Riley at 3

Riley is an amazing little girl, if I may say so myself. She is constantly cracking me and Jason up. She is very dramatic. This morning she said, "Mom, I'm thirsty; could you get me a drink of water?" I told her to hang on a second because I was putting the laundry into the dryer. She said, "Fine, I'll just lay here and die of thirst." I had never heard her say anything like that before. She's always that dramatic, though.

Here's an update on some of Riley's likes, interests, et cetera.

Sizes: Size 8 shoe, but probably really needs a 9. 4T clothes, but that also is getting very close to change. I can't believe how much she is growing. She gets growing pains a lot also. She currently weighs 40 pounds and is very proud of that fact. I'm having a very difficult time carrying her anymore.

Favorite Food: Macoroni and Cheese, please. She loves cheese. One of her favorite things is going to Central Market on Sundays because that's when they have all their cheeses out for samples. Also any fruit.

Favorite Toy: All of her stuffed toys. She keeps wanting me to reassure her that we're taking all of them when we move.

Favorite playtime activity: This is an easy one: she loves pretending. She'll give us this looooong scenario she wants us all to act out, like, she's the princess, someone else is the prince, (you get the idea) and she'll run out of the room leaving a shoe behind. She'll get all dressed up for this. She loves costumes, shoes, and jewelery. She loves playing outside with a ball or riding her bike.

Favorite movie: Any movie with a princess or an animal in it.

Favorite TV show: Dora the Explorer and Lazytown.

Little tidbits: I can't remember a time when I've picked Riley from daycare and she didn't have a flower that she had picked for me, a beautiful "sun flower," also known as a dandelion. Kristi swears she's going to be a horticulturist. She loves berry picking, also. I was really looking forward to taking her huckleberry picking, but unfortunately, we had a very poor year for huckleberries, so we stuck with the blackberries.

Riley loves little babies and whenever we're out and see one, she'll talk to them in this little baby voice that's hilarious. She still loves animals, all animals. We've told her when she's five she can have her own dog, and she's very excited to be five.

Riley is very hyperactive and talkative. She tells me these long drawn-out stories. She asks tons of questions about everything, even asking how the baby gets in the stomach!

Bob's Corn Maze

We had a great time at Bob's corn maze in Snohomish! This picture is just half of the corn maze; it's huge and so much fun. It took us a while to get through, but they have a great middle half-way area where you can rest and use the restroom. Riley took the maze very seriously and worked very hard to help us get through it. At their store, we picked up some great jellies, a yummy vidalia onion and cucumber salad dressing, and each of us had a peach for a treat before we left.... oh, yeah, and we bought some corn!!

My Poor Girl

I'm writing in blue because that's how my girl's feeling. Riley and I went to the Puyallup fair yesterday, which we've done the last two years and have loved it. The only difference is that yesterday is was pretty warm, 80 degrees. I'm not sure if that has had anything to do with her state today, but it all started with a rash I noticed on her skin when we were at the fair. Not the type of rash with heat, like sweat bumps, but a rather lacy-looking red rash that was only in the exposed areas of her skin. I had a 60 sunblock on her, so I knew it wasn't a sunburn. Anyhow, when we got home, she was experiencing some bathroom issues. (I'm assuming Riley is going to read this when she gets older, so I won't go into this area anymore) Okay, several hours later, she "finally" was able to go to the bathroom with her mom and dad sitting on the floor talking her into the fact that it wouldn't hurt and would be okay. She was so excited after she went, and I assumed all was okay.

So today I had a job at 9. I would have loved to have gotten out of it since we were all so tired, but it's hard to get coverage for a 9:00 job. But it was only going to go for two hours, so I figured I could get Riley caught up on her sleep after that point as I'd be able to go pick her up.

I put her in her carseat at 6:30 a.m. and hear, "Momma, my tummy hurts." And that was that; the next thing I know she's throwing up everywhere. I'm pulling her out of her carseat, because she was screaming for me to hold her, and stuff is everywhere: carseat, my freshly drycleaned suit that I had just picked up on Monday, shoes, Riley's new Seahawk's outfit, and a trail into the house. The neighbor ran over and asked if everything was okay. Uhhh, not really, but not too much you can do!

Poor Riley. We've been so lucky because she's never had a stomach cramping-type of sickness before. When I called the doctor and told him about her rash and throwing up, he said he definately needs to see her, which is unusual because usually he says, nope, not too much we can do, to just give her lots of rest and fluids.

Okay, wish her luck. Poor girl. She's sleeping really good right now, so that'll surely help.

Summer Fun

Riley sure enjoyed her swimming lessons. She is eagerly awaiting to move out of Minnows and into the Guppies. I did not have the heart to tell her, the last three swimming lessons, that she is not yet a guppie. She keeps asking me about it, if she passed to Guppies or not, and I'm never quite sure what the best thing to tell her is. I told her she passed. Yep, that's right: I lied!!

As we're leaving the last day of swimming lessons, and I've lied to her about being a Guppie instead of a Minnow, a father asks me, "Did Riley pass into the Guppies?" Yep, he yelled it across the parking lot. Not thinking, I said, "No, she'll be a Minnow next time." Riley said, "No, Mom, I'm a Minnow; why did you tell him that?"

Oh, gee, did I feel awful. It was hard getting myself out of that mess.

Riley is doing great in swimming lessons. She really enjoys it and gets so excited whenever she goes to her lessons; it's hilarious to watch her!

Who knew?

Wow - what a romatic pic. Of course, Jason will hear nothing of it, but I'm so impressed that my hubby took a picture at something that I might not have realized he'd notice. Haaaa.......

Check out the folder of pics on the side of my blog of dad and Jason's fun fishing trip!

Goodbye

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Last week Riley had to say goodbye to her "best" friend, Anju. Anju is starting kindergarten and starting all-day school. This has been confusing to Riley. Anju, afterall, has been there every day with Riley. She loves this girl! They're both the same in the sense they'd rather build a block building than play with a "My Pony," feed the horses than playing in the playhouse. We'll miss you so much, Anju. I have to say, Riley has great taste in friends, and I'm so proud of her choise of a first best friend. Anju is one of a kind. We'll miss you, sweet girl!