1 1/2 Years Old!

It is amazing that Riley is already 18 months...my how time flies! Riley is like this amazing human sponge…she observes, absorbs and then copies everything that we do. Even when you don’t think she is watching or listening…she is! Riley still enjoys going through all of my make-up, dress-up shoes and jewelry while I get ready in the morning. She knows exactly where the blush is applied, how to use an eyelash curler and how to put the foundation on the sponge and apply to your nose.

Riley is a very strong willed child and stubborn as all heck! Last weekend it was nap time and Riley decided that she wasn’t ready…after reading several books to try and calm down her crazy energy, we put her in her crib to fall asleep. She wanted nothing to do with it! After 10 minutes of crying, sleepiness came over her body and she laid her head down on the railing of her crib (remaining standing…she wasn’t ready to surrender 100% yet). Cody and I watched her from the baby monitor in our room for about 20 more minutes…she would start to fall asleep, her legs would buckle, she would catch herself from falling and then she would resume the standing/sleeping position on the crib railing. This seriously happened for 20 minutes until we gave in and decided that standing/sleeping wasn’t going to suffice for the 2 hour nap we needed her to take. So Riley won, we went and rescued her…however, 20 minutes later she was sound asleep (laying down) in her crib and didn’t wake-up for another two hours…so I guess we won too!

Some of Riley’s favorites this month include:
· Feeding the dogs…once piece of food at a time (its torture!)
· Stuffing her face so full of food she can’t’ chew…proceeding to spit it all out and feed it to the dogs.
· Throwing rocks and crackers into the canal…crackers for the ducks (well…half the time, the other half end up in her belly)
· Dancing to music in the living room and then asking for “more” when she doesn’t like the song
· Signing “Old McDonald”, “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” and “London Bridges” while driving in the car (facing forward now!)
· Sitting on her new potty…not to go to the bathroom but to watch her Elmo potty movie
· Jumping on the bed

Riley loves her Uncle Charley and Uncle Patrick...so much so we think she has a crush on both of them...when she first sees them she gets so shy...as you can see below, she warms up quickly...

Besides her grandparents, Riley has two favorite people right now…Arianna Colosimo and Siena Rounds. Just the mention of their names and she starts dancing, screaming and smiling! Below are come pictures of Riley eating a Popsicle and waiting for cousin Siena (“See-See” is what Riley calls her) to come and play with her…

This is her screaming "See-See!"

Riley's first Popsicle...I think it was a hit!

Riley will be a great big sister :)

Pool fun at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary's...

Pucker up Siena...I have lots of germs to share!

Riley LOVES her grandma Sue...

Eating crackers...kinda a big deal in Riley World right now....





Riley LOVES rocks...

Riley and Siena

We bought Riley a really fun toy for the backyard...she loves to play on it!

Climbing down the steps...
Siena Swinging...

Siena Looking Outside...

Here is Riley in her "big-girl" car seat facing forward...we just flipped her around (she's tired after a long day at the Children's Art Museum with Dad!

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 :)