Gut Bowl

I am ok with admitting that at times Casey and I can be quite frugal. "Free" events at the Club are a big draw for us. Tonight was no exception. After a long day at work and school, we went to watch the Gut Bowl, a friendly tennis competition between Forsyth CC and Old Town CC. Riley loves to watch tennis, Chase delights in being outside, and Casey and I enjoy the free food and drinks, so it was a win-win-win. What struck me most about tonight (apart from Chase being amazingly well-behaved) was how different this event was for Riley this year. In prior years, he's stayed very near us and either watched the tennis or required us to be his entertainment. Not this year. He wanted a tennis racket, a ball and his baseball glove (???). As soon as he was equipped with these items, he spent the rest of the night playing on the backboard with a bunch of other kids (some who he knew and some who he didn't). He is so independent at times now that it simultaneously breaks my heart and makes me proud. He is a nice kid, decent at sharing, fun to be around, athletic, charming and kind. Could a parent ask for more?

Evening Walks

Now that the weather is warmer and the daylight hours are longer, we have resumed our (almost) daily evening walks. It is a nice way to unwind after dinner and transition into bedtime. The dogs love the exercise, Chase loves to look around, Riley loves just about any excuse to be active and outside, and Casey and I enjoy having a little bit of (mostly) uninterrupted conversation. We have been doing walks after work since the day we brought Winston home as a tiny little puppy almost 10 years ago and it's fun to reflect on how much our family has changed over the years and how many new additions we've made to our walking crew since then.

Riley's role in the walk is ever-evolving as well. He started out in his infant carseat attached to the stroller. Then he moved to sitting in the stroller itself without the infant carseat. Then he started truly walking with us -- first while pushing his little lawnmower down the street as we walked, then while holding our hands, then walking completely by himself but with frequent breaks to crouch down and closely examine something fascinating like dirt on the sidewalk or an ant hill or a feather or some other random item that caught his attention (those walks took F-O-R-E-V-E-R, perhaps his first attempts to delay bedtime). Then he started walking quicker. Then he wanted to ride his bike. Then he wanted to run, alternating between nights with Monny and Daddy as his running partner. Now his walking is really more playing catch with himself while moving in a (mostly) forward direction.

I can't wait to see what the walks bring for him next...

Ice Cream Picnic

Tuesday nights have somehow become our family night at the Club. When I drop him off for school on Tuesday mornings, Riley will say, "It's Tuesday. Do we get to eat at the golf club today?" For the most part, the kids are very good at the Club and it is good practice for them to eat out, use their manners, stay in their seats until everyone is done eating, etc. Tonight, however, was not one of those nights. Chase, at 10 months, has decided that he doesn't particularly care for napping at school. After spending roughly 9 hours there, you can imagine how tired he is after we pick him up. He likes to eat, so that is a good distraction up to a point, but after he's done eating, he is not afraid to let us (and the rest of the people eating dinner on the patio) know that he's just not feeling sitting in his seat patiently anymore. All wants he wants to do is GO TO BED. He is actually quite good at communicating this to us, even without being able to talk, so I suppose we should be happy about that. Still, it doesn't make his vocal protests any less painful. Casey finished eating his dinner and decided to take Chase home so that Riley and I could finish our dinners at a leisurely pace and enjoy some ice cream afterwards. Being my child, Riley was very excited about the ice cream and immediately lost all interest in his mac and cheese. He was insistent that we eat our ice cream sitting on the steps in the Club's dining room, right where everyone needs to be walking to get to their seats. Thinking this was not a great idea, I suggested that we take our ice cream outside and have a picnic in the grass overlooking the golf course. So for about 15 minutes, I got to sit and focus only on my time with Riley. We chatted, we watched people play golf, and we just generally enjoyed being outside indulging in some ice cream on a hot summer's day.

Love you

For as long as I can remember, Casey has said to Riley on an almost daily basis, "Have I told you yet today that I love you?" The responses from Riley are sometimes sweet and sometimes comical. The typical response, however, is "No." To which Casey replies, "I love you THIS much" (as he stretches out his arms as far as he can reach). Riley always copies him and says, "I love you THIS much" and outstretches his arms too. Casey's reaction, to tickle him as Riley's arms are outstretched. He knows it's coming and pretends to be annoyed, but I know he loves it and hope he never outgrows it. That smile is irreplaceable.

Birthday party at the ballpark

Today Riley's friend William had his birthday party at the Dash game. Just after the rain delay, Riley and his buddies decided to head over to the grassy area to play catch for awhile. Just as the rounded the corner from the third base line to the outfield, we heard a loud C-R-A-C-K. Jeremy Farrell did it again -- he had hit another booming home run. And who was directly in line to catch the ball as it sailed over the fence and landed at his feet about 5 feet away from him? Riley. It was almost a perfect moment -- getting a homerun ball in front of all of his friend and their parents... Even from about 1/4 of the way across the stadium as I watched this unfold with some of the other parents, I could feel his excitement (and honestly, the parents were all so excited for him too). But then the big kids came along. They had to be at least 12, and even though Riley with his glove on his hand was sliding downhill to grab the ball, they knocked him out of the way to get to the ball. Certainly a natural reaction, so I didn't hold it against them to have gone after the ball, and they were old enough to know better than to steal a ball from a little kid, so I was sure they'd do the right thing and give it back to him (especially because there were also some adults with the 12 year old monsters). It was not to be.

As Casey and I were discussing the etiquette of this later, I figured he might lecture me on how whoever gets the ball should keep the ball, even if it's a big kid vs a little kid. He surprised me with his response, "I'm just glad it was me that was right there and you across the stadium. I was mad, but if you'd been there, I'm pretty sure you would've knocked that 12-year-old kid out." Ah, he knows me so well.

Luckily, Riley is a much better sport than I am. He shrugged it off and kept walking to the grassy area to play catch with his friends.

ESPN

I woke up fairly early (for me) this morning to a quiet house. Instead of attempting to fall back to sleep, I decided to get out of bed and go out on the side porch to enjoy a cup of coffee and catch up on my blog. It was not to be. Riley, surely waking up when he heard the dogs clamoring down the stairs (they are both like bulls in a china shop in the early morning descent down the stairs), found me out on the side porch within minutes. He asked if he could watch highlights (baseball) on my iPad. So as I sit here typing, he is sitting next to me watching highlights from last night's Red Sox game. I cannot fully express how amusing this is. I'm not exactly paying attention, but every so often I'll hear him say things like, "And Nava makes the catch!" and "Now batting, Will Middlebrooks..." and "It's a grand slam for Johnny Gomes!" and "Ground ball double for Pedroia." The crazy thing is that he's always right, both about the player and about what he's done. Maybe I give him too much credit, but I can't imagine there are many three year olds who know this much about baseball and specific baseball players. Future sportscaster on our hands??? You heard it here first.

Friday Night Fun

Just about every Friday night, Casey and I meet at the kids' school, pick them up from their classrooms (why is it that Riley is always SO thrilled when Daddy picks him up from school???) and then we all walk a few blocks in downtown Winston-Salem to Mellow Mushroom for dinner. It is a great way to transition from the week into the weekend. Sometimes friends join us, sometimes they don't, but the food is always good, the beer is always cold and the atmosphere is perfect for our two enthusiastic little guys.

Helper

Casey was out entertaining clients tonight. I don't have to do it often, but being a single parent is hard and it had been a long day at work, so I was anticipating a rough night. I always try to break it to Riley early when something is going to be different about his schedule -- he likes routine and it was a gorgeous night, so I knew he'd be crushed not to have his favorite pitcher to place baseball with -- so on the way home I told him that Daddy was going to be at a meeting all night and asked him if he could please be a good helper. His response? "Yes ma'am." Hmmm. When we got home, instead of whining about what we were going to have for dinner (as is the norm), he grabbed the two grocery bags at the foot of Chase's seat and climbed out of the car (I hadn't even asked). As he struggled to carry the two bags into the house he said, "You have full hands so I'm being a good helper." (Love him.) Inside the house, he attempted to get the two grocery bags on the counter for what felt like 10 minutes, knocking himself in the face with them twice, but insisted he did not need help. As I was getting Chase out of his carseat, Riley fed the dogs (again without me even asking). Trying to capitalize on the few shorts minutes I had until Chase completely melted down (he is not a patient waiter when food is near), I put Chase on the floor to play and began making dinner (don't judge me for serving them scrambled eggs, cheese and toast, as I said, being a single parent is tough). Hearing a very loud thud, I looked up to find that the thud was Riley dropping a bunch of toys on the floor. About to get annoyed, I looked at Riley and he flashed me one of his big smiles and said, "Monny, look, I brought Chase some toys to play with so you could make dinner." For the next five minutes, I cooked in (relative) peace as the two boys played together.

After dinner, the three of us played for awhile until it was time for Chase to go to sleep. Afterwards, Riley, not one to forget an opportunity for chocolate, reminded me that we needed to make brownies for his teachers for Teacher Appreciation Day the next day. Proving that he really is without a doubt my son, he asked just about every two seconds if we were done stirring yet, knowing that that is the last step before pouring the batter into the baking dish, signifying it's time to lick the spoon (and the bowl).

As I was tucking him into bed later that night, Riley told me, "I was a good helper tonight. Daddy was at a meeting." Between the look on his face and what he had said, I could tell he was proud of himself for being a good helper. And I was proud of him too.

Adorable even when grumpy

Let's face it, Riley is a really sweet and kind kid, but even he can have off moments, particularly when he is tired. Tonight was no exception. He got sent to bed early for not listening (he had been using poor Wrigley as a jungle gym in spite of repeated requests to quit crawling on top of her to get to his ball). It is his response, however, that I love. Not quite sure how to fully articulate his thoughts, he looks at me through tear-streaked cheeks and says, "I'm not doing very well." I'm not sure why I love this so much, but it is just such a sweet way of saying what we already know, he's out of sorts. I kneel down to talk to him on his level and he says, "I'm just tired. And I'm cranky." It is moments like these that I am actually the most proud of him. No one is perfect, but at least he is starting to be able to recognize this in himself.

Bedtime

There is one minute every day that I look forward to more than almost any other -- the one where I leave the room after putting Riley to sleep. But not for the reason you might think (finally having a few minutes of quiet time with Casey after a very long and mostly exhausting day). Nope, it's for the simple thing that he says to me without fail each night as I'm leaving his room: "I love you. I hope you have a very good sleep."

Chores

Riley has done chores for as long as I can remember. When he was old enough to take his toys out of the bin, we also figured he was old enough to put them back in the bin, and we'd make him do that before he could move on to the next activity. As he got older and became more responsible, Casey started teaching him how to help feed the dogs. This is his most important chore and lately he has been giving us some attitude about it -- "but I want to watch baseball and not feed the dogs..." (imagine this in the most whiny voice ever at 7:00 in the morning). Casey has been consistent and has not given in to his pleas, and I witnessed the most amazing thing this morning. Riley woke up, went to the bathroom, went immediately downstairs and fed the dogs without being asked or even prompted. I was in the next room folding laundry and from the mud room I could hear Riley's sweetest voice saying, "Come on, Winnie. Come inside. I've already got your food in there." Winston apparently was not budging, so he persisted. "Come on, sweet boy, come eat your breakfast." God I love that kid.

Mother's Day

Perhaps the greatest Mother's Day gift of all was that both boys slept in two days in a row, Chase sleeping today until we woke him up at 9:00 because we wanted to get the day started, which was especially welcome because he hasn't slept past 6:00 for weeks (I blame teething and the fact that he's learned how to stand up in his crib and wants to do it all day and all night long to practice). It was wonderful to enjoy a cup of coffee while it was still hot!!! The day only got better from there. Casey made me french toast for breakfast. Riley, Chase and the dogs suprised me with two new rose bushes -- Riley telling me that he had a secret, taking me by hand and walking me to the garage where the secret was hiding. He could barely contain his excitement and it made me feel so good and so proud to know that he delights in seeing other people happy.

After breakfast, the six of us took a nice long walk to the playground and hung out there for awhile -- Riley and Casey swinging and playing on the slides, Chase practicing standing up and the dogs doing what they do best -- Wrigley chasing a ball and Winston laying at my feet in the most inconvenient spot for me trying to prevent Chase from falling. After the walk, it was already time for lunch. Casey made the most delightful crab cakes I have ever tasted (even he agreed they were good). After that, nap time for the boys. Casey planted my new rose bushes and did other yard work while I pulled some ivy from a spot that has been driving me crazy for months. This may not seem like a leisurely Mother's Day activity, but I was so excited to spend some peaceful time outside in the fresh air with Winston, ever the loyal companion, at my side the entire time. After about an hour, we got the boys up and headed to... you guessed it... a baseball game! Such a perfect day for a game, and the Deacons actually won. Riley and Casey spent most of the game playing catch, and an enthusiastic dad behind us raved about Riley's excellent throwing form (he had less to say about his catching technique which still leaves a lot to be desired). Chase and I hung out in the stands and had a lot of fun banging on the metal seats. Every time the Deacons made a good play, I'd throw him up in the air and he'd just giggle with delight. This is a particularly heavenly sound because for the first 9 months of his life, I never, not once, heard Chase giggle. He'd smile and squeal and do sort of fake-laugh noises, but he wouldn't giggle. I was beginning to think maybe he wasn't happy. Not so, it just took him awhile to find his giggle, and it also took me awhile to figure out that he has sort of an odd sense of humor (the funniest thing in the world to him being me making sniffling sounds and telling him how much he stinks).

After the baseball game, we came home and all 6 of us hung out outside in the afternoon sun for a few hours playing baseball, crawling around, playing in the sandbox and just enjoying a leisurely Mother's Day. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

The Kids Next Door

The three boys who live next door have been peering down at Casey and Riley playing baseball from the top of their fort for months. Right around St. Patrick's Day, they started talking to us. Since then, they talk to each other a little more every time they see each other. And just recently, Riley will go talk to them all by himself. Those conversations must be hilarious -- who knows what they talk about -- but it is fun to watch. Casey made the comment the other day, "Sometimes I look at him and can't believe he's my son." He was referring to the fact that he's growing up so fast and it's amazing to watch him develop friends, and just develop in general, in front of our eyes. I imagine it is even more apparent to us right now because his growing independence is in such stark contrast to Chase's constant dependence. I take comfort in knowing that Riley's a sweet, fun little boy and will probably attract quality friends in the years to come. But that doesn't mean we want to let go to let him make them on his own.

Hair Twirling

It is amazing that some things seem to be completely hereditary. I have never seen Casey twirl his hair in the entire 13 years we've been together. Not once. But I know from stories I've heard that when he was younger, Casey used to twirl his hair when he was tired. It just cracks me up to watch Riley sitting in his chair watching baseball at the end of a long day twirling his hair. It's even funnier when he stops twirling his hair and a big clump of hair stands up straight afterwards. My favorite thing is to think of a young Casey looking exactly the same way many years ago...

Early Wake-Up Call

I rarely (ok, almost never) go out with friends on a weeknight (or ever, really) and last night was one of the rare occasions that I did. I was out "late" (which translates to 10:30 p.m.). Of course this was the morning that Riley woke up early because he had a bad dream. Wanting to still get a bit more sleep, and knowing he likely would not go back to bed if I sent him back to his room on his own, I volunteered to go lay with him in his bed. This kid is rarely still, so getting to snuggle up next to him for a little while was a real treat. He pretended to be trying to fall back to sleep for awhile, but gave up and started banging on the bed (he called it "playing the drums"). Then he started giggling. Then, you guessed it, he started talking non-stop about last night's Red Sox game ("Monny, they were AWFUL!") and how he wanted to call David Ross on the phone (where does he come up with this stuff???). At this point, I gave up all hope of falling back to sleep or even just resting. So he decided he wanted to play "haircut" which is something we used to do when he was younger. For the next 20 minutes (at least) we took turns getting our hair washed, cut, combed and blown dry, with each of us getting a lollipop at the end of each haircut (thank you Mt. Tabor Barber Shop for making him believe it is every person's right to get a lollipop after a haircut).

Not quite the quiet start to my day that I'd been hoping for, but an even better one than I'd anticipated.

Hygiene

Most three-year-olds that I know love to take baths, but are luke warm (at best) about showers. Riley, on the other hand, LOVES showers, which is ironic (yes, Casey, I'm sure I'm using that word wrong) considering the fact that he HATED showers for the first few years of his existence. We used to make him shower after a day at the pool and you would've thought we were torturing him. Lots of squirming and screaming and tears. And then a cold, rainy day of "surfing" in Maine happened.

As previously mentioned, Riley, Chase, the dogs and I spent a week alone in Maine this past summer. Riley had recently turned three and Chase was about 6 weeks old. To say that being a single mom for that week was a bit exhausting is an understatement, but being in Maine is absolutely amazing and Casey and I wanted that experience for the boys. Besides, the theory was that I could take Riley, Chase and the dogs to the beach all day and it really wouldn't be that hard -- Riley and the dogs could run free while I supervised them and hung out with Chase. Great theory... until the torrential downpour and chilly temperatures hit one morning. Unwilling to stay inside (and possibly lose my sanity), I put Riley in his wetsuit, Chase in about one hundred layers and bundled myself up in a bright (and I do mean bright) yellow rain slicker that I found in the closet. Turned out to be one of the most memorable days of our trip. The dogs couldn't care less if it's raining -- Wrigley still chased the ball for ours and Winston still sprawled on the ground at my feet. Chase and I (and Winston) sat in the garage snapping a million pictures (my form of sanity). Riley, in his wetsuit, "surfed" for HOURS in the driveway -- on a skim board, a foam board, a stack of boogie boards, whatever he could find. And he had a BALL!!! I have so many fantastic pictures of him from that day that it will forever be etched in my memory.

When he eventually tired of surfing, the five of us went down to the beach -- the dogs off leash, Riley running way ahead, and Chase strapped to my chest in the Baby Bjorn (underneath the bright yellow rain slicker -- he was dry as could be). The dogs swam in the angry surf, Riley and I jumped waves, and Chase (still strapped to my chest warm and dry underneath the rain slicker) slept contentedly. It was awesomely fun. And did I mention COLD???

Which is how we get back to the topic of showers. After a full day in the cold, wet elements, Riley asked if he could take a bath (who could blame him). By this point, I needed to start making dinner, so an immediate bath was out of the question. I suggested a shower instead. He gave me a very skeptical look, but agreed. I put him in the downstairs shower which is immediately adjacent to the kitchen and started boiling the water for dinner. 10 minutes later, the water was boiling but Riley was not ready to get out of the shower (in his defense, this shower, although completely the opposite of fancy, has got to be the most amazing shower in the world -- not sure if it's the water pressure or the hot water compared to the somewhat chilly temperatures outside (the cottage in Maine is not really heated) or a combination of the two or something else entirely). So I put the pasta in the water. 10 minutes later the pasta was ready, but Riley still was not ready to get out of the shower. I swear he was in that shower for what felt like 45 minutes. Who knows, but this is when his love affair with long, hot showers began.

I was reminded of that this morning. For whatever reason, he decided that he wanted to take a shower before school. He won't allow me to stay in the same room as him while he showers anymore -- "I want some privacy" (yes, he really says that) -- so our compromise for safety's sake is that he has to talk to me the entire time. So I spent my morning getting ready for work while Riley narrated the ENTIRE Red Sox game from the previous night by memory. I perhaps know more about David Ross and Will Middlebrooks and Shane Victorino than the average person, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ideas

I may have mentioned a time or two that Riley REALLY likes to talk. This is especially true when we are eating dinner and he doesn't feel like eating what we've prepared or when he is stalling at bedtime. All of a sudden, in the middle of a completely normal conversation, he will blurt out, "I got a idea!" which is always accompanied by an enormous smile and mischievous look. What follows next varies from day to day, but there is a common theme: his fantastic idea always involves something that he wants or that will benefit him.

Examples from the past few days:

"I got a idea! We could share some of the sweet tarts I got at school for taking a nap." (As an aside, perhaps it's the sweet tarts that typically prevent the nap???)

"I got a idea! We could play baseball on the side porch while we watch the Red Sox on the iPad."

"I got a idea! We could watch baseball on the TV." (Note: he wanted to watch on the TV instead of on the iPad on the side porch because he was banned from using the iPad.)

"I got a idea! We could go the the golf club for dinner and eat mac and cheese and strawberries."

"I got a idea! We could hancel (read: cancel) the rain so that it's sunny outside."

Music

Every so often, Casey and I allow the boys to spend a little time on their own without us hovering over them. Such was the case this morning. I was taking a shower and Casey was drinking a quick cup of coffee. Riley and Chase were in Riley's room with the door shut so that our crazy little man would not be tempted to attempt going down the steps without supervision.

As I emerged from the peacefulness of my shower, I heard a horrible sound coming from Riley's room. Well, not horrible in that something bad was happening, but horrible in that it was tremendously off-key. Upon entering Riley's room, I found Riley and Chase in the closet -- both standing up banging on the keys of the keyboard set up in Riley's closet, Riley singing at the top of his lungs, both boys grinning from ear to ear.

In hindsight, it may very well have been the most precious sound on earth.

Birthday Parties

It seems that turning four is officially a big deal. This is the first year we are having a birthday party for Riley, and it's the first year that many of his friends are having parties too. There are 4 other kids in Riley's class that have May birthdays. Today was the first of the 5 parties. Riley was so excited about picking out a gift for his friend, Grace. When we first asked Riley a few weeks ago what he wanted to get her for her birthday, I was not all that surprised when he said "a fire truck". After all, it is one of Riley's favorite things. However, when we went out to actually buy a present for Grace, we asked him again what he wanted to get her. This time his response was "a princess". Grace is a sweet but rowdy girl that definitely can hold her own with the boys, so Casey and I were sort of surprised by this choice. When we arrived at the party, the entire theme was princesses. When we were telling Grace's mom the story of picking out a gift, we laughed as we told her his first response had been a fire truck. Her reply, "Grace LOVES fire trucks." It seems that our boy has already grasped the art of listening to what girls want -- he knew the exact two gifts that would've made her day.

Olive

The first time I ever heard of Olive was way back in September when we were vacationing in Maine. We were at the back bay one morning. Riley, Casey and the dogs were walking around in the marsh while Chase and I stayed back on the sand so Chase could drink his bottle. When they came back from their adventure, Winston and Wrigley had been renamed Wilson and Olive. They retained those names for our entire stay in Maine. Not long after we returned, I saw the roster of names for the kids in Riley's class. On it were Wilson and Olive. It all made sense.

I didn't hear Olive's name again until mid-October. By then, the renaming of the dogs was a distant memory in my newborn-induced fog. It was during this time that Chase learned how to put himself to sleep and I had more time to spend with Riley before his bedtime. The two of us would lay in his bed with the lights off and stare at the ceiling. Sometimes we'd pretend we were watching fireworks -- pointing to different spots on the ceiling and talking about what color we saw and if it was big or small. Other times, he just wanted to talk, and somehow in that uninterrupted setting in his dark room, he started really talking to me about things that were on his mind. Sometimes it was questions about things he'd seen and didn't understand. ("Monny, why is Uncle Scar mean? Why did he hurt Simba's daddy? Did he killed him? Why did it make Simba sad?") Sometimes it would be silly stories that he'd made up. All of those conversations were precious to me. And then one night out of the blue he looked at my feet and said, "Monny, I like you shoes. Olive has shoes like yours." And with those ten words, I knew his life had changed. He had his first crush. So I asked him if he'd tell me more about Olive. He replied, "Olive is a princess." So I asked who the prince was. "Riley." (Big grin.) He then proceeded to tell me, "Monny, Olive likes dresses. She likes dresses with stripes. We match." (Immediately, a light bulb went off in my head: so THIS is why he had insisted on wearing exclusively stripes to school for the past few weeks. Prior to that, he had never voiced an opinion about his wardrobe.) Is it weird to admit that for a minute I was almost jealous of little 3-year-old Olive? I had Riley point her out to me the next day at school when I dropped him off, and I actually eyed her to make sure she was good enough for my baby. I wonder if this is how Casey's mom felt about me 13 years ago...

After October, all we heard about for months was Olive. His teachers also noticed the budding romance and said that they were always holding hands and sitting next to each other. Riley would get nervous walking down the hallway to his classroom when I dropped him off each morning. I had no idea you could get butterflies in your stomach at 3. It was adorable.

In November, I did what every good mom would do: I emailed Olive's mom and coordinated their first date. We met up with Olive, her parents and her little brother (who coincidentally is very close in age to Chase) at the park. It was so cute how excited Riley was in the week leading up to this date. We could've gotten him to do just about anything by threatening to cancel his playdate (I made a mental note to remember this down the road).

In their Christmas program, Riley and Olive had to be next to each other on stage. I was able to get a pretty good picture of them - both reindeer - and Santa framed it for him and left it in his stocking for him to open on Christmas morning. One of my few successes as a mom. He grinned from ear to ear when he came to show Casey and me what Santa had left.

Riley and Olive broke up sometime in January. He started to talk about her less. Casey and I would ask him about her sometimes and he didn't have much to say. Finally Casey ended up asking him if he and Olive had broken up. He shrugged and then said something like, "I'm just hanging out with the boys in my class."

I'm not exactly sure what happened to their romance, but as it turned out, Casey and I really liked Olive's parents and were sort of crushed when it was over. Luckily, they are now friends again and we had Olive and her family over for dinner, drinks and play time today. It was a lot of fun. I do hope that someday, when we do meet Riley's future in-laws, we like them as much as we liked the first candidates.

Story time with my baby

I may have mentioned this before, but Chase is completely in love with his big brother. Now that he can crawl, the first thing he wants to do when I put him down on the floor in the mornings is to crawl to Riley's room. I usually watch to make sure that he doesn't change his mind and head towards the stairs, and then I let the boys do their own thing for a few minutes before I interrupt. Today, when I entered Riley's room, they were both sitting next to each other on the floor. Riley had a soft "baby" book about Nemo in his lap and was reading it to Chase who was the most attentive I have ever seen him. There are just no words...

Hello May

Somehow another year has come and gone. Today marks the first day of May, which means I will begin my month-long tribute to all things Riley. He has grown up so much, and I just wish I could stop time... or at least slow it down.

It is astounding to think of what a difference a year makes. Each and every day with a young child seems like an eternity, but each and every year seems to pass in an instant. Last year at this time, Riley was active but not athletic, talking but not completely conversant, silly but not funny, into baseball but not INTO baseball. He may have been anticipating a baby brother, but certainly couldn't have comprehended how much his life would change, and mostly for the better. He had friends, but didn't fully understand what that meant.

Today I turned in the paperwork to register him for school next year. As I was filling it out, I realized that this is the last time I will register him at Foundations at 4-1/2 Street. Next year we will be registering him for kindergarten. Yes, kindergarten. How is that possible? I still remember being with him at the hospital when he was born. I still remember taking him for walks all day long as a baby. I still remember dropping him off for school the first time and how I thought my heart would break. I still remember watching him take his first steps. I still remember the first time he said what we thought was "hey, buddy" but really was "hand buddy" and how he would say it while taking our hands into his and holding on like he never wanted to let go. And I wish he wouldn't, but I know I have to start accepting that he will.

So with that in mind, here's to a month worth of fun stories which will (hopefully) showcase what an amazing little boy he is.