Thursday, July 29, 2010
Strollin'
Tonight Riley, the dogs and I had the pleasure of meeting up with a dear friend and her little girl for a walk. This was the first time we'd really gotten to see them and spend a few minutes together while not passing by each other on a race to get somewhere (they are neighbors) since her little girl was born at the beginning of June. Because such opportunities are rare, and because it is nearly impossible to find any time these days to enjoy a glass of wine and some stories with a good friend, we decided to combine the two activities. So around the neighborhood we went - two moms, two unruly dogs, two babies in their strollers, two plastic glasses and one large bottle of screw top wine. By some stroke of luck, both children fell asleep, both dogs cooperated and both moms got a chance to talk about nothing and everything all at the same time. How's that for multi-tasking?!?
All Grown Up
Today when I dropped Riley off at school, his whole class was out on the playground (trying to beat the heat of the day, I suspect). I took him outside to join his friends, set him down on his feet, and off he walked. Yes, walked. And directly to the slide - where he promptly started to climb up the slide (and by that I mean the part of the slide that you are supposed to actually slide on). He turned around to make sure I was watching his great feat and ever so quickly caught my eye, flashed me his big smile to show how proud of himself he was, and then just as quickly turned his attention back to the slide not even noticing as I walked away and left him to enjoy another day with his friends. The entire drive to work I couldn't help but think about how grown up he is in such a short time.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Chatterbox
Today as I was driving Riley to go watch Casey play tennis, he was chattering away in the backseat. As I often do, I had sort of tuned him out. I'm not sure how long it took, but at some point I realized there was something unusual about his chatter, so I started to pay attention. It was then that I realized that he was saying, "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma" -- the first time he had ever uttered such words. Music to my ears. I know I probably eventually will, but at this point I can't imagine ever getting tired of him calling my name.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Morning
There is nothing much funnier than Riley in the mornings. I can always tell what kind of day it's going to be by listening to the noises coming from his room. On "bad" days, he cries immediately upon waking up. This is about the only way we ever know when he is not feeling well for one reason or another.
On the rest of the days, he begins his morning by squealing with delight over whatever fun thing he is doing in his room. After about 15 minutes of "talking" I will hear what I just heard now -- "uh oh". This can mean only one thing: I will no doubt enter his room and find that his pacifier has been launched out of his bed.
The thing about "uh oh" is that he says it before whatever object has managed to "fall" has even left his hand.
I am certain of two things: (1) when I walk into his room to get him up and dressed, the first thing he will do is flash me a big smile and then he will point to the fallen pacifier and (2) for Riley at least, it is going to be a good day.
On the rest of the days, he begins his morning by squealing with delight over whatever fun thing he is doing in his room. After about 15 minutes of "talking" I will hear what I just heard now -- "uh oh". This can mean only one thing: I will no doubt enter his room and find that his pacifier has been launched out of his bed.
The thing about "uh oh" is that he says it before whatever object has managed to "fall" has even left his hand.
I am certain of two things: (1) when I walk into his room to get him up and dressed, the first thing he will do is flash me a big smile and then he will point to the fallen pacifier and (2) for Riley at least, it is going to be a good day.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sunday is Fun Day
The day started out quiet, with Riley sleeping in until nearly 9:00. Casey and I got a chance to drink some coffee and eat some breakfast without interruption. A nice change, although by around 7:30 we were slightly grumbling about the fact that he was STILL sleeping and we were ready to get the morning walk underway before it got horribly hot. I am sure there are some parents out there that would kill us for even thinking that our kid was sleeping too long...
While walking, we met a sweet family that is new to the neighborhood. They have young kids, a big dog, and just moved here from Boston, so naturally we liked them right away and had a lot to talk about. Even being from Boston, I still think they find Casey to be slightly over-the-top crazy about the Red Sox, especially after learning that he took some dirt from Fenway Park into the operating room when Riley was born.
By 10:30, we were at the pool, meeting up with some friends who (poor them) have a 22-month-old little girl (Khloe) and 3-month-old twin boys. Riley and the little girl are "friends" or as much as they can be since they are pretty much still only capable of playing near each other instead of with each other. Either way, it was fun watching them splash around together. Riley has become obsessed with crawling and walking up and down and up and down and up and down... the ramp leading into the pool. He is less concerned with actually swimming and getting wet than he is with mastering the skill of ramp climbing.
At one point during "pool break" (when no kids are allowed in the pool), Riley's new love interest (Emily, the 6-year-old daughter of some other friends) decided to entertain Riley and Khloe. I have never seen anything as cute as watching the three of them walk around the outside of the pool together -- Emily in the middle holding onto one of Khloe's hands and one of Riley's hands. I am hardly ever without camera, but this is one of those moments I wasn't able to capture and will forever wish I had. Fortunately, something tells me there will be a "next time".
After both our fun at the pool and nap time (almost 3 hours!!!), it was time to head to The Big Chill, an all-you-can-eat ice cream charity event in the West End. Just as we were piling into the car, a large storm cloud came into view. By the end of the 3 minute car ride to our destination, it looked a bit dicey. But we were meeting some friends who were there with their 6 week old, so we figured we could brave the elements if they were. Literally just about the second we stepped out of the car, the skies opened up and we were standing in a torrential downpour. After about 10 seconds, we decided to get back into the car. A few minutes later, the rain slowed down to a tolerable level and we decided to try to find our friends. We quickly found them, but within minutes (a minute???), the skies opened up again. There was no escaping the rain this time (although we tried our best at first to hide under a large tree), and Riley was fascinated by the rain, so Casey decided to leave the slight cover provided by the tree and take Riley to explore in the storm. After about 2 minutes, I decided that they looked like they were having a big time, and not wanting to miss out, I left the tree and joined them. Fifteen minutes later, we were still stomping in puddles and generally enjoying being soaking wet and not having a care in the world. It was one of those opportunities to throw "rules" and caution aside that rarely come along, and I am so glad Casey and Riley were there to encourage us to take advantage of the situation and make it into my absolute favorite memory of the weekend. We eventually came back to our senses and realized that we would probably all be sick before too long if we stayed in the wet clothes. It is amazing what a good soaking will do to cool you off in a hurry, even when it is still horribly hot outside. It was the kind of chill that inspires you to put on sweatpants and long sleeves during the middle of July in North Carolina and we loved every second of it.
(Riley post rain storm)
P.S. If being mom to a little boy means that I get to play in puddles, sign me up for a few more!!!
While walking, we met a sweet family that is new to the neighborhood. They have young kids, a big dog, and just moved here from Boston, so naturally we liked them right away and had a lot to talk about. Even being from Boston, I still think they find Casey to be slightly over-the-top crazy about the Red Sox, especially after learning that he took some dirt from Fenway Park into the operating room when Riley was born.
By 10:30, we were at the pool, meeting up with some friends who (poor them) have a 22-month-old little girl (Khloe) and 3-month-old twin boys. Riley and the little girl are "friends" or as much as they can be since they are pretty much still only capable of playing near each other instead of with each other. Either way, it was fun watching them splash around together. Riley has become obsessed with crawling and walking up and down and up and down and up and down... the ramp leading into the pool. He is less concerned with actually swimming and getting wet than he is with mastering the skill of ramp climbing.
At one point during "pool break" (when no kids are allowed in the pool), Riley's new love interest (Emily, the 6-year-old daughter of some other friends) decided to entertain Riley and Khloe. I have never seen anything as cute as watching the three of them walk around the outside of the pool together -- Emily in the middle holding onto one of Khloe's hands and one of Riley's hands. I am hardly ever without camera, but this is one of those moments I wasn't able to capture and will forever wish I had. Fortunately, something tells me there will be a "next time".
After both our fun at the pool and nap time (almost 3 hours!!!), it was time to head to The Big Chill, an all-you-can-eat ice cream charity event in the West End. Just as we were piling into the car, a large storm cloud came into view. By the end of the 3 minute car ride to our destination, it looked a bit dicey. But we were meeting some friends who were there with their 6 week old, so we figured we could brave the elements if they were. Literally just about the second we stepped out of the car, the skies opened up and we were standing in a torrential downpour. After about 10 seconds, we decided to get back into the car. A few minutes later, the rain slowed down to a tolerable level and we decided to try to find our friends. We quickly found them, but within minutes (a minute???), the skies opened up again. There was no escaping the rain this time (although we tried our best at first to hide under a large tree), and Riley was fascinated by the rain, so Casey decided to leave the slight cover provided by the tree and take Riley to explore in the storm. After about 2 minutes, I decided that they looked like they were having a big time, and not wanting to miss out, I left the tree and joined them. Fifteen minutes later, we were still stomping in puddles and generally enjoying being soaking wet and not having a care in the world. It was one of those opportunities to throw "rules" and caution aside that rarely come along, and I am so glad Casey and Riley were there to encourage us to take advantage of the situation and make it into my absolute favorite memory of the weekend. We eventually came back to our senses and realized that we would probably all be sick before too long if we stayed in the wet clothes. It is amazing what a good soaking will do to cool you off in a hurry, even when it is still horribly hot outside. It was the kind of chill that inspires you to put on sweatpants and long sleeves during the middle of July in North Carolina and we loved every second of it.
(Riley post rain storm)P.S. If being mom to a little boy means that I get to play in puddles, sign me up for a few more!!!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Riley's 1st Haircut
After enough comments from friends and family about Riley's mullet, and Casey realizing that his hairstyle made him look like Terry Bradshaw (it really did!!!), we made the decision to take him for his first haircut. It seems silly to take a kid in to get a haircut when he really doesn't have much hair to speak of, but unfortunately for Riley, the hair he DOES have is mostly on the back of his head and it was, in fact, getting pretty long.
So, after much soul searching, Riley and I made our way to Mt. Tabor Barber Shop (a staple in Winston-Salem and also the place that at which Casey has been getting his hair cut since law school) this morning. He was absolutely perfect, and both the guy who cut his hair and I felt that he didn't really know that anything was going on. I suspect this is mostly because there was a ceiling fan, a tv and a cute little girl in the room, all of which he watched intently.
Here are a few photos from the big event.
By the way, this haircut, which took no more than 2 minutes to complete in its entirety, cost $13. And Casey says the charge for MY haircut is outrageous...
So, after much soul searching, Riley and I made our way to Mt. Tabor Barber Shop (a staple in Winston-Salem and also the place that at which Casey has been getting his hair cut since law school) this morning. He was absolutely perfect, and both the guy who cut his hair and I felt that he didn't really know that anything was going on. I suspect this is mostly because there was a ceiling fan, a tv and a cute little girl in the room, all of which he watched intently.
Here are a few photos from the big event.
By the way, this haircut, which took no more than 2 minutes to complete in its entirety, cost $13. And Casey says the charge for MY haircut is outrageous...
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