Monday, November 24, 2008

18 months old

Yesterday, Riley officially turned a year & a half old. I still find myself amazed that I have not only a loving husband, but an adorable toddler too. How life has changed in five years!

As we've reported previously, Riley is all about the climbing now. He's always looking for new feats to climb and testing objects to see if he can use them as footstools. What a BOY. Not only does he climb, but many times when he gets to the top of whatever he is climbing he feels the need to SHAKE it as well. An example:



His interest in Bob the Builder has turned into an obsession. He wants to watch it when he's in his high chair and asks us repeatedly throughout the day when he notices the computer. Since the family meal doesn't happen except on weekends, we let him watch a few each day. He's just glued to it -- nothing keeps his attention like Bob.














Balls. Our boy is fixated on balls of all kinds. When reading board books, he'll turn fast to the pages that include a ball in them and point to them and say "ball!". He's not as interested in the non-ball pages, so we get through books much faster right now.

I'm starting to see some possible signs that our boy has an organized mind. He's started collecting like items together, such as cars or balls, and pile them on the couch. He's done this entirely on his own. I think it's interesting that he wants to keep his drink off of his tray when not in use. He likes to throw things in the trash for mama too. The other day he walked 20 or so paces from the living room to the dining room to throw something in the garbage for me, at my request. Not sure if his anti-clutter mom has borne a like-minded son, but it gives me reason to hope...

He's taken to dancing when he hears music. He'll rock his head and/or torso from side to side and will do the mini-march. He doesn't just to it with real music, but even that computerized nonsense that spews out of his toys. He loves it all. I caught him dancing to the Jonas Brothers the other day:


He's much better about blowing kisses now -- he smashes his palm against his mouth, holds it there and then thrusts it away.

He seems to be sleeping in a little longer too...gets up anywhere between 6:15 - 7:45 most days, much to J's relief now that he's getting up with him. This has freed me up to resume my morning workouts again, which is my preference since I get the added energy for the whole day rather than just the afternoon.

He's really enjoying his swim lessons. He's had four total and is quite the little fish. Gramma
Betsea took this video last week:



One of the routines that we've been enjoying the past couple of weeks is hanging out on our bed in the afternoons after I pick him up from daycare. We'll just hang out on the bed playing, resting and turning the lights on and off. He loves being able to be high-energy and not get hurt. I enjoy a short time of rest now that we're not off doing power walks before dark.

Lastly, Riley 3rd molar is breaking through so that will be 10 teeth so far. He's beginning to enjoy meats more now that he has more chewing power.

We love our 1 1/2 yr old boy!

Shelby


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