Riley's rough day...

I started to write this last night, and then I decided to put it on hold and go to bed... at 7:30pm.  It was that kind of day.  Most of yesterday looked like a lot of this:

We learned two things yesterday.  (1) ALWAYS put pants on Riley before bed/nap time, and (2) Riley is nowhere near ready to skip a nap during the day.  Otherwise...

You might be wondering about the pants...  well, Riley has decided that, if left pants-free and unattended in her bed, she is going to take off her diaper and then PEE IN HER BED.  Yesterday was the second time that it has happened.  The first time I thought it was a fluke... she took off her diaper and then she just happened to pee.  But yesterday, it happened again, which meant I had to take off all her blankets and sheets, wash her stuffed animals, replace her sheets, all when she was supposed to be sleeping.  And then last night, I asked her if she wanted to go pee pee on the potty, and she said yes, so I had her take her diaper off, and she said "no pee pee potty!  bed!"  And tried to run to her bed!!  WHAT?  No idea why that seems like a good idea to her...

Anyway, I don't know if it was because her nap was disrupted by the complete overhaul of her soiled sheets/blankets, or what the deal was, but she only took a 20 minute nap.  The rest of the day was the biggest disaster ever.  There were meltdowns over everything and anything.  Meltdowns because cookie monster was apparently sitting in her seat.  Meltdowns because Jackson spit out his paci.  Because we were out of goldfish crackers.  Because mama used the green pen and NO I WANTED THE BLUE PEN.  At one point I just had to scoop her up and snuggle her sad cranky frustrating little self because she was just so tired and not coping well.  She cried for her paci pretty much all afternoon (sure sign that she's tired), and finally I just gave in.

But, not to worry, there were still good moments (mostly in the morning before her epic fail of a nap).  She requested a "ponytail like mama" which was maybe the cutest little thing ever:

She had a tea party with her pink puppy (which was the source of many a tantrum in the afternoon when she couldn't get the music to play by herself).

She loves opening and closing the sliding doors, and saying "bye bye mama!" and then popping her little head through.

She watched Tangled sitting like this... because you know, what better way is there to sit?

She held hands with baby brother while they watched Tangled together.  Just in case he got scared.

She "helped" put his paci in his mouth a billion times, since he kept spitting it right back out.

The happiest part of the afternoon/evening (aside from bed time) was her late evening "outside time" where she helps daddy in the yard.  (And yes that is our big mound of dirt of a front yard... work in progress).

The same thing happens pretty much every night.  Mark goes out to water the plants, and Riley runs after him to hold the hose and help.. She loves putting her hands/hair/feet in the water rather than actually watering the plants.  Then she runs up to me and yells "all wet!  mommy, shirt off!" and I strip her down, and she plays some more.  She usually gets the mail, checks to see if the neighborhood kids or dogs are anywhere to be seen, and then we go back inside.  :)

Today has already been 10 times better than yesterday, so let's hope it continues!