17 Months!

Hmmm...17 months of time flying by! Riley continues to be such a busy little bee. She is non-stop energy from the time she awakes to the time she either takes a nap or crashes at the end of the day. Even though she has returned to daycare full time, she is always full of energy and fun for us after work...which is the highlight of our day! Mornings...well, that is another story. Since I have to wake her from her deep slumber at 6:00 a.m., she is not always full of smiles, at least until she sees ELMO! (I'm telling you...she is obsessed with the big red guy!)

Riley's vocab continues to grow. It's kind of funny how she often seems to just pick up a new word out of the blue...like "uh oh"...one of her new favorite expressions. Other words...up, mess, eyes, nose, cookie, dishes and she even will "meow" or "baaaa" when she sees a cat and sheep. I am shocked that she picked up on "Abby" so quickly in Jamaica, but cannot or will not say "Elmo". How ironic!

Bath time is probably Riley's most favorite time of day. She loves the water! She will run to the bathroom when we tell her it is bath time. I really need to start some official swim lessons with her, as she loves to lay down on her tummy and roll to her back by herself. She will even make bubble blowing noises with her lips, but she still needs to do that in the water to make bubbles. We found out just how fearless she was in Jamaica, as we constantly chased her around the shallow end of the kiddie pool. She had no fear of walking to the deeper water and often dunking her face in too.

Riley is beginning to show signs of being ready for some potty training, as she will sometimes come running to me after she goes pooh, and she will occasionally even show the sign for diaper. So, I think in the next month of two we may give training a whirl. We'll be sure and wait for a time period when Daddy is home to help! (We wouldn't want him to miss out on the fun!)

Favorite books: "I'm a Big Sister" and "Clifford's First Halloween (despite the fact that it is not Halloween).

Favorite games: Hide-and-seek...she loves hiding her babies and dolls. Other favorite...board puzzles. She does very well with her shape and number puzzles.

Bottom line...Our Sweet Pea is growing up soooo quickly. She is so loving, but definitely has a bit of spunk to her personality. She has yet to really throw a good fit for anyone but us (thank goodness), and even when she is upset, it is usually pretty easy to redirect her attention. At the end of the day...we only remember the love she has brought to our lives.