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.

NINE MONTHS OLD

riley has been out of the womb now for longer than she was inside . . . she is officially 9 months old.

the little girl now
-crawls EVERYWHERE
-pulls herself to standing EVERYWHERE
-cruises
-has two-finger pincer grasp and eats finger foods. she is not picky. she'll eat anything.
-has three teeth
-babbles. no "mama" or "dadda" yet, though. i think she may be trying to say, "cat." it sounds like "kkkkk" and ends in a little squeal everytime one of the furballs strolls by.
-stranger anxiety has started, but she warms up quickly

we had to set up her room for some serious playing now that she is mobile.

Can you pick out the REAL doll?

ok, ok. so i bought four of this doll. riley can't tell them apart (yet), and so now i can wash them or lose them or forget them without having a panic attack. don't judge me.

i found out that the doll's name is sydney, and she is a middleton doll.

sometimes riley sleeps with all four, and she'll have two tucked under her arms and the other two somewhere touching her body. it must take her all night to configure them. luckily that pincer grasp is coming along. sometimes riley will crawl with one of the dolls in her mouth. she must've learned that trick from the cats.

Go Sox!

riley celebrated the red sox securing their spot in the play-offs. she was not as pleased about their sunday loss (coupled with the yankees' win) . . .

swim lessons

riley had another successful waterbabies swim lesson this weekend! we measure success by the fact that she didn't cry. here she is pretending to kick. she would rather lean back and relax while her daddy moves her legs for her.

Little Red Wagon

riley received this wagon for a shower gift from aunt may, and she's finally old enough to use it. we pulled her throughout the neighborhood, and she was treated like a celebrity by the neighbors! it was like a parade.

Fall in New England

riley had her first apple picking excursion this past weekend. we went to jaswell's farm, the same orchard that hosted matt's first apple picking adventure. we were lucky to meet up with our friends, terry & christy with their kids, 3 year old shannon and 1 1/2 year old brady.

riley was great at picking leaves and at throwing the apples that matt gave her. she also put her two new teeth to good use . . . she loved munching on the apples!

riley's nana also bought her her first pumpkin. riley couldn't quite lift it. it weighs 15 lbs (riley is 17 lbs).

you may notice that riley is wearing her red sox onsie in honor of the red sox/yankees games over the weekend. she does not take responsibility for the red sox losses.

new toy

Big Fat Hairy Day

you know that the summer is over when . . . your obese cats are sleeping together again. all summer the cats slept sprawled out on their backs on the hardwood floors, trying to escape the heat. now that it's a little cooler, they're back to snuggling together on their chair. i think billie (the calico) was there first, but grover (orange and even fatter) soon decided that billie knew what she was doing and tried to inch himself onto the bed. obviously, grover isn't a subtle cat. his size and ridiculous need to meow constantly make him louder than riley most of the time.

Totally CRAZY DAY

we had a completely busy day yesterday. in the morning, riley had her first swimming lesson. i missed the lesson because i was at lindsay's baby shower (for identical twins luke and cyrus), but don't worry--matt, both of his parents, and his sister all attended. i don't have pictures yet of the event, but i'm sure nana plante will be glad to share some soon.

then we trekked to boston for a bbq at cousin shari's house. riley had a bite of a hamburger, a cracker, and some gatorade--all for the first time. she was showered with attention by the ever-expanding family, too, as evidenced by the above pictures.

later that night, sean came over to watch the baseball game. you would've assumed that riley would be long asleep by then, but, no . . . she was quite the hostess, laughing and flirting even though the red sox disappointed her daddy and his buddy yet again.

THE TOOTH CAUGHT ON CAMERA

ok, here is that elusive tooth. i hope you can see it. riley sort of has her tongue on it here. can you believe all of that fussing and biting and drooling for such a tiny thing??

back to school

the summer is ending . . . riley is back in daycare. her nana is back to school (teaching kindergarten), and her grandpa, although newly retired, is preparing for his ankle surgery. so riley once again joins daycare with the other kiddos whose parents work. she doesn't seem scarred, but i'm not doing as well.

this picture is from early august, during the blissful time when my greatest challenge in the morning was to pack riley's bathing suit for her grandparents' daily adventure.

peek-a-boo

riley has mastered peek-a-boo. anytime a piece of fabric comes near her face, she covers herself and then quickly pulls it off, anticipating the high-pitched, excited, "peek-a-boo!" that we all yell when we notice her antics. she has us trained well.