A Quick Riley Update

Riley turned 19 months old two days ago. I can't believe how big she's getting! Every day she is learning and doing new things. Even though most of my time is focused on Joshua right now, I really don't want to miss this special time in Riley's life, so I'm going to try to quickly record everything I can think of.

My favorite thing about Riley right now is how she imitates everything I do. This is both adorable and convicting. For example, I didn't realize how much I "grunt" during the day. Any time I'm frustrated with something, I apparently make a "grunting" noise and Riley copies me. Wow, that's convicting! I also realized how much I pop my joints... I really don't want Riley to pick that up!

But on the cute side of that, she is always wanting to sweep the floors, wash the windows, scrub her play dishes, and put things where they belong. (Really hoping this lasts until she can do it all for real!) She also takes good care of her babies, copying everything I do with Joshua. Both of her grandmas gave her the same doll when Joshua was born, so we joke that she has twins. She is so busy with her twins, constantly moving them from the swing, to the crib, to the high chair, to the stroller, to the carseat... whenever I think I have it tough, I just think about my poor daughter taking care of twins. Whew! That's hard work for a one year old! (wink, wink)

The other day I needed to shave my legs but I didn't have time to do it in the shower. So while Joshua was napping, I locked Riley in the bathroom with me and shaved my legs while sitting on the side of the tub (hey, desperate times call for desperate measures). Riley watched me very intently the whole time and then as soon as I was done and let her out of the bathroom, she ran to get her play fork, came back to the bathroom, and "shaved" her legs with the fork. I thought that was very creative!

Josh and I have noticed that while Riley prefers to play with Josh over me, she only imitates me. We find that gender association very interesting, especially since we've recently heard about people raising their children gender neutral. Crazy, huh?!

Singing and dancing is still her favorite thing, much to my excitement. Now that I'm not pregnant, I can dance with her! She even sits and watches the Highstepper videos, thanks to Ms. Leese posting them on fb. (I don't have my old videos.)

She is talking up a storm! She has so many new words. She came home after spending a few days with her Mamaw saying, "Now" after everything she does. It's so cute! (Her Mamaw didn't realize she said that all the time until Riley started copying her... I say that's way better than realizing you "grunt" all the time!) She also says, "Wow" a lot and "Uh-oh."

Here's a quick list of things she's doing/saying:

"Gimme five!"

She knows all her body parts and most animals.

She sings "My God is so Big" and "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

She's still drinking from a bottle. You can blame her mama on this - I've been too lazy to make her change. It's getting slightly embarrassing.

Daddy/daughter disc golf. She's a great putter!

Goodnight Moon is one of her favorite books. She especially loves the quiet old lady whispering, "Hush!"

"Shoes."

"Bows."

I'll leave you with just two professional, edited photos that were taken on Saturday. Major props to Lamar! I can't get over how much I love the photos!


She's still very weary of strangers.


Is she really only 19 months old?!