Growin' Up - March 2008

Time is flying by and the memory of that little baby who depended on us for everything is so faint. Riley grows more and more independent everyday. She is learning new words and how to help dress herself and now insists on only feeding herself (and don't offend her by trying to help). This makes me so emotional. I cannot believe how much she has changed since her first birthday and that more than four months have past since then. I am often overwhelmed with how this little girl has affected my life. I realize that life seemed to go fast before, but then someone hit fast forward.


Since I last wrote, Chris' mom & Aunt came to visit. It was great to visit with them. We took Riley to a the Children's museum and watched her get into everything there. Her favorite being the slide. Riley loves the slide, the rush of it all. She is starting to show more fear and inhibitions as she gets a little older which is probably a good thing in her case. But once she gets going on the slide we usually experience the temper tantrum when we try to leave. Oh yes, I do think Riley has perfected the "throw yourself on the ground and scream like someone hurt you" act. Unfortunately for her, it hasn't worked too much.


Other big changes is that Riley (as I mentioned above) insists on feeding herself. She is getting pretty good with the spoon and great with those fingers. She still loves yogurt and cheese and pretty much any kind of fruit. Not so big on the veggies, but we are working on it. We mix this small shell macaroni with peas...she will pick out all the macaroni and throw the peas on the floor (for Dazzle, of course). I think if we had to pick one Riley's favorite food is pineapple...or grapes. She could eat these all day long.


She loves to take off her shoes and socks. We have just accepted this as something she does and are glad it's just her shoes. However, at school, she has to wear shoes & socks...so I think they find this a bit challenging. The teach says to me "She keeps taking off her shoes." So I say "yes, I know she is doing that at home too." With a very puzzled tone she says " none of the other kids do that". We have also been told Riley likes to test them...climbing on things and turning around with that mischievous smile to make sure you are watching, going around the corner of the building while all the kids are on the playground, refusing to go iniside when outside play is over. Riley is all about pushing her limits and seeing what kind of reaction she will get. But she is so darn cute so that helps!!! She is also very helpful. She likes to get everyone their jackets when its time to go outside (and at home she gets us our shoes). She will help put away the toys and take the dishes out of the dishwasher (ok, so sometimes they are dirty, but let's not be too picky).


She is talking more and more, though, never on cue! She will say bye when she's leaving or we leave. She loves to pick up a bag or bucket and pretend like she's heading out. She will walk around going..."bye." "bye." "bye.". Then when she is done she comes back and says "Hi". She also says "more", "momma", "dazzle","ball", "please", "bubbles" and others. Of course, some of these aren't exactly clear to the rest of the world. She says "thank you" but it doesn't sound at all like when I say "thank you". And she recently discovered the wonders of "uh-oh". Now she looks right at us, says "uh-oh" and then throws her milk cup on the floor. hahaha She's lucky she's so cute!



Riley's favorite activity is hands down playing outside. Anything outside and she is happy. She will run around collecting rocks in the backyard or throwing the wiffle ball or playing with bubbles or going to the park. Anything outdoors and this kid is happy! She is also really into puzzles and anything thing that needs to be put together (she will spend 20 minutes trying to buckle her stroller clips).

We are busy, busy, busy. I started this update last week and am finally posting it...so more soon. We just had visitors from Illinois and had an awesome time with the Johnson boys (and their parents)! I will post pictures from this visit soon. And pictures of our backyard...we have the pool up and going and trees planted and plenty of green grass. It has turned out great!

Check out the picasa site for updated pics of Riley: http://picasaweb.google.com/pschwalje/RileyFebMar2008

Hope this finds you all doing well!