The 'Ville: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Video Monday: Running Around

I woke up Saturday morning to the sounds of Riley squealing with laughter downstairs. Although I missed the best part on account of taking the time to brush my teeth, here’s what was happening. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween Monday!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Fourteen Months

Riley is fourteen months old today! He weighs approximately 26 pounds, stands 31 inches tall, and wears a size 4 diaper and 18-month clothes.

Here’s what he’s been up to this past month:

He tried a few new foods this month, including kale (which he LOVED), pumpkin, tuna fish, and trout. He insists on feeding himself, and Nola and Nopsi have attempted to get him to use a fork or spoon, with minor success.
He puts his sippy into the “cup holder” on his highchair tray now, which is so cute. And he’s been giving me some really funny faces with furrowed brows during meals.
He has four teeth now, and he started flicking the top and bottom ones together late in September, which makes me cringe.
He’s also saying some new words: pumpkin, shoe, turtle, careful, jacket, wagon, walk, down, and cookie.
He is walking great and starting to want to “walk” down stairs instead of scooting down on his belly. Great. He is also loving throwing things down the stairs. Super.
Kenny taught him “knucks” (fist bump) this month.
He says “vroom vroom” for car, “tick tock” for clock, “cluck cluck” for chicken, and “neigh” for horse. He also called lots of things “dada” this month. I tried not to be offended.
He knows where his head, feet, fingers, teeth, and tongue are, and we are working on belly button, knees, elbows, and cheeks.
His finger found his nostril this month, and he’s also started to get more curious about his boy parts.
He is not putting absolutely everything in his mouth anymore, which is nice, although he does love to chew on his shoes. Gross.
He can identify (by pointing) lots of things by pictures, mostly in his books (i.e. spiders, trees, balls, telephone, many animals, car, airplane, etc.). He LOVES to read books, and he even sits in his chair most of the time to do so.
He holds his toy phone up to his ear like he’s having a conversation, and he also knows to open and close it to change the picture on the inside. He has also figured out how to turn off the television downstairs by pressing the button on the front of it. He’ll be working the remote before we know it.
He loves “crunching” leaves on our walks and also “hiding” in his crib and laughing when I go to get him. He also usually willingly puts his paci into our hands when asked for it after he wakes up.
He loves to dance by bouncing up and down on his legs or swaying from side to side. So cute.
We taught him how to give hugs this month: whenever we ask for “squeezes” he leans into us and (sometimes) wraps his arms around our necks while we squeeze and shake him. This makes him smile!

Here’s his last-minute-because-mama-forgot-so-we-took-it-right-before-bedtime-last-night official fourteen month picture!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Scout

Did you know my parents have another cat? I only ever talk about the big orange one, Jem, but Scout lives here, too. It’s just that, well, she wants nothing to do with our Riley-bean. Much like Jem did at first, Scout cowers in a corner or runs away anytime Riley is even remotely near her.

But the other day in Nola and Nopsi’s room (after toppling my stack of shoeboxes and stealing my wallet and bringing me a book from his room), Riley was determined to get close to the elusive kitty.

He had her (kind of) trapped on top of a desk, and he did his best to reach her, standing on the tips of his tippy-toes for one little swipe at her fur with his outstretched hand.

Sadly, Scout did not comply and only backed further into the window, meowing at him to please leave her alone. Which, graciously, he did.

Don’t worry, Riley-bean…..

…..at least Jem is never far away from you.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Tiger Tailgating: LSU vs. Auburn

Last Saturday Kenny, Nopsi, and I took Riley to Baton Rouge to tailgate for the LSU-Auburn game. It wasn’t Riley’s first tailgate experience, but it sure was different the second time around. All he wanted to do was walk and play in the rocks and eat and play in the rocks and climb the camper stairs and, oh yes, play in the rocks.

After a brief morning feeding of the ducks by the house…..

…..we were on the road and arrived at campus around 10am. Shortly after finding our tailgate spot with Steve’s parents’, I discovered that Riley had peed through his diaper sometime during the walk to the camper, soaking his jeans and the side of my shirt. Off came the cute jeans and on went the wind pants. I, unfortunately, did not think to bring a change of clothes for myself, so I simply blotted my shirt with a wipe, opened my first beer, and called it good. What a way to start the day.

Tailgating with a one-year-old is exhausting. Luckily, there were lots of other kids running around, too, so Riley had built-in entertainment and there was always someone keeping an eye on all of them. (My how times have changed from when we were in college.) And even though Riley still doesn’t quite know how to play well with others, I think he enjoyed being around people his own size. Kelli brought lots of sturdy, plastic outdoor toys, and Jack and Riley especially loved using the buckets and shovels in the rocks.

It was also great to have Nopsi there, too. He got into town the day before from Houston and decided to spend the day with us in Baton Rouge instead of staying home by himself. We’re so glad you could join us; if only Nola could have been there too! Oh well; there’s always next year…..

It was a beautiful day for football, and LSU won the game handily over Auburn. We decided to leave at halftime, mostly because it was 4:30pm and Riley hadn’t slept a wink all day. So we loaded up the wagon, headed back to the car, and got on the road.

Riley promptly passed out in his carseat and slept hard almost all the way home, where he wolfed down his dinner, took a very quick bath, and then was sacked out in his crib for the night by 7pm.

As I said before, tailgating sure is tiring.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fall Walks

We had a glorious few days of weather here last week, and Riley and I took full advantage of it. We went for morning and afternoon walks/wagon rides for two days in a row and soaked up all of the sunshine and cool breezes that we could. Fall is just itching to permanently take up residence in south Louisiana, but, sadly, we are back in the 80s again this week.

Riley took a break between rides so he could place some important phone calls. He’s very busy.

It was even cooler (and breezier) in the afternoon, hence the addition of the Nike hat to Riley’s ensemble. I was sure he would yank it off his head the second I put it on him, but he left it on the whole ride.

It did leave some mighty nice staticy hair in its wake, though.

After dinner and bath, Riley cuddled up with Monkey that night, dreaming, I’m sure, of his fun day spent with his mama.

We were back out again the next day for two more rides…..

…..before he zonked out for the night again, making himself (seemingly) comfortable at one end of his crib. Wonky.

I also took advantage of the temporary cooler weather to try out one of the many new soup recipes I have been collecting. Nopsi was lucky enough to be here with Kenny and me to sample it, and all three of us died and went to heaven on Friday night after dinner. This was pure deliciousness in a bowl, y’all. You have to try it!