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.

preschool

my big girl is an even bigger girl! riley started mother hubbard nursery school this fall and loves it. she doesn't even wait for me before walking into the building. we're still struggling with getting ready tuesday and thursday mornings to be there by 9:30 but we make it. class is from 9:30 to 11:30. they have been doing a lot of painting, learning colors/shapes--which riley is already really comfortable with--and manners, like sneezing into your elbow not your hand, washing hands after blowing your nose (and suck your thumb:), and walking not running in the classroom. some of riley's favorite things are the computer, the climber, the tire swing, painting, and circle time. for as social as riley is everyone else it seems she keeps to herself in school and watches the kids. one day she walked in and all the kids were going ape and playing and she took her spot right on the carpet to wait for circle time. it's all very sweet. i can't wait to see what the year has in store for her.

grandpa

hey babies,

it feels like i can't go on writing without saying something about grandpa, as he was a big part of our summer. maybe riley will remember him but spencer won't even though she gets excited when we see pictures of him or go to grandma's house. right after spencer's first birthday we noticed grandpa didn't feel well or look well. he was yellow. this later became somewhat of a joke because riley would say "your eyes are yellow. you look like a monster." after several doctor appointments without any clear diagnosis other than cirrhosis of the liver, we were told by doctors at U of M hospital that he had cancer and kidney failure. he was sick. he didn't have a lot of energy to play with you girls but absolutely loved it when he got to see you. upon first walking in the house spencer would look directly to his chair and if grandpa wasn't there she'd start the search. both of you would sit with him and pull out all the toys and things he kept in the cabinet drawer next to his chair in the living room. one day we even went outside and fingerpainted, and while i was at work he would go with you and daddy to the park.

it was the end of august when he went to heaven. a few hours before that i took you both to red robin for dinner. daddy was at the hospital. we were driving past their street and riley said "grandpa's tummy is all better. it doesn't hurt anymore. he's at the store getting a band-aid." i've never felt more pain than when i knew either of you would never see him again nor get to know him better--or, for that fact, remember how totally cool he was but you didn't know it yet. we still talk to him even though he's not here and tell you that he sees everything you girls are doing. one day at the park, daddy told riley that grandpa could see her and she looked all over the place thinking she'd see him somewhere. riley still says things like "when grandpa comes back from heaven" so it will take some time before she really gets what heaven is.

he's the only one who could call you "little s__" and i wouldn't mind. he helped us put together the fish tank and he bought a good filter for it. everytime he was over he would check on the fish. he loved going to pet stores with you and seeing your reactions to all the little animals and fish. there was a big macaw at greenwood's that was out of its cage and spencer had never been so excited in her life. he got a real kick out of that. he may have been a grump but he accepted people for who they are. i think that is the best lesson he ever taught us.

summer vaca

a few weeks ago we took a trip to aunt pam's in grand rapids. we had an incredible time with her and uncle steve just hanging around their house, riding the trike, coloring with chalk, and sitting on their great porch. we went to the nearby beach and played in the sand and water. riley was very hesitant to go in the lake--more interested in playing on the play structures--but once she was in she didn't want to come out, running into the water baywatch style jumping and even sitting neck-deep in the water. spencer enjoyed flinging mud and sitting with just her bum in the water. she started taking a lot of steps so she was interested in exploring. we had a nice, but cold, picnic.

grandma toni met us at pam's on on sunday. that afternoon we went to john ball zoo, which was AMAZING! i liked it better than the detroit zoo. it was the perfect size for an after-nap trip. riley even rode a camel with mike! it wasn't a pleasant ride for him but i think he's happy he got to share it with riley because she was so excited. we saw a lion up close and spencer's fave--warthogs. pam and i did a zip line through the trees. mike was up there, all set to go, then backed out. i haven't seen him so nervous.

monday was the big day. after nap we went to michigan's adventure amusement park. wow wow wow! sooooo much stuff for riley to do. i felt bad because spencer could only sit and watch most of the time but i think she was happy with that. she likes to see things move and flash and then once she gets on them it's not that interesting. riley went on her first rollercoaster--a wooden one called Zach's Zoomer. it was pretty big and i don't think riley was tall enough to ride it but pretty close. we weren't even off the platform before she said she wanted to go on another ride. big dipper, frog hopper, airplanes, dumbo, motorcycles, winky the whale (which spencer was able to go on, too). riley was super disappointed she couldn't go on the swings--maybe next time (or not, i went on them with pam and it was the scariest ride of my life!) spencer enjoyed walking all around the place and watching the rides go up and down. both the girls were troopers and spencer fell asleep before we even made it out of the parking lot; riley, however, was talking non-stop about her day all the way back to pam's.

this picture sums it all up. check out that smile on riley's face! i hope this is something we can do every year because there are always so many good memories and lots of laughs. yes, getting riley to bed and to stay in bed was tough, as was constantly keeping spencer from tumbling down the steps, but nothing beats time away with the family.

clowns

i found yesterday that spencer doesn't like clowns. at all. i took the girls to the library because they had clowns there doing face painting, animal balloons, etc. at first she got a real worried/scared look on her face, then the clown looked at her and she freaked. to be honest, i didn't like the clowns either. when i asked if one "lady clown" could make a balloon for spencer she looked at me like i had two heads. "who?" she asked. she went into a long rant about how spencer would choke if she got a hold of it. so, the girls had the share the pink sword riley got (which came apart less than two hours later and deflated).

i guess clowns aren't as fun as they used to be.

wolfman mac

i took riley to her first horror convention--motor city nightmares at the crown plaza in novi. a friend of ours (don) had a dealer's badge so we were able to get in for free. mike had gone the day before and was telling us about all the guests (tobe hooper, michael myers, candyman, etc).

among them was wolfman mac of nightmare sinema. yes, detroit's very own horror host. well, upon hearing this riley was all about going there to meet him. (it was on the way to this show where we had the "drinking blood from a sippy" conversation.)

we get to the convention and start roaming around looking for cool stuff. riley was totally into it, though holding my hand tight the entire time. she was not fearful of the fake limbs and bones and skulls, nor the life-size michael myers display. we looked at posters. it was so much having her here because mike and i have been into doing this type of stuff for so long and to now have our little girl be interested reignited my excitement all over again.

after lots of browsing we went by wolfman mac's table but no wolfman mac! you're kidding me--you cannot do this to a 2.5 year old! "where is he?" "when's he coming?!" the answers were not good and all pointed in the direction of him not being there at all. after more wandering about and talking we tried again. yes! he was back! and riley could not take her eyes off of him and i think he was equally excited to see his youngest fan. they chatted, she got a keychain, met boney bob. that night we recorded his show and have been watching on sunday mornings ever since (ie, spider baby, robot monster, santa claus conquers the martians).

blood and high heels

riley likes to talk about blood and she likes to wear high heels. a princess-horror-fan in the making. what a great combination. she often says, "i'm going to put you in blood!" not in a mean way, but she thinks it's funny. we all laugh of course. and lately she has worn nothing but high heels around the house. before her feet touch the floor in the morning they slide into her pink frilly pumps and she says "i have to wear my high heels." one day this week she really wore them ALL day. we don't let her wear them outside, in the bathroom, or when we go places as much as she would like to. we've had a few close-calls in the kitchen because those things are slippery on the laminate floor. she gets up, no tears, and keeps on going.

back to the blood thing. we were in the car saturday morning and i asked her for a sip of her water that was in her sippy. here's what transpired:

me: can i have a drink of your water?

riley: no.

me: that's not very nice.

riley: you won't like it. it doesn't taste good.
me: why not?

riley: it's blood. it's my blood.

me: do you like it?

riley: yeah

me: well, let me try your blood. (i take a swig and pass it back.) that's good blood.

riley: yeah