Just a quick post!

Because I should already be in bed!!

Riley had a MAJOR accomplishment today! He teetee'd in the big boys potty at school! Yippee! I have a whole other story about when he did it for the 1st time at home last week! It was with GiGi though! I'll have to go into that later! ha!

Anyway! His teacher is bound and determined to get him potty trained, and I'm not going to complain! Every time we've tried at home, he's just hopped right up so maybe the flood gates (pun intended) are about to open on the potty training!

I've heard different trains of thought on whether to use pullups or to skip them altogether, but his teacher requested them be brought to school so maybe that's the trick! We'll see! Hopefully this is the beginning of the end! :)

It's all the little things!

Once again I find myself playing catch up! August was the Month of Mommy! Yippee! I had 2 girls' trips! One with my best friend Courtney - it's been our tradition for years to not get each other birthday presents, but just to go on a quick weekend trip to celebrate both our birthdays. We hadn't done that in a couple of years since I had Riley, so we got our tradition going again this year! FUN! We drove to Austin for a quick one night stay at Barton Creek Spa and Resort. And I'm pretty sure my car barely had any oxygen left in it b/c we talked nonstop there and back! :)

Then I went on a weekend trip with 2 of my best friends from high school! Wow! The 3 of us had not all been together at the same time in 19 years!! Wow! I just aged myself!! But it's true! We had the most AMAZING trip! We'll never be able to have things go that well EVER again! Everything fell into place perfectly!! We went to Beaver Creek Colorado on what ended up being record heat days in Dallas, so it was even perfect timing for that too! We had a BLAST! Now we want to plan a trip with all our families too!

It's funny b/c we all lost touch at different points in our lives, but the 3 of us have a 1, 2 and 3 year old boy now! How crazy is that?! All these years and our lives have run totally different paths, but they all end up almost the same! 

We have some upcoming trips too, so I will probably be playing catch up once again! Kelly and I are going to LA for the weekend with some friends from work, THEN......we're going to the Price Is Right on Monday, September 27th!! WooHoo! I grew up watching that show, so I'm so excited!!!

Then I have to go to the UK for a work trip to meet with IBM for 5 days, then a couple of weeks after that we're taking our first "Official" real family vacation to Cozumel, Mexico for 7 days!! We can't wait!! We got Riley's passport, so we are all set! GiGi is going with us for 3 days to help us out! We'll see how Mommy, Daddy & Riley do away from home for 7 days straight in the same hotel room! I'm sure that will command a least a few posts itself!!

Speaking of Riley's passport, we got that recently! Getting a perfect picture of a 2 year old is DIFFICULT! Kelly ended up taking it!! But it looks like a mug shot!! I took a picture of the picture with my phone, so I'll have to post that later!

Anyway - this post was supposed to be about the adorable things Riley does on a daily basis to keep us laughing! There is no greater joy than that a child and their innocence brings into your life! Especially when you get to experience the world through their eyes first hand...it's amazing!

• Mainly he's a jibber jabbering fool!!! If only we knew what he was saying b/c sometimes he's really telling us all about it! Especially every day when I pick him up from school, he jibber jabbers NONSTOP all the way home as if he's telling me every detail of his day! I keep forgetting to try to record it with my voice recorder on my phone! Will definitely want to look back at that one day! 
• And he's definitely in repeater mode! Anything you say can and will be repeated immediately! So watch your mouth Mommy and Daddy!
• Buzz Lightyear is Buzz Year! He loves Woody too! 
• OMG! And he can spot Elmo from a mile away! Sometimes I'm like I don't see Elmo, and sure enough there will be the smallest picture of Elmo on the back of a book or something! Never doubt his Elmo spotting ability!
• He still loves Barney! Much to my dismay! j/k! 
• It's so sweet when I drop him off and pick him up from school - all his friends say "Hi Riley" and Bye Riley and Riley's Mom when we walk in his room. And he says Hi and Bye too. It's like a sneak peak into the individual he is all day when he's away from us! 
• OMG! He says "Hi" to EVERY person and car we pass! It's funny to see how people are so cold and sad they don't even respond positively to a sweet little child saying "Hi" and waving. The checkout ladies at the grocery store LOVE him! And he works them over with his charm every week! Same for waiters when we go out! Everyone always talks about how social and happy he is to talk to everyone! 
• He LOVES to point out all the animals and make their sounds! 
• He still reads some words when you write them out for him, but we haven't been practicing that as much or watching his show every day. He watches 1 episode of Barney while we're cooking dinner a day now. 
• He is a BUSY little boy! Even his teacher comments on what a hard worker he is! And he does really get into it when he finally focuses on something! 
• He LOVES Popsicles!! And he can open the freezer and get one out now! So that's a daily conflict! But it's so cute b/c he'll run to the patio door because he knows we only eat those outside! 
• He LOVES his Strider Prebike GiGi got him for his birthday! He's getting faster and faster on it! I keep meaning to video him. He's gonna have to start wearing his helmet soon! And of course, he's like his Dad - he doesn't want to go straight on the ground - he wants to take the path least taken and go back and forth and up and down on and off the sidewalk!
• OMG! He LOVES his wagon we got him for his birthday too! EVERYDAY we have a meltdown when we pull in the garage and he sees it! WAGON! WAGON! The other day he worked 10  minutes trying to pull it up the step into the house! He was in a full sweat and everything! We've GOT to find somewhere else to keep that wagon! He used to have a fit every morning when we were leaving for school too, but that has subsided lately. 
•  In some ways it is so much easier b/c he can tell you he "pooped", wants "more milk", etc. But we definitely see the struggle for his independence becoming more and more prevalent! 
• He LOVES to read books! He'll bring you books back and forth from his bookshelf ALL DAY if you'll let him! And he has definite favorites that he'd love for you to read over and over again!
• He's also in the picky toddler eating phase. He'll gobble something up one day, then refuse to eat it the very next day! What can you do?! We just keep trying. 
• One thing he will eat EVERY TIME is "chips" and tortillas! OMG! The boy can put away some tortillas! Yesterday he ate 3 or 4 whole tortillas, then almost an entire kids' cheese enchilada, rice and beans meal! So when he's hungry - he EATS! When he's not, you never know what you're gonna get! 
• We can have pseudo conversations with him these days - every morning I ask him if he slept well, and he says "Chess" and shakes his head yes! And I ask if he likes school - "Chess". Did he have a good day at school "Chess". You definitely can't mention anything you are "about to do" b/c he knows what you mean when you say playground, splash park, play with Ethan, and he assumes it means RIGHT THAT SECOND!
• He STILL hates haircuts! OMG! But the child's hair is so thick - it would be child abuse NOT to get it cut! And I wonder when he'll grow out of the faux hawk...it's just so who he is now...he doesn't look like himself when his hair isn't fixed! 
• OMG!! And I'm sorry if I repeat myself...it's impossible to remember everything I've posted about sometimes! I walk around blogging in my head, but I can't remember which ones have actually made it to the blog! And if I took the time to go back and review - I'd NEVER get a chance to blog!
• He still LOVES basketball! He can even shoot like a REAL shot with perfect form and everything!! It's awesome! It's still not every time, but almost! He and Daddy shoot baskets pretty much every day, so he's a good rebounder too! And he always wants his Dad to shoot before he does. 
• He LOVES the Splash Park Darcy introduced us to! We've been there almost every weekend this summer! It's so much easier than the pool b/c he can run around and have fun without us being scared about him drowning! ha!
• Oh yeah - it's so cute! Every night after we've read his bedtime books, we sing some songs. So when I sing Twinkle Twinkle - he's like a little echo, and he always says the last word. It's like last in first out with him. So it's something like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - then Riley says STARRRRR! How Riley wonders what you are - then Riley says ARRREEE! So cute!
• He loves to watch videos of himself and others. He recognizes people in the videos - Jayden, GiGi, etc. 
• We watched the videos from his birthday party, and we was screaming and going crazy as if he were at his birthday party again!! 
• He LOVES PeekABoo and Wheels on the Bus games on my iPhone! 

Okay...that's all I can think of for now!! See...a lot to catch up on!! 

HOT! HOT!

OMG! I think hot may have actually surpassed Mommy! Hot is HOT! Cold is HOT! Hurt is HOT! Pretty much anything that requires a "quick response" is HOT!