The other day I got Riley dressed in the morning (after Elise left early for work) and then turned things over to Maricella, our part-time Nanny. As I was leaving the room, I heard her say “Let’s get you a different shirt,” and head toward the closet. I thought it was a bit funny, since I’d just put it on her and it was obviously clean, but didn’t think too much of it–Maricella’s really into pink, so maybe that was it.
That night when I mentioned it to Elise she thought it was weird as well… until I showed her the outfit:
Riley had her first trip to LA last weekend. We’re such pros at flying now that Riley and I flew by ourselves and met Sage down there. We stayed with Josh and Tweeny, where Riley learned how to read the newspaper…
The reason we went to LA was for Jesse’s second annual heart party (Riley was there last year, she just doesn’t know it). Riley had a heart outfit just for the occasion, and a special heart hair clip (though sadly not really enough hair to wear the clip). She slept through most of the party (amazingly given how many people snuck upstairs to try to meet her) but did make a brief appearance.
Jesse graciously let us have her bed for the night. Poor Chloe had to share the bed with us, which I feel bad about because Riley woke up quite a few times. (She says she didn’t mind!)
Last week Riley started daycare at the Stanford Arboretum Children’s Center. We love this daycare – it just looks like so much fun and the teachers are really nice. Still, dropping her off that first day was really hard. We stayed and played with her for a while (they’re very supportive of letting parents stay with their kids till they feel comfortable) then said goodbye. The only person close to tears at that point was me… Riley seemed totally fine playing with toys and her teacher Liz. The teachers encouraged us to call later and check on her, which I did, and of course she was fine.
By day 2 she had wised up and realized I was going to leave her at the daycare, and she suddenly got very clingy… didn’t want to be put down and would only play on the floor if she was sitting on my lap and or holding on in some way. It was very sweet, but made it almost impossible to leave. Eventually she let the teacher take her though (with the help of a pacifier which Riley is really into these days). By the third day she seemed more comfortable.
In her first week she did finger painting, foot painting (with purple glitter paint no less), went for a walk in the giant mulit-baby stroller thing, and played with every imaginable toy. They say she’s always happiest playing outside at their infant-only playground. And she seems to really enjoy watching the other kids crawl/walk around. Can’t help wondering if any of those kids will become good friends in the future…
So she’s there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for now. Even though part of me feels guilty everytime we drop her off, most of me believes she has fun there and overall it’s best for everyone…
This great onesie from Denise got me thinking… is Riley Irish? I remembered Mom telling me something about Scottish, Irish, and English way back when, but I also remembered something about thirds. Which, thinking about it, isn’t actually possible if each person has exactly two parents (unless you consider an infinite sum or something). Unfortunately, the best information we have on this important issue is:
Sage’s Mom – half German, half Scottish, Irish, and English (“thirds”)
Sage’s Dad – same (huh!)
Elise’s Mom – Swiss
Elise’s Dad – English
Which makes Riley (if we go with this 1/3rds thing, and dust off our fractions):
1/4 German
1/4 Swiss
1/3 English
1/12 Irish
1/12 Scottish
People sometimes ask what we do all day long… and I’m never quite sure what to say. So I thought I’d start paying attention to what it is that fills our days together.
There’s of course eating, which Riley does 3 times a day and has gotten really good at. She’s really into feeding herself cheerios (which is great, she stays distracted with her cheerios while i make the rest of her food) and likes to chew chunks of fruit. Still no teeth yet though. She’s also learning to drink water from a sippy cup…
And she still does quite a bit of sleeping…
But mostly we just play. Play with her blocks…
The game is to see how high you can build before Riley knocks the tower down. You win if you can use up all the blocks and keep Riley distracted enough that she doesn’t swipe at them and send them flying (we’ve never won).
Play in the crib. She can pull herself up to standing by holding on to the side rail…
Versions of this include playing with the giraffe and monkey Michael gave her, or peek-a-boo (a surprisingly fun game it turns out!)
Of course there’s always playing with pots and pans – a classic favorite…
Swimming in the pool in our back yard (especially during that heat wave we had a few weeks ago when we swam every day). She’s pretty good at kicking on her front and back, and doesn’t seem to mind too much when her face gets wet (though she used to scream). The old ladies in our building love seeing Riley in the pool…
She goes out in the stroller almost every day, which she enjoys as long as you keep moving. Sometimes it’s the only way I can get her to fall asleep during the day…
Riley LOVES the jumper, loves it. and we love watching her in it. Some nights we put her in it while we eat dinner next to her (it’s tough to sit down and eat at the same time these days)…
Bath time is pretty fun, especially know that she’s graduated to the big tub, and has so many fun toys to play with…
After bath time comes story time, which I love, and Riley is starting to like. Her favorite book seems to be “That’s not my fairy!” which was given to her by Anne and Isabelle. It’s one of those cardboard touch books with something to feel on every page. In the last few days Riley’s suddenly learned where all the touch spots are and goes straight to them with her little pointer finger. And! She’s learned how to turn the pages. We’re very proud.
There’s so much more, but I think that’s enough for now!
Riley has become mobile in the last few weeks. She’s not quite crawling, but can move around surprisingly quickly by pushing heself backwards. The baby book calls this “scooting.” And of course there’s always rolling over sideways. Her prefered mode of movement though remains walking around holding on to our fingers. The ladies in the park swear she’ll be walking on her own in 2 monthes… we’ll see.
Every now and then she’ll look up right into your eyes and smile and it’s just the most amazing thing in the world. I’m torn between anticipating her being able to walk and talk and grow into a person, and wanting her to stay a little tiny baby that i can hold in my arms forever.
On a different note, I have some bad news for all of you… Riley seems to be starting her stranger anxiety phase. She’s no longer quite as happy to be held by well meaning friends, and actually reaches out to go back to me or Sage. i won’t lie, i kind of like it… it’s nice to be her special someone. I’m sure it won’t last long and she’ll go back to her social butterfly self. We shall see!
Riley made her first trip home to Cambridge a few weeks ago to visit her uncle Eric (who had just had back surgery and thus had to cancel plans to come visit Riley). I think she did a pretty good job cheering him up. We went back again last week for a post-wedding bash in my parents’ back yard. Riley was the center of attention for a while…
But I think being passed from person to person tired her out, so her grandmother put her to sleep pretty early. She, of course, got a bunch of fantastic presents, including lots of great books that we’re excited to start reading to her. The cardboard books and books with things you can touch are a big hit with Riley right now.
While home we also went to Cape Cod for a few days for Ben and Bonnie’s wedding. Riley ddn’t get to go to the ceremony, but she did make an apperance at brunch the next day! (in her pretty dress and headband from Dr. Curet)
Riley had a bunch of firsts on this trip… First time swimming in a pond (down the street from our cape house). She made some friends – including one friendly little girl who kept trying to hug Riley (which unfortunatly led to her knocking Riley over a few times) and a little boy who liked to pat her on the head (she didn’t seem to mind… or notice really). It’s really entertaining watching kids interact. She doesn’t really play with them, but the older kids play with her and she reacts. It’s pretty cute.
She also experienced the trampoline…
and the beach in Provincetown, where people were catching tons of blue fish. One nice man gave us a big one that we took home and grilled (luckily we had Joshua with us who cleaned the fish… it’s a good skill when you’re living on a boat!)
For my mother’s birthday we went out to a nice restaurant. Usually we just get Riley to fall asleep, or take turns walking around outside with her, but this time she was just big enough to sit in the little booster seat, and we kept her busy with food of her own to eat/play with…
She went to the playground across the street from our house with her grandparents (BTW, playgrounds are WAY nicer then they were when were kids… that deserves a whole post of it’s own).
She loves the swing…
Riley is now a pro at flying, it’s no problem at all. Especially the red eye flight – she sleeps the whole way and wakes up cheerful to greet whoever is picking us up. Sage and I are also becoming pros at the security check point, which can be a bit complicated with the stroller and car seat and computers and all the new security rules, yikes. No more traveling for us for at least a few weeks though…
Riley is half a year old already, if you can believe it. For those of you who haven’t seen her in a while you’ll be amazed at how much she’s changed. She’s now eating pureed food twice a day (carrots, peas, sweet potato, green beans, bananas, pears, peaches, apricot, mango, spinach… quite a selection!). She still likes to stand all the time, and now is constantly wanting to walk around holding on to our fingers for support. She has an amazing amount of energy, so much so that i wonder how we’re going to keep up with her when she starts walking on her own. Recently she’s discovered how to shriek and has develped a high pitched scream that she uses for pretty much any occasion… excitement, boredom, anger, happiness. It’s pretty funny, but also ear-piercing. She’s become very grabby… anything in arms reach becomes a toy that she can wave around and bang on the table and ultimatly put in her mouth.
Still on the waiting list for the daycare (it’s been over a year!!) but we’ve found a very nice nanny who takes Riley to the park while I go to work 2 days a week.
She had her 6 month pediatrician appointment (4 more shots!)… Height: 26 in (55%) Weight 16 lbs 4oz (51%)
