It'll be fun Mommy/Daddy! Yea!

This is one of Riley's big quotes right now. I'm guessing Kelly and I have said this more than we realize! :) It''s adorable though. 

It'll go something like this: 
And tomorrow, I wake up and play lightsabers! It'll be fun Mommy! Yea! 

Mommy, I go to Ethan's house to play! It'll be fun Mommy! Yea! 

Daddy, we'll eat GoldKish (Gold fish) and it'll be fun Daddy! Yea! 

It's pretty much his "go to" closer statement these days! And of course...when he raises his eyebrow at you and smiles...it works every time, so why not exploit it! :) 

I Riley Sterne!

All of the sudden, I guess because they are teaching them at school - Riley is all over the "I Riley Sterne" when he introduces himself to new people. 

But the funniest time is when I say something like "You're upset or You're excited, etc", and he says "No Mommy! (Points to his own chest) I Riley Sterne!" To which I usually have to say - "Well yes you are!" :)

Quick Post

Another quick example of the cute literal things kids say! 

On the way to school this am, Riley was super excited about flags like he used to be. They were all blowing in the wind. Then we came around a corner to see more flags that weren't blowing in the wind. When he saw them he said - "Uh-oh Mommy! Look the flags not working!" 

He's right! They weren't working! Awe....how sweet?!

Where's my baby?!

Wow! It seems like overnight Riley is talking in full sentences. Yesterday on the way home he just announced - "I want to go home and go to the park and run in the grass!" 

I had to do a double take! I was like you want to what?! And he repeated the entire sentence! Then when we got home - he told Kelly exactly what he wanted to do too! Kelly just looked at me like what happened today at school?! 

I'm sure these full sentences will come in pretty handy for bossing us around even more! LOL!

Mr. Boss Man!

Wow! Has Riley ever become bossy?! 

Here are just a few of the "commands" we hear on a daily basis: 

"Mommy, sit down"
"Right here!" 
"Mommy, no! Stop it! Don't touch Riley's hair/face/shirt/whatever I may be touching!" (This one sounds like something he hears when he gets put in timeout at school!)
"Go Daddy!" 
"Get out of here" 
"Get in here"
"Stop"
"Go"


Sometimes we feel like a toddler must feel - we don't know whether to come or go/sit or stay!

Amazing Parental Milestones!

This week we hit one of my FAVORITE milestones of parenting thus far! The unsolicited "I WUV you Mommy!" OMG! It'll make your heard melt! The first time it happened we were actually at the playground this past Sunday, and Riley was up on the platform and I was standing on the ground near him. First he said "Comere" in his Riley way, then he said "I hug" and hugged me then he said "I WUV you Mommy!" OMG! I almost cried right then and there! He's been saying it back to us for a while, but this is a whole new experience! 

Since then he's said it to each of us pretty much every day this week at random times! This morning he said it to us both as we were waking him up. And it drives home the point even further that life is what happens in those little moments each day...not the big planned events or special moments you try to intentionally create! Getting an unsolicited hug and I WUV you beats any birthday party! 

Riley's a Jibber Jabbering Fool!

Ding! Ding! Ding! Let the questions and chatter begin!! 

WazDAT Mommy/Daddy?! Is what we hear most often! And DAT is very LOUD! Anything and everything is fair game! 

I FOUND IT! Is the another top 3 phrase we hear the most just behind More Peezzz! The cutest thing about I FOUND IT is that he'll ask you where something is - Where's my Buzz Year Mommy? And when I hand it to him, he'll hold it in the air and say 'I FOUND IT MOMMY'! And I mean anytime he picks something up, sees something across the room whether he was looking for it or not, it's all fair game once again! 

I DID IT! Is another one! Anything we do - puzzles, racing cars, eating, taking a bath, putting on lotion, basketball, bicycle. I DID IT MOMMY! 

Comere as in Come-Here Mommy! And how can I not go wherever he wants me to go when he asks like that! He'll grab your hand now and say 'Comere Mommy' to sit with him or play with him. If he's already sitting, he'll say 'Comere Mommy and pat the chair and say 'Sit Rightere Mommy!' 

And they are ALL adorable and irresistible of course!! 

Okay....

Okay is the new yes! Much like More Peeezzz! He says "okaaay" a lot like Mr. Harrison says "Mkay" in South Park! Long and drawn out. Sometimes it even sounds sad, but he's saying ok to something that he wants or makes him happy. 

Mommy - Riley, do you want some milk?

Riley - Okayyyyy

Daddy - Riley, do you want to go outside? 

Riley - Okayyyy

It's almost like he's replaced "Chess/Yes" with ok for this week anyway. No matter what it is...one thing is certain - it's sure to change!

What's THAT?!!?

If I had a dime for how many times a day Kelly and I hear this...Kelly, Riley and I would ALL be set for retirement! :) It's giving us a glimpse into the inevitable "Why?" or "Where do babies come from?" or "How do planes fly?" or....many other questions I'm not sure I'm prepared to answer yet!

And he says is so LOUD! No matter where we happen to be! 

Too funny!!

More Peeezzz!

As in MORE PLEASE! Who knew 2 words could be so powerful??!?! And universally applicable to everything in life!

Here just a few scenarios in which more peeezzz is leveraged in the Sterne household!

• As soon as Barney, Toy Story 1,2 or 3, Cars, Robots any tv or video is over - More Peeezzz! 
• More Peeezzz as soon as he takes the last bite of anything
• More Peeezzz Milk/Water
• More Peeezzz as soon a his favorite song is over in the car, and now we are even drilling down to his favorite part of certain songs
• More Peeezzz ride my bicycle
• More Peeezzz play at the playground
• More Peeezzz tickle me even though I'm about to wet myself!
• More Peeezzz blow on my hot sweaty feet! I know! I'm pathetic! GiGi and I did that one time when we took his socks off his sweaty feet and it stuck! I also spoil him by heating his clothes up in the dryer on cold mornings! He gets all giddy and says HOT PANTS! Ahhhh! as he rubs his own nipples! LOL!
• More Peeezzz bubbles in the bath
• More Peeezzz bedtime books

 Pretty much it is universally applicable to any and everything that ends! And it was so adorable when he first started doing it that we gave him anything he asked for, so now we're having to wean him off!

My Little Star!

Riley was Mr. Big Boy Independent this morning, so he insisted on carrying his star all by himself. Even down the stairs at our house despite the fact that he couldn't see over it!

Kelly dropped him off this am bc I had an all day offsite mtg with IBM. I'm assuming Riley had to carry his star into school since he refused to have it anywhere in the car where he couldn't see it! Kelly said when he walked in all his friends were like Hi Riley! Riley's Star! I guess they've figured out what it means by this time of year! In fact, Riley couldn't stop looking and pointing to his Star once he saw it last night either like he knew what it meant.

Anyway, Kelly said Ms. Dina's reaction was OF COURSE it's only fitting it has a fwag theme! :) She's told me before he points out flags at the school she's never noticed in her 14 years there! So Kelly said when he left, all the kids were gathered around and Riley was pointing and saying all his favorite things on the star!

Sounds like Talana and I knocked it out of the park with the star! :)

I can't wait to hear his rambling answer to did you have a good day when I pick him up today. I'm sure it'll be something like and I outSIDE, and Ms Dina, and my STAR, and blah blah! And Matwoo and pushing and time OUT. :) I don't know if he gets put in time out for pushing Matwoo every day or if he's just retelling me the same story over and over again!

Either way! Riley's the Star of the Week!

So I didn't get this posted before I picked Riley up...the usual conversation on the way home went something like this:

Mommy - "Did you have a good day at school?" 

Riley -"Chess (Yes)" while he also shakes his head up and down. 

Mommy - "What did you do?" 

Riley - "OutSIDE and star and Mommy and Daddy and Eledent and Monkey and Ms Dina and star and blah blah blah" 

Mommy - "Did everyone like your star?" 

Riley - BIG SMILE "CHESS" head shaking up and down. 

Riley - "Mena Mena Mommy Pack Pack I reach it!" which means give me the banana out of my backpack I'm trying to reach from my car seat that I usually eat on the way home because I'm STARVING MARVIN b/c we just got finished playing outside 10 minutes before you picked me up! :)   

Then as if it were meant to be, I found iced star sugar cookies to take for his special snack. They are really supposed to be snowflakes, but they look just like stars!

I coming! I coming! Thank you!

Now when Kelly or I are driving home with Riley and the other parent is already home - Riley starts saying "Daddy/Mommy I coming!" to the parent at home! It's so sweet!

And now he's starting to understand "right back", so when I leave the room he says "Mommy back". 

And he says Thank you to you when you are supposed to stay Thank you to him! I guess b/c that's how his teacher's teach him.

He also covered his mouth the other day when he coughed, so obviously they are teaching him LOTS of things at school! It's so awesome to see them come to realization!

Oh yeah, the other day Kelly was driving Riley home and all of the sudden he counted to 13! I know our friend Nicolas was counting to 20 in both English and Chinese at his 2nd birthday, but neither Kelly or I have really worked on counting with Riley out side of how many flags do you see, or balls or this or that - one...two..three.., etc! So I feel bad for selling him so short! Ha!

He also all of the sudden sang his ABCs the other day, and Kelly and I just looked at each other like where did that come from?!

And he has to get a hug and a kiss anytime we hear the Barney I love you song! He gets really frustrated in the car when he's strapped into the car seat and can't give you one right then!

He is definitely talking up a STORM! Sometimes he still gets on a roll, and it all runs together. But I notice that when we watch videos of him, and he's talking in them - he talks back to himself on screen - so he knows exactly what he's saying! 

Awe Man!

OMG! Kelly and I have NO idea where Riley got this! I'm sure one of us! But his new "saying" is "Awe Man!"' It's almost replaced "Uh-Oh". We just noticed him saying it A LOT this week! I have to try to capture it on video or voice soon before he moves on to the next thing!

Riley's Time Out Interview!

So I actually had this post ready to publish before we left for Mexico, but something happened with the video upload and I didn't have a chance to fix it before I left. AND I haven't forgotten about the blog! At the end of this month, I will have been out of the country 14 of the 31 days and traveled even more days when you include day trips for work! Somehow all my work trips AND our family vacation to Cozumel all hit in the same month! Add in I started a new management position in August - just in time for 2011 Annual Budget, and OVERWHELMED is the understatement of the year!

Anyway - I bought a new Flip Video HD for our trip to Cozumel so I can capture Riley's first "official" family vacation moments! Side note - ANY parent should invest in one of those! The challenge with our nice Sony video camera is that it takes too long to grab it and turn it on. Plus, you can't run around town with the Sony video camera in your purse. The Flip Vid is so small and takes 2 button clicks to turn on and start filming in like 2 seconds! 2 seconds is the equivalent of 2 stunts in our house, so you gotta be FAST! It ROCKS! Kelly LOVES it! Every time I turn around he has it on. And it's REALLY hard to catch Riley in pictures now b/c he's always moving! Almost impossible! So this was our answer to that challenge!

Anyway - Kelly captured this video that will surely be a timeless classic in the Sterne household! :) Although I don't think it would be admissible in a court of law because they would accuse Kelly of leading the witness just a bit! It's still a CLASSIC though! Ms. Dina is his teacher. I think he says Jory (another boy in his class did something too), then the main subject is Matthew who he sits next to at their table.

And let me just say this one post has been a labor of LOVE! I've been struggling with getting this video uploaded since the morning of October 15th before we left for Mexico! It's like they make it so simple - it took me a while to find the magic button to "prepare the video" for uploading/sharing! It would spend 20ish minutes acting like it was uploading only to error out in the end. Fingers crossed I figured it out now!  It's actually still "working" as I type this! Technology!! FINALLY! I'm posting this right now! The video FINALLY successfully uploaded!!

Riley still says "cheese" every time we hold this video camera up b/c it's small like a regular camera! And I love how he acts out pushing to Kelly in the beginning. Kelly actually said he had been telling him the story for over 10 minutes before he thought to video it. I think he's saying he and Matthew were fighting over the bicycle at school outSIDE and he pushed him, etc. This is actually the first "story" Riley has told us that we can understand! I think there will be many more Time Out stories to come! And the funny thing is one week later when we were on vacation, all of the sudden Riley says - Matthew pushing time out and runs and sits by the wall in our room!

They've even coined Riley's meltdowns at school a "Riley Fit". The only time he has them is when it's time to come in from outside, and when they take him away from the TV - I can't imagine where he got that!! For those of you that may not know, Kelly can't be in the house without the TV on! I on the other hand lived without a TV for years. Riley really only gets to watch 1 Barney episode a day, so I guess he views TV at school as a treat! They let them all watch a 15 minutes of tv at diaper change/potty time, so they now have a process where they tell everyone else to move out of the way so they don't get hurt when it's Riley's turn to go to the potty! Nice!! We'll give his Dad credit for that trait since it's related to TV watching! :)

Anyway! Hopefully the tv obsession will pay off on the plane ride to Cozumel in a few hours! I purchased new Barney videos just for this occasion!

I promise to catch up on the blog and post lots of pics and videos of another round of Riley's Firsts when we get back!

Adios for now!

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!! 

And the magic word is.......

Open!!!! Or at least Riley thinks so! That's his new "swiss army knife" of words! Open! Open! Open! It ranks only second to "Mommy"!

And if you don't "Open" whatever he's talking about almost immediately - Terrible Two Toddler Tantrum Time has arrived!!! The good news is that it usually leaves almost as fast as it comes....if you're lucky anyway!

My Little Apple Boy

Not the apple of my eye...although he is that too! :)

No...he should be getting paid fees for marketing for Apple lately because he is the iAnything and iEverything boy!! OMG! It's like the flood gate has been opened! I knew his vocabulary would increase once he started school, but I was beginning to wonder when that was going to kick in. Every now and then, he'll just randomly point to something like the wall and say "wall". And I'm thinking...I haven't said that word that I know of. Either way...he's the Apple boy. Here's a rundown of the few that Kelly and I can think of right this second.

iOpen
iClose
iJump
iRun
iWalk
iMarch
iBubble (one of my favorites when he blows bubbles)
iEat
iDink (Drink)
iPush
iCatch
iShoot (Bball of course...and he says bball ALL the time!)
iKiss (another one of my favs!)
iSide (aka Slide)

Pretty much iEverything. He hasn't started 'I do it!' yet! Thank goodness! It's funny for some reason I thought kids usually say Me do whatever...but I guess not. Either way...so cute and sweet!

March Madness All Around!

Well for us March Madness means a few things - not just the college basketball tourney. The first madness, is that Kelly and I got 2 adult date nights in one week!! WooHoo! First, Emily kept Riley overnight at her house the Friday before last so Kelly and I could have a date night and celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. We had already planned to take half a day off work that Friday for a "day date" to see the Bodies Exhibit. So we just made an afternoon and evening out of it! So fun! Like old times dancing til 2am just the 2 of us! But we're a little out of practice! ha! The 2nd date night, my friend Terri watched Riley after work so Kelly and I could attend my friend Reza's son's wedding. It was a St. Patty's Day wedding and a lot of fun! But we had to go to work the next day, so that was a little rough! We are definitely out of practice with these late nights!

The 2nd part of March Madness for us is of course watching college hoops! One of my favorite times of the year! And now it's definitely one of Riley's too!! It is soooooo cute! He will get all excited watching a game on tv and stand in front of the tv with his own basketball and run all around and say "AWEEEE" if they miss a basket or "dunk" if they dunk it! And sometimes after they dunk it on tv, he'll run to his basketball hoop and dunk too! It's so cute cute cute!!

Now with the time change, we're able to go the playground pretty much every evening when it's nice outside. Riley still takes his ball and "shoots" at the hoops the entire time we are there! Now he likes to try to climb up the slide backwards too and go down by himself. He still doesn't know how to maneuver the turns so we have to support him.

OMG! We did make the mistake last weekend of taking him to the other playground to play without his BALL! OMG! Did we ever pay dearly!!! Someone had a soccer ball there, and once he laid eyes on it - it was OVER! Try to explain to a 19 month old that it's not their ball! We had a full fledged meltdown! I almost dropped him twice just trying to carry him to put him in the stroller, then he literally cried almost the entire way home! BIG ol' crocodile tears! And the walk home isn't short!! Wow! I'm not sure I'm ready for this crazy toddler time!! Kelly and I just looked at each other helplessly! What can you do?! There was NO consoling him about the ball! Lesson learned - do NOT go to the playground withOUT a ball! EVER!!!

His love for balls got him in trouble at my cousin Billy's house a couple of weeks ago too. We didn't realize Billy's big lab Tatum loved "basketball" too, so when Riley came running with the basketball - Tatum came running too and there was a collision! Tatum was just a little larger, so he took Riley out. Unfortunately, it was a perfect storm of Tatum knocking Riley right into a wood step and he hit his head hard! :( My poor baby! He had an instant bump on his head too, but he was fine! Before that accident though, Riley was dancing and showing off his moves in person! My Aunt Mary and her husband Bob said they thought the videos were funny, but seeing Riley's moves in person was even better than they imagined! I have to agree with them! :)

He is definitely Little Mr Helper! Emily said when it's time for lunch, he will do all the things to get ready for lunch - move the chairs to face each other, get his high chair seat out of the closet, put his place mat on the table...all that without her even asking him to or showing him how - he just did it! And he's for sure my little helper at home! In fact, I find myself having to do things SEVERAL times these days! I've literally been trying to throw away the same fabric softener bottle for 3 weeks! I put it in the trash, and every time I turn around some little helper has put it back in the pedestal drawer of the washing machine! Same thing with hangers, if I try to throw bent hangers away - he'll take them out of the trash and hand them to me and point to the laundry rod in the pantry! And you still have to watch him very closely at laundry time! Or else you end up with dirty socks in the dryer and clean clothes back in the washer! And when he puts things in the washer or dryer - Nolan Ryan doesn't have anything on him! He winds up and throws them so hard they bounce off the back wall! And he grunts each time too! So cute! Thank goodness for the grunt - it's sometimes my only indicator that he's just added something to one or the other!

He still loves to dance. You can just say dance and he'll flap his arm and up and down and move his shoulders back and forth.

He can point to almost all his body parts now - head, hair, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, belly button (although sometimes that's his chest), knees and toes/teez (although sometimes knees and toes are just patting on his thighs).

Oh yeah...and now he gives 'puppy' and 'bear' kisses all the time! Muwah! Muwah! And he'll just smile and talk to them. Wish I had the decoder ring for those conversations!

Oh yeah - the 3rd 'madness' - Riley's new obsession is the stairs! He LOVES to climb them! And that's one of the only times I realized he hears WAY more than he lets on. Like tonight, I said let's go upstairs and take a bath. He looked at me and said bathhhhh. Then took off running. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but when I turned around to see where he was going - it was straight to the stairs and he started climbing up. He'll do the same thing for let's go upstairs and change your diaper, do laundry, take a nap, etc. Like a flash, he's gone! And he'll totally do it even when I think he's not listening.

He definitely understands a lot more than he can say - if I say 'Mommy's Room', he goes to my room. 'Your room' - he goes to his room. Laundry room - down stairs he goes to the gate. Upstairs he starts climbing the stairs. And don't DARE say the word OUTSIDE unless you are ready to go RIGHT this second! He runs to the gate and get's REALLY upset if you aren't ready to go right then!! That's one of those lessons like taking the ball to the playground! You only have to experience it once, then you're a FAST learner!

I've got to get some video of him running after his basketball outside! It's hard to explain, but so cute how he swings his body and legs back and forth to run.

He's still your cheerleader for anything! Closing a door, putting something in the trash, and he'll pause what he's doing and clap for you.

Oh yeah, he totally knows "Poo" now - as in poo-poo! He actually walked up to me and said "Poo" "All Done" a couple of weeks ago! I almost died! He hasn't really done it again though. But if you are changing a "Poo" diaper, he'll say it. Then I guess I always say "Shoo Wee Stinky Poo", so he's starting saying "Shoo Wee" and crinkling his nose up then saying "Poo"! Funny!

Okay...I think that's it for now!! Never a dull moment in The Life of Riley!

Playing Catch Up Once Again!

So playing catch up is becoming a more regular post than I ever intended! The main reason I haven't been blogging as much lately is that my normal "blog" time has now become my workout time. Kelly and I started a new 60 day workout program on Dec 14th, it's called Insanity! And it IS!! It's definitely the hardest dvd workout I've ever done! Which makes me VERY happy b/c since I've trained for sports, with a body builder and some really good personal trainers - it's REALLY hard for me to find a dvd workout that makes me feel like I'm actually working out! To be honest, when Kelly and I first watched it before we did it - I psyched myself out thinking I wasn't going to be able to do it b/c I had all the "baby weight" to lose, but I surprised even myself! I'm happy to report I've lost 16lbs since November, so I am officially lower than my pre-baby weight. Now I just have to get to my "pre car accident" weight! We actually only have 2 more days of Insanity left, so I'm starting to stress a little about losing my momentum and focus! We're going to do a week of recovery workouts, then we have a trip to Maryland so we're going to start our own rendition of P90X when we get back from there.

Anyway, now that we've committed to working out 1 hour 6 days a week, my normal blog time on the weekends during Riley's nap has become our workout time on Saturday, and then I spend Sunday doing laundry and getting ready for the next week - so that leaves no free time for blogging!! And the week days are even more difficult! As it is Kelly and I don't get to bed until midnight or later, so there's not a lot of free time to squeeze blogging in there either! Sorry! Of course, lately I've been falling asleep on the sofa around 10:30 on the weekends which is earlier than I get to bed during the week! It's definitely difficult to "do it all". I find myself thinking back to that Enjoli commercial from the 70's when I was growing up with the lady saying I can bring home the bacon. Fry it up in a pan. (Click on Enjoli Commercial to see it.) Okay...tangent here - you have to love the age we live in - it totally perpetuates instant gratification! At first, I was thinking this was a Calgon commercial - it took 1 Google search to figure out it was Enjoli and to actually SEE the commercial I was thinking of on YouTube!! Crazy and amazing times we live in!!

Okay - I'm back from my tangent! Anyway! It is very difficult to keep it all going! Kelly and I were talking about how we could try to get to bed earlier during the week, and he was like if we go to bed any earlier all we'll do is eat, get Riley ready for bed and put down, workout and sleep! I was like I know!! I guess that's what normal people do! Except a lot of people I know don't do the workout part! And I can see why! We had to finally make a decision and commitment to put working out at the top of our list after our jobs and being Mom & Dad. And it takes that commitment and consistency! That's the only way I was finally able to see results! And I mean every bite of food I eat has been weighed on a scale and cooked a certain way! Thank GOD for Kelly! I'd never be able to do this with the intensity I've been able to so far without him and his support. I joked the other day that I'm like Oprah - I have personal chef that prepares all my meals and a trainer that works out with me and I still have good days and bad days!! It's hard to never go to lunch with friends or other social functions b/c you are committed to a program! But I've found that's what it takes! Hopefully once I get back down to my normal weight, we can relax things a little to maintain. But right now, I'm focused and committed to my end goal!! Seriously though, I can't give Kelly enough credit! He really does carry a lot of the weight during the week. He feeds Riley breakfast and gets him off in the morning, then he's usually home before me and gets dinner going. During the week, our share of the work may be closer to 60 Kelly, 40 me, but when you factor in how many hours I have to be in the office for face to face time, meetings, etc it probably ends up 50/5o. Sometimes I worry about Kelly feeling like he's carrying all the load at home though, but he's so laid back! If I say anything, he's like I don't think that at all. I can't say this enough! He may not be perfect, but he's perfect for me! Sometimes I actually get a little freaked out that maybe our relationship is too easy....like there might be something wrong because it just works so effortlessly! I know...I need help! It hasn't always been like this though - we had to work on things to get it to the point where it is now! However, things with our lives after Riley just sort of naturally fell into place without us even having to discuss it very much!

Anyway! Enough with my no time no blogging excuses! I'll try to be better! Just have to find a time to fit it into an already jam packed schedule!! Now let's play some catch up on what's going on with Riley since this is his show!!

- Just in the last couple of days he's started to shake his head 'Yes' - very slowly and he has to concentrate! It's so cute!! And now he'll say it to - "Cheeeessssssssss" as he's doing it.
- He's been shaking his head No for a while, and he knows he means No when he does it! I always ask the question twice just to make sure b/c sometimes he'll just shake his head no for the heck of it.
- He also mastered the art of the High Five! And we have NO idea how!! But thank GOD b/c every stranger tries to get him to do that! And Kelly and I would have to say - he doesn't know how to high five! So now he does!
- He'll point to our noses, mouth, ears...but not his own! And if he touches my nose, he has to touch Kelly's too!
- He'll point to his own bellybutton and raise his shirt up to show it to you.
- As far as words go - he's still got the old faithfuls of sht, ball, kitty kitty, mama, dada, dadadada and mamamama (when he's excited) and gitcha gitcha. Now he's added - cheese, all done, bye-bye (he'll wave bye too), shoes, a mixture of meow and ow, dunk and ish (as in gold fish - one of his FAVORITE snacks). I'm sure there's a few more that are escaping me now. More and more, you'll say something to him and he's a little repeater and just repeats it back. I SWEAR he said "washing machine" today! And open and close! Emily said she swears he said "magician" the other day too! Kelly and I REALLY better start watching our potty mouth slip ups now!!
- Speaking of dunk - he's a dunking MACHINE!! He's even starting to get creative and do different and more challenging dunks. He'll stand behind the goal to dunk or back into it like he's doing a reverse dunk, etc. I tried to get some pictures tonight, and we take videos too so I'll have to get some of those uploaded. Kelly described it perfectly the other day - we came home from somewhere and Riley immediately ran to get his basketball and dunk, so Kelly said - it's like Christmas every day with that basketball goal and dunking.
- He also understands so much more than he can speak. I guess narrating what you do does pay off. Yesterday, I said take the paci out of your mouth so I can give you a drink, and he did it! I was like WHAT?!? If we say, where's the basketball - he always goes to look for it in 1 place first - under the coffee table. Then he'll go dunk it with AUTHORITY! I can say let's go to Mommy's room or your room, and he'll take off running to the room I said. I said do you want to slide tonight, and he ran and put both hands on his slide. And that's not something we say every day or anything.
- It's so cute every day when I come home from work, he hears the garage so he greets me at the gate with jibberish - then he runs to find his basketball and dunks it for me as if to show off! Like one of my friend's at work said - he's like a little puppy showing off! Then I'll squat down and say come give me a hug, and he'll run over to me - then turn his back to me and back into my chest like he's letting me give him a hug!! OMG! It makes my heart pitter patter just to type about it! He's so SWEET!!!
- He's still all about his baby signs too. Man have those ever saved many a tantrums!! And if you don't "listen" the 1st time he tells/signs that he's all done eating - he'll start frantically signing it! I think I said to him once. I don't know you're all done unless you do it with both hands, so I'll keep feeding him if he only "says" it with one hand. He usually eats about 2 more bites, then he's REALLY all done! He can be playing or whatever, then he'll just come up to you and sign for milk or eat if he's hungry. We should probably do more signs with him, but it's like he's starting to talk now so I'm not sure it'd be worth it.
- Kelly has this whole repertoire he goes through with him - I'm going to try to video it one day, but every time the video camera beeps - Riley gets distracted and it messes up whatever you were trying to capture! Here's the breakdown of their routine:
- Clap (very enthusiastic clapping)
- Say Yes - head nod
- Show me your belly button
- Dance
- High Five
- Where's my nose?
- Wave
So they just cycle right through them on demand! It's so cute and funny! Sometimes he'll even clap after he does one of the other things - like I know I did it!
- That's another thing - he's such a little cheerleader! It's like that "Go Hank" commercial from a few years ago every day at our house! I put dirty clothes in the hamper and he claps and smiles! He puts a puzzle piece in his puzzle and he claps and smiles! He dunks and he claps or does a little victory dance! If he gets something out, and you ask him to put it back - he puts it back, then claps and smiles!
- Dancing! OMG! How could I forget that?!??! He's a dancing MACHINE too! We finally started back to Kindermusik last week, and he danced his socks off in that class! He was running circles around all those kids! You could tell the other parents were like - why isn't my kid doing that?! And the teacher was loving it b/c all the new or visiting parents had twinkles in their eyes thinking their kids would be that excited one day too! We still have at least 1 dance song a day at home. Either real dance music on a Sirius channel on tv, or one of the dancing songs from his previous Kindermusik cds.
- I have to admit that I was concerned he might be a little anti-social since he stays with Emily and isn't in a group setting, but groups don't intimidate him at all! It's like he feeds off the attention! I was thinking he might not be as into Kindermusik, but he picked right up where he left off, but with his new and improved dance moves now. The last time we went to Kindermusik he wasn't even walking, so the teacher was totally loving all his dance moves! And we went to my cousin Cassie's baby shower yesterday, and he was working the room dancing and running around! I guess it drives home that nature versus nurture point - he was definitely born with his somewhat outgoing personality because one could argue we have not done much at all outside of Kindermusik to nurture that side of him.
- One of his favorite things is to just run around outside...omg! I think I have the cutest video that captures that - he literally runs and jibber jabbers non-stop! He LOVES it! Emily even took him to Grapevine Mills mall last week when the weather was bad and he walked and ran around the entire 1 mile loop! I'm ready for the weather to be nicer so we can go outside more!
- He has become a little more picky in the food department, but not too bad still.
- And the tantrums come and go. They can come on quickly, but the good news is they also leave very quickly.
- He definitely gets more "emotional" when I get home. I read in this weekly newsletter I get from BabyCenter last week that they do that when they feel safe to show all their emotions (good or bad) with you. It's like if your child is fine at daycare, then has a meltdown when you get there to pick them up. Sort of like we as adults do, we have to be on for work all day, so if we aren't careful our loved ones at home get the sloppy, short fused leftovers! I definitely try to be cognizant of that! I focus on being present in the moment with Riley and Kelly once I get home. I try not to check my phone, not to be thinking about all the things I need to get done either at work or home and just enjoy the few moments I get to spend with them. Especially Riley! :( Same thing on the weekends!
- I can see where people lose themselves once they have kids. I don't do as many happy hours, girls' dinners, etc as I used to b/c I feel like I should be home with Riley when I'm not at work. I'll try to squeeze some things in during his naps on the weekends if I can, but we've been working out during that time so I've been doing even less. It's definitely a balancing act all the time. I know he can't be my entire life, but when he's this small - sacrificing some of the things I used to do is a small price to pay! I know he'll grow up all too fast and not have enough time for me all too soon!
- We're definitely trying to keep dinner as the sacred "family time". Where we are all 3 at the table, no answering phones, watching tv, etc. I figure if we make that our routine and tradition now, it'll be easier to maintain later!

Wow! I think that's the highlights for now! Not to make excuses already, but it'll probably be a few weeks before I blog again. We're going to Maryland to visit Kelly's family on the 23rd, and I have two MAJOR presentations due before I leave so NO free time for me! Plus, preparing to travel with an 18 month old is already a HUGE feat in and of itself! You feel like you have to take half the house! He's not old enough to sleep on a pallet, so pak n play. Car seat for the rental car and plane ride. Stroller for the airport! And we haven't even touched on how on earth I'm goign to pack for all of us for FREEZING temperatures!! I'm praying for the travel God's to be looking down upon us for this trip! I figure it can only go 1 of 2 ways! Really good or really bad!! To be honest, I don't know if I'm more worried about Riley or Kelly! ha! I'm sure that will definitely earn a post all its own once we have survived it!

Two New Words!

So this weekend Riley started saying car or really "cah" as Emily put it! And he also said "Kitty Kitty" at Emily's house because she has 2 cats.

He's had "ball" down for a while and with his new basketball goal - that one is only becoming more popular! And now Dad is teaching him to SCREAM when he dunks the ball! GREAT! And of course, he's getting that down pat!!

And anything is fair game for being "dunked"! Just a few of the items that I've seen "dunked" are shoes, Chicken Dance Elmo, football, tennis ball, basketball, car, book and sippy cup. Pretty much anything that happens to be in his hand or within arms reach when he decides "I haven't dunked in a while"!

I also think he gives kisses, but just not your conventional type of kisses!! LOL! I noticed a while back he would hold his mouth open and say "Ma" as he was touching his mouth to you. Then I noticed when I kiss him I saw "Muah" "Muah", so that's probably what he is doing! He won't do it on demand when you ask for a kiss, but he will do it when he wants to! I'll take kisses from him ANYTIME in ANYWAY!!