Riley Nicole: 2 Years 11 Months

As hard as it has been to adjust to having two kids home with me, it has been so much fun spending time with Riley.  In the past couple months we have really noticed that she's come out of her shell and is truly a funny little girl.  Here's what I love about her:

• She continues to grow.  She's somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile for both height and weight.  I think she stands just over three feet.
• She is still wearing some of her 2T shorts, but is wearing 3T shirts.  She wears a size 5/6 shoe.
• She has a sense for fashion and usually picks acceptable outfits.  She usually tries to match colors.
• She had her second hair cut that sits just about even with her jaw line.  We're hoping that it will now grow in thicker.  The Nizoral shampoo is working.  Her dry scalp is almost completely gone after just a few weeks.
• Her skin is still pale and doesn't seem to tan.  She still has very sensitive skin and seems to break out in a rash on her neck every time she puts sunscreen on.  She has eczema and we can never seem to get it to go away completely.
• She is really funny and loves to tell stories.  Not all of her stories are true.  She likes to tell a story about her cat running away to the neighbors' (false) and Daddy dropping her in the pool all the way to the bottom (false).
• She will talk non-stop if you let her.
• She has started to wave at everyone.  If she sees kids playing outside she always says hi and tries to join them.  This is a major change in the past couple of months.
• She loves going to the library, feeding the ducks, going for walks, playing in the water, coloring, and playing with the neighbor boys.  If she sees them outside she will yell "Gabin is out, Gabin is out.  I need to play with him" until we take her outside.
• She loves her little sister who she tells everyone is her baby.  She loves to help out Mommy, talk to Harper, give her her paci, and is just genuinely happy to have her here.  She always wants to help with her baths which usually consists of her playing in the water and making a mess.
• She likes to have someone to play with her or she always thinks she needs to watch a movie.
• She has a bad habit of playing with her food which drives Mommy and Daddy nuts!  She still loves the same foods, but is less of a fruit fanatic.  She has a new summer favorite: watermelon.
• She has a better memory than Mommy or Daddy.  She will remember something that we said several weeks ago and remind us about it.  She loves to tell everyone about what she does during the day.
• She has a slight obsession with band-aids and likes to keep them on for days.  Gross, I know.
• She has had a skinned knee most of the summer.
• She is always saying "that sounds like a good idea," "you know what I think?," or "that sounds like that's a deal."
• She is animated...very animated.  All of her stories get better the more she tells them. They include hand movements and lots of facial expressions.
• She is going to play soccer this fall through the i9 sports league.  We already bought her shin guards, socks, and shorts.  Unfortunately, they don't make cleats her size. She's very excited for her soccer game!
• She still usually wakes up 1-2 times during the night to go to the bathroom or ask Daddy to lay with her. 
• She is pretty good at taking things and hiding them.  Usually she will remember where they are, except for Suzy the Fox. she's been missing for a couple weeks now and we have no idea where she's gone.
• Riley still loves her Bunny and Piggy.  She sleeps with them every night.  We almost lost Bunny at Costco so now she will leave them in the car when we go out.
• She knows more bible stories than Brett and I and is always telling us about them.  Every time we pass a church with three big crosses she will cover her eyes and say "I don't like those big things."  Never fails.