Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Happy New Year
Happy New Year!
I’m striving for once a month updates…I know it’s been a little more than a month since my last one, but still once in December and now once in January…so I think I’m good. We have been busy fighting the germ war in our house.
I have uploaded a bunch of our Christmas photos and some from this month onto our picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/pschwalje/ChristmasTimeJanuary
We had a great Christmas. My brother Bill & his fiancé Lesley came to visit for a whole week. Despite not being well pretty much the whole week, Riley had a GREAT time playing with Uncle Bill. And I’ll be honest, I almost had to wonder if Bill loved Riley more than we do (impossible, I know, but you get the point). Lesley’s brother got married in Phoenix on Dec 29th so much of her family was in town for the holiday and they included Chris & I (and Riley) for an awesome feast!
There’s not too much to update with Chris & I. We are plugging away at work, constantly doing something with our house (like rearranging our family room or computer for the 50th time), and chasing after our ever active toddler.
Ok, now enough chit-chat about us…let’s get down to business. Riley is doing well. She loves school…there is so much activity and stimulation. Usually Chris or I have to chase her off the playground to get her to go home after work. The price for all this fun is germs, germs, germs. This little girl has been sick every week and just can’t seem to catch a break. We aren’t sure really what we think of it all, right now we are trying to roll with it and take it one day at a time.
Since my last update, Riley is starting to talk more (though, I’m sure we are the only one’s who can understand her). Her favorite word, sign & food is “cracker”. She knows the box whether its saltines or graham crackers or her whole wheat bunnies. If we are feeding her and leave the pantry door open she points to the shelf and says “cracker”. Yes, that time has come where we have had to start spelling certain words. A close second for words and definitely her favorite material thing is shoes. She loves shoes. She will go to the closet where we keep ours and point at the door and say ‘shhhh” and if we leave any out she will pick them up, walk over to the carpet, sit down and try to put them on.
The biggest change I think we have noticed in the last month is how much more she understands. It seems like it increases exponentially each day. The other morning I was up with her and she said “Daddy?” I said “Daddy is sleeping, why don’t you go knock on the door?” (we were in her room). She walked over to our room, made a fist and knocked on the door. Then she pushed right through. She knows where her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hair are…and of course, where her belly is. She loves to show everyone her belly…and then she says “tickle, tickle” The only downside is she also knows where our bellies are too…and she doesn’t understand that we don’t want to show the world ours.
Recently she came home from school, pushed her radio dj and started spinning around…she laughs and loves it. So now we say “ spin around” and apparently she understands what we mean b/c she does it. I know, not rocket science, but we are her parents and we are amazed.
The other big thing for her right now is climbing. She loves to climb on anything (thus the pictures of her ON all her Christmas gifts)…this includes chairs, the oven door, the gates (see pictures), our retaining walls outside…we have to watch her closer now b/c she is trying to climb into the bathtub and occasionally onto the tv stand! To help, she has learned how to climb down the stairs!
Well, that’s all for now! Have a great day and send us an update!
I’m striving for once a month updates…I know it’s been a little more than a month since my last one, but still once in December and now once in January…so I think I’m good. We have been busy fighting the germ war in our house.
I have uploaded a bunch of our Christmas photos and some from this month onto our picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/pschwalje/ChristmasTimeJanuary
We had a great Christmas. My brother Bill & his fiancé Lesley came to visit for a whole week. Despite not being well pretty much the whole week, Riley had a GREAT time playing with Uncle Bill. And I’ll be honest, I almost had to wonder if Bill loved Riley more than we do (impossible, I know, but you get the point). Lesley’s brother got married in Phoenix on Dec 29th so much of her family was in town for the holiday and they included Chris & I (and Riley) for an awesome feast!
There’s not too much to update with Chris & I. We are plugging away at work, constantly doing something with our house (like rearranging our family room or computer for the 50th time), and chasing after our ever active toddler.
Ok, now enough chit-chat about us…let’s get down to business. Riley is doing well. She loves school…there is so much activity and stimulation. Usually Chris or I have to chase her off the playground to get her to go home after work. The price for all this fun is germs, germs, germs. This little girl has been sick every week and just can’t seem to catch a break. We aren’t sure really what we think of it all, right now we are trying to roll with it and take it one day at a time.
Since my last update, Riley is starting to talk more (though, I’m sure we are the only one’s who can understand her). Her favorite word, sign & food is “cracker”. She knows the box whether its saltines or graham crackers or her whole wheat bunnies. If we are feeding her and leave the pantry door open she points to the shelf and says “cracker”. Yes, that time has come where we have had to start spelling certain words. A close second for words and definitely her favorite material thing is shoes. She loves shoes. She will go to the closet where we keep ours and point at the door and say ‘shhhh” and if we leave any out she will pick them up, walk over to the carpet, sit down and try to put them on.
The biggest change I think we have noticed in the last month is how much more she understands. It seems like it increases exponentially each day. The other morning I was up with her and she said “Daddy?” I said “Daddy is sleeping, why don’t you go knock on the door?” (we were in her room). She walked over to our room, made a fist and knocked on the door. Then she pushed right through. She knows where her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hair are…and of course, where her belly is. She loves to show everyone her belly…and then she says “tickle, tickle” The only downside is she also knows where our bellies are too…and she doesn’t understand that we don’t want to show the world ours.
Recently she came home from school, pushed her radio dj and started spinning around…she laughs and loves it. So now we say “ spin around” and apparently she understands what we mean b/c she does it. I know, not rocket science, but we are her parents and we are amazed.
The other big thing for her right now is climbing. She loves to climb on anything (thus the pictures of her ON all her Christmas gifts)…this includes chairs, the oven door, the gates (see pictures), our retaining walls outside…we have to watch her
Well, that’s all for now! Have a great day and send us an update!
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