20 months!

What a month this has been!  There were some very big changes in Riley's life this past month, the biggest being the arrival of her new baby brother almost 3 weeks ago.  Riley is such an amazing big sister!  She's gentle, she's interested, she wants to hold him and touch him and give him a paci, she shares her toys with him and shows him all of her books and puzzles and stuffed animals.  When she tries to give him his paci, she says, "Want it, baby?" (as she shoves it in his mouth) and if he cries she goes, "Don't cry baby!" or "You okay, baby?"  or "Baby alright?"  When she wakes in the morning, she asks for Jack Jack and wants to give him kisses.  She loves to stroke his hair, and says "one more pet," because apparently she thinks she's petting him like a dog.  Basically, she rocks as a big sister.

This little girl gets funnier and funnier each and every month.  Her current favorite things include: slides, swings, jumping, swimming class, Tangled (the movie), Talking Tom app on the ipad, watering the plants/playing with the hose, playing in dirt/rocks, and reading a million books.  Thank goodness for her love of books, it has been a real savior during my hours of nursing baby brother!  She just brings me book after book after book and we read them, and she asks to "show Jack Jack" and "read to Jack Jack," so we do that too.

See the baby sleeping in the back corner??

This month we've really seen an explosion in her language development.  She's now talking in understandable sentences.  She repeats pretty much everything we say, and learns tons of new words daily.  She says some pretty funny things too.  Some examples: when Mark walks into the bathroom, Riley very matter-of-factly states "Daddy go peepee."  Or yelling "Go Daddy go!" when Mark was doing yard work and pushing a wheel barrow full of dirt.  She finishes her milk and says "please refill mommy!"  It is so much fun to listen to her talk like a real little person rather than a little baby!

Other things she loves: watching me put soap in the dishwasher and washing machine and then helping push all the buttons, shampooing her hair, "helping" daddy shave (i.e. playing in the sink while he shaves), and she sometimes loves brushing her teeth... I think her new light up tooth brush helped a bit.

She FINALLY seems to be sleeping well on a fairly regular basis.  She stays in her bed the whole night (10-11 hours), although sometimes if she does wake up, Mark goes in there and sleeps with her until the morning just so she doesn't wake up Jackson (who is in our room).  She loves her big girl bed!  Her schedule has changed a bit since the arrival of baby brother, she's been going to bed about an hour later (8ish) and sleeping until 6 or 6:30, and now taking a 2-3 hour nap each day.  I am LOVING the long midday nap, let me tell you.  And she always wakes up SO happy, it's the best thing ever.

She knows all her letters, numbers 1-10, and has mastered her colors and shapes as well.  She has a great understanding of counting and knowing when she has one or two or five of something.  She loves pointing out what color everything is... She'll point to things and yell "green one!" or "blue one!" or tell me what color cup she wants for her milk that day. She has these foam shapes and she loves to sort them by shape, and tell me what color they all are.  She especially loves circles, and always asks me to draw her one when we're doing art projects. She has discovered playdoh this month, and thinks it's one of the best things ever. Especially because you can make circles with it... and pentagons.  She also likes pentagons. :) She knows a ridiculous number of animals, and she has started "reading" some of her favorite stories by finishing the sentences herself.  She amazes us every day with how smart she is.

Her favorite foods include: peanut butter, hummus, oranges, fruit snacks, cheese, ham, spaghetti, baked beans, and ketchup (or tomato sauce, as it's called here... she just calls it "sauce").  She would eat it straight out of the bottle if we let her.  She still drinks a ton of milk, and prefers milk over juice or water any day.  In fact the only time she drinks juice is if Mark has a cup of juice, and then she wants to have a taste.  The only vegetable she will eat is carrots. 

What Riley does if you tel her to "say cheese!"

You may notice she's missing pants in many of her pictures.  That's pretty common around here, she's not really that into pants, and often only wears them if it's cold or if we're going out.  Who needs pants anyway? 

She LOVES jumping.. on trampolines, bouncy houses, beds, couches... you name it.  We haven't had any accidents yet, but there have definitely been some close calls (one that involved Jackson almost getting completely squished by the crazy jumping bean you see below).   

She hardly sits still, and runs from room to room all day long, going from activity to activity.  She's a busy little one, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  She still stops every now and again to give me a huge hug and kiss, and I love love love it. 

She's pretty much still the best little girl in the whole wide world.  Happy 20 months, my baby bug!