A world of words

As Riley and I were taking Bauer for a walk today, I tried counting in my head the number of words she knows, to get an idea of her vocabulary. I couldn't really keep track, and I realized that it's even more extensive than I thought. I'd have to say it's her language skills that really represent the biggest change over the past few months. She understands so much, and her little voice is just so adorable. Plus, of course, she has her own little spin on everything. The neighbors' dog Henry is "Nenry" and apples are bapples. Water is "watu" and milk is "meeeeel." She's also starting to be more and more affectionate, which really just means that I'm going to give her whatever she wants whenever she wants it, because when she comes over to sit on my lap or give me a hug or kiss, it's pretty much the greatest thing in the world. Her little world remains as busy as ever with day trips and playdates and birthday parties. The pictures below are from the Kansas City Car Show last weekend. She and her friend Kerington are trying to decide if they are more Corvette, Mustang, or Pickup Truck type of girls.

Swim Lessons

Riley's winter swim lessons have been a mixed bag. The first lesson she loved, the second was good, the third she cried most of the time and today, she wanted to be on the slide the whole time and wasn't interested in much else. It was definitely better than last time though. And luckily for me, TJ was able to go so he could get into the lukewarm for half an hour. Also, wanted to post a picture of Riley trying on the booties Great Grandma Shirley made for her. They finally fit!

Pink Shoes

We've had an interesting week and busy weekend here in Mo. A blizzard at the beginning of the week left about 18" of snow on the ground and very cold temperatures. Bauer has been enjoying romping around the yard, but it takes me about 20 minutes to get him defrosted when he comes back inside with icicles packed into his fur. Base was actually shut down for a while, which is pretty rare. So, we had a nice few days all together in the house, watching a Toy Story 1,2, and 3 marathon. Riley is now officially hooked, and continually walks up to us holding the remote, demanding, "Buzz, Buzz!!" It's pretty cute and actually quite hard to resist turning it back on just to make her happy.
Friday before leaving for work, I opened the fridge to grab my lunch and the light bulbs flickered then went out. I didn't think much of it, just that we'd have to replace the bulbs. In fact, however, the fridge went kaput. We're trying to figure out whether to fix it or get a new one, but in the meantime, the garage is where we go for milk and eggs and the snowbank on the back deck is the frozen foods section.
Riley had Kindermusic Saturday morning where she pretty much solidified her ranking as the baby with the best rhythm in class. Another parent proclaimed that she was the next young Britney. Let's hope not.
Saturday night she had a birthday party for a little boy who lives in the neighborhood. After a cookie for an appetizer, two bites of pizza, and cake and ice cream for the rest of the main course, she was pretty much the life of the party. Up and down the stairs, all around the house, jibber jabbering with all the kids and adults. One of whom was incredibly impressed when Riley squatted down and said "pee shoo." The gentleman thought she was commenting on the pink shoes I'd dressed her in. In reality, she was letting me know that she had made a "pee shoo" in her diaper. An equally impressive observation in my opinion, but I didn't feel the need to clarify for a perfect stranger.
There is more snow forecast for this week, but hopefully it won't shut things down and we can just get back to business as usual...whatever that means for us these days!

Just some photos

No real exciting news, just wanted to post a few pictures. Riley had a busy weekend of Kindermusic, and a friend's birthday party, and then a play date while we went out with some friends for a much needed adult night. She is definitely showing her independent spirit, and still exploring everything she can get her hands on and get into. You'll see below, that now includes my jewelry and accessories. I have managed to get a ponytail into her hair a few times, which I consider a major accomplishment. She says, "pretty, pretty," and points to it, then tries to yank it out until I get her distracted by something else. Maybe I should have started her on bows much earlier. Oh well, she'll learn to love it.

18 month checkup

Riley had her 18-month checkup today and her stats are as follows...50th percentile for weight (23lbs), 50th percentile for height (31") and 75th percentile for nugget circumference. All in all, the doctor said, "she's perfect." The doc, nurse, and people at immunizations were all impressed by her poise during the visit. They said every other kid in today was screaming and fussing. She was on her best behavior and actually had a lot of fun tearing up the crinkly paper on the exam table and staring out the office window at everyone passing by. What a funny sight it must have been for everyone on the outside looking in at a diaper only clad, blond peanut tangled up in the blinds, cracking herself up.
We started her winter swim lessons tonight and she seemed really excited to be back in the water. We haven't done any swimming since summer, but she took right to it again. She was even more comfortable floating on her back and let me dunk her under the water. Other than the fact that the pool is like tepid bath water, it should be a fun series. Hopefully TJ can make it to some of the lessons too and then I can watch from the sidelines and stay much warmer.
On Saturday, we took her to get some studio photos to mark her 18-month milestone. Cheesy portraits are my least favorite kind of photo, but I wanted to get it done before time just gets away from me. She really wasn't into following any sort of directions, but we managed to get a few nice poses. The lolly pop actually wasn't supposed to be a prop. I was using it as a bribe, and it ended up working for the shot so we went with it. I find myself astounded lately when I look at her how big she's gotten and how quickly the time has gone. It's a good thing there's another one on the way because I'm already going through baby withdrawal. Since my baby is really a toddler who is really looking more like a little kid every day. It makes my heart ache in the most bittersweet way.

On to the New Year

Hard to believe that it's 2011 and that there's so much on the horizon this year. After spending a nice Christmas at home, we headed out on a long road trip to SC. It was great to see friends and family and I'm so glad we made the trek. Riley was a trooper and we are just so blessed to have such a flexible child. I hope that number two takes it as easy on us as she has.
Riley has her 18-month checkup in about a week, so it will be interesting to see how much she's grown since her 1-year visit, and what the doctor has to say about her development. One thing I know for sure is that she has some impressive verbal skills. We had a pizza play date last night with two of her friends, another little girl, who is fairly talkative, and a little boy who didn't say anything. I've heard that the boys start talking later, but given her vocabulary and ability to repeat back just about any word these days, I think she'll be putting real sentences together soon. She loves to go through picture books, especially about animals, and point out their names and sounds. She also loves to run around the house and play in crazy ways with her "dada." Things I would never think of to do, like break dancing and spinning in circles while lying on the floor. I guess that's what Dad's are for. We are practicing how to "be gentle" with baby using the cradle and baby doll that came back from SC (thank you Deb). We still have some work to do, but the instinct is there, and Bauer has survived her love so far, so I think we'll be okay.
The job of parenting is still full of wonderful surprises, challenges and laughter, and is by far the most important thing I've ever applied myself to. Just last night, TJ woke me up at 2:30 when he came to bed by saying, "I think Riley puked in her crib." Sure enough, I walked in, gagged, and found her asleep with the pizza from dinner covering her hair, jammies, giraffe, crib, sheets and floor. We woke her up for a middle of the night bath, cleaned up the mess, gave her water and a saltine, had a little dance party (at her request) and then she went right back to bed. It could have been such a nightmare if she was feeling worse or wouldn't settle back down. She just amazes me and I feel so lucky and thankful for her special little personality. Anyhow, below are a few recent pictures. Enjoy and Happy New Year to all.

Start of the Season

On Saturday, we took Riley to the Ops Group kids' Christmas party on base. It was a pancake breakfast with crafts, games, and of course, Santa. Last year, we didn't take Riley to see Santa, but this year, we thought it would at least be entertaining. Considering that she's usually pretty fearless, we figured she might be just fine with him. Anyhow, long story short, she ended up literally running right into him. She was racing back and forth through the halls when he came around a corner to make his entrance. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up with very wide eyes. She looked more baffled than anything else. We followed Santa into the party where he knelt down to meet her face to face. He said hello and she just stood right there, kind of mesmerized, then she took off to running again.


I also need to include in this post some more evidence that proves Bauer is the greatest dog in the world. Yup, we've entered that stage.