Afternoon at the museum

Today was cold, rainy and gross, so we picked an inside activity and headed to the museum.  Riley had been to the History Museum with BiBi and Zee, but we hadn't gone with him yet.  We walked through the front doors and we were off on a tour of Riley's favorite rooms.

We started out in the gem exhibit.  There were brightly colored rocks, buttons to push and walls of gems to run up to.  Riley picked out his favorites and asked if we could take some of them home.  Luckily, he got distracted by the next exhibit and forgot about his pending personal rock collection.

Next up were the dinosaurs.  There were big ones and little ones, bones you could touch, models up the the ceiling and so many animals to say hi to.  Riley kept looking up at the dinosaur displays and saying "ooooohh" - so much so that people were waiting for his reaction because its just so cute!

There is an area where you can play with toy dinosaurs and Riley and Chris had a great time at that station.  By the end, there was a trail of dinosaurs on the ground and Riley was ready to make his way to the next room.

The museum is very kid friendly and has a whole section set up where you can dig for fossils and play with bones.  Their only rule is that you have to wear safety goggles at all times to protect you from flying dust.  Riley really wanted to dig and play but had no interest in wearing his goggles.  We tried to explain that if he wanted to play, he had to wear the glasses, but he didn't quite get the correlation.  Needless to say, that was the exhibit that we had to carry him out of, crying and making a scene.

But all was forgiven when we went to the Hall of Animals.  We saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Riley would go up to the windows and say hi, then move to the next window and point out the animals he knows.  Lots of the animals were either kitties or horses (because those are the animals that he knows best) but he had a great time looking around.

We only spent about an hour and a half at the museum but because of our new gift membership, we don't feel bad about missing some of the exhibits.  It just gives us something to look forward to on our next visit!

X-ray vision

This morning, Riley had an appointment with the ENT to check in and see how things are going.  Since he has been a little under the weather, it was good to go in and take a look under the hood.  Our thought was that Riley's adenoids were enlarged and that is what causes him to have a runny nose and sound like baby Darth Vader all the time.  

In order to see what was really happening, Riley had to have an x-ray taken.  He was really interested in the machines and wanted to touch all the buttons.  In order to keep the radiation to a minimum, I made him keep his hands to himself, as much as he protested.  Riley had to lay down and I had to hold him down for 2 quick pictures.  He didn't love the process but in the end, we got what we needed.

When the doctor took a look at the results, he said in 2 seconds "Well, this is a text book case of a little guy who needs an adenoidectomy".  He said that the airways from his nose were completely blocked by the huge adenoid and that the procedure should help.  

Riley was very good at the doctor (even though the picture tells another story) and all the nurses had a fun time coming in to say hi and see what a cute little guy came to visit.  We are hoping for an easy month with as little illnesses as possible before the procedure, which should hopefully set us on a clear, and silent sleeping, course!

On stage

Yesterday, the JCC had a concert of Sheldon Lowe, a Jewish kids singer.  There was a room full of kids and parents and there was a very relaxed and kid-friendly atmosphere.  Kids were dancing and singing and they were invited on-stage to be part of the performance.  Riley took the opportunity to show off his moves and once he got on-stage, he didn't want to leave.

I think we may have created a limelight monster!

Who wants to go for a ride?

This evening when I went to pick Riley up from school, the teachers told me that he had a good day, but didn't want to take a nap.  They tried to let him sleep in the morning, they tried again in the afternoon, but he just didn't want to miss any of the action.

He was super happy when I took him outside and wanted to play on the playground before we went to the car.  There are plenty of toys outside to choose from and since it was in the 50's, we took a few minutes to play.  Riley went straight for the little red car.  He pulled himself in and took it for a test drive. 

Although most of the driving was in reverse, he seems to still have had a good time.  He told me afterwards that he learned the lesson from his Grandy to drive the car backwards so that he could save on gas mileage.

All that driving was exhausting, though, and he finally took his nap in the car on the way home!

Mondo is back!

Who remembers Mondo?  He was one of Riley's monkey friends - a favorite Hanukkah gift from Aunt Patricia and Uncle James last year - who sang so much that he ran out of batteries.  Sadly, he had a very particular shelf-life because there was no compartment where you could change out his battery.  So there he hung, silent but still smiling.

Enter Zee... with a degree in grandparenting and pediatrics, he put Mondo on the operating table to see what could be done.

At first, it wasn't pretty, and we didn't know how Mondo would take such a challenging procedure, but Dr. Zee worked with a skilled hand and a parent's love and Mondo came out singing and smiling!

I would call this a success all around!  Thanks Dr. Zee!

Choo choo

Over the weekend, we spent an hour killing time at the mall.  When it's cold and snowing outside, you have to find ways to be creative inside!

As we were walking around, Riley spotted the train and asked politely if he could take a ride.  He made his plea and after telling us that he would sit still and get strapped in, we obliged and purchased one round-trip ticket for the train.

He picked a seat, held on tight and took a ride around, and around, and around!  

He was a great passenger and loved each lap more than the next.  Unfortunately, he loved the train so much that he wanted to ride it again.  The only way to convince him that it was time to move on was to leave the train side of the mall.  So we headed down the hallway, with Riley making friends and showing his belly button to everyone that smiled at him. 

And then he saw it... the escalator!  Riley has been on escalators before, but never when he actually rode it himself.  So this was to be celebrated!

This activity could have gone on for 25 minutes if we let him, but after 5 rounds, we decided to move on.  Had we known what was going to happen next, we probably would have stayed on the escalator ride.  

The Apple store has these pretty glittering lights in the window that Riley stopped and stared at from the outside.  He was mesmerized by them and all the employees were commenting on how cute he was.  Then he came inside and in 2 quick motions, he lunged for the lights and took a quick tug - and the display came apart.  The strand of lights came down, the hanging part fell and part of the display was on the ground.  Lucky for us, it wasn't the kind of display that could really break, but while we were in the store, it was temporarily out for service.  After some profuse apologies and offers to help, we moved along to the Build-A-Bear store, where the displays were much more durable and child-friendly.

This weekend, we are planning to go to one of the museums and explore more winter weather activities!

Riley's 1st Haircut

Chris has been waiting for this day for a while and I held out as long as I could, but Riley was called a girl one too many times, and we knew it was time. With BiBi and Zee along for the adventure, the film crew took over Little Snips as Riley came in for his very first haircut! 

Riley got to sit in a little police car and we all surrounded him with cameras and toys on hand, ready to help out and make the haircut as easy as possible.  Unlike most other kids who scream and cry and squirm, (as I've been told I did...), Riley was a champ and did a great job!  

Of course, there were a few tears here and there, but overall, Riley did wonderfully!  He now looks so mature and still incredible handsome!

BEFORE & AFTER

Now what is it exactly, that I am supposed do to with this:

Until next year

Tonight marks the last night of Hanukkah.  It has been a great family filled with family, wonderful gifts and delicious food.  I think Riley is now going to expect to pick out candles and open presents every night.

The JCC celebrated Hanukkah today with a performance that Chris, BiBi and I all went to see.  Each of the classes had a performance and the infants were starting out the show with a Parade of Hanukkah Symbols.  What does this really mean?  It means that they put all the babies who are awake in a stroller and push them across the stage.

Riley was put in charge of showing off the hanukkiah and took his job very seriously - until he saw us in the audience.  Then, he decided to throw it on the ground and show off with his famous "uh-oh", which got a group laugh!  The other performances were very cute and Riley got to stay with us to watch the older kids sing.

Tonight, we went to a family Hanukkah celebration that included story time, drummers, singers, latkes, pizza and Riley's very first marshmallow.  He was walking around making all kinds of friends and making sure not to miss a thing.  I think his favorite part was the drum circle because he was standing there, bouncing along and trying to play how own drum.  We will see if that turns into his instrument of choice in the future.

Riley opened his last gift tonight - a set of trucks!  He has learned over the past week how to open gifts and I don't think anything wrapped will ever be safe again!

Little monkey Riley

This month, Riley's favorite food is bananas - which is funny cause that is where we started on this whole food merry-go-round to begin with. Every time he sees a banana, he wants to grab it.  He loves to eat them but also loves to play with it.  He doesn't quite get that there is a peel and certain pieces that you eat, but I'm certain that he will get better at the whole process over time.  For now, it's pretty funny to watch!

We have been having a great Hanukkah and it was so wonderful to be able to spend time with both sides of the family.  We loved having everyone here and loved the company.  Riley is having so much fun with all of his new gifts and we are going to have to figure out a rotation process because there just isn't enough room to keep everything out - you all spoil him so much!

Riley is taking his role of candle selector very seriously.  Each night for Hanukkah, he shows BiBi which candles are to go in the hanukkiah and loves pulling the candles out of the box.  He did the same for us tonight and I think he made a beautiful selection!