miscellaneous stuff

There's a bunch of stuff that I've been wanting to put down in a blog entry that I just haven't gotten to. So I'm going to make up for some lost time here. A long and kind of all over the place post.

Puzzlemaster

Riley has shown a talent for puzzles. He started with the big peg puzzles and has moved on to 24 piece jigsaws. He's at a 3 and up level now, and it's amazing to watch him figure the things out. Here's a video of one of his most recent conquests:

He's a climber

It happens with boys I guess and Riley is no exception. He's started to climb. On anything and everything. It's terrifying sometimes because he has no concept of the fact that he might fall and that it would hurt...a lot. Here's a picture that showcases two of his favorite things in one, climbing and playing with forbidden technology (the thermostat.)















Halloween

Halloween was kind of low key this year. The day was warm and sunny, so Riley and I spent some time out in the yard playing in the leaves. We also got our annual "Leaf Shot." That night we had a small number of Trick or Treaters come by. Riley greeted them at the door with the pumpkin full of candy. He was dressed as a hiker in case you don't get the costume... I discovered that five Junior Mints are enough sugar to have Riley bouncing off the walls...he doesn't get candy often. Thankfully. Here's a slide show from the day:

Drawing on his blackboard

On the way home from church one day we saw something we've been wanting to get for Riley: A blackboard. It was sitting out on the side of the road with a few other things someone was trying to get rid of. Pottery Barn Kids blackboards are a rare find roadside, so we stopped and threw it in the car. Riley loves it. He and Daddy draw things together like monsters:

Riley 'embellishes' Daddy's drawings















Ugly Monster!















Bye Bye Monster!














Another thing Riley loves to do on the blackboard is letters. Here Mama goes through part of the alphabet with him, which brings us to another topic. Riley knows the alphabet.

The Alphabet

A while back Shelby got Riley a small knob alphabet puzzle and we started going through the letters with him. The puzzle quickly became one of his favorites. After a session with Irma from early intervention where Riley played mostly with two alphabet puzzles I got out the foam alphabet play mats that we had stored a while back because he wasn't playing on them. They quickly became one of his favorite things. Irma told me that Riley would know his alphabet within a month. I was skeptical, although I thought it would probably be within a couple of months. It took him three weeks. On Shelby's last blog entry she told you about Riley spelling his first word. It's amazing how fast this kid learns.

Playground Time

In early November we had a sunny Sunday with temps in the 60's. Shelby had found a great playground in Medford so we stopped by for a while to let Riley have some play time after church. He particularly loved hanging from a bar and then letting go and dropping to the ground. The bare chested picture was while he waited patiently for a shirt change (too warm) and the last shot was right after he told us that he wasn't tired. Right. Here's a slide show:

Riley's Bed

One of the bigger pieces of news lately is that Riley has transitioned to a 'big boy bed.' He was very excited when we got the frame and would walk by it in the hall pointing and saying, "Bed!" Once we got the mattress and box spring and set it up he was beside himself. It's been a mixed bag as to whether he stays in the bed after being put in it to sleep. Sometimes the toys, books and stuff that he can pull off the dresser and throw around are just too much of a temptation for him (even in the dark.) And he has been getting up much earlier now that he can just get out of bed... It's better than having him climbing out of the crib though, which he'll do if we put him in there. Here's a slide show and some video:

No More Rileys Jumping On The Bed!

The Kitchen

Next on the update list is Riley's favorite pastime of late...playing on the kitchen counter. He loves playing with his plates and bowls, the microwave, the coffee maker (cause for discipline...) and anything that Daddy has up there while he's making lunches. We finally got a stool for him to stand on, but he's just as happy dragging a chair over from his table. Here are a couple of videos:

Riley, his chair and the kitchen

The kid has a hundred great toys...

Riley's Truck

One constant over the last year and a half or so has been Riley's truck. Grammy and Poppa bought it for him when we visited Anchorage in July of '08. He LOVED it. They then probably spent more than it cost shipping it out to Boston for him. Well, it was money well spent. He plays with the thing all the time and has gotten quite good at steering it around. He STILL loves it.



Daddy's Office

Last but not least, we have the latest trip to Daddy's office. There was no daycare yesterday, so Riley came in to the office with me. I love these days, it's kind of like having a day off since I only have to do the fun part of my job and then watch after my son the rest of the time. Easy duty since I love spending time with him. My patients love having him around too, and as always he 'helps' me adjust people and get them ice.

The cool thing to me is that he really loves coming to work with me. He has a ball and of course gets a lot of attention. He also LOVES getting adjusted and is always hopping up on the table, getting in position just like he sees everyone else do. It makes for a fun day for both of us and really takes the pressure off of us on days that we don't have day care coverage. So I'll end with a video from yesterday. It was a good end to a short work week.




Jonathan

they really are smarter than we think...

Now that Riley has learned his alphabet, we're beginning to show him simple 2-4 letter words and how to sound them out:

Stop
Go
Hot Dog
Moon
Car
Bat

You get the picture. We do this on his chalkboard, with his puzzle pieces or his playmat letters. I haven't been too certain of how much he was really grasping yet. But we're trying to show him that by putting letters together it represents something that's meaningful to him.

Well, last night we're sitting on the couch watching Cars when he jumped off and started playing with his alphabet puzzle. Before this we had been playing on his alpha playmat and I had been showing him how he could put different letters in front of the "at" sound to create words -- "Bat", "Cat", "Hat" ect... so maybe word-building was on his mind.

Anyway, he comes over to me with an O and declared "O!", to which I replied, "You're right, that is an O! Can you find another letter to put with the O?". I figured he'd bring some random letter over and I'd try and sound them together for him. I really wasn't expecting him to be deliberate in his letter choice.

Well, as kids often do, he surprised me by bringing over a G and proudly said "GO!"! So my Little Sponge is taking it in, after all. I guess it's time we get him his Fridge Word Builder that's been sitting on his Amazon wishlist for awhile.

I'm so proud of my little budding wordsmith!


Shelby

healing mercy

Quick update on the sore shoulder: After a week of chiropractic adjustments and not sleeping on my left side, I'm pain-free again! Many thanks to my husband for his good work and oh-so-thankful for a comfy couch that I could sleep on at a 45 degree angle.

And most of all, thanks to God for healing me of this rather than letting it drag on for another 19 weeks! I know more aches and pains are still to come and having the full use of my left arm again is a huge blessing.

Looking forward to hitting the pool again tonight!!

Shelby

19 weeks & counting down...

It seemed high time for a quick update on my pregnancy now that I've passed the half-way mark. This pregnancy seems to be going faster, which is wonderful since I really don't enjoy this part of parenting. I'm one of those strange people that looks forward to labor & delivery since it signals the end of the gestation period that I'm more than happy to be done with.

Officially, I hit 20 weeks last Sunday and before I got up for church, Kendall let me know that she was alive and kicking, literally. I had felt periodic movements over the past week or two but nothing consistent. Since last Sunday, she's making her activities known on a daily basis, which is reassuring.

Overall, I'm feeling good and I've regained my pre-pregnancy energy level after getting over my week-long cold which usually arrives around this time of year. I felt like I was 8 months along -- I was so wiped from the internal battles going on.

The only condition ailing me now is a mysterious pain in the front of my left shoulder that began on Monday and by Wednesday had pretty much incapacitated me. I guess I should be thankful that it wasn't my dominant arm, but geez, I had no idea how much I use my left arm until this happened. It means I can't lift Riley into his car seat, drive a car, put my hair in a ponytail or get dressed without pain. I have to do each movement very slowly and awkwardly to get through it.

Thankfully, I have a chiropractor in the house and he's been giving me daily adjustments for my neck, back, shoulder and elbow. This has afforded me a slightly greater range of motion, but the tenderness in the shoulder is still there. Additionally, I have stopped sleeping on my left side as I've suspected that this may be due to my preference to sleep on that side (which faces my alarm clock). Anyway, J thinks that it may not be the joint, but rather the muscle that is inflamed. So it leaves me with acupuncture, massage and my Doc to find relief. I'll be looking into #1 & #3 next week if nothing changes this weekend.

I'm now at the stage where things started spiraling out of control with Riley -- mainly weight gain. So I'm trying to be better this time with my food choices and staying more active. I'm still running 2x times a week and up until last Tuesday, was swimming 3x per week. I'm really bummed about having to give that up due to the shoulder as I've been able to work up to 16 laps in 30 min. A big improvement from 6 laps when I started 2 months ago. I have to give up my weekly weight workout too until the shoulder gets better. So, I'm having to add machines to my weekly regimen, mainly the elliptical since I get the hardest workout on those.

After much fear and trembling, I decided to get the H1N1 shot on the advise of my midwives. I'm not a big fan of non-natural ways of dealing with disease, but in this case I made an exception due to my pregnancy. Since it's going deeper into the lungs and I'm losing lung capacity by the week, they convinced me that the risk associated with the disease may be worse than the risk of the vaccine. I've gone back and forth on my choice ever since, but what's done is done. Even though I have a natural immunity to the flu, I'd never forgive myself if the worst case scenario played out and J had to make the awful choice of saving me or Kendall if I succumbed this particular strain. I just pray that Kendall isn't adversely affected by my choice and entrust her to the Lord's care.

Emotionally, I'm both excited about expanding the family and yet wondering how we're going to manage two kids along with job, home & church responsibilities. I hear from others that you just figure it out as you go and keep adjusting the priorities.

(Housekeeping will remain on the lower end of the list...I'm sure of that.)

So, in conclusion...here's the 21-week belly shot:



















Shelby

couldn't resist...

I saw this on sale at the store and loved it, so I broke down and bought my first outfit for Kendall:


















Notice the bright splash of color and predominance of red?

Shelby

story time, part two

When fall comes a number of things start back up after a summer break. One of these is Story Time which is a program of the Wakefield Public Library. Riley has been going to Story Time since last fall at about this time and he absolutely loves it. Stephanie, the woman who leads it does a great job and has a great connection with the kids. Here are some pictures and video of the festivities:

Great fun, especially if you like to clap!


Jonathan