boo!

happy halloween! riley was a chicken or a duck or something . . . we paraded her all around the neighborhood.

if anyone needs a 6-12 month chicken suit, we have one that was worn for a total of 30 minutes!

tagged

this is my first time being tagged (thanks, lisa), and i'm going to honor it. i'm supposed to post 8 random things about riley . . . i'm going to steal some things from owen, though, since they are only 1 day apart in age, and they are similar in many ways!

1. riley is the happiest baby on the block--until you cross her. then forget it. for example, if you pick her up when she doesn't want to be touched, she arches her back and screams. she turns bright red and howls. this almost always happens when i try to change her diaper.
2. riley LOVES solid foods. she takes almost no milk now, much to my dismay. when i'm with her, she gets force-breastfed (picture milk squirting everywhere and riley shrieking between gulps). at almost any time during the day, someone is trying to squirt a sip of milk into her mouth from the bottle or sippy cup, too.
3. riley has eaten everything--from a taco to ice cream to onions. you can't stop her.
4. riley has gotten formal pictures taken every month of her life, for a total of 10 formal shoots.
5. riley's favorite game is "chase." she crawls away from you, stops, turns around, and waves. then she crawls off as fast as she can, giggling the whole time. you're supposed to chase after her.
6. riley can stand independently now, but she'd rather prop herself up by resting her big belly on the edge of something. that way she has her hands free but is still stable.
7. riley gets a bath every night. i don't think we've missed a day. it's part of the bedtime ritual, which starts at 5pm: dinner, bath, book, milk, bed.
8. once again, riley is NOT sleeping through the night. for the past 2 weeks, she's been up at least 2-3 times per night. sometimes more. she seems unphased. she rarely naps for more than 45 minutes per day, too.

ridiculous jacket

riley is TEN MONTHS OLD! yup.

here she is at ten months, modeling her corky's jacket. i bought this jacket directly from the factory in fall river, massachusetts. it was quite the experience--similar to a filene's basement sale except instead of crazed brides it was frantic, more savvy mommies. i waited in line for two hours for this jacket, so the only appropriate response is that it is the most incredible winter coat you've ever seen.

at ten months, riley is more independent every day. she has taken to screaming every time she is restrained in any way: car seat, changing table, high chair, my arms . . . but she is certainly more dextrous every day as well. she pulls herself to standing and then forgets to hold on, she crawls everywhere (including up stairs), she eats everything, she plays with her toys. she's taken to mimicking now, too, which is quite cute. she's working on "oh-oh" and "bababababa" (i think that may become dada, but i'm not sure). she waves and does "itsy bitsy spider" and claps and puts her arms over her head when you ask her how big she is.

where's riley?

riley has discovered that she is mobile. she's testing out her environment. here we are, playing in her room, and she decides that she's going to tour the rest of the house . . .

she stops at the doorway to make sure she's not being followed. she usually waves bye-bye, but i couldn't catch it on camera.

after that quick glimpse over her shoulder, she's off . . .

she makes it across the kitchen and immediately goes for the catfood in a matter of seconds. yup. we're not ready for this.

destined to be a sports fanatic???

this is matt teaching riley how to do the "touchdown" sign . . . sigh.