triangle

yesterday morning the girls and i were walking across the parking lot at riley's school and riley shouted and pointed "that's a big triangle!" i looked down and saw that the paint in one part of the lot was indeed a huge triangle. my heart swelled a little thinking about how smart and observant this little girl has become.

penguin

last thursday was a super stressful work-at-home day for me. well, they're always stressful but with a new project in my lap and not a clue on how to solve the new problems, i was feeling frazzled. riley didn't nap that day and after trying to keep her occupied next to me with coloring and playdough i put on a movie. from the kitchen i would watch her and she was ask me to come and sit with her. like always, "i have to get this work done, then i'll sit with you." i remember saying this a few times and feeling horrible each time. she came over and sat on my lap in front of the computer and i hugged her and kissed her and told her how much i loved her. i tried to explain the whole concept of work and why i have to do it (ie, "i have to work so we have money to live in our house, buy food, go to chuck e cheese"). i was still upset and i asked her

me: what do you want to be when you grow up?

riley: (without hesitation) a penguin.

this definitely put a smile on my face and made me forget about my work problems. it totally brightened things up, and i was no longer sad. i know she was looking at the penguin card she had got me for valentine's day when she said this, but still to say "penguin" cracks me up.

i love you riley. my heart gets all mushy when i look at you and listen to all the witty and sweet things you say.

the boys are back

spencer has been finishing sentences of stories and saying certain words of songs. riley loves the high school musical soundtrack and when the song "the boys are back" comes on she says "back" (or something close to "back") right on time with the song.

just tonite when i was singing "baa baa black sheep" she says "baa baa" then nods her head and scowls on the "yes sir, yes sir" part. she also started filling in the blanks on "twinkle twinkle little star"
twinkle, twinkle, little STAR
how i wonder what you ARE
UP above the world so HIGH
like a diamond in the SKY

she loves nursery rhymes these days. she doesn't have a whole lot of lasting power with real books, but nursery rhymes seem to be perfect. with regular books, we make it about 5 pages in before she tosses it aside and grabs the next one.

riley, however, will read books all day with me and has always been that way. we're even reading stories with not as many pictures and a whole lot of words. miss rumphius was the first that kept her interested. i have a set of Disney books from when i was little and we read snow white and cinderella. those are some long-winded tales and she doesn't miss a beat. i read two in a row this past weekend and she was ready for a third.

pencie lou

first off, we rarely call spencer by her full name. it's always some derivative of it like "pencie lou," "pencerino," "pencer lil." she is getting to be quite the "big girl" and wanted to do all that goes with it. a book or picture of camp rock, high school musical, or hannah montana will stop her dead in her tracks. she gets soooo excited. given a choice between winnie the pooh or sharpay she'll definitely pick sharpay. oh dear!

christmas was quite funny. she had zero interest in opening gifts. the digital camera had her undivided attention, which is strange because we always have the camera out. i was practically begging her to open gifts. i opened half of them, i think. once everything was out she gave a quick glance but wasn't that into it. i think the plastic rainbow-colored jewelry from aunt pam was her favorite. she also dressed up in this leapord-print tutu and wore it all night.

she also thinks she is ready for school. she tries to sneak into riley's class every tuesday and thursday morning. spencer was a hit at riley's school christmas party. they had the "music lady" come and sing songs and play guitar. spencer was shakin' it the whole time, everyone was paying attention to her and laughing. the teacher even took pictures of her. any type of music gets her going. when we play music at home she instantly looks to one of us to pick her up. she'll reach her arms up and say "up," which was one of her first words. she loves to be held while we dance and she wiggle an arm and bob her head.

speaking of words, her vocabulary has blown up this past month. i have to admit i was really concerned about her speech because she wasn't saying much other than "up" or "mama." now, she'll repeat just about everything if asked, or at least try to. my new favorite word of hers is "potty"--or more like "paaaahty." and she says it really loud.

too much time too little posting

five or six months later. . . i really can't believe that much time has passed since my last post and turst me it's not like you girls haven't done anything worthy of writing about. i don't know if i'll be able to bring you up-to-speed all in this one post. i'll try to organize it into a couple. phew--now that that's out of the way. let me tell you about what you crazy girls have been up to!

riley is doing great in school. she enjoys going and tells me everything that goes on. maybe it was last november when she told mike and i about miss beth locking her in a cubby. i about flipped out. she said that after share miss beth put her in a cubby and left her there. well, a few email exchanges with miss beth and i found out that riley put her "share" object back in the cubby, all the kids went back in the classroom and riley was in the hallway by herself. miss beth was there the whole time but i don't think riley saw her. that seems to be the only "bad" thing that has happened. the teachers are great at teaching manners (washing hands, sneezing in your arm, etc) pretend play, and doing crafty things on their own. riley is using scissors and glue and doing all sorts of stuff that i never thought to do at home. she's really independent and has the BIGGEST imagination i could ever think of.
in the dead of winter she insisted on "going to the beach" so she put on her bathing suit, pulled the cushions off the couch, and laid a beach towel across the living room. she designated a spot for the water and sand--and heaven forbid if you accidently dove into the sand or tried to build a sand castle in the water. of course spencer joined in the fun too with sunglasses and hat. playing store is also a big hit. mike even set out a bunch of things in her room like a display and she was the storekeeper. his patience is limitless as he carried his shopping basket through the house, making return trips to her store and creating a whole crazy dialog.

trick-or-treating at each of the doorways in our house was popular too. spencer would just stare at riley and mike when they pretended to give her candy, like "what the heck? there's nothing here." she pretended to eat it anyway!

we've seen big changes in riley and her independence. she is starting to go off on her own and play by herself, either coloring, doing stamps, writing, setting up sleepovers for her stuffed animals, trying on clothes. still not a big toy kinda girl--she has fun with her own thoughts. it's sweet.