Chasing A.J.

Earlier in the week I saw that Riley wrote "A.J. is my boyfrend." on the back of a school worksheet. When asked, she told me that she didn't know what the word "boyfriend" means, so I explained that when she is old enough she can start going on dates with boys. Then when she finds one she really likes, he will be called her boyfriend. Then Scot added that a boyfriend is what you have when you're almost ready to get married. Her horrified expression made us both laugh. So she backpedaled a little. A.J. isn't her boyfriend, but she does like playing with him.

When I asked Riley yesterday what the best thing about her day was, her answer wasn't surprising. "Recess." But then she elaborated. "We played Boys Chase Girls (her favorite recess game from kindergarten). I brought it back." It made me laugh because it was like saying, "I brought back slap bracelets. Or Doc Martin boots." When I asked her who else played, she named a few kids and then told me, "I chased A.J. He's by favorite boy in the world." Sorry Blake, I guess you've been replaced.

"Wait," I responded, "if you chased A.J., isn't that Girls Chase Boys?"

"Yeah, but I call it Boys Chase Girls. Then A.J. was helping us chase the boys. He told me, 'Don't worry, I got this.'" So maybe she likes a confident, assertive guy. In an attempt to give her some practical advice, I told her about the time I skinned my knees and put holes in my tights because I was chasing Josh on picture day. The take-away: "Chase boys all you want, because it's fun. But don't do it on the black top." She assured me that they always play Chase on the grass.

Then in two different conversations with other moms at Back To School Night, I found out there are at least two different names for the same game. Moriah's mom told me she calls this game of chase, "Prison Tree." And Duncan told his mom that they played "Three-Day War" at recess. I laughed because, in addition to different names for the same game, these kids are probably all playing with their own version of rules for it too.

But one thing is sure, my boy-crazy girl is probably going to stay that way, for now, anyway.

Back To The Books

Initially, Riley was not eager to head back to school. She had lost her enthusiasm for school by the time kindergarten was over, and she wasn't interested in another year of it. Fortunately her first grade teacher made a very positive impression on her when we went in for the reading and math assessments just before school began. 

It also helped that she was really excited to wear her new dress for the first time. Whatever it takes, right?

She came home that first day full of smiles and stories and new friends.

Gaps

Riley has now lost four of her bottom baby teeth. Two permanent teeth are visible now, but she was looking a little holey there for a while.

New Tooth

A month ago we discovered that Riley had a new tooth growing in behind her still-stable baby teeth. I gave Riley the assignment of wiggling the baby tooth in front of it every morning on the way to school. She took the project seriously, and later informed me that she wiggled it at night in her bed too. Her diligence paid off, and she pulled her first tooth out by herself, over her bathroom sink, on Sunday morning. She enthusiastically pointed it out to everyone she saw at church that afternoon. Because that permanent tooth had already grown in so far, she really never had a gap.

A Girl With Class

After a whole lot of build-up (a teddy bear picnic with her classmates and teacher the previous week and math and reading assessments on Monday afternoon), Riley started kindergarten on Wednesday.

With the boys in the bike trailer, the whole family rode her to school that morning. Riley's favorite trick on her bike is to ride with her legs spread-eagle while her bike coasts. As we pedaled away from the house, she trailed behind the rest of us, feet near her handlebars, singing "First day of kindergarten!" at the top of her lungs.

She had a great day, in spite of the fact that "PE was NOT was I expected." Her teacher seems great, and Riley has come home with a smile on her face every day since.

Biker Chick

Scot walked in the door from work one afternoon, told Riley to grab her bike helmet and get some shoes on, because she was going to learn how to ride a bike. In less than 30 minutes she was riding up and down the street by herself! Thank you balance bike!

Check out the near miss between two trash cans at 1:08. Fortunately she figured out how to use the brake to stop the next time out.

Riley is Five!

I can't believe my little girl is five years old. And I can't believe how much I feel like my Dad when I say that. If he were here to tell me that he remembers when they first laid me in his arms, and how I just stared up at him and didn't cry, this time I wouldn't respond "Oh Dad" as I rolled my eyes. Because I get it now. All those details I remember about the night we met Riley for the first time do not seem like they happened five years ago!

But enough of my gushing. Riley's birthday was on a Wednesday, but we stretched the celebrations out long enough to make some of my sisters proud. Scot's parents were in town the previous weekend, and that Sunday we had some extended family over for dinner. There were three people there that night with birthdays within a week of each other. So naturally we called it a birthday dinner, and convinced Riley that the chocolate-covered strawberries that Aunt Carol brought were especially for her, since strawberries are one of her favorite foods. I didn't take many pictures that night, but here's Tyson covered in that same treat.

On her actual birthday, we met Jessica and her kids at the zoo. Because it was her birthday, Riley got in free, and got a special elephant birthday pin. I'd love to share more details, but the zoo is the zoo, right?

For dinner that night, Riley requested homemade pizza. For several weeks leading up to her birthday, she was also making birthday cake requests. But each time she requested a different cake. A couple of times she even requested two cakes, a Princess cake for herself, and a Cars cake that the boys would appreciate. Finally I told her that I was going to make her a surprise birthday cake that I knew she would love, and I was no longer taking requests. When it was time to decorate the cake we sent the kids downstairs to play.

Here is the finished cake:

We sat Riley down at the table and made her close her eyes for the big reveal. Fortunately I was right: she loved it! 

We used a real Belle doll, which was one of her birthday gifts, and a gotta say, Riley was surprised and I think a little freaked out when we pulled the doll out to serve the cake and out came a pair of naked legs!

Preschool was out for Spring Break the week of her birthday, so her class sang to her and made her a special birthday crown the following week.

Riley is in the 91st percentile for height now, and 31st for weight. Up from 79 and 27 last year. Scot and I wonder if she'll be taller than both her brothers when they're adults.

We snuggled together in Riley's bed that night, and because it was her fifth birthday, I spent five minutes telling Riley things that I love about her. I'll share a few of them here:

• Even though we don't have the same DNA, we do have a lot in common. I love that she likes to have a place for everything. She is pretty good about keeping her room clean and her toys put away when she knows where everything should be.

• Riley learned to read last summer, and while it was a struggle sometimes, she loves reading now. She also loves being read to. This makes me so happy, since reading is one of my favorite things. Every night in bed, she reads a book to me, and then I read a chapter to her. Right now we're working our way through the Ramona books. I think we'll do the Little House series next.

• She is very compassionate. She looks out for her friends and her brothers and wants everyone to be happy. I was the type of kid that would cry if I saw someone else getting picked on. Riley would feel empathy for them too, but I suspect she'd walk right up to the bully and tell them to cut it out.

• She is so friendly and outgoing. That's one thing that is definitely not like me, but I'm becoming better through her example. Anytime we go to a place where there are other kids, a park, the library, a fast-food play area, the nursery at the gym, Riley leaves with a new friend. Just today she made a friend named Savannah at the park. Her approach this morning was, "Hi. My name's Riley. Do you want to play with me?" She just makes it look so easy.

• Riley isn't afraid to share her talents. Last fall she sang a solo in front of the whole congregation at church. When she was walking up to the pulpit I was so nervous for her, I felt like throwing up. But she had a smile on her face the whole time. She told Scot and I afterward that she was a little nervous, but "I just pushed all the nervous into my hands. Then my hands were shivering a little bit so I just held on to the pulpit really tight." Riley has also memorized a couple of scripture verses, and loves when she gets the opportunity to share them in Primary.

• She is such a helpful girl. I can always count on her to help out the boys if I've got my hands full. She does a good job of looking out for them. She is in charge of feeding the dog every day, and she has several other chores around the house. She is usually great about doing them without complaint, and often when she sees me working, she'll ask, "What can I do for you, Mom?"

What would I do without her? I am grateful every day that it was God's plan for Riley to be in our family, and equally as grateful to her birth parents for allowing that plan to happen.

Riley is Four!

Riley was so excited that her birthday fell on a Monday, so she would be able to celebrate it with her friends at preschool. Instead of cupcakes, we brought fruit kabobs for her birthday treat. Since Riley would choose fruit over something sugary any day, and there are a couple of kids (including Riley) with various allergies, it was the perfect option. My original idea was to use wooden skewers, but I’ve seen how the boys in her class play, and I knew their parents and the teachers would not appreciate me providing them with sharp weapons. Instead we stuck Riley’s favorites, mangos, grapes, pears, and pineapple on colorful plastic drink stirrers. When I dropped off Riley and the treats, I also left a camera with one of the teachers and asked him to take some photos.

After class my mom and I took Riley and Asher bowling. I got some great pictures, and this post is going to be a long one, so I'll save those for a separate post.

That night we celebrated with a dinner of Riley's choice: shrimp scampi, broccoli, and glass block jello, with a chocolate pig birthday cake for dessert.

I'm not sure how much longer the bear photo tradition is going to last. I can't see her at 13, willing to pose with a stuffed animal on her birthday. But at four, Riley still thinks it's great.

The following day her cousins came up from Thornton to celebrate with us. We took the kids to a class at a local garden, where the teacher read a story about seeds and then the kids made a cute little project that shows the life cycle of a seed. When they finished we took a little time to explore the children's garden.

 Since it was like having another party, we of course had more cake! This time I made rainbow cupcakes.

Riley really enjoyed her birthday, and the rest of us had fun celebrating it with her.

Riley-Bug

I know I'm biased, but Riley is one of the most beautiful kids I have known. She is a very pretty girl, but more importantly, she is beautiful on the inside. I worry about raising a daughter in a superficial world. And I know I am not alone. I have been thinking a lot lately about how best to teach Riley to be a good person. To help her see that people may comment on how cute she is, but people love and appreciate her because of who she is inside. And believe me, inside she is pretty incredible. Riley is kind, happy, smart, considerate, friendly, clever, responsible and loving. She is also developing a wonderfully goofy sense of humor.

Three Years Old

Riley is healthy, happy three-year-old. She is in the 85th percentile for height and 10th for weight. Today's check-up was the first that they calculated her BMI. It is 13, which, not surprisingly, is not even on the percentile chart.

Some of Riley's favorite things are:

• dressing up, either in old Halloween costumes or wildly mismatched items from her dresser;
• her green "soft blankie" that was a gift from a co-worker of mine after she was born;
• helping Mommy cook;
  
• anything and everything pink;
• new shoes;
• playing outside;
• doing things that will make Asher laugh;
• all animals, but mostly dogs;
• babysitters that play games with her;
• polish on her toenails;
  
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse;
  
• dates with Daddy;
• nearly any type of pork;
• her striped leggings (I actually bought her two pairs, in consecutive sizes, because she loves to wear them so much);
  
• playing computer games on sesamestreet.org;
• balloons;
• going to King Soopers, where she gets a free cookie, a pony ride for a penny, and sometimes even a free balloon;
• playing with friends and cousins;
• taking care of her dolls and stuffed animals;
• fruit smoothies;
• wearing skirts;
• helping other people;
  
• Smiley and Splasher stories (her and Asher's pseudonyms);
• exercising with Mommy and Daddy;
• having a timer set before she has do something she doesn't want to do, like go to quiet time or bed;
• helping Mommy "do laundries;"
• and stories about Jesus.

Update: After posting this I told Riley that I had made a list of her favorite things. I gave her a couple of examples and she quickly asked, "Did you put hot dogs on the list?" What kind of mother am I? Honestly. I don't know how I forgot hot dogs.

2 Years Old

True to form, Riley did not want to hold still to get her picture taken with her bear. She was anxious to include her doll in the photos too, so after taking a couple on the couch we took a couple more with "Little Baby."

At her two year check-up Riley weighed in at 21 pounds 10 ounces. It's actually the first time she's been above the big 2-0 on an official doctor's scale. Hooray! She is an inch short of three feet, so this puts her in the 85th percentile for height and less than the 3rd for weight. (She's not even on the chart.) But her growth is consistent for her, so we are just supposed to keep doing what we're doing, including giving her whole milk and plenty of other healthy proteins.

Besides her dolls, Riley's favorite toys are her stacking blocks and cups. I think she's one of the few kids I've met that prefers the stacking over the crashing. She is still very social and likes to play with other kids. She has a great memory for songs and can sing quite a few all on her own. We've started having her go to the bathroom on her little potty, but she has been a little resistant in the last couple of weeks, so we aren't pushing the issue. She's still young, and I know she'll figure it out quickly when she's ready, as she's done with everything else.

Riley's New Bed

With a new baby on the way, we need to make room for him in the crib. We went back and forth on what to get Riley. Ultimately, I think Becca wants the bunk beds that are stackable twins, but we haven't found anything that we like yet. We decided to get Riley a matress and just sit it on the floor.

We went to Target and grabbed about 4 sets of sheets. The choices were: Disney princesses, Dora, Hello Kitty, and stripes. She liked all of them and we were getting nowhere, so I put them on the ground and started to walk away and told her to grab one and then we'd go. She picked up the princesses and started to walk, then stopped and said, "No. Dora." and then ran back and grabbed those. Normally, we aren't keen on buying the commercialized media machine stuff, but we wanted her to want to be in her bed.

We got the mattress on Monday and asked her if she wanted to sleep in the crib or her new Dora bed. Of course, she chose her new bed. She was really excited for it and we had to explain it was for sleeping and not jumping. After we got past that, she laid down and was really happy.

When we went to check on Riley before we went to bed, this is how we found her. We don't know if she wandered around before falling asleep or just rolled off. We think the latter since she is still clutching the sheet.

What a big girl! Too bad she only slept in it for one night. On Tuesday, the weather was clear, so after our third and last meeting with our Colorado adoption caseworker, we decided to drive to Utah for Christmas.

18 Months Old

The stats:

Age: 18 months
Weight: 19 lbs. 10 oz. (<5% percentile, although she is following her own curve)
Height: 33" (85% percentile)

The likes:

Superwhy (she begs for it whenever the TV is on), her friends at church (she knows their names and knows which ones are siblings), nursery, pushing things around, talking, putting on shoes and walking (her own and ours), getting into EVERYTHING, climbing, sorting laundry (and naming who each item belongs to), buckles, bath, dried apple slices, running, spinning, playing with her doll, making us laugh, helping (like throwing trash away - even in public places or bringing us our stuff even when we don't want it and then telling us, "thank you").

The doesn't likes:

Time-out, any food with vinegar (ketchup, bbq sauce), bed/naptime, water poured over her head in the bath, hot cars, sitting still.

The words:

We don't even count anymore. It's well over a hundred and she's putting some words together and also routinely babbling in her own language until we can't stand it anymore. She also notices everything and says it until you repeat the word. For example, "bus. bus. Bus. Bus. Bus. BUS. BUS." "Did you see a bus?" "Yeah, bus."

The pic:

Busy Little Girl

A couple of people asked about Riley's follow-up appointment about her weight, so I thought I'd better post the results. After all our diligence in feeding her all the cheese, whole milk yogurt, smoothies with "secret ingredients", and Carnation Instant Breakfast (thanks for the great tip, Danielle!) she was willing to eat, Riley gained 11.5 ounces last month. Which puts her.....still in the 3rd percentile. The surprise, however, was that she is now 32.5 inches tall. The doctor was a little surprised, since that's a jump from last month, so she measured her three times herself (Usually the nurse does it before the doctor comes in.) and was sure of that length. That now puts Riley nearly in the 90th percentile for length!

Fortunately, our regular doctor was back in the office and she didn't seem to be quite as panicked about the weight situation as her fill-in was last month. She said we should continue doing the Carnation, but not to push Riley to eat foods that are unhealthy. I think we'll just keep doing what we're doing and hope that someday her bony-ness will pay off. Cory did suggest America's Next Top Model.

This photo is a good example of how Riley keeps her lithe figure. She managed to slip my flip flops on by herself and did a lap around the main floor while sliding them along.

She's holding on to her doll ("baby", which was her first word) and what has recently become the doll's blankie (also pronounced "baby"). The fact that the two are pronounced exactly alike doesn't usually matter much, since baby and blankie are inseparable to Riley.

Until last week, that is. We went to visit our friends, Megan & Jeff, in a Labor & Delivery room in the hospital. Riley was understandably curious about all the unique furniture and gadgets in the room. At one point she pointed up at an empty baby cart bed (I'm sure they have a name, but I don't know what it is. Scot calls it a baby inbox.) and started repeating "baby" over and over. We couldn't imagine how she'd know it was a bed for babies, except maybe because there were a couple of pink receiving blankets in it. I picked her up to show her that there was not a baby in the bed, but she continued to say "baby" every time she wandered near that bed. Megan joked that maybe it was baby's intuition and she could sense that it was a place for babies.

It wasn't until Riley and I took a walk down the hall and back while a doctor visited with Megan & Jeff that I realized, as Riley pointed to a regular hospital bed in the hallway and said "baby," that this whole time she had been saying blankie, in reference to the receiving blankets. I'm sure there will be a whole lot more of those experiences as her vocabulary continues to grow at a faster rate than her pronunciation skills.

Random Pictures from This Week

Becca was just taking shots of Riley for fun the other day. I liked a couple of them. I think Riley is pretty good in close-ups, although they would probably be better now, since Becca cut her bangs again since these were taken. Riley has a talent for growing hair.

This is how I found Becca when I came home on Thursday. I guess Riley refused to take a nap anytime during the day (she may look asleep here, but Riley is actually throwing a little fit because she saw me and I didn't get her out). Crawling in the crib with her was Becca's last ditch effort to get Riley to take a nap. It didn't work, so by that evening we had a very cranky girl on our hands . . . and Riley was pretty wiped out too.

Mmm. Imaginary Grapes

Is Riley cute or what? The other day, Riley was on my lap and I grabbed a grocery flyer. I found grapes and acted like I was picking them off the page and eating them. Tonight, she grabbed the flyer, found the picture of the grapes, took an imaginary handful and then shoved them in her mouth, said, "mmm" and then chewed them like a cow chews cud. What a good memory and imagination.

15 Months Old

Riley is as active as ever. This little girl is NEVER still. Even when she is sleeping she rolls around and flings her arms and legs. All this activity, along with simple genetics, probably explains why she's such a lightweight. At her 15th month appointment she weighed in at 18 pounds, 3 ounces, but is 31 inches tall.

As Scot put it, "What she lacks in weight, she makes up for in vocabulary." By my count she can say at least 25 words on her own (not just repeating us when we say them). Some of her latest are puppy, Jesus, and cookie. I've lost count of the number of words she can say if we count those that she repeats.

Naptime yesterday was a good example of Riley's "active lifestyle." On Sundays we usually get home from church about noon. Most days Riley still takes a morning and an afternoon nap, but since we leave the house a little after 8 am, on Sundays she eats lunch when we get home and then goes right down for a long nap. Yesterday was a definite exception. I put her in bed after lunch, as usual. But instead of going right to sleep she whined in her crib for a little while and then started playing with the two stuffed animals we leave in there. She often does that before sleeping on the days that she gets two naps, so I didn't pay much attention.

But she continued to cry and play and jabber and sing for another two hours! At one point we peaked in and she was literally running laps around her crib while yelling incoherantly. A few minutes later she was sitting with her legs dangling over the mattress, through the rails and singing to herself. We finally gave up and got her out of bed. We let her run around the living room for a little while and gave her a snack. Then back into bed she went. It still took her close to an hour before she finally went to sleep at nearly 5:00. Then she slept for less than an hour before she up and ready to go again.

Less Than Normal

It has now been medically confirmed that Riley is skinny. As a former skinny child, I've always hated that word. When people tell you that you're skinny, it's rarely as a compliment. When you are young and just want to fit in and be like your friends, being told you are skinny singles you out. As you get older it is usually said with a note of envy or even contempt. So you might hear me describe myself or others as slender, or even thin. But rarely skinny.

But back to my original point. At Riley's 15-month check-up this afternoon we found that she is in the 75th percentile for height and about the 3rd for weight. That's right, she has fallen off the chart. With the combination of her height and weight, even I am willing to admit that she's skinny. The doctor pointed out that her lower ribs are visible, which I never thought was abnormal. She's been bony since she was born, and my ribs always stuck out a little when I was a kid.

Our pediatrician is on vacation, so we saw a substitute doctor today. She was great, and Riley actually fussed less for her that she does with our usual doctor. We were told by the sub to come back in a month for another weight check. In the meantime, we are supposed to put more butter, cheese, and heavy sauces on her food (so we feed her like she's in France), and supplement her diet with a half can of Pediasure each day. If she's still underweight at the appointment in a month, Riley may be referred to a nutritionist. Seriously?!

I'm convinced that no one gets greater satisfaction at the word normal than a mother in a pediatrician's office. This is the first time I've walked out of that office thinking my baby wasn't normal. I guess in Riley's case, she is less than normal (pun completely intended). On the bright side, Riley cried much less after the shots than she has since her 3-month appointment. Thanks to me and my quick thinking, Riley now thinks the four round Tweety bandages on her legs are stickers. It also didn't hurt that I was quick to give her some animal crackers and her cup of milk.

Riley Dog

As promised:

Flip-flopper

Riley has two pairs of flip-flops and she loves them. If she sees them, she'll carry them around and bring them to us so we can put them on her. She will also sit down and try to put them on herself, but I don't think that she's been successful yet.
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