This evening before bedtime, we were playing in Riley's room when he started swinging at anything he could find with a makeshift stick/club/bat. So rather than letting him learn wrong and waste his energy, we took out the golf set we bought a few weeks ago and started the lessons.
I'll admit, it wasn't the best idea to start teaching him to play golf in the house, but with the weather warming up, I'm hopeful that we can move this new activity to the backyard and really let him take a swing!
And with an on-site golf pro, we should have him on the course in no time and winning the Master's in record time. I won't send the measurements for his green jacket quite yet, but keep an eye on this one - he has natural talent!
When I said on Sunday afternoon that we were going to have to find something to do after nap time, I had no idea that we would find SO much to do! It was Easter Sunday and with almost everything closed, it was a challenge to find things that were open, but once we had a game plan, we hit the ground running and didn't stop for hours.
We headed down to Station Square and decided to take Riley on the incline for the first time. We watched the cars go up and down. When it was our turn, he was a little hesitant, but once we started moving, he was happy to watch the cars get smaller and head to the top of Mt. Washington. We looked at the city, saw a "waterfall" from above (The Point) and even found an ice cream store that was open for our afternoon snack.
After heading back down again, we walked around Station Square and headed down towards the water. That's when we heard it... a train! We rolled the stroller as fast as we could and got there just in time to see the train chugging by. Riley was so excited! He kept waiving and saying "choo choo" and when it was gone, he looked for another one. By the end of the day, he saw four trains go by and was excited about each one.
It was still early and beautiful outside so we drove over to The Point to show Riley the "waterfall" that he had found earlier. He wanted to jump right in, of course, but was happy just to walk around the fountain and get sprayed by the mist. We saw boats and trains and cars and bikes and babies and hats and everything else that Riley loves to point out. It was such a beautiful day that we really just wanted to make the most of every minute that we could.
This weekend, we have had the most beautiful weather and we are making the most of the blue skies and sunshine! Surprisingly, we had nothing planned on a Sunday so we are having fun finding things to do outside. We started with a morning walk with BiBi and Zee, then had a hot dog picnic on our side porch, we played a little more outside and now it is nap time. Riley didn't want to waste one minute of playtime so we took an extra ride around the neighborhood before lunch. He was having such a good time and breathing in the fresh air.
And as we were waiting for the hot dogs to grill, we had fun playing on the porch. Chris had Riley try on his new shorts and sandals. Even though the outfit doesn't work well - at all - the pieces are great and will hopefully get a lot of use over the next few months.
Looking forward to spring and summer outdoor playtime! Now what should we do this afternoon?
This weekend, RIley and I had some quality time together while Chris is out of town for work. We put a bunch of activities on the books to keep us busy and with the free time that we had, we found more to keep us active and happy.
On Saturday, we went to the JCC and spent an hour playing on the playground, running around the gym and making new friends in the lobby. It was nice outside when the sun was shining and Riley was happy to show me some of his favorite playground toys that he gets to use at school. Check out his new trick on the slide - something else new that he learned at school!
Stacey came over on Saturday evening to join us in an all-you-can-eat pizza fest where Riley was the surprise winner, eating 3 pieces of pizza! Once he went to bed, we had some lazy girl time but enjoyed each others company.
On Sunday, Riley and I started out the morning by going to a Pancakes Before Passover event at the Squirrel Hill JCC. There was singing, story time, games and cold pancakes but Riley's favorite game was walking around and trying to pick up the matzo pieces from the floor and eating them. Needless to say, I was right behind him every step of the way, knocking matzo pieces back to the ground. Then, after politely refusing a nap, we headed back into town and hit up the museum campus. It was such a pretty day that we spent time playing in the park, checking out trucks and pretending to be squirrels but putting acorns in our mouths - oh wait, that was Riley. My job, again, was to swat them out of his hand before he was able to pop them in. The final score was Riley 3, Mommy 6!
Stacey and Brad joined us in the park and we went through the history museum together - checking out rocks, dinosaurs and animals. Riley led the way and showed us where to go and we all had a great time pretending to be dinosaurs. After a trip to the yogurt shop, we headed our separate ways to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day.
And on the way home, Riley proved that when you play hard, you're allowed to crash hard!
Well, its still winter here in Pittsburgh and even though the sun was shining today, there was still snow on the ground and a chill in the air. So we made the most of having to stay inside and took an early morning trip to the Children's Museum. We had never been there before and didn't know what to expect, but we had a great time!
We started in the art department where Riley painted a picture, made an art project with magic paint and played with clay. We decided it was time to move on and try something else when he was convinced that a ball of clay was an apple and kept trying to put it in his mouth.
In the next room, he got to play with all kinds of blocks and tools and learned the foundation of architecture and construction. I wouldn't necessarily recommend living in a house that he built quite yet, but there is still time for practice and a formal education.
There were so many different rooms to explore with puppets and stars and trains and slides that we spent a few hours checking out everything that we could see. This is the kind of place that we could go over and over again and since its so hands-on, there is always something new to explore and something else that Riley will be big enough to do.
We played with sand and glass beads, we learned that Riley now knows the word "mine" when he didn't want to share his toys, and we gauged the timing perfectly so that we were able to keep Riley's eyes open just long enough to make it home for nap time!
This afternoon, we made the most of the still cold weather and took advantage of our museum membership by heading to SportsWorks at the Science Center. Riley and I picked up BiBi and went to check it out as none of us had ever been there before.
We weren't quite sure what to expect, but when we walked through the door, we were presented with an indoor playground with all sorts of sports activities and simulators to try. Even though the kid "working" the front door assured us that Riley could use most of the games, he was still a little too little for the majority of the options. No, he was not strapped into a harness and encouraged to flip on a trampoline - nor was he allowed to bike across a tightrope, but we found things that were more age appropriate and had a great time exploring and people watching.
We tested Riley's vertical jump (he still has to learn how to get both feet off the ground) and timed his sprint (he will go much faster when he learns that he doesn't have to flail his arms around when running) but his favorite activities were the huge Operation game and a hockey simulator that he played more like Whack-A-Mole.
This is the kind of place that we can go to over and over again and each time, there will be something new to play with that he was too small to do the time before. It's a great place to go when it's cold or rainy and now that we know what to expect, I indeed to head over much more often! How else is Riley going to start practicing for his surgery rotation?
Well, it took only 18 months to get here but the day has finally come that Riley says Mommy! I am no longer "Daddy" and finally have my own title! It has taken far too long but it is well worth the wait cause it's so fun when he says it now! And just in case you want another fun movie, here is story time with Riley!
