15 Months Old...

March 17th was a big day...Riley turned 15 months old...it was St. Patricks Day and I completely forgot to dress Riley or myself in green...and it was my one year anniversary at my job and I got a key chain (...and a gift card that I'm thankful for)!

On to the important things that Riley is up to:

• Sleeping...happy to report Riley is getting her beauty sleep and napping well too! She is down to primarily one nap but if we have social obligations I am still able to shift her day around and work in 2 naps if she's going to stay up later than normal. On a "normal" day she goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until 7 or 8! This morning I had my once a month 7 am meeting and I had to wake her from hard sleep and it was not pretty...luckily this was the last time I will have to do that...woohoo! The binkie issue is getting better...sometimes she will self soothe and every now and then I have to come to the rescue with a second binkie!
• Eating...she's still a great eater but is expressing her likes and dislikes much more and she has had some days where she hasn't eaten much...no worries...she eventually makes up for it...I figure she'll eat when she's hungry! We are working more and more on her feeding herself with a spoon...I still have to load the food but more often than not she can get most of it to her mouth...still don't know whether she will be a righty or a lefty...she is dabbling with both hands!
• Walking...or shall I say running! I have actually seen her resort to crawling a few times but 99% of the time she is toddling to her heart's content! She likes to play chase and when I say "I'm gonna get you" she actually tries to run and she lets out a high pitch scream...I come in and gobble her up just before she bites the dust...it's lots of fun! With the weather being so nice lately we have played outside the last couple of days and she wants to walk without holding my hand...that quickly leads to her wanting to go in the street...and then a minor temper tantrum...she's learning! Tonight she was playing with the neighbors that range in age from 4 to 11 and she is constant smiles and giggles with them and just follows them around! She had her first go round at wearing flip flops and was doing pretty well but she tripped and skinned her little knees...her first skinned knees! She cried and I swooped her up and realized that she may have broken skin so I was anxious to get her inside and clean her up...she was fine with falling and skinning her knees...she just didn't want to stop playing and go inside...she's gonna be a tough one!

Poor Baby!

• Dancing...still going at it...music or not!
• Talking...she has a few more words that we can decipher! "Tease" means please, "hey", and "Hay-ie" for her BFF Haylie! She sings a lot too and can do all the actions to Itsy Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake, and Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes! She does lots of talking on all of her pretend cell phones! She also can do noses which is so my favorite thing and we do them when I am rocking her before bedtime! She gives lots of hugs and kisses and makes the "muuaahh" sound when she gives kisses! She can point to her belly, eyes, ears, and nose!
• Teeth...not much news here...that 8th tooth is still making its debut! We are trying to get better about brushing these little teeth...she lets us brush first and then she takes a stab at it and she's pretty darn good!
• Baths...well it's been good for the most part...we had an experience while we were in Atlanta where she pitched a fit so Jason and I just each took on a role and bathed her in probably 2 minutes just to get it over with...I held her and he did the bathing! She seems more discontent now after her bath when she has to lay down so I can diaper her, lotion her, and put her PJ's on...she wants to get up and move! It's hard to get a diaper on a kicking baby!

Now that Riley is getting older her personality becomes more and more evident each and every day and while we have our few battles she is such a joy and has such a sweet spirit! It's times like this past weekend with our travel dilemma that make me realize just how lucky we are...in the midst of missing our flight and having to hang out at the airport she never showed a sign of discontent the whole time...she enjoyed chillin' in her car seat, making friends with fellow travelers, and just letting me hold and snuggle her! Her teachers have made several comments about how sweet she is to all the other kids and how she gives all the kids lots of hugs as if she's trying to teach them to be sweet...some of them are mean biters but luckily she hasn't been bitten yet! One day last week they were telling me that Riley would point and shake her finger at some of the kids and say "no no no" when they were doing bad things...I haven't gotten to witness this but boy would that be a sight to see!