Four and a quarter - photos

Mosquito Bite

Birthday Princess' chair

Cupcakes with sprinkles

Rocking the bouncy house slide

Birthday girl resting a bit before her party

Four and a quarter

This post was supposed to go out a few months ago when Riley turned four. First I was stumped by my emotional writer's block. I am often overwhelmed with how much being Riley's mom has changed my life. And that is a lot to put on my blog. Then I guess we just got busy with life. After our two active creatures crash out my brain is us usually a bowl full of mush (Goodnight Moon reference for those of you with young children). And then with each day that passed it seemed harder to remember her fourth year of life. She has changed so much in the 3 months that have passed since that year.

But we didn't let the year go uncelebrated and I don't want to let it go undocumented. So I will do my best to remember what she was like before she was who she is right now.

To prepare to write this post I went back and looked through pictures and other posts from this past year. It was a fun chance to walk down memory lane and be amazed at all our family did last year.

Riley's fourth year brought even more independence and establishing of her own personality. Chris and I can both see some of ourselves in her. Like Riley seems to have inherited some of my aversion for foods (which was more prominent as a child) and my worry gene. And she picked up the hair twirling from her dad. But Riley reminds us everyday that a child will be who she will be. That though we influence her in our words and actions she is going to be exactly who she is meant to be. So she is going to LOVE dresses and wearing pink and listening to Taylor Swift no matter what kind of jeans wearing tomboy I was as a child/teenager/adult :) One day we were going with some friends to a block party in our neighborhood. Everyone was outside waiting and Riley had not come out. My neighbor and I went into check on her and there was our 3 year old doing her hair and picking out a "pretty outfit." My neighbor looked at me and says "just goes to show you children will be who they will be, no matter what you do." I wonder if he was saying it doesn't look I put that much energy into my appearance? Anyway, when Riley turned 3 she declared she would no longer wear jeans. And if given any choice she always wants the pink one...whether we are talking shirts, dresses, forks or hula hoops. And she could live in a ballet leotard and the right tutu perfects every outfit.

This year brought a whole new set of firsts. In January we had our first dentist appointment which Riley totally rocked. The hygienist said they usually have first time patients sit on a parent's lap, but Riley hopped right up on the table and opened wide, embracing the new experience. Back then Riley could be a bit shy and apprehensive about new things but as long as we were there she didn't necessarily need to hold our hand. I think I am more like a security blanket...she needs to know I will be there if she gets scared, but that's enough.

The big first was preschool. Officially. Riley actually started a preschool class when she was in daycare, but that didn't really count (especially b/c we dropped out after Reegan was born and we found a nanny to stay with the girls at home). Anyway, Riley is officially in the throws of PRE school, learning socially and academically to be prepared for kindergarten (and burn off some of her endless energy). Starting preschool wasn't near as "smooth" as that first dentist appointment and she was not too excited at first, but now she loves it and has made some friends she can't wait to see on school days. And it is here that she learned about photosynthesis. I think that was our first awe moment from school. We were outside eating dinner in October and Riley just says "photosynthesis". Chris and I stopped mid-chew as if she just spoke her first swear word. She then explained to us that it meant "plants can make food in their body."

And then there was ballet. Our little dancer started last August. Jaclyn (our nanny) took her to most of her classes for the first couple of months, but then I switched to working part-time and have been able to take her. At first, she would confirm repeatedly that I was going to stay right outside the whole time. Then she was ok with me running an errand as long as I promise to be back in time to pick her up. And most recently, she told me she didn't want me to stay that I should go do something else (even though I didn't have anything else planned). I love to see her develop this confidence and security.

Other firsts include her bike and sitting with the easter bunny. Riley has never wanted to sit with the easter bunny or santa. Even the idea of them has never thrilled her much. Christmas 2009 (right after she turned 3) Santa brought our presents to the back patio so that he would not come in our house. We went and saw Santa from afar that year and she didn't even want Reegan going up and sitting on Santa's lap. We've never pushed it. I mean really...I don't know if I would feel comfortable going and sitting on some strange man's lap or even next to him for that matter. But this spring when we were at a easter fair in the midst of trying 72 new bouncy houses Riley announced she wanted to go stand next to the easter bunny and have her picture taken. So that is what we did.

One of the coolest new developments this year is that Riley started singing along to songs. Even when they are not playing. Meaning she had favorite songs I would overhear her singing. This seemed such a coming of age thing to me. I could see her love of music in general and she was developing her own taste. And she was singing along while they played. Between Chris, myself and Jaclyn, Riley is exposed to a wide range of music. As with everything Riley only wants to hear "girl" music. Which to some may suggest she would like to hear love songs or music girls like, but that is not it. No she wants to only hear songs sung by girls. She will listen to some Bob Marley and Jack Johnson, but mostly she wants to listen to Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus. I never expected this at 3. To be honest, I'm not sure I could have anticipated this at 10. But it is so fun watching Riley become this little person I definitely indulge her interests and let her take the lead. I mean after a while even I start singing along to 'Party In the USA'. Ok, so some of the Katy Perry songs are a little mature for 3 year olds (and maybe even for adults) but I feel like it can be innocent if we let it be. She thinks California Gurls is about eating popsicles and I mean what 3 year old doesn't love popsicles?!

Our fourth year wasn't without its challenges. We battled with chronic sinus infections, fear of sleeping alone and the strong will of a 3 year old that is very specific in what she wants. We learned Riley has mild allergies to dogs, dust mites, peanuts, mosquitoes, weeds and one or two other things. This past fall she had a reaction to mosquito bites that resulted in her looking like her calf swallowed a golf ball and her eye joined a toddler boxing group. We dealt with night terrors and real fears and finding solutions we could all work with. And thanks to a close friend, we were reminded that a strong will is a great quality for a grown woman...even if it makes it more work to parent now. In the end we faced the challenges together as a family and found solutions as a family.

Once we were walking to the mailbox all four of us (our box is around the corner from our house) and as we crossed the street all holding hands, Reegan started to let go to run. I told Reegan "No, we must hold hands." And Riley said "The family never splits apart Reegan." That's right Riley.

We celebrated the completion of Riley's 4th year and start of number 5 at the same bounce house we went to last year for her 3rd birthday. This year we invited 12-13 friends and made a party of it. We made pink cupcakes (brown for the boys) with lots of sprinkles per Riley's request. It was Riley's first real party and despite recovering from strep throat (diagnosed 3 days before her party) she rocked it big time. Between her party gifts and our families and us, Riley got a gazillion presents. And not one repeat. I was completely amazed by this. We are still trickling through the gifts bringing some of them out slowly so she can enjoy them in full. The big gift from us was a talking baby, that she named Kally after our friend's daughter Kaleigh.

This post was long overdue, but I hope it was as worth the wait for you as it was for me. Glad to have put all these memories to "paper".

Riley's new word(s)

The other day Riley comes home saying "orbiculate". We weren't sure exactly what she was saying or if it was a real word. She had a circle drawing and when we asked her about it she said "orbiculate". None of us knew what she was saying but today she sounded it out for me, I googled it and there it was:

http://www.answers.com/topic/orbiculate

Other words she shared with me after we discovered orbiculate reallyw as a word, were "triangular" and "linear". She said "It looks like a line, so it is linear". Is this as fascinating to the rest of you as it is to me?