Christmas this year was different than any we've had in the past, but that was kind of to be expected based on this year. This is the first year we haven't traveled home for Christmas, but we do have Britt living with us which made it feel a little more like a normal Christmas. This was also the first Christmas for Riley where she sort of knew what was going on and it was so much fun!
I was very excited for this Christmas for Riley so I may have taken a lot of videos. We knew that asking Britt to be up at 7:30, when we get Riley up, was a little much to ask. So we compromised and decided on a 9 am start. So the day started with distracted Riley in our room and downstairs so she wouldn't see the presents. We did a quick little nativity story with her Little People nativity set and read books. Once it was nine we dragged Britt out of bed and got the party started!
If you don't want to watch all these video I'd recommend at least watching the penultimate one. Riley discovering her new puppy was the sweetest moment of the whole day.
I was really excited for this Santa gift idea. I felt like she would really enjoy playing with these now and for many years as her imagination grows. What I didn't realize is I was basically buying her a toy to do the thing that I am constantly asking her not to do. She really likes to jump off the bottom step of the stairs and it makes me nervous so I try to encourage her to just slide down. The tallest of these stones is even taller than the step! I'm not sure what I was thinking, but she does enjoy them and we try to encourage her at least only jumping on the carpet.
One of the best gifts Britt got in my opinion. :)
We were all already done opening our presents and she was still fascinated by her stocking stuffers.
Riley's collection of Piggy and Gerald books just got way better!
(This title was written long before the Marco Polo chain where I discovered gumdrops can be triggering for some of you. I apologize.)
On Saturday, against all odds, we made gingerbread houses! I usually have zero desire to go anywhere after Riley wakes up from her nap. Basically after 3 pm I consider it evening and it takes a lot of motivation to get out the house. So making a plan to go to the store and pick out candy to decorate our gingerbread house at 4:30 on the last weekend before Christmas was a lofty goal. We quickly aborted the plan to try Target and went to a grocery store near by. It was still pretty packed, but we made it in and out alive. As we were leaving Ben confirmed with me that we had graham crackers...I said that I had just bought a box. As I was saying it I realized that these houses actually use a lot more crackers than you think so one unopened box isn't actually all that much. Riley had been so grumpy in the store there was no way we were going back, so we decided we'd keep our houses small this year.
When we got home I whipped up some frosting and we fed Riley a little dinner so she would at least be full when we set a bunch of candy in front of her. I know, foolish to think that would actually matter. We constructed a little house for Riley and then put out a few treats on the table for her to decorate with. At first they all went in her mouth, but after some modeling and reminders she eventually started putting the majority on the house. It was pretty cute.
After Riley went to bed the adults got to have their turn! Britt and I teamed up, since the last time she made a gingerbread house may have been her 5th grade fiasco. We aimed to make a rainbow candy/gay pride house. We kind of accidentally made a hate crime. We were so jazzed about our rainbow door idea. After putting on the windows we quickly realized we had just made a giant frowny face. We weren't sure if we could share pictures of it for fear it would be interpreted as a political statement.
Ben's house was much less politically driven, deciding to make the hospital he works at. Although, after it was constructed he realized he wasn't sure how to decorate a white and black building when most of the candy we had was rainbow colored.
(we stuck a heart on the back to try and balance it out)
We soon discovered that our house was actually delicious and...
The lesson learned? Mike and Ikes on frosted graham crackers are delicious!
I was counting down the days to Christmas decorating since November 1st. November was going to be a long month, filled with doctor's appointments for Riley, no real Thanksgiving to speak of, and lots of big school project for Britt. We wanted November to be over before it started. So come December 1st the tree was out, the music was playing, and the wreath was hung. We did a lot of talking with Riley beforehand about how we only look at the Christmas tree and don't touch it. We have to remind her every once in a while, but we haven't had a fall yet!
It's been so fun teaching Riley about Christmas and seeing her excitement about little things like the reindeer and "guy" in our neighbor's yard. Due to weather our walks around the neighborhood have become a lot shorter, but we really appreciate the people who decorate their yards. One yard has this giant dragon that flaps it's wings and Riley will sit down on the sidewalk and watch it until I say we have to head home. It's also been so sweet hearing her talk about baby Jesus and how he sleeps in a manger. She knows Mary and Joseph and loves playing with her little people nativity set.
After decorating the house got us into the Christmas spirit I decided that we should do Christmas cards this year. Maybe it comes from feeling much more isolated from friends and family, but it just seemed like a fun idea to send a photo of our family to people we care about. I was also hoping that if I sent some out this year that I'd start getting more in the future. So once Ben was off nights and was on a normal schedule again we took some family pictures. We didn't get an amazing one of all of us, but we couldn't make Riley stay out in the cold any longer.
Behind the scenes of our family photo shoot. Gotta keep those hands warm.
Got to take advantage of the days we are actually presentable.
What do you do other than just smile in pictures?? Answer...climb a tree? Is this what girls do?
Getting real tired of being told to sit still
How everyone really feels about family pictures
After feeling a little sad we never got a really cute picture of Riley for the family photos I decided to give her a personal photo shoot.
This picture makes me so happy.
I swear she was having fun...not sure why she looks terrified.
The urge to touch to tree is real!
Stay tuned for a Christmas card coming to a mailbox near you! Featuring this cute girl and her puppy.
This is the face of a girl who just discovered we have a tree in our yard with berries on it.
She had marks all over her fingers after this. She loves picking things, but those little leave are sharp!
These eyes!
We just love this little girl!!
Sometimes she looks too cute to remind her not to touch
I'm part of a group text that usually feels like I'm just listening in on conversations of people I don't know...because it is. But occasionally it's useful...like when I found out that the Washington DC temple does a lights show like the SLC temple does. The temple is just a 7 minute drive from our house so of course we were going to check it out! During the first weekend there were apparently lines 2 hrs long, but we went right at 6 pm, when it started, and on a weekday so we went right in. Because it was just a drive through we couldn't spend too much time looking at the lights, but honestly, with a 2 year old and a cold night we wouldn't have lasted very long even if we could've gotten out of the car. Britt was looking forward to having the house all to herself and we got back 30 minutes after we left haha. It was so fun to be able to be up and close with the temple, even if it was just in our car. We were so looking forward to moving to a place that was so close to the temple. (We were about an hour from the temple when we lived in Fort Worth.) It was supposed to have the open house this month, but of course that's been postponed indefinitely. It's such a beautiful temple and we can't wait till we can go inside!
Also, after desperation overtook me I cut my own hair! Nothing fancy, but it's at least the same length.
And of course the highly anticipated videos! Nothing too exciting going on in these videos, I just want to always be able to look back and remember the day to day life with Riley the 23 month old. Things you will see in these videos: running around in circles with something in her hands is our favorite activity, her hippopotamus hair clip comes up a lot, our living room is never tidy.
No clue why this video is sepia color... you can still see the cuteness without the color.
Riley had a minor, elective surgery on November 30th. She was born with her tear ducts clogged in both eyes, after a few months the left eye cleared up but the right eye never did. When we mentioned this at her 12 month appointment Riley's doctor said they could refer her to an ophthalmologist. Well, then covid exploded and that never happened. We didn't really care to push it because we were about to be on free health insurance where everything is covered. So then at her 18 month appointment we did get a referral, unfortunately since we are on the military insurance we have limited providers we can see, most pediatric specialists are at Walter Reed, a seven minute drive from our house. The pediatric ophthalmologist happens to be a Fort Belvoir which is 45 minutes away. So, already not a great start to this whole process.
It was quite the journey to actually get us to the surgery day. Lots of appointments and lots of hemming and hawing by me and Ben. There are definite downsides to being married to a doctor and one of them is knowing way too many things to be worried about. After telling Ben the procedure to unclog the tear duct would require anesthesia he mentioned that made him a little worried because of the lack of studies around giving children anesthesia. Obviously, they think it's safe, but ethically you can't pick a random amount of children, put them under anesthesia, and see how they all turn out. Eventually after thought and prayer we decided that we would trust the current medical opinion that the anesthesia wouldn't negatively affect Riley's development. We were comforted by the fact that the surgery would be just 30-45 minutes.
We were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 6:15 am. So that meant waking Riley up around 5:20. She actually handled that much better than her parents, after she rubbed the sleep from her eyes she was ready for the day to start. Once we got to the hospital and all checked in we had a great time. They had a little toy car and I pushed Riley around and around until they were ready for her. Before they took her away they gave her something to make her a little loopy so that she wouldn't get too stressed when they took her away from me. Below is a video to show how out of it she was. (Notice that she was drooling a little, but couldn't seem to figure out how to stop it.)
After the surgery was a whole other animal. Walking back to post op and seeing Riley with wires all over her, completely limp, and screaming like a banshee was slightly traumatic. As I tried to calm Riley down while talking with the nurse my stress level was pretty high. The nurse was obviously not used to pediatric patients and didn't really handle all the screaming very well. I could feel her nervous energy and it wasn't helping. Luckily, she asked her boss if she could let Ben come back and it was a huge help. He was able to deal with all the paperwork and chatting with the doctors while I tried to contain Riley. I need both hands and all my attention to deal with her since her body was still not fully awake.
We spent the rest of the day trying to take it easy and watching Olaf's Frozen Adventure. I seriously underestimated how much Riley would fall in love with that Olaf show. At one point there are wolves that chase Olaf. Riley thought it was the best things ever and almost every day since she has mentioned, "Puppies chasing Olaf," while throwing her head back and laughing. That girl.
Long story short I'm never ever planning to sign my child up for an elective surgery. If it's not threatening they can take care of it as a teenager. No clogged tear duct was worth all this.
Just because this post was pretty boring here are a few random videos that I forgot to add to my last post:
Riley is the main source of entertainment in this house. She has some funny little quirks that keep us laughing. First off, she gets startled pretty easy. Sometimes by things you wouldn't expect. The other day Riley was requesting to look at our bellybuttons, not an uncommon ask. Right when Riley touched Ben's bellybutton he stuck out his belly. Riley immediately fell to the floor, curled up, and said, "Riley sleeping." She wasn't sure what she'd done, but she figured pretending to be a sleep was a good alibi.
Sometimes we will scare her on purpose, usually she thinks it's funny when we jump out and scare her. She laughs and asks us to do it again. One night she was going back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. When she would enter the living room I'd hide somewhere and scare her. She thought it was great fun and asked to be scared again. After a few scares, Ben snuck into the kitchen and hid under the counter. When she went back into the kitchen he jumped out and it was immediately clear the game was over. Whether it was the intensity of the growl or the fact that she thought the kitchen was her safe space she was not feeling it. You know it was too much of a scare if instead of laughing she says, "Hug...hug!"
Another funny, but maybe also troubling thing is Riley's relationship with Alexa. It's a little sad that a two year old already talks to an Alexa. And sadder that in no fewer than 5 occasions I've called Riley Alexa. It's honestly the name I say the most in a day! Although, I guess it's good that I believe most the times I've accidentally called her Alexa it was when I was exasperated with her. I obviously associate that feeling with Alexa more than Riley. Alexa is our DJ, so all throughout the day we are asking her to play different songs. In the morning, we always ask her to play something as Riley drinks some milk. One morning, every time I asked Alexa to play something she'd say something like, "I'm having trouble understanding right now. Try again later." Ever since then when I ask Alexa to do something and she doesn't respond Riley will say, "Lexa troubled."
I'm not sure if this next thing is funny or just a little curious, but Riley is very sensitive to sound. Recently she has started telling me that the music is too loud and to turn it down. We've had a fan in Riley's room for a while now and this last week she's made us turn it down to the lowest setting, saying the medium setting was too loud. She will also decide she doesn't like a certain book or page of a book if it seems too loud. We have a book where a character is snoring and even though I tried not to read the sound effect too loud she is now terrified of that book.
Riley knows our neighborhood very well. There is a blue car that's always parked a few houses down that Riley is obsessed with. Every time we walked by she would say, "Blue car there!" Well one day the blue car had a tarp covering it. For a girl who doesn't get out much, it was a major moment! At first she was very distressed, but eventually she got behind the idea that the car was sleeping. In this video you can hear her talk about the blue car being so sleepy. I couldn't capture her little hand motion that she usually does with it. She'll rest her head on her hand and lean over while saying, "Blue car so sleepy," and it's just adorable.
This video might not be for everyone. It's got some potty talk. I just think she sounds so cute. Riley has started really dreading diaper changes. She's fine once she's on the changing table, but just the idea of being taken away from the toys she's playing with really distresses her. When I ask to check her diaper she'll shake her hands up and down saying, "No, no, no, no, no!" We eventually convince her to let us change her diaper, but one of her tactics for delaying the diaper change is to try and convince us she's not really poopy.
I won't say I was very happy when Ben showed Riley this game, but she is pretty cute when it's happening. It's a pretty quick activity with a much longer clean up, but what can you do. One day when we were cleaning up I circled a bunch of balls with my arms and said, "I have ALL the balls." Riley thought it was hilarious and that is what you'll hear her mimicking in the video. She absolutely cracks us up as she uses this same voice for lots of things. Declaring that she has ALL the pants, ALL the combs, or ALL the cars.
A little better angle of the game...
She's a pretty good little talker, but sometimes there are words where she can't quite get all the letters in the right order. This video is of one of my favorite words.
This video was just really so everyone could appreciate how much this girl loves to talks. She talks and talks and talks. Usually the only way to help her stop repeating something over and over is to repeat it back to her, but that's only if she was looking for acknowledgment. Sometimes she just likes to hear her voice and I just love it. Recently I'll hear he use little words when she's playing with her toys or looking at book as if she's reading it to herself. It's the first hints that I can see of real imaginative little kid play and it's so fun to watch.
There is a point of this video that is incredibly embarrassing for me, but I love it so much I'm still putting it up! The first half of the video is Riley trying to mimic a little sound Ben was making with his lips. When she eventually lays down and attempts to do a crunch you will hear me laugh and when I speak I sound a little like a demon. I was just overcome. When Riley trying to sit up from a laying down position on her own it's easily one of the best things she does. It is hysterical to me.
Riley will often workout with me at some point during my workouts. It's always absolutely adorable, but I'm rarely in a position to capture it. Make sure to at least watch until you hear her pronunciation of squatting. Also she later saying she's doing a yoga squat. She calls any form of exercise yoga. I do yoga maybe 1-2 times a week, but whenever we go downstairs it's to do "yoga".
Writing a blog is much more enjoyable when you have an adorable pictures of your child to share. Life around the house is expectedly pretty mundane. There are moments where it feels like every day is exactly the same for me. But mixed in between all the snack times, nap routines, and tantrums there are some pretty precious moments that bring joy into my life.
One thing I've been able to enjoy that I had no idea would be a thing just a few months ago is watching Riley and Bo's relationship form. It started off pretty hesitant, but as long as mom was still close by she seemed to be okay with her. Since then Riley has accepted Bo as part of her life. As I take her to bed she will often request, "Bo, mah," which mean she needs to give Bo a kiss goodnight. She's also learned that it's hard for me to say no to that request and she'll often use it as a delaying tactic. Whenever Britt's feet are uncovered she can expect Riley to run over and "tickle" them to which Riley has learned to expect quite the performance from Britt.
Another thing that has brought me a lot of joy recently is seeing Riley seem to be learning at an exponential rate! It just seems like every day she has some new word and I'm absolutely loving it. We've also been working on colors, the alphabet, and numbers a little. So here are some pictures and video showing off the cutest, smartest little girl I know.
Riley in her favorite habitat. If I let this girl run around outside all day she'd be all for it!
These pictures are just a few months old and she already looks so different! She grows too fast!
My heart!!
An exciting sighting a few weeks ago. (This is our backyard)
The adventures of living in a home. We have vermin! I've seen way too many dead/live mice in the last few weeks. This picture is evidence of our friendly trash pilferer. We even bought a new trash can that has a lid that stays on and they still get in there!
This girl has gotten so big!
You think this is just a funny meme, but just ask a new resident. It's a little too close to the truth!
Always an adventure with Britt! She had an interaction (a socially distance one, but still) with someone that later tested positive for Covid. So, after I put Riley down for a nap and figured even an exhausted Ben would wake up if she started crying, we hurried to the closest urgent care for testing. Then we discovered they require a telephonic appointment with the doctor before they let you do drive by testing...so we hurried to the next closest urgent care. We knew that most medical places have special rules for people coming in with Covid symptoms so we looked at the door and it said if you believe you have Covid to signal the people at the front desk and to wait in your car. We weren't sure exactly what the sign language was for Covid or please come stick a swab up my nose, so we wrote out a note. As Britt waited at the door the front desk person beckoned her inside, and when she explained they just told her to come in and acted like she was crazy. Why do people keep up signs if they aren't even keeping that policy anymore! Drives me crazy....but it did provide a few good laughs.
Ben taught Riley how to say, "Cheese!" It has provided quite a few adorable pictures and quite a few hilarious pictures.
This is probably one of the most accurate pictures of Riley I have. This girl is pretty wild!
Grandma Jack wanted some picture for her wall so it prompted a little photoshoot. I just love these pictures!
Just look at the joy in that face when we found a puddle on our morning walk.
She is always suddenly thirsty when she sees some source of dirty or soapy water.
I feel like she could be in some 90s R&B music video here. Cue some Usher.
We love having a photographer in our home now. :)
I could try to edit out the sweat mark under my arm, but let's be real. We were in DC in September.
More family photos!
Now for a BUNCH of videos. I just feel like as cute as pictures are she's so much cuter in action. And I think every movement is so cute, so get ready for an overload of videos of Riley doing pretty ordinary stuff. :)
These first two most of you have already seen, but I just wanted to put them on the blog because they crack me up.
It's amazing the random things that Riley thinks are hilarious.
This has become on of Riley's favorite games. If you are sitting on the floor you can expect her to come and grab you from behind and say, "Uh Oh."
Britt learned the hard way that having Riley enjoy something you do isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Ever since our trip to Utah/Idaho Riley has been in love with Nemo. (We probably watched it 6 times on the plane rides.) I just think the way she is watching here is absolutely adorable.
Sometime you just have to let her get soaked and covered in mud.
Such a big girl! Since this video was taken she discovered the two bigger slides on the playground. She never goes down this slide anymore. Opting for the bigger adrenaline rush. At least these slides are curved so she can actually go down them without going faster than I'd like. We try to avoid parks with big/fast slides because she is always wants to try the biggest slides and I'm not ready for that! She's quite the dare devil, but also gets upset every time she trips. It's real hard to figure this girl out at times. I made the mistake of letting her go down a big, straight slide at one park and although I was at the bottom to catch her it was terrifying seeing her shoot down that thing like a rocket! I soon realized that she's so light that she doesn't create much friction to slow her down so she really gets going!
I love that she has already figured out her own, "Mom, watch!" before she knows that phrase. After every attempt at the slide she will run up to me with mouth open wide (she only does it for a little bit in the video) and shout, "AGAIN!"
You wouldn't guess it by the state of her hair, but this girl really has opinions about her outfits!
Ben was on night shifts for most of September and half of October. On mornings that he'd get off a 6 am he'd come home and get Riley up when she woke up around 7. Then they would have about an hour together before I forced myself to get out of bed and we'd switch places. During that hour they would spend a lot of time working on learning different things. Ben obviously spent a lot of time working on her letters! These first two videos were taken on October 5th. The next two were taken on October 18th. The videos are a little long and not all that exciting, but I just needed evidence that she could do this before two!
After mastering the capital letters we tried to work on lowercase calling them big and little letters. Riley soon translated that into her own meaning.
Taking after her dad in her love of dinosaurs. She has started (sort of) saying Pterodactyl. (It sounds like dac-tl.)
