19 months

This last month FLEW by.  And now I have a 19 month old, one who is now that much closer to being a big sister!

This month Riley has been learning so many new words, and I just can't keep track anymore.  She tries to repeat everything we say, and picks up new words all the time. The bigger development though, is she's starting to put two and three word sentences together quite frequently, and it is so amazingly cute.  And I swear, nothing gets by that girl, she remembers everything we say.  One day, while she was coloring, she took the pen and colored straight on her mouth.  I told her to keep the pens on the paper, no pens in her mouth.  Next time we pulled out the pens, first thing out of her mouth? "No no pen mouth."  Atta girl.  Also?  If you tell her we're going to playground, and then ask her what's her favorite thing at the playground, or what she wants to do at the playground, she'll go through her list of faves: "Slide!!  Sweeeng!  Tunn! (Tunnel) and Breee!! (Bridge)."  She is becoming quite the little bargainer, and her fave thing to say is "one more time?" in the cutest little voice ever, and you can't help but let her do what she wants just one more time.

She is loving giving kisses to her new BFFs.  She went back and forth between the two for like 5 minutes.  So much love. :)

She busts out with random words that she has learned from various toys/books we own, and it surprises me how she picks things up after just a few times!  Like she knows and says the names of a ton of sea animals from this one puzzle we have (jellyfish, squid, seahorse, octopus, shark, whale, dolphin, crab), and she points out and says random things in all sorts of books after me pointing them out just once (things like "watering can", "pancakes," "sink," "shovel" and tons and tons more).  She's really into pointing out and labeling things as either mommy's, daddy's or "Ri Ri's".... like Mommy's shoes, Daddy's pants, Ri Ri's cup, etc...

She is suddenly really into her stuffed animals right now, and has 4 faves.  There's panda, Ri Bear (Riley Bear), Bay (Bailey), and Puppa.  She likes to put shoes and socks and hats on them, "feed" them her crackers and milk, brush their hair, put them "nigh nigh," kiss them, and carry them all around the house.  She puts them in a doll bed and rocks them back and forth.  She sleeps with all of them every night.  She wants to bring them all around the house with her.  If she's laying in bed, falling asleep, she runs through her checklist (out loud) to make sure they are all there.  She calls out "puppa?  Bay?  Pan? Ri Bear? and has to see/touch them all to make sure they are all in fact right there with her.  And you better believe she will know if one is missing.

She pretty much knows all her uppercase letters now, although gets a little confused with certain lowercase letters.  She also knows things like M is for mama, R is for Riley, Z is for zoo... you get the idea. She can pick out and say most numbers 1-9, and knows a whole bunch of colors and shapes.  She has counted from one to ten, but more often she gets stuck on 5 and 6.  She is getting opinionated in her old age, and I'll say to her "Riley it's time to get a new diaper" and she will look at me and say, "no new di!" and carry on with what she's doing.  Lucky for me, she is obsessed with all things Minnie Mouse related, and I have been able to use this to my advantage since we have diapers with Mickey and Minnie on them, so she gets to have a "Minnie di!"  Win for everybody!  Even better?  Riley has notice that some diapers have "TWO MINNIES!!" and it gets her to lay still every single time.

She loves art projects- coloring with crayons and pens, painting, stickers, you name it.  She has her own art cabinet, and she goes and gets her art supplies at least 3 or 4 times a day and marches over to her high chair and asks to get up.  I think part of the reason she knows so many colors is because of all her colored crayons and pens and paints!  She loves having someone draw shapes for her, and will say "Daddy do... Circle!  Tri!  Square! Star!" until he draws all the shapes she wants.  Also?  I've never met a child so obsessed with stickers.  I swear I clean up SO. MANY. STICKERS. each and every day.  They are on the floor, on the couch, on our clothes, in the bathroom, on the cupboards, EVERYWHERE.  Oh well, she's just being creative, right?

She loves peanut butter sandwiches, hummus, spaghetti, sausages, and homemade pizza.  She loves helping me load and unload the dishwasher, and putting the soap in and pushing the buttons.  She always wants to be in the kitchen with me, and will literally step on my toes repeating "uppa uppa uppa! see? uppa?" until I lift her up to see what I'm doing.  She loves watching home videos of herself, and will yell "more Ri Ri!" when it's over.  She loves cuddling with me, and she's gotten less mama-obsessed this month, which has definitely made things a little easier!  In fact, I left her with Nana today while I went to my OB appointment, and she didn't even notice I was gone!! 

Her favorite activity right now is waiting for someone to get up off their chair/couch/bed, and then SPRINTING to take their seat, sitting down and yelling "Hey!!!  My seat!" She loves being outside and constantly asks for her water table and clam shell (little baby pool with no water in it...)  Also, a recent development in the last few days?  She will sprawl out on the floor, and yell out "oh no!!!!" Fall down!!"  and then get up, and repeat.  She is seriously such a goofball and I have no idea where she comes up with these things.  Although once she does it once, and it's funny, I may or may not encourage it... :)

Oh and this face?  Was her response to me asking if she wanted me to comb her hair.  "No no comb!" was her response.   She HATES when we mess with her hair. :)

Man do I love this little girl.  I'm cherishing every last moment with her as my only little baby. :)  Happy 19 months baby bug!