A note on our introduction to toddlerhood...

While reading another mommy's blog about all of the "fun" new things her daughter is starting to do as a toddler, it got me thinking about all the "fun" new things that Riley has been doing lately. And.... I just thought I'd share so I can keep the lovely memories with me forever and ever.... or at least until we have another child and I need the "subtle" reminder of what's in store for us all over again. LOL

1) Riley not only likes to pull the cat's tail, she loves to "pat" her. Luckily, the cat is good at getting away quickly and staying out of Riley's reach. Riley also loves to crawl all over and now SIT on the dog. Scares me to death cause I'm afraid Divot will finally have enough and snap at her. Thank god it hasn't happened yet. 

2) Riley has loved to make herself gag with her fingers for the last 6 months, but that seems to be tapering off finally. Only happens once or twice a week now. Still kinda scary when she does it. I seriously do not want a bulimic toddler on our hands.

3) She not only loves to pull my hair out, she's taken to slapping her hand down or on whatever she can. Especially me. It's okay if it's my back, arm or leg... it's when she hits me in the face or on the chest repeatedly that it hurts or gets really annoying. (I've at least got her to where she mostly "pets" the dog rather than hits her too.)

4) She shakes her head no ALL THE TIME. Even in the evening when she's laying quietly in my arms before sleep... she starts to shake her head back and forth like the exorcist. What is up with that?

5) Tantrums. Oh. My. God. This girl can throw tantrums. She has a healthy pair of lungs, that's for sure. The definite time for a tantrum is if she sees one of our cell phones and reaches for it, but we get to it before she does. She will scream at the top of her lungs (full blown crying jag), fall down on the ground like her legs just went numb and continue crying until we distract her. You see, we have flip phones and she's figured out how to open them up so she can press all the nifty buttons inside. Needless to say, we are now trying to keep our phones out of her eyesight if possible.

6) And meal time? Don't get me started. LOL. She loves to slam her hands down on her food so it either gets squished or goes flying. She loves to grab a handful and throw it down over the side of her chair cause she thinks it's hilarious that our dog immediately gobbles it up. OR she spits it out into her hand as soon as we put it in her mouth for her. Gets REALLY messy if it's yogurt or something else not solid. Bleh. She's also gotten VERY picky about what she's in the mood to eat. She will still eat all of her veggies and anything fruity, but the main portion of her meal, the PROTEIN and CARBS are falling by the wayside. Seriously, I'm out of ideas on what to feed her. She won't have anything to do with pre-made meals and I don't cook often enough or well enough for that matter to give her a whole lot of options. Plus, I'm still hesitant to feed her some of the food we, as adults, eat. Gah. I'm working on the options though.

7) Nails. This girl never used to give me problems when cutting her nails. And she's fine when I clip her right hand and foot, but for some reason, as soon as I reach for her left hand and foot, she goes nuts. She squirms and squalls and just about does everything she can to get away. Yeesh. Plus, I NEED to trim her nails cause she has started grabbing a handful of skin (chest, face, hand, arm, etc) whenever she can and grip on so tightly that she digs those very sharp nails in til it really hurts.

8) Crib time. Yeah right. The crib has gone completely unused for the last week. Before we left on vacation, Riley slept 4 solid nights, through the night in her crib. On vacation, she slept in her play pen until 2 or 3 in the morning and then wouldn't go back to sleep until we pulled her into bed with us. For the week following our vacation, we had trouble getting her to sleep in her crib at night for more than just a few hours. Nap time, she was fine. It was night time that was the issue. Then... she got sick. Now, nap time or night time, as soon as I try to put her down in the crib, she instantly wakes up crying. I can't let her cry it out because she's already coughing with so much phlegm, that she will definitely choke and vomit if I let her cry for more than a minute or two. So, we will have to wait until she's fully healthy again to do that. In the meantime, I'm still trying to put her down in the crib, without success.

Now, for the good things. I LOVE watching her discover new things. She's always energetic and happy. Even when she's so sick. And she's SO smart! She blows me away all the time with the new things she learns and does.

--She loves to put any phone she can get her hands on up to her hear and listen. If she doesn't have a phone, she'll use her hand. It's really cute. 

--She loves to play the "Where's your nose?" game. We ask her where her nose is and she'll point to her cheek, or her eye, or her ear with a mischievous grin on her face. The longer she waits, the funnier she thinks it is until she finally touches her nose and we tickle her and yell "YAY! That's your nose!" She laughs hysterically at that point.

--If it's snack time and we haven't noticed. She will go get her feeding table and pull it toward the couch and start fussing until we put her in it and give her a snack.

--If the TV is on and people start laughing or cheering, Riley will giggle and start clapping her hands, even if she's not watching.

--She loves to dance and spin in circles. 

--She loves her new toddler class at daycare. My favorite part of the day, though, is when I go to pick her up. As soon as she sees me, her whole face lights up with a smile and she either waves frantically at me to come over and get her out of her chair or, if she's mobile, she runs over to me and stretches out her arms for me to pick her up.

I love her so much and the crazy thing is, I continue to love her more and more every day no matter what she does. :-)