So Big

Today when I picked Riley up from school, there were a bunch of teachers and kids in the lobby when I arrived. I saw Riley's teachers, but glanced around and only saw older kids and found myself wondering where Riley was. I walked all the way through the lobby and started to walk down the hall to Riley's classroom before I realized that he WAS one of those older kids.

To people with older children, he still no doubt looks like a baby. But to us, he looks like anything but.

Goofball

When I used to come home from work, Casey would have Riley in his highchair right in front of the back door so that Riley and the dogs would be the first thing I'd see when I got out of my car. The dogs would wag their tails, Riley would start wiggling and smiling and flailing his arms and legs. I thought that was comical.

But now, instead of Riley greeting me from his highchair, he is now standing at the back door. And instead of smiling and flailing his arms and legs in excitement, he now pounds on the glass with his hands and puts his mouth on the glass and licks it. The dogs are right next to him trying to knock him out of the way

I'm not sure which method of greeting I prefer, but either way, what a welcome sight after a long day.

A Year of Laundry

It occurred to me today during the 45 minutes I spent working on stain removal from ONE LOAD of Riley's laundry that even with laundry, you can see progress. Not just the size of the clothes, but in the messes that you try to get out of them. When Riley was first born, I had to scrub to get out spit up and the byproducts of diaper mismanagement. Later it was pureed fruits and vegetables. Then there was a particularly ugly vomiting episode during the winter when poor Riley was sick, we were too dumb to realize it, and were treking him all over town from one errand to the next until he could take it no longer and projectile vomited all over himself, his clothes and his car seat for about 30 seconds straight (image that mess -- made even better because he'd just had strawberries). And now I find myself trying to get out dirt stains on the knees of his pants, blood from a fall while trying to master standing and walking on his own, cranberry juice dribbled down the front of his shirt (sippy cups are not fool proof) and caked on eggs/melted cheese/puffs that have turned to mush/whatever.

I was getting so hopeful thinking about stain-free laundry days ahead when Riley is no longer crawling, has mastered the art of walking, can drink from a sippy cup without incident, and eats without throwing his food. And then I realized that the reason this particular load of laundry was taking so long was that not only did it contain Riley's messy clothes, but it also included Casey's. As Riley says, "Uh oh."

The Evolution of the Chair Dismount

It never really occurred to me that a chair could be a measure of one's physical accomplishments until this morning. Riley perfectly executed a dismount from his "Riley" chair. Just a few months ago, when I put him in his chair for the first time, he tried to get out of the chair by diving head first towards the floor (thankfully, I had anticipated this and was there to catch him). Today, after he finished (or more like became disinterested in) his morning bottle, he turned himself around and climbed out of the chair feet first. I was amazed that he figured out how to do this himself. We had assumed he was not capable of it and have been lining the floor at the foot of his chairs with pillows to prevent him from hurting himself when he fell. The things he teaches us...

Riley's New Skill

MELTDOWNS...

Not my favorite phase, but it sure is funny to watch his face get bright red and hear him scream at the top of his lungs over us trying to feed him such horrible things as pork tenderloin and hotdogs. Apparently he is more of a chicken with a side of rice kind of guy.

All I Want for My Birthday Are My Two Front Teeth...

... and I got them!!!! No longer will my Granny Annie be able to call me "Fang". Mommy is so relieved -- she was so very concerned about how I would look in my birthday photos if my teeth were still missing.

Funny thing, as soon as I got my front teeth, I tried very hard to knock them out. Mommy got a call from my school today saying that she needed to come in to see me because I'd fallen and my mouth would not stop bleeding. Not to worry, by the time she made it to my school, the bleeding had stopped and I was happily sucking on a grape popsicle (little do they know this was all a part of my plan). To be honest though, it was nice to see my mommy during the middle of a school day. I was feeling a little vulnerable and needy, and was very content to rest my head on her shoulder and rock in the rocking chair until I felt better. I actually felt like nodding off until I noticed that the rest of my classmates were getting ready to eat lunch. I am not one to miss a meal, especially a yummy ham sandwich on a biscuit!!!, so I wriggled out of my mom's arms and promptly walked over to the big kid's lunch table and stood there leaning against it until they decided they could risk feeding me "real" food instead of that ridiculous baby food they were talking about feeding me because of my "incident". Don't they know that I am WAY too old for baby food?!?!

Holy Cow!

Today Riley amazed us with his eating abilities. How one 11-month-old kid can eat an ENTIRE chicken breast is beyond me. And not only did he eat it, he ate it with gusto moaning the entire 20 or so minutes it took him to polish it off. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Parmesan Chicken is his new favorite meal.

Strange Day

Unfortunately, this has not been one of my better days. This morning I received a call from my mom letting me know that my dad had been taken by ambulance and hospitalized for what appeared to be heart attack symptoms. It has now been about 10 hours since I received that phone call, and we still do not know exactly what is wrong with my dad.

I have spent the better part of the day contemplating the fact that if a few things had had different results, I very easily could've lost my dad today, and it is a horrible thing to think about. I am not ready for that. I want Riley to know my parents, and I want them to know him. I want Riley to know the amazing people they are, and how much they mean to me, and how they would do absolutely anything for us. I think my dad will probably be fine, but still, it just makes me think that I do not get to see my family nearly enough and wish that were different. With the hustle and bustle of daily life, it seems that I never find the time to pick up the phone and call them, and I don't think I have even been home in 2 years. So today's lesson is to remember to take a few minutes every so often to tell the people that we love how important to us and how much we love them. You just never know if you'll get the chance to do it tomorrow.

I hope that Riley will spend many years with my parents. But for now, I am just grateful for the fact that oftentimes when I look at Riley, I see my dad. I don't know if it's his goofy personality, or his blond hair (like me, my dad used to be blond before age made his hair turn dark), or his smile, or what, but one thing I do know is that being like my dad is not a bad thing at all.

Not Keen on Change

This morning when I dropped Riley off at school and we arrived in his classroom, we found that Ms. Tamilia (one of his teachers) had changed her hairstyle. Normally, it is a struggle for me to keep him in my grasp long enough to wash his hands -- he is trying so hard to get to Ms. Tamilia. Well, not today. Instead of smiling and reaching for her, he just stared and stared and stared. Apparently he didn't warm up to her until after lunch. I guess he has preferences already. I wonder how long this hairstyle will last.

Shopping Companion

Today I realized that Riley is my best shopping companion. We went to the mall today because I realized I really don't have anything stylish that fits anymore. Riley had such a good time. We touched fabrics and looked at patterns. We tried things on. And, I swear this is true, at one point I tried on a dress that looked absolutely hideous on me and he started crying. Maybe he was tired, after all I looked at my watch and we had been at the mall for over two HOURS, but I like to think that he just has good taste (and also knows when something does not live up to standards of decency). Either way, that dress went back to the rack and I purchased the one that made him smile and clap his hands when I tried it on.

Sunny Days

Today I was amazed by Riley's attention span. It was a gorgeously sunny day, so Riley and I decided to go watch Casey play tennis. The match ended up lasting around 2 hours. For someone who wants nothing more than to be in motion these days, you would think being confined to a small space watching tennis for that long would be pretty awful. Instead, he enjoyed watching his daddy while he played with his trucks.

On that note, I have found myself pondering a number of times recently the fact that it does appear that boys love trucks and cars without any sort of prompting from us. Maybe he sees the other kids at school playing with cars, but we really had never given him cars to play with until he started "driving" other things -- i.e. coasters, books, lids, whatever -- around our house). I wonder why that is.

The other fun thing that we did today was an unexpected treat. We were actually supposed to attend "Woofstock", which was a dog-friendly version of Woodstock (meaning, "bring your dogs and come drink and listen to live music"). However, by the time we had finished our errands and Riley woke up from his nap, we only had about 2 hours before his bedtime. So, we ended up meeting my friend Amanda and her almost 2-year-old son, Clete, at the park near our house. It was so much fun watching the boys "play" together. Neither of them was terribly keen on sharing, but it was still fun to watch them interact anyway. It was also neat to see how much different a year makes -- although Riley seems so old to me right now, next to Clete, he still seemed young. Clete, on the other hand, seemed like a little man. I wonder if I'll think that about Riley next year at this time.

Friday Nights

Friday nights may be one of my favorite parts of the week. They signal the beginning of the weekend, and the beginning of a few days where we can all relax and be together. Since its opening about 2 months ago, we have spent almost every Friday night at Mario's, an Italian/pizza place just down the street from our house.

Each week Riley amazes me -- this time it was because he was able to sit still in his high chair without having a meltdown of any sort for the entire 45 minutes or so that we were there. I think that probably had something to do with the fact that he ate pizza (with mushrooms and sausage) for the very first time. I think he could've done without the pizza itself, but he ate the sausage with gusto.

Morning Routine

Our normal morning routine since I went back to work has been to let Riley wake up on his own schedule. He usually talks to himself for awhile and plays with his toys (which I know because one of the toys in his crib is a blue dog with a bell inside of it that I can hear him shaking). Eventually, he gets bored and lets us know that it's time to come get him. Casey and I usually fight to be the first one into his room. The loser has to make his bottle, and the winner has to get him changed from school. All five of us hang out while he drinks his bottle, and then we put him back in his crib to play while Casey and I get ready for work. Usually Riley is crying by the time we are done getting ready. Well, the last few days the routine has changed. Now, when I come downstairs after my shower, he is standing in his crib facing the window and pointing at and talking to whatever it is that happens to catch his eye. A nice change.

Out of the Corner of My Eye

Tonight, while I was playing tennis, I caught a glimpse of a man arriving at the courts with his little boy. It wasn't until the point ended that I realized that it was Riley and Casey. Out of the corner of my eye, Riley seemed like a little boy and not a baby. It was at this point that I realized that to perfect strangers, he probably IS a little boy and not a baby. We don't really notice it because we see him grow up a little more each day.

This may say a little bit about my tennis, but all of the highlights of my match were related to watching Riley and Casey. They played with a truck. Casey ran around like a maniac while flailing Riley to his uttermost delight. A man that we do not know wanted to play "Guess the Baby's Age" and guessed Riley at 14 months -- which made us proud because the man thought he was very advanced for his age. Riley came up to the fence that separated my court from them, and hung on while he ate it (the fence). He smiled any time I came close, and flirted with my partner.

Casey also claims that Riley is going to be the class clown. He says he enjoys making people laugh and smile. According to Casey, this became apparent while he was feeding Riley his dinner. Apparently, with a big serving of pureed apples in his mouth, he found it a great time to make "motorboat" noises. Food splatter went everywhere. Upon hearing this story, I lectured Casey on not laughing at such incidents because they will encourage such behavior. And then I thought two things: first, it IS funny and second, every once in awhile isn't it just fun to delight in making people laugh, even if it means all manners have gone out the window????

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This is a small one, but still, it amazes me (and has been amazing me for about 2 months now) that Riley has gone from a little baby laying on his changing table during diaper and clothing changes, to a little guy who won't lay still for more than 10 seconds, wants to sit up almost immediately, and helps me get him dressed. Instead of having to put each little arm and leg into the shirt or pants, now I just put his arm or leg somewhere in the vicinity of where I need it to go and he miraculously does the rest for me. He almost changes himself. Just wait until he starts choosing his outfits...

Dear Riley

Dear Riley,

Today marks the day that Daddy comes home from his trip -- the longest he has ever been away from any of us since you were 7 weeks old and didn't know the difference. I just want to thank you for these five days of letting me get to know you all by myself. We all missed Daddy terribly, but it was so fun being able to share this extra special time with you and Winston and Wrigley. The thing that strikes me most as I reflect on our last five days is that I can't remember one single time that you cried or had a melt down or even seemed the slightest bit out of sorts. You slept well, you ate well, you smiled a lot. You giggled, you clapped, you danced, you talked, you walked, you reached for ME when you needed someone to make it better when you stumbled. You were truly delightful. It is like you sensed that Daddy was gone and you needed to be on your best behavior to help Mommy survive the week.

Not only did I survive the week, but I actually enjoyed it so much that I got a little (OK, a lot) sad when I dropped you off at school this morning. You are turning into such a big boy right in front of my eyes, and I couldn't ask for a sweeter, more lovable little guy. I like to think Daddy and I have something to do with that, but I think you would be special no matter what.

So thank you for being you, and for giving me these five days to see you shine when there was only me in your world.

Love,
Mom

A Morning Person

Today Riley amazed me when he talked to himself and played in his crib for almost 45 minutes before he thought to let me know that he wanted to have some company. He amazed me even more when I opened the door to his room to find him standing in his crib, holding onto the side, waiting patiently for me. Another first.

Later in the morning, he amazed me when he pointed to Winston and said what truly sounded like "dah", which I interpreted to mean "dog".

And, as usual, my heart almost melted when I turned around in the car to look at him and he just giggled, as if seeing me was the most delightful part of his morning.

Mother's Day Delights

Today Riley amazed me by just being his happy-go-lucky, easygoing self. Casey was out of town -- at Yosemite with his parents and sisters celebrating his dad's 70th anniversary by going on a whitewater rafting expedition -- and this was my very first Mother's Day together with Riley. Along with Winston and Wrigley, we had such an amazing day. It started with the four of us taking our weekend walk to Starbucks (although on a delayed schedule because Riley slept in until 8:15). Then a trip to Miller Park to play ball. Then Winston and Wrigley stayed home to rest while Riley and I had a normal weekend excursion to Costco. We came home and Riley took a 2-1/2 hour nap, which would've been heavenly except that about 1 hour of it conflicted with the baseball game we were supposed to be at. I actually had to wake the little guy up so that we didn't miss the whole game. We ventured to the new baseball stadium in town to watch the Winston-Salem Dash play a Red Sox farm team (we were conflicted on who to cheer for). Riley loved the game, although little of it had to do with the actual baseball. He loved all of the people, and particularly enjoyed the music. We started the game with me having to flap his arms and bop him all around. We ended the game with him "dancing" all by himself. So much fun to watch!!! After the game, we came home, only to be stopped by our neighbors across the street. It turns out that sweet Casey had left some Mother's Day cards and gifts with them to deliver to me since he was not going to be here with us (it is no wonder that I love him so much). After opening the gifts (which were new charms for my bracelet), Riley, Winston, Wrigley and I went back outside to play in the yard. Turns out that Riley was ready to walk -- with one hand holding onto his emergency vehicle and the other hand holding one of mine, we walked (with Winston and Wrigley surrounding us for "protection") all the way from our driveway to the house 3 doors down.

Now that is what I call a GREAT 1st Mother's Day!!!

Off to the Races

The Steeplechase returned to Winston-Salem this year, and Riley and I (along with several friends) decided to venture out to watch. Dressed in our finest, with big hats and all, we made our way to Tanglewood Park to watch the horse (and terrier races). Riley slept some, ate some and watched some, and all in all seemed to have a great time. It amazed me the most to watch him see the bagpipers and the horses and just point at them. He can't say much, but that pointing lets me know that he is watching and is interested. It is amazing to see the world through a child's eyes -- everything being so new, taking nothing for granted. Makes you wish you never lost that kind of vision.

Our lives are about to change forever

There is nothing more amazing than seeing your child develop in front of your eyes. At this age, it seems like Riley does something new and incredible every day. In the past week or so, he has started pulling himself up to a standing position and ever so slightly "walking" while holding onto furntiture for dear life. I just know that our lives are going to get chaotic here before too long. For now, I just cannot get enough of standing about 10 feet behind him and seeing his chubby little legs, and diapered little backside, wobbling and testing their limits.

Short on Words

Tonight, Riley accompanied me to a parent committee meeting at his school. I have always known him to have tendencies as a flirt, but tonight I got to really see him in full effect. He'd look at one of the other moms in the room and grin, then turn away and bury his face in my shoulder, then turn back and grin again, this time with his head tipped to the side.

Like father, like son. I'm in trouble.

Evening Stroll

Casey left today for a long weekend away to celebrate his dad's 70th birthday with his family. They are going on a white water rafting expedition in/near Yosemite, which is why Riley and I are staying behind (much to our disappointment).

So I am playing the role of a single mom for the next 5 days (Lord help me!!!). I left work early to take Winston to the vet (double ear infection/seasonal allergies) and then picked Riley up from school. For the record, picking up Riley from school is normally Casey's thing (which they both love). I was afraid that this change in routine would cramp his style. However, when I found him playing on a little rocking horse on the playground and he saw me standing there, he just grinned and reached his arms out to me. Makes a mommy's heart melt.

After dinner, Riley, the dogs and I went on our nightly walk to the park. It is not the same without Casey here, but we still had fun regardless. Riley fell asleep on the walk home, and it still amazes me how peaceful he looks when he is sleeping. I just sat and watched him for a few minutes before I took him out of the stroller and started the bedtime routine.

Now I sit here, sipping a glass of wine, hanging out with Winston and Wrigley, and reflecting on what a relaxing evening this has turned out to be. A year ago I would've been huffing and puffing on the walk, slugging massive amounts of water, eating my face off, laying in the bed uncomfortably, stressing about to-do lists that would never be finished in time, and counting the seconds until I could see Riley. I still count the seconds until I can see Riley, but at least now I know that I can peek in on him sound asleep in his crib if I really just can't wait until morning. A year ago, I just had to be satisfied with kicks to the ribs in the middle of the night.

Smiles

How is that after almost an entire year, I am still amazed at how much Riley's smiles brighten my day. Every morning as I'm backing out of the driveway to take him to daycare, dreading another day at work, I catch his eye in "Panda" (his mirror) and he just grins and starts giggling and kicking his feet. Absolute BEST way to start a morning.

Civilized Morning

As the days get longer, and the morning light comes through our bedroom window sooner, I find myself able to get out of bed a little earlier and easier. This morning it was about 6:45 when I got out of bed. Riley was still sleeping, so I figured I'd attempt to have a civilized morning. I put on a pot of coffee and waited for it while I made up Riley's bottles for the day (as an aside, this month is the last month of both formula and bottles -- he graduates to milk and sippy cups on his 1st birthday at the request of his teachers). He was still asleep when the coffee was ready, so I poured myself a cup and sat down to watch a little of the Today Show (which I never get to do because we do not allow Riley to watch TV yet). I enjoyed about 10 minutes of this before Riley woke up. After he'd been changed, I set him down in his little "Riley" chair and gave him his bottle, which he drank while I folded laundry and finished my cup of coffee. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I felt like I had everything under control this morning, which doesn't happen often.

The reason this was such an usual situation is that before Friday, we did not realize that Riley was capable of drinking the bottle by himself. I'm not even sure how the topic came up, but somehow I discovered that Riley was drinking unassisted at school. Upon further questioning, I was told that not only was he drinking by himself, but that he had been doing it for over TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!!!! Little guy has totally been scamming us, acting like he needed help drinking his bottle. I'm not sure how an 11-month-old (or really a 9-month-old since it's been happening for a few months) can outsmart both of his parents, but sure enough, upon giving him the bottle and stepping away so that he knew I would not be cradling him in my arms and feeding it to him, he drank away (incidentally, it was SO cute!!!!).

I was proud, not only of the fact that he can feed himself, but truthfully for knowing that either (a) he is smarter than we give him credit for or (b) still preferred to have that special time with mommy and daddy even though he knew how to drink on his own.

I was also a bit embarrassed that we had been conned for so long.

Either way, I wonder if these "civilized" mornings will be a regular occurrence now.

Independence

Tonight we had dinner at Josh and Carrie Brown's house. A delicious dinner, and GREAT company. I was struck most, however, by the fact that while the 4 adults were eating and the 3 dogs were being unruly, sweet little Riley spent the ENTIRE dinner playing with "Chuck the Truck" and other toys. No crying, no fussing, nothing but smiles when he'd turn around from playing to look at us. Just a kid happy to play independently while his parents enjoyed a little adult conversation.

In Honor of Riley's Impending 1st Birthday...

I truly don't know how it has almost been a year already. Time just will not stand still for us, no matter how we try. I haven't been as good at updating this blog as I would've liked, but oh well. However, in honor of Riley's birthday month, it is my goal to write one thing I love about him or one thing that amazes me about him each day this month.

Today's comment:

This morning I ran a 5K in the Race for the Cure with the girls I coach for Girls on the Run. During the race, I spotted Casey, Riley and the dogs on the side of the road, waiting to cheer us on as we passed. It amazed me that out of the 12,000 +/- runners, Riley was still able to pick me out of the pack. I remember seeing his little feet in his new little sandles and thinking how lucky I was to have such a sweet little guy grinning at me from his stroller. Oh, and I felt more than just a little lucky to have such an awesome husband who would spend his Saturday morning trapsing all over downtown Winston-Salem with a baby and two crazy dogs to support me.