Busy as a Bear

Riley will be eighteen months in just a week and a half, and I still can't believe that my baby really is a little toddler now. His recent interests include drawing with pencils and crayons (just like his brothers do at the table), riding around on the bike he got from Grandma Lou for his first birthday, cruising around the house with one of the little stools so that he can get into extra mischief and turn the lights on and off, and push and climb on the dining room chairs so that he doesn't miss any of the action going on up there.

He continues to have a ridiculously huge appetite and can outeat his brothers. I have to cut him off every time, and he throws a fit each time. The end of snack or meal time is always traumatic. I'm certain that he would eat until he explodes.

He enjoys going running or bike riding with me most mornings and says, "go, go". It's so cute to hear his little voice. I realized that he picked that up from watching The Cat and the Hat Knows A Lot About That on PBS. He enjoys the music from that one. He also likes Curious George and the music from Arthur. He mostly dances to the music and then ignores the rest of the programs.

He LOVES airplanes and always points them out whenever one goes by - which is often since McCarren airport is closeby. He also loves reading books and brings us several of his favorites multiple times a day. I told Jake to enjoy it while it lasts. I remember when little Caleb used to do the exact same thing. I doesn't last forever, and then they find other interests.

He is still my little shadow and follows me around the house. He helps me do the laundry and run the dishwasher. He gets excited when the kitchen timer goes off and likes to look inside the microwave or oven when the light is on. It's all I can do to get him to ever play with his toys by himself, though. He only seems to play with them when I play, too, which I love doing, but just can't do all day. Althought, occasionally, we've caught him building little towers with his blocks from Santa or rolling around some of the cars. He really likes the Matchbox cars that the boys still have in their closet. I'm just trying to help him learn the skill of self-play. There's still time. In the meantime, I love my little buddy.