Our Riley girl...

With all the blogging hiatus I think it's about time I just write about this sweet girl.

She is such a big girl these days and I can't wait to see her experience her role as a big sister!

She is inquisitive, smart, funny, loving, spunky, and always keeps us on our toes!

She has such a childlike faith and I have loved seeing her learn and try and grasp all the things she's learning about Jesus.  The other night she said "Mommy...Jesus is in my belly."  I asked her if she was pretending and she said "No...my heart is in my belly and Jesus is in my heart"...well that makes sense then doesn't it?  We have read all the way through her Bible and started it over again and it's amazing what she has grasped from all the stories.  We were at some friends one night recently and there were two other girls her age and they were all playing...I went to check on them and heard Riley say "but Jesus healed me" and then I popped my head in and she said "we were playing that I was sick but Jesus healed me"

Now I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I also didn't share that she has learned to use Jesus against me to.  When I have found her doing something that I don't think she should be doing she has responded with "Jesus told me to and Jesus is my boss"...not sure how to respond to that but I have had to tell her numerous times to either talk to Jesus again or to remember that Jesus wants her to obey her Mommy and Daddy.  Faith like a child!

Riley has made great strides in grasping some of the tough parts of being a kid...learning to share and be a good friend.  I am so proud of her but there have definitely been some tough moments.  To see her heart for her friends and learn that it truly feels good to be nice, to put others first, and to genuinely care for others is just so awesome!  One experience that I remember vividly was when her friend Vanessa came over a few days after we got home from Disneyland.  Riley had already told Vanessa about her Rapunzel hair and I knew that this Rapunzel hair was probably going to be a tough thing for Riley to share.  I had a choice...put it away while Vanessa came over or try and make a teaching moment.  We were on a walk that morning and talked all about sharing...even our most special toys...with our friends.  I thought Riley was prepped and on board.  As soon as Vanessa arrived the girls wanted to dress up and Vanessa wanted to be Rapunzel...uh oh!  So this sent Riley into hysterics and she was crying away...another thing that we are working on because I think she turns to crying too quickly for a big girl.  I sent Riley to her room until she could stop crying and Vanessa then decided to be The Little Mermaid...and she was totally content.  When Riley calmed down and was ready to play I let her put on the Rapunzel dress and hair since Vanessa was happy as the mermaid...but I made it clear that it would next be Vanessa's turn.  The girls were playing and having a grand 'ol time!

So about a half hour later it was time for Vanessa to get a turn and I told Riley "two more minutes."  The girls went down the hall and I heard Riley say to Vanessa "but you like being Ariel don't you?  Don't you just want to be Ariel?"...wow...Riley was trying to convince her friend that she didn't want to be Rapunzel so she didn't have to share.  Smart? Yes.  Nice? Not so much.  I immediately interceded and made Riley take off all of the Rapunzel stuff.  She was not happy and was again sent to her room until she was done crying.  In the meantime I got Vanessa all set up to be Rapunzel...

Eventually Riley calmed down and came out of her room and just melted into my arms...it was as if she knew what she had done and I could feel her just let it all out as I held her.  We talked about how pretty Vanessa looked and how it's fun to see our friends have fun.  From that moment on the girls shared the Rapunzel stuff fabulously the rest of the day..Riley decided to be Belle while Vanessa was Rapunzel and they had a lot of fun.  I felt like we made a huge stride that day and in the moment I wasn't sure it would have long term effect or if all the drama was worth it but now that it's been a few weeks I am positive it was a good decision.   We have referred back to this day many times since and she has had a much more open heart to sharing...phew!  

Riley has had the hardest time with Jason being gone this time...I just think it gets tougher EVERY time.  She is older and understands so much more yet she still doesn't have an understanding for time.  Having to say goodbye to Jason at the airport was so hard on her and she cried in a way that I've never heard her cry.  The first couple of days she would say "I see Daddy's truck...he's coming home" or we would be on our way home and she would say "I know Daddy's there".  She would start crying during our night time prayers because she was sad she missed her Daddy.  One day we were driving and listing to Dirt Road Anthem...a song we often listened to in Jason's truck...she often requests to hear it and to "jam" to it.  She had been singing and all of a sudden she stopped.  I turned around and just saw tears streaming down her face.  When I asked her what was wrong she said "this song reminds me of my Daddy and I just miss him so much"  Uugghhh...broke this mama's heart and of course Jason's too when I told him.  I'm so thankful she has such a strong love and bond with her Daddy but this separation thing is just so hard on her.  

He's not too far away yet it's as if he's half way across the planet.  After the first couple of weeks I'm happy to see that she is settling in and she is dealing with it all without any breakdowns.  Jason tries to video chat with us every night before she goes to bed and that truly makes all the difference.  She loves to make silly faces with him and ask him about his day.  She refers to us as "Daddy's girls" because that's what he always call us and I love it.  We are settling into our routine and I have let her sleep with me one night on the weekends, but we sure can't wait to be under one roof as a family again.  She will be over the moon when her Daddy is home!

She's so determined.  When she finds something she can't do or hasn't learned yet, she will become fixated on it until she can get it done.  Back at the CDC when she moved up to preschool the monkey bars were new and a challenge.  She worked on them every single day and would come home with blisters on her hands...but after several weeks she was able to get across all the monkey bars.

 

Over the past couple months every week at her dance class when they have switched from ballet to tap she has been determined that she could tie her own shoes.  She honestly hadn't been taught anything but every week we would go round and round when it came time to put her tap shoes on.  Finally I told her we would work on tying her shoes.  I started teaching her with the two bunny ears approach but that was tough so we went to the one bunny ear approach and wrapping the lace around.  We would work on it every now and then and she would practice on my shoes sometimes but when I started going through all of her old clothes and shoes she found a pair of tennis shoes with laces and tied them right up... I had no idea she had really grasped it but see for yourself!

At her new school her big project has been the swings.  They didn't have swings back at the CDC and she has been determined to be able to swing all by herself.  She has shared with me how the teachers will help them get started by saying "One for the money...two for the show..pump your legs...and go go go!" and they would help her get started.  However, she can now get on the swings all by herself, get started, and before you know it she's flying so high she's giving me a heart attack!  I'm so proud of her determination and how motivated she is to tackle something that is challenging for her.

Here are just a few funny stories I want to remember:

*  One night after a bath she was pretending she was Mary and her Daddy was Joseph.  Jason went to get her princess jammies and she said "Where did you get those?"  He told her he got them in Bethlehem and she replied "at Target?"

*  On the way to school one day we were talking about how God made her and she said "Jesus made me so special...with stars!  He gave me those stars with his blue wand...and Mary has a pink wand."

*  We saw a tree with no leaves on it and she said "oh no that tree has no leaves...God will be so sad"

*  On one of our recent plane trips she said "look Mommy at the mountains...they are chocolate ones"

*  Riley has named her baby sister Coco since we first told her about the baby.  One day she noticed that perhaps my belly wasn't the only thing getting bigger on me.  She said "oh mommy..your booty is so big.  Is Coco sad that she's in your booty now and not in your belly?"...wow...I'm totally embarrassing myself on this one but you know it made me laugh so hard and I want to remember this...and perhaps remind her of it one day long from now when she's pregnant  :)