20 Months Old...

Twenty months...this little girl is growing up and changing so fast I wish I could make time stand still!

Here's what Riley is up to at 20 months:

• Sleeping - We have slowly gotten back into a more normal schedule from all of our traveling and guests and she's actually been pulling some 13 hour nights...gotta love that! However, with that has come nights of frequent waking up...not sure what the problem is but she always points out of her room wanting to leave so I have a feeling she is having a bad dream, seeing a shadow that scares her, or something of the sort. I have been rocking her in these instances because I just can't pass up a chance to cuddle with this little girl...usually when I put her back in her bed she starts crying again but I just have to leave the room blowing her tons of kisses and she quickly gets back to sleep...if I stay in her room and try and calm her down it just doesn't work! Her Daddy got up with her one early morning and couldn't bear the idea of walking out of the room with her crying so he ended up spending several hours in the playroom in the wee hours of the morning playing with her...hehe! I love to get my cuddle time in, but I can get past the heartache of her crying when I leave because I have learned the hard way that if I leave all will be well!



• Eating - This has by far been the most difficult month of feeding Riley...at some point she decided she didn't want to eat for almost a week straight...obviously she did eat but it was so hard to get anything down her...frustrating! I'm not sure what the problem was but my hunch was that it had to do with some teething pain because all she would eat was baby food or yogurt that I fed her and you know I got as much down her as I could because I was so paranoid. Throughout her period of rejecting most food she did continue to drink milk and probably more milk than normal and she had no fever or other irregular behavior...they say kids will eat when they're hungry, right? Even though the worst week is over she still is harder to feed than ever but she's eating nonetheless!



• Talking - We are starting to understand more and more of what Riley is saying and it's so fun to get to know her more and more each day...she has lots of personality and spunk and there's never a dull moment! She has recently started counting to three...and we're working on counting to ten! We are working on colors and ABC's and always singing songs and dancing! We started pretending to tells secrets in her ear and she LOVES it...she'll just giggle and then whisper in our ears!



• Being a sponge - How they pick up on things so quickly at this age just blows my mind! She is starting to hint to her knowledge of all things potty...a few weeks ago she actually pulled her pants down (not her diaper) before she had to do her business...she knows what happens in the potty and she actually sat on the big potty a few nights ago just to check it out! We are on the hunt for a potty soon but I'm not going to push it quite yet! She is learning to drink from a cup like a big girl and no longer sitting in her high chair at home. She doesn't like wearing a bib and eats dinner at her little play table...all of this change has made for more cleanup for mom and dad but she loves the independence and she really does rather well!



• INDEPENDENT - Oh my goodness is this girl independent...she comes by it honestly but geez it causes quite the drama! She wants to accomplish something on her own, but she can't = frustrating! Mom tries to help her but she wants no help = frustrating! Result = total meltdown! You can just see the frustration in her face and it's so hard but that's just part of growing up!



• A total girl - Riley can't get enough of purses, jewelry, and all things girly! We have a little ritual that we do in my bathroom when I'm getting ready. Riley comes in and says "spay" and I give her one little squirt of body spray on her belly and then she follows that with "chastheek" and I put some chapstick on her little lips and she smacks them together...it's so fun and she just loves it!

We just eat her up and love her more and more each day! What a blessing she is! We love you Riley!