so that we have put away the highchair tray and he sits in his booster at the counter with Cason now that we are back home!