Animal Noises and School Pictures

As many of you know (and have heard on multiple occasions), Riley has a wide collection of animal noises that she likes to make. Not only is Riley responding to the question, “What noise does a ______ make?” but she is recognizing animal drawings (abstract and cartoon) and photographs and connecting the noise to the object as well. The learning curve that Riley is facing at this age seems so steep that I guess Cody and I don’t expect such quick progression…we are literally impressed EVERY day with the connections and knowledge she is not only learning but retaining as well.

Last weekend there were multiple instances in which we were totally blown away…. Cody had some animal planet show playing in the background as Riley sat down for lunch last Saturday…I wasn’t paying attention to it and I assumed that she wasn’t either…how quickly I forget that Riley hears and absorbs everything around her! There was a small domestic looking monkey on the show that was stuck on a telephone pole…Riley instantly started making her monkey noise and scratching her armpits. Later that afternoon, she was looking at a book and it had a close-up picture of a gorilla (very different looking than a small monkey) and again, she started to make the monkey noise. I guess we didn’t realize that she recognized “monkeys” with such different looks!

Later that night I took Riley to Trader Joes to complete some weekly shopping. Riley was in a very talkative mood…she said “hi” to everyone who passed by, was using quite a bit of sign language and words to ask for different foods (I always have to give her the food item and she puts it in the cart…when we get to the fruit bars, she always asks for more because she loves them!). While we were getting some milk, she started to make her horse animal noise (which is the best of her animal noises because it is sooo funny). I was looking around for a horse but didn’t see anything…giving Riley less credit than she deserves, I just assumed she was being silly and making the noise for fun. Before we left, I realized that I forgot something in the same aisle as the milk, when we went back, Riley started making the horse noise again. I knew she had to be recognizing something so I looked harder and realized there was a very abstract looking horse piñata hanging from the ceiling…I couldn’t believe that she knew the bright pink and yellow piñata was a horse (it was a very abstract representation of a horse).

Riley’s current repertoire of animal noises include: dog, cat, horse, cow, pig, sheep, fish, rabbit, duck, bird, bee and bear (I am sure I am missing some too).

Below are some pictures of Riley at school over the last few months…Cody and I love this school…they offer very stimulating activities throughout the day, which are not only fun for Riley but very educational as well.

Easter Fun!

Cody was working on Easter, so Riley and I spent the day with my mom. We spent the morning at Butler Park playing on the swings and slides. While Riley loves to play, she also enjoys watching other kids play. There was a group of elementary aged kids pretending to be dogs...Riley thought it was interesting enough that she stood there for 10 minutes watching them! Riley is also very particular about being clean (not sure where she gets its from :)) but when she gets sand in her shoes, she has to clean it out before continuing with her play; if she gets sand or dirt on her hands, she points out that it was an "uh-oh" and then wipes her hands together until it is all gone.

When we got back to my mom's house, one of Patrick's friends was sleeping in the extra bedroom (aka Riley's Room) so I decided to see if Riley would take a nap in between my mom and I....bad idea! It was actually quite funny, we would lay there pretending to be asleep (to encourage Riley) but Riley thought it would be much more fun to jump up and down on the bed, talk really load and climb all over us. After a few minutes of play, I firmly told Riley that it was time to go to sleep. So she would lay her head on the bed (I would see her eyes rolling back in her head- she really was tired)...I would think that maybe she was listening...and then she would jump up 10 seconds later laughing and talking. This repeated several more times until I told her that daddy was going to be mad if she didn't go to sleep...she looked at me very intense trying to understand the consequences if she didn't listen, again she would lay her head down for a few seconds only to pop-up again and start the game all over again. She was making funny faces, playing peek-a boo and making me laugh (although I was trying not to let it show- I pretended to ignore her the entire time hoping that my lack of reaction would encourage her to stop and go to sleep). After 30 minutes of games, I had to take her out of the room and put her to sleep in my arms with a bottle (so 2008!). The nap only lasted for about 50 minutes...so she was pretty ornery the rest of the day.

We went to Great Grandma Riley's house for Easter dinner. Great Grandma and Aunt Barbara made po' boy sandwiches and we hung out in the courtyard area while Riley and Nicholas played.

We took a couple family pictures (minus Cody):

Here are the pictures from the park:

At Great Grandma and Aunt Barbara's House...Sean, Darcey and Nicholas

We asked Riley where her teeth were to trick her into smiling for the camera...she went for the belly button instead :)

Fashion Diva!

I think we have a girly girl on our hands. Riley is extremely fascinated by all of my high heals, bangle bracelets, sunglasses, purses and even my bras...she tries to put them on every morning and night when I am dressing. Riley will come into my closet with her little leather peri ped mary janes, locate my patent leather high heals, rip off her shoes, set my heals up perfect on the tile, step into them and stroll around the house. When she was dressed up below, I asked her to shake her booty and SHE DID! It was so funny...she now knows where her "booty" is and how you shake it to the music.

Also, whenever we get into the car, she has to have her pink sparkly shades on...she keeps them on the entire time we are in the car. As much as Cody likes to teach her farting noises, how to throw balls and pick her nose (yes, she know what and where her buggers are), she still likes to be a girly girl!

Quick funny story- Riley has been eating like a horse the last few days (she must be going through a growing spurt), so her belly was HUGE tonight when I gave her a bath. I always asked her where all her body parts are when we are in the bath and tonight when I asked her where her belly button was so she looked down at her belly and starting feeling around her belly to find it but couldn't because her belly was soooo big, she tried several times and then after no success, looked up at me and said "uh oh". It was pretty funny. I love how she is understanding so much now.

Riley's First Haircut- By Mom

On Riley's 16 month birthday, she got her first haircut...courtesy of mom. I decided that the tub would be the best place to try and cut her hair (this hair cut really only consisted of a few hairs but it wasn't easy!). Since Riley says "hi" and "bye" to everything right now, I told her to say "bye, bye hair" and she did. Here she is waving goodbye to her hair.

Riley was starting to grow a mullet...I just wanted it to grow long enough to put it in a pony but decided that the current hair growth pattern wasn't going to accomplish that goal quite yet...so we cut the mullet hairs off. Maybe it will grow faster now?

I had to get some snap shots of Riley before the mullet hair disappeared...she loves to show her teeth so her she is showcasing her talent (it actually makes for a cute picture)...

And then there were her crazy bangs...they were cute when pulled back in a clip but since we can never keep that in her hair...her bangs kind of looked like a Mohawk...so a mullet and Mohawk had to go.

After unsuccesfully attempting to cut her wet hair with the kitchen scissors in the bath tub (she thought it was pretty awful; not sure why but she hated me trying to cut her hair), I tried to towel dry her hair and cut it that way. Once Riley decides that she doesn't like something, she let's you know it. So half way through cutting the mullet, we had to get out of the tub. THe next ten minutes consisted of me chasing a naked baby around the house with scissors. As a result, the hair cut didn't turn out perfect...the bangs got a bit short. I guess it would be worse...

We have heard that rubbing tomato sauce in her hair may stimulate the roots and shaving her head will make it grow in thicker (although Ashley, our local expert hair friend, has rejected these myths). We haven't decided to resort to the shaving of the head (yet) but are starting to consider the tomato sauce. Grow hair...grow! My new goal- a pony tail by her second birthday...that should be achievable, right?!?!