Random Riley Moments

I love when screen time actually comes in handy. That's why I'm happy to let Riley watch a little 3 minute Daniel Tiger video if she asks. Those little lessons come up all the time! Although, I do feel like Daniel needs to explain what "feeling proud" means to little kids for the amount of times he uses it as an incentive in his songs. I was telling Riley that I was saving a special necklace to gift to her when she's 8. She got very excited and said, "Knowing you're saving that necklace for me makes me feel proud!" 

Riley is started trying to write her own inspirational songs based on Daniel Tiger melodies. A recent one was "Even if you can't do anything by yourself you can just try just think in your mind!"

The other day I was having a hard time doing something and Riley assured me, "Remember! You can do anything that you want to do!" (A song from Blues Clues.) 

We were out of tissues and Riley said, "You need to get another cylinder of tissues!" I asked her how she knew that shape and she said Micky Mouse Clubhouse! I asked if she learned any other shapes from Mickey and she said, "A sphere! Like the Alexa!" I had never focused on teaching her those shapes, but Mickey came in handy! 

Trying to keep Riley from watching the TV at gym daycare has been a process. (Although the situation may improve greatly from here on out...fingers crossed!) She knows if I know she's been watching the whole time she won't get any screen time for the next day or two. So she'd start asking if she was going to get screen time and I'd reply with well it looked like you were watching or it looked like you were playing... After a few weeks of going to the gym I would show up at daycare and Riley would ask me, "What did it look like Mama?" It took me a bit, but I finally figured out she was referring to when I'd say it looked like she was doing this or that. 

I have no context for this quote because I don't remember, but I still find it hilarious. "I was just pretending you were trash." 

In July we were at a Rollins (Ben's Mom's family) reunion in Arizona. I asked Riley on the way home what her favorite part of the trip was. "Probably playing with the dolls when it wasn't quiet time!" Hahaha oh geez. She has this box of magnetic dolls that she only gets to play with in her room during quiet time, but we brought a few along for the trip. Getting to play with them while around other people?! Too good to be true.

This is a common occurrence when asking Riley for her favorite activity. We when to a farm with lots of fun animals and games to play with that's about an hour drive from our house. She said her favorite thing was going down the yellow slide. A slide identical to any park slide we could find 5 minutes from our house...for free. 

Because of a funny video Riley saw me watching we are now a Sea Shanty family. It's pretty hilarious to be singing, "What would you do with a drunken sailor" with your 3 year old. Our favorite song has a line about sugar and tea and rum. When Riley heard that she said, "Hey, they are singing about their mums!" 

Telling Riley we were going to go to Costco. "I don't want to go!" Beat. "Is Costco the one with the people with little cups of food?" Haha yep! Costco is the best store around. 

I LOVE books that read the story aloud. Especially because a lot of the ones the library has are educational ones about animals. Riley has blown my mind asking if we could go try and find a monarch caterpillar when she heard it was August because they are often found in July, August, and September. Then she told me I'd need to find a field with milkweed plants because thats where they'd be. Another day she came up to me and said, "Do you want to play Iguanas? That's your territory, and I'm another Iguana that tries to take it. Your tail can fall off, but it'll grow back." 

When we had to stay in the Airbnb in Provo Riley referred to it as "the house of the person we don't know."

When we were all coming down with COVID I told Riley we thought she was sick. She resisted that assessment probably for fear of getting tested. Then I told Ben that we should get slurpees because that's the only thing that sounds good. Riley, hearing this conversation says, "Yep, I think you're right. I'm sick."

It's so cute seeing Riley play doctor. Less cute when her doctor interests means she's looking at disturbing pictures in Ben's doctor magazines and asking me to diagnose the patients! Ever seen deep frostbite? Well I have now! One day when Riley was playing doctor she had a few cute one liners. "Is a doctor still a doctor without a stethoscope?" "He just hiccuped. He probably has an infection."

I love when Riley uses the words she hears us use. It just sounds so cute coming from a child. "Is Nelson asleep back there Riley?" "Yeah, he's knocked out."

After someone dare utter Alexa's name. "Careful...if you say her name she'll perk up."

 "I'll check on you." I don't know that four words have ever made such a big difference in my life! Late in my pregnancy Riley started having some sleep regression. She'd wake up once or twice a night, but it wouldn't just be waking up for a minute and back to sleep. She would cry when we told her she needed to go back to bed, saying she was worried. When we could finally leave the room she'd come back into our room every ten minutes until she finally fell back asleep. If we got to the point where we would put on a child lock she would have a meltdown. Terrified at the idea of being locked in there. It was awful. These words changed our life! I don't remember where the idea came from, I do remember being skeptical at first, but after thinking about it for a bit deciding maybe it would be good for her. It was a gradual process, but now even normal bedtime is a breeze because as we leave we just say we will come check on you. We peek our head in whenever we walk by and usually within about 20 minutes she's asleep. She's stopped waking in the middle of the night, but if it happens we just tell her we will check on her in 10 minutes and that gives her the security she needs to fall asleep by the time we come check. I guess she just needed to feel like that goodbye wasn't so final. That she could see us again and wasn't stuck all alone. 

We were looking for Father's Day cards for Grandpa Messerly and Jack. Of course, Riley was drawn to the two Minnie/Mickey cards. One of them was for a Grandpa, but one was more for your husband. Since that one was in Spanish I figured Dad would still enjoy it so I let her get those two. I told her it was perfect because that card is in Spanish. Holding the card for her Grandpa Jack she asked, "Is this one in Japanese?" I love how thoughtful she is. 

She's started to sound out more and more 3 and 4 letter words. Some times she'll get really excited about it and exclaim, "I'm really reading! I'm a reader!" 

Dinner on Monday nights can sometimes go poorly when she knows we are going to have family night later and she'll get a treat. One Monday she left the table without eating much and told me over and over that she wasn't hungry. Seconds after she's said she's not hungry she says, "When is family night? I want a treat I'm h-....I'm not hungry." Haha good move there kid, you almost gave it away. 

Speaking of family night I love Riley's joy for family night. Yes, it was born by the guarantee of a treat after, but she doesn't let us skip the lesson or activity before the treat. She enjoys it as a whole. It often begins by Riley declaring, "Welcome to family night everyone!" She also likes to conduct, today we will have a song by Riley and a prayer by Mommy etc

After hearing me say to someone, "I don't know why she started playing with her dresses." She says, "Maybe it's just because they are so pretty. I just like them because they are all pretty." She's like don't question me mom! I know what I'm about!

Riley came out to say goodnight to us one night when Bo was over. She said goodnight Bo and gave her a hug. Goodnight Mama and gave me a hug. Goodnight Grandma, gives her a hug. She's being so loving and sweet. Then we ask if she's going to say goodnight to Nelson. As she's running past him she gives a monotone, "Goodnight Nelson." I wish I could play the complete change of tone from our goodnights to his. Poor little guy. 

Trying to get 4th of July pics while we are being attacked by mosquitos

Ben decided to get into bird watching for a while. Unfortunately, Riley just likes scaring the bird away.

When your sister has soccer practice.

The boy gets a lot of love...arguably too much love.

Always wants to be like Mama.

Face covered in paint and a smile.

This kid stares with intensity when he finds something interesting.

Had a car mechanic give my car a look. 

I love this girl's love of books!

Fun with buttons! Gluing them, putting them on string...we got quite a few hours out of this. 

Playing doctor.

My little ladybug.

Love these kiddos!

Let's Get Together (In Mesa)

For the first year since we've been married we've made it to one of Ben's family reunions! Which sounds pretty bad, but it wasn't my schedule getting in the way... Anyways, with it being so expensive to travel to Rexburg I figured we could see Ben's parents in Mesa, finally attend one of the family reunions, and get to spend less on travel. So, bright an early we headed to the airport. This may have been the trip where we were leaving around 5 am for the airport and Ben didn't get home from doing notes and other tasks at the hospital until 4 am. It wasn't a night shift, he'd worked all day and had just been doing a bunch of stuff after his shift. He got home, packed a bag, and then had to get on a flight with two children. Poor boy. 

Because of our early flight and the time change we arrived in Arizona way earlier than the airbnb was available. Although we did get to kill a little bit of time because they lost Riley's carseat. They told us it was coming on the later flight which would arrive in about an hour. Well I was dying trying to contain Riley and keep Nelson happy in this airport so I said, let's not wait, let's just take their carseat and have them mail them ours to the house. Well it turns out that was a bad choice for multiple reasons. We get the loaner carseat and head to Ben's Uncle's house to wait until our house is open, but as we leave he gets a call that his Uncle is at the store and they will be home in an hour or so. Great. We were starving so we look around and find a Whataburger (a hamburger joint from our Texas days that I never tried because it sounds like Waterburger when you say it and that just sounds gross!) about 3/4ths of a mile from his Uncle's house. So, we have the uber driver drop Me, Ben, Riley, Nelson, two carseats, a stroller, three carryon bags, a few backpacks, and a boppy off at Whataburger. It was not a spacious place, but we manage to kind of tuck ourselves away as best we can in a little corner booth. When we arrived in the Uber Riley and Nelson were both asleep and we got them in the stroller without waking either so Ben and I did get to enjoy a quiet little meal. Riley woke up at some point and Ben helped get her some fries while I tried to feed Nelson in a less than ideal sitting situation. Once we heard that his Uncle was home we packed up all our belongings and headed outside. Now a .75 mile walk isn't much, but in Arizona, in July...it wasn't gonna be pretty, but I was sure we could do it. We didn't want to ask his Uncle to pick us up and it felt like a waste of an uber. So we walked. I'm already a sweaty person so when I tell you we arrived to their house in quite a state don't think I'm exaggerating. We were using Nelson's baby blanket as a sweat towel. It was horrible. This is also the first time I'm meeting these people outside our wedding day....so making a great impression. 

I was sure there wouldn't be much for Riley to do in this house because they don't have young kids anymore. What I'd forgotten is that Uncle Matt has grandkids that live nearby, well of course a grandpa is gonna have a fun room for his grandkids! Riley was immediately whisked away to a room full of toys (some to play with, some to look at. Uncle Matt also collects things to sell on ebay.) She had the best time, and was asking the whole rest of the trip when we'd get to go back to Uncle Matt's house. He was even so kind as to gift her a little Minnie doll to keep. 

When Ben's parent's arrived we all headed over to the airbnb. When we were choosing rooms we wanted one with a big closet so Nelson could be put in there. (Not sure why we didn't do that at the Messerly reunion...oh wait that's where Britt was sleeping. Haha) It also needed enough space to put Riley on a mattress on the floor. By default we were assigned the master bedroom. :) Ben felt a deep amount of guilt to be getting the best room, after also getting one of the best rooms at the Messerly reunion. He kept going back and forth about if we could be okay in another room. I felt zero guilt at all. If I'm traveling with a 4 month old baby to get here then I deserve any amount of pampering I can get! Also, I'm the one spending the most time in their room because I'm breastfeeding constantly. 

The best part about doing airbnb in Arizona is that it's really not hard to find one with a pool. (It had a large gate around it for safety.) The first day there was some question about the cleanliness of the pool, but after contacting the owner and having a pool guy come by we got the okay and we spent time out there every day! Riley absolutely LOVED it. She's only really done splash pads before this, I guess she also went in the ocean, but she just stayed at ankle height. She had the best time paddling around in her floaty, playing with the noodles, and beach balls. At one point I asked if she wanted to jump into the pool. I told her she could only jump in because she had her floaty and that I'd be in the water too, but the floaty would keep her afloat. I didn't really realize until she was already midair that even with the floaty there would be a moment where her whole head would go under the water if I wasn't catching her. Annnnd there she went. I helped her re-surface quickly and when she got above the water she said with shock in her voice, "I sank!" Poor girl, I hope she felt me there and didn't feel afraid of sinking for more than a moment. We talked about how I knew she wouldn't actually sink, but she decided she didn't want her head to go under at all. The next times she jumped in I caught her and she liked that much better. Her favorite game was when Ben and I would throw her back and forth. 

As for group activities we manly just hung out and played games. The Rollins are all big on games and we were happy to have a pretty chill scheduled. We did all go to a science museum one day. The cost was like $30 a person. When we found out Ben's military status got us and 3 other people in for free that became my highlight of the trip! There were a lot of fun little things to do in the museum, but when we were walking in with a passed out 3 yr old I was skeptical of how it was all going to go. We spent the first 15 minutes of the trip trying to wake her up and interest her in anything. Eventually she finally got enough out of her funk that she realized she was in a pretty cool place. She had lots of fun blowing up giant bubbles with Dad. 

They also had a fun little science display and they were playing around with liquid nitrogen. She made a joke with the liquid nitrogen that ended in her asking, "Is anyone a doctor?" Riley looks at her dad and says, "My dad is!" Later in the presentation they asked which is the coldest planet and Riley says, "Probably Neptune or Uranus." I'm so proud of the things her love of books has taught her. She loves her space books!

In this video Riley was delighted to see a bunch of "Fuzzbert dancing", this is what Fuzzbert looks like, you can see the similarities. :)

One day Riley walked in the room and said, "Look at what they're wearing!!" We were a little confused because no one seemed to be wearing anything strange. We eventually realized she was talking about Julia's red bandana. Then Riley said, "She's wearing Christmas!" Haha I have no idea why that bandana made her think of Christmas, but it cracked me up.

A fun thing all Rollin's reunions have is a "birthday party". Everyone brings five things (usually the same thing or similar) to give as gifts that also have to do with something they enjoyed doing the past year or an accomplishment they made. It's real hard coming up with something that's not gonna break the bank and also be cool, but it is fun to hear everything people bring. Then each person picks 5 names out of a hat and you get to go home with those gifts. So everyone leaves with 5 presents. 

It is always exhausting to travel with kids and traveling to a time zone with a big time difference is even worse, but I was so glad we went. It was fun to have more time with Ben's extended family and to discover a bunch of new board games that we enjoy!

And just to finish on a fun note here is a cute video of Nelson. :)