16 months

We thought it was high time to update you on what Riley's been up to. Our affectionate, funny, active boy is growing up and learning lots of new things.














He is Mr. Entertainer... enjoys making people laugh and once he knows he's on to something, does it repeatedly. Yes, we have another clown in the family -- guess where he gets that from?

As mentioned previously, Riley enjoys wearing his bike helmets...this naturally gives way to other alternative headgear. (He still won't wear a baseball hat though...argh!)














He takes a new perspective on life such as this:














Just last week, he began to slouch... a habit his chiro daddy is not to pleased with.














His vocab is still limited to less than 10 words, but there are no communication concerns. We know what he wants and he can understand us when we speak to him. He says mama, dada, bye-bye, ball, uh-oh and bag. He also picks up the phone and says, "Hiya!" The rest is just pointing and jabbering. When I say "let's go upstairs / downstairs / take a bath /change your diaper / eat some oatmeal etc...he moves toward the appropriate room and object. He even brings the correct letter from his foam play mat when asked to bring the letter that corresponds to the inner piece (like the inside of the 'R') he's got in his hand.

He LOVES his puzzles...and claps for himself when he completes them. He's also gotten good at his nesting toys. When he tries to put a larger cup in and it doesn't fit, he doesn't impatiently throw the whole thing and whine. He knows to remove the smaller cup to make room for the larger one.

Riley still loves lights, especially now that he can reach some of the light switches in the house on his own. He isn't playing with the bath lights as much now as he is focused on other things...

He's showing an interest in sports. He'll take the handle of the plastic bat and use it to nudge the plastic baseball off of the T-ball stand. He asks us to pick him up so that he can throw the baby-sized basketball into the hoop. Mama grew up playing basketball, so she's quite proud! He's also discovered a love of balls of many kinds, mini-basketballs, small plastic balls, a large globe beach ball, he loves them all. He particularly enjoys taking the beach ball and rolling it on the ironing board when Daddy is ironing or the bed when Daddy has first woken up and yelling, "Ball!" (Or "Bah!")

On the subject of sports...Riley rode his first toddler bike at the bike store last week. He's still a little short for it, but we hope that his legs will have lengthened by the time he's 2. We will probably get him a "balance bike" which is a European pedal-less bike that's just starting to catch on here in the States. It teaches balance prior to pedaling and we think that will be a good starter bike for our future mountain biker.




























The only significant addition to his menu is peanut butter. We had given him a taste of it here and there with no allergic reaction. So it's now a staple in his diet and boy, does he love it (just like his parents!).

He's still wearing 12 month pants so we're hoping for a spurt soon! He's in 18 mo. shirts so at least his top half seems to be of average size. Just got a new pair of Merrell shoes for winter that match ours (see pics 3 & 4) ... so now he's in big-boy shoes!

Socially Riley seems to do pretty well. He gets along with other kids his age and kids older than him seem to love him. This is never more evident than at day care, where when we come down the stairs the kids all get excited and yell, "Riley's here!"

He loves his Maine cousins (my first cousin Jon, his wife Julie and 10 yr old daughter Erica):






























Riley doesn't have any problems with being left at daycare, the nursery at church or other such places, but he loves being with Mama or Daddy and really lights up when both are present.

Still loving his books and we make sure to read to him every night before bed and whenever he asks during the day. Current favorites are "Babycakes" and Moo Baa La La La. He really loves the page in Babycakes where you say "Peek-a-boo!" He covers his face with his hands and giggles. Daddy finds Riley reading in his crib nearly every day when he comes to get him after his morning shower. We'll be really happy to have a bookworm!

So as our boy grows older he gets to be more and more fun. He's so much more interactive and it's such a joy to watch him develop.

We love our sweet good boy!


Shelby & Jonathan