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!

So much to say!

Every day, Riley shares more and more "words" and is building up his vocabulary so that one day soon, I am sure he will just start talking in full sentences.  He seems to be understanding a lot of what we say and is pretty quick to mimic us and try to say what we are saying.

Riley was looking out the window this morning and had a lot to say to tell me what he saw.  He likes to climb up on a little chair and look out to see the weather, the neighbors and passing cars.  

This afternoon, we went to run some errands and between pushing the cart through the aisles and adding new toys to his wish list, Riley found a new pet that he was begging to bring home.  Needless to say, if he can't fit in the cart, there's no way we are taking him home!

We are so excited for everyone to come in town for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah so let the countdown begin!

Where's Hanukkah Harry?

This afternoon, Riley and I took a tour of the holiday decorations (at the hardware store)!  They had little toy trains and miniature cityscapes to watch, sparkling trees to stroll through and a special Santa set-up to say hi.  Riley took his time meandering through the aisles and when he came upon Santa, he was really excited - cause Santa has a puppy!

Riley tried to pet the toy puppy and even went as far as barking to him to get him to say hi back.  It was just a little out of his reach so when I lifted him up to say hi, Riley was happy and ready to move on in search of more fake animals to pet and the Jewish decoration section.  We are still looking out for Hanukkah Harry!

Countdown to Hanukkah

Yesterday, the JCC and Federation hosted a play group where we read Hanukkah stories, played with instruments and made an arts and crafts project.  Riley had a great time listening to the story, running around showing everyone his belly button and eating his snacks.  

There was a really cute project to make a handprint menorah but Riley wasn't so sure about it.  We got his hands in the paint but then he hated it.  Good thing there were baby wipes at the ready - otherwise it would have been a disaster.

The final project wasn't exactly what it was supposed to be, but it was creative and beautiful anyways.  This is Riley's first Hanukkah decoration and it will be displayed proudly in our house.

And this is how happy the boys were once we were cleaned up and ready to go home.

Sprung from school

Riley hasn't been feeling 100% again - his fever is back and he still has a runny nose - so we sprung him from school this afternoon and brought him to the doctors office to see what was going on.

The fire station is just across the street from the pediatrician so we have started to make a habit of showing up a little early and making a detour to check out the trucks.  I figure we might as well make him really happy before we piss him off.  Today, they let us go up in the truck and Riley had a great time practicing his steering skills!

Then it was off to the doctors appointment.  The good news is that they didn't see anything that was wrong.  His ears look good, his lungs sound great and he was in a pretty good mood.  The bad news is that we still don't know why he keeps getting sick.  So for now, we will just keep a close eye on him, hope for the best and pray that he gets over all of this quickly.