"I Hate That Guy."

Ryder has always been a little much.  His personality is larger than his body- and it always has been that way (and I hope that it always stays that way- except at bedtime).  As it turns out, not all of his peers are as impressed with him as he is with himself.

A couple of years ago I was at a softball game watching Cory play.  For some reason (I can’t really remember the reason why) Ryder was coming up to the ball field a little later than us with my parents.  While sitting on the hot metal bleachers, there were a couple kids playing in the dirt with their little toy trucks right next to me.  Their ages looked to be around 5 and 3 years old. 

From a distance, I caught a glimpse of my little sweet, curly haired Ryder marching his way to the ball field from the parking lot, strutting a dollar for concession stand treats in one hand and his larger-than-life personality in the other.  

This also caught the attention of the children playing in the dirt.  The oldest boy momentarily stopped pushing his toy truck through the dirt and turned to the younger boy and said, “Hey, there’s Ryder.”  The youngest boy looked up in the direction of my little toddling, toddler and announced, “Ryder? I hate that guy.”  He then turned his attention back to pushing rocks with his toy truck, unimpressed. 

The personality is large with this one.