Who's ready for another rendition of Riley says the darnedest (and cutest) things?
Riley's bedtime process includes getting to sing two songs before bed. One night after we sang "Search, Ponder, and Pray" I asked her if she knew what ponder meant and then explained what it means. For weeks after whenever Ben or I would sing her a song she'd ask the definition of nearly every word in the song, realizing it was a great way to put off bedtime.
I was very proud of Riley when she requested to stay in the car to "finish the song". That's when I truly knew she was my daughter.
Watching Riley watch TV is a very enjoyable pass time. She only gets a show every so often so it's still a big deal when I suggest we can watch something. I just wish I could explain in writing the joy with which she said, "I LOVE THIS SHOW!" the first time she watched Puppy Dog Pals.
Speaking of TV shows, our most watched shows are probably Paw Patrol and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. One day during Mom and Dad's visit Riley started dancing around and singing the entire Paw Patrol theme song. I had no idea she knew the words, but she really went for it. Although she didn't want an audience, whenever Dad peaked his head out of his room she'd act as if she wasn't doing anything at all.
One of the Paw Patrol's sayings is, "No job is too big no pup is too small." Whenever Ryder says that on the show Riley finds it necessary to correct him, "You know Ryder, Skye is a little small!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha I laughed too much!"
For some reason we were talking about how mom's are smart and know lots of things which led to the question, "Are dads smart too or just moms?"
After seeing a pair of Ben's shoes still at home Riley started yelling at the door, "Dad, come home so you can put on your shoes so you can go back to work!"
Riley has been led to believe any Pop song has to be a Troll singing since that CD is basically the only Pop music she hears. One day at the mall she starts bobbing her head and swaying to the music and says, "Yeah…this is groovy Trolls."
Sometimes Riley helps me see that the phrases I use can be misleading. Like when I tell her to hop into bed or hop on the toilet and she replies, "No, that's dangerous!" One day it cracked me up when I told her I needed to comb out her hair and she asked, "When you comb it out will my hair be there or will it not be there?"
Owen came over for a play date and Riley must have recently reached some new social milestone over night because she was all over him, hugging him, talking to him, encouraging him to play her games with her. She also kept calling him bud. I was dying. "Dance with me bud!" Then after Owen's mom came to pick him up she said to me, "Owens mom…that one's pretty nice to me." Since those interactions her social habits have totally changed! It's crazy how kids change from one day to the next, but now she's all about interacting with kids at the park when before she would run from them!
Another demonstration of her mind's development in these last few weeks is how much her imagination has blossomed. One day she came up to me with a little ball and told me, "This is my friend Lamby." I have no clue why a blue ball with Paw Patrol characters on it would be named Lamby, but that was the name she gave it and that's still it's name. She had a ball playing with her little Lamby.
Lamby isn't her only interesting new friend. She also has a bunch of imaginary wolves that follow us around every once in a while. One day we were leaving church and she said, "We left the wolves!" As Ben is about to go in and start searching for some wolf toy I say not to worry, lower our window, and tell Riley the wolves are all jumping in. We have pretend pups, trolls, and princesses that regularly make appearances in our lives now as well.
Question about baby boy, "Is he trapped inside?"
It's so funny the things Riley picks up from books. It still cracks me up whenever she narrates the way she is saying or doing something like, "I want a snack. She says while jumping on the chair." After reading one book she picked up the phrase, adios amigo. It cracked me up when after singing the song popcorn popping on the apricot tree with Grandma and Grandpa instead of giving us the final big pop as per usual she goes, "Adios amigo!"
Riley speaks pretty clearly in my opinion, but it's cute when she has certain things that she struggles with. I may have mentioned previously that she calls an elevator and alligator. When she requested to listen to the "Month's song" her request sounded like the word months was never going to end. "Can I listen to the months-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s song?" Something about those s's after that th really messed with her mind.
Being around a child can make you notice your habit whether you want to or not, "You say oh geez a lot Bo."
I love children's confidence. After pushing Riley a few times on the big kid swings she loudly declared, "Everyone is so impressed!"
When Ben is asleep on the couch, "He’s still real, but he’s not working.”
Ben walking towards Riley with a blanket on his head, "You’re like Jesus!"
"I’m choosing to follow God."
Riley has occasionally started praying and saying this. "Oh God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son to bless this water to the souls of who partake of it. Amen." Ben has tried to explain that is a special prayer, but I'm just impressed she's listening!
I knew that replacing our old Alexa was going to be like Riley's first experience with death. I wasn't wrong. She had lots of questions as to why we were sending the old Alexa away and replacing it with a new one. After talking about it for a while so started looking through the instruction manuals for the new Alexa and said, "I’m just gonna read about why the old Alexa is in trouble."
We read a book about a father who brings the moon down for his daughter. As she's playing with it it shrink and shrink until it disappears, as seen in the picture above. Looking at this picture I tried to explain how the moon cycles work to Riley. I said, "So the moon gets smaller and smaller until-" "It turns into a kitty cat!" Hahaha you know, looking at the pictures it's not an unreasonable conclusion.
We see so many planes and helicopters at our house, whenever she sees a helicopter she says, "I think that might have been Skye's!"
I don't remember when she said this, but I can picture her cute voice breaking my heart at the thought of leaving any puppy behind. "Can I grab the other pups? We are gonna miss them!"
Occasionally, when I'm making dinner Riley will go downstairs to play with Aunt Bo. On other days I'll be done for the day by dinner time and I'll lay down on couch for a rest. One day she started heading downstairs and Britt asked, "Is your Mom making dinner?" She replied,“No, my mom's laying on the couch, yelling at Alexa.” Hahaha okay I do not recall yelling at Alexa, but I was on the couch.
"I made a compromise." Her favorite false statement. Whenever I ask her to compromise she'll ask me to do the exact same thing, but in a sweet, calm voice and then will assure me she has made a compromise.
Riley was playing outside with Ben and he was throwing her up in the air. He asked, "Do you want to touch the sky?" After throwing her up again she said, "I didn’t quite get it. I want to grab a cloud! I want to reach the clouds!" I was just waiting for Ben to give some inspiring fatherly council about reaching her dreams and to hear "I Believe I Can Fly" start to play.
"Next time there is a fly I’m gonna use my magic hand and CLAP the little buggie."
Riley is very interested in EVERYTHING that we say. She'll often ask us to repeat whatever we say and if we don't repeat it verbatim she'll respond, "That's not what you said!" One time Britt wanted to tell me something, but was very aware of Riley being near by so she whispered to something to me. So Riley whispered, "What did Bo say softly?"
Now some random photos from the last few months that won't fit in other blogposts:
Fall came and Riley discovered the magic of leaf piles!
