Look who's 2 (and 30)!

Today marks another fun birthday that Riley and I got to celebrate together - we are 32!  Well... I'm 30 and he's 2!  I think this is the last birthday we will get away with where he doesn't quite know what a birthday means and that we can celebrate together without him thinking that I am stealing the day from him... we'll see next year!

We've already had fun for a few days with a birthday cookout on Saturday, a celebration at school and toys throughout the week.  This kid is obsessed with everything on wheels, so we put trucks on his cake, trains in his toy chest and tractors in the back yard to ride on (or at least take advantage of the fact that the neighbors are doing construction and pretend that they are for Riley).

By the time 8pm rolled around on his actual birthday, Riley was zonked from the days of celebration and ready to sleep.  He was pretty feisty and stubborn on the first evening of his 2's so lets hope that this year comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate from near and far and we are looking forward to a very exciting year of new opportunities, exciting activities and learning from each other along the way!

Bring on Birmingham

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to visit the family in Birmingham and had such a great time!  It's never easy to travel, especially when it involves a 2 year old who is always on the move, but Riley did such a fantastic job on the flights and did so much better than I thought.

It was nice to just hang out without a specific plan and just spend time with family.  We went to the park, went to the pool, went to the museum and had some quality time at Grammy and Grandy's house.  I think they were surprised at how much Riley is on the move and how fast he is.  We reminded them quickly that he is a handful but with his cute smile, it was easy to also see how much fun he is.

Grammy and Grandy tried to convince us to move to Birmingham but between the heat and the bug bites, we are happy just to visit and hope to do so again soon!

Fun at the grocery store

This evening's exciting activity was a trip to the grocery store to do a minor stock up.  We hopped out of the car, picked out our cart with a race car on it and made a bee-line straight for the bakery so Riley could pick out his free cookie.  After licking the frosting and sprinkles off the top, he tossed it in the cart and was ready to help.

I don't know if any of you have ever tried to drive one of these extension shopping cart monstrosities but they are just about impossible to maneuver.  I almost knocked over a carton of canned tomatoes, had to wait my turn to walk down an aisle alone and at one point realized that a bagel display on wheels was attached to us and coming along for the ride!

After about 15 minutes in the cart, Riley decided enough was enough and it was time to explore - and by explore, I mean run up and down the aisles, hopping, jumping, making friends and at one point running through the pharmacy automatic doors and making a run for daylight.   Needless to say, I will be wearing my sneakers next time we take on this activity.

So we left Chris to do the shopping and took laps, exploring all of the options.  Riley was particularly fascinated by the ricotta cheese and sour cream display and took it upon himself to reorganize.  They clearly looked much better out of color order and in a tall stack!  This picture was taken just before the last one was placed on top, just slightly off balance, and I had to catch the Leaning Tower of Ricotta Cheese-a!

Lesson learned - do not expect to take a 2 year old to the grocery store alone to get shopping done.  Either go with back-up or go alone!

Wet weekend

With our weekend starting out sunny and dry, we set up Riley's new sandbox and picked out the perfect toys that should live in there.  We have a nice flat spot in the shade where the turtle now lives and Riley has a really great time playing in there - when the weather allows it.

The whole weekend wasn't that pretty, though.  With Sunday morning's concert in the park being cancelled, we had to find new indoor activities to keep us busy.  So first we went to Lowe's to get a handful of things that we needed around the house, and then spent some time playing around Wal-Mart.

Do you see Riley?  Can you tell what we are testing out?  Can you see how happy he is to be part of the display?

Read me a story

Tonight, Riley was in charge of reading me a bedtime story.  He chose a Snoopy book but insisted on calling him "Soupy".  Subtle differences can really change a name!  I can't quite tell what he is asking over and over again, but the answer is always 'no'.  I'll have to ask at camp to see if they read another book where the answer is always 'no'...

My challah!

This evening, we got back to family Shabbat, and lucky for us, Riley did not forget about his love for challah.   As soon as he saw it, he claimed "Mine", cried until he got a piece and then took the whole thing and wouldn't give it back.

He took huge bites between mouthfuls of pasta and was even nice enough to share it with his monkey chopsticks.  But when Mommy asked for a bite of challah, did Riley want to share?  No...

He did seem pretty proud of himself.  So with Chris beaming from ear to ear cause of Riley's fuel intake and a smile like that from my little guy, too - who was I to put a halt to all the happiness?

Now he better have energy for everything on tomorrow's "to do" list after all this carb loading!

We now return to our regularly scheduled program!

After a few weeks hiatus, it is now time to jump back onto the blog and keep everyone posted on our comings, our goings, our new tricks, and our fun times.

It seems that in the 2 weeks I was on the Med Cruise, Riley has grown taller and now talks more than ever.  He is forming sentences and is always very willing to speak his mind.  He is very opinionated and makes sure that you know exactly what he is thinking.  And if you choose not to listen, he is very persuasive in getting his way.

On the way to camp this morning, I asked Riley if he was going to tell his friends about the fun weekend that we had and all of the exciting activities that we did.  He could tell them about having family Shabbat dinner, going on a walk, making art projects at the mall and playing at the pool.  He could share with them that he snacked on pizza, ate Chinese food with Bibi and Zee, shared ice cream with Mommy and ate corn soup on the patio.  Then, he could brag about his new t-ball set, picking out snazzy jammies, checking out a new park and playing with new toys at the JCC.  And that was all this weekend!

They keep him very active at camp, yet he always seems to find the reserve supply on the evenings and weekends, so it is up to us to fill the time and have fun together.