The Life of Riley

Do you ever wish time would slow down and that everything would stop changing? It seems like my baby has turned into a big boy overnight. I want to hit pause and just absorb all the details of our life right now because I know these days will be over before I know it. I want to scream "Stop! Wait!" and make things move in slow motion. Riley is so full of spunk and life. He is, without a doubt, the happiest person I have ever known. He is so busy and curious. Even now when I hug him, he is squirming away and moving on to his next adventure. This has been my favorite stage so far. He says the most random hilarious things and every ordinary object is a new discovery and an opportunity to ask another thousand questions. These are random facts about my "big boy" these days:

1. He loves orange. He is obsessed with the color. He wants to wear a "jaguar" shirt, "jaguar" hat, "jaguar" pants and drink "Jag Juice" (This can be sunkist, gatoraide, orange juice, you get the picture).

2. He adores the Imagination Movers. He wears his hat backwards because Dave does. He plays the drums like Rich. He wears "Wobble Goggles" like Scott and likes cowboy hats because of Smitty. He knows all their songs and even their nuances and movements. I am not a big TV watcher but I admit to letting him watch this show way too much. He just gets so much excitement and joy out of it.

3. He can tell you who sings half of what comes on in my car. He says, "Mama- dis Taylor Sift?" or "Mama- dis Ban Morrison?" He absolutely adores music.

4. He likes tractors, trackhoes, bulldozers, lawn mowers and all kinds of equipment. He knows a lot more about these things than I do. I tried to point out a trackhoe to him the other day and he said, "No, mama- that a BACKhoe"- I looked helplessly at John Sidney and he said- "He's right." Who's teaching who?
5. He cannot be still. He evens moves constantly when he is sleeping. He is forever "on the go" and asks one question after another all day long.

6. He greets everyone by saying, "Hey guys". I don't know where he got that but I pray it's not from Southpark.

7. He loves animals. He always wants to let either our labs or our basset hound in the house. He walks up to his daddy about 10 times a day and says, "Daisy's so cold." It can be blistering hot outside but he thinks this sympathy plea about cold weather will be his best bet at getting Daisy inside.

8. He has an uncanny sense of direction. We can be riding somewhere and he can tell me where we are going just by the landmarks. We left Liberty Park the other day- I asked him if he wanted to go to Chick-fil-a and he replied, "Yeah- it's up on the right." I know he doesn't know left from right but I thought the fact that he remembered hearing someone say that previously was pretty good.

9. He has a super strong personality and seems to like to get a rise out of me especially. Sometimes he will just look at me and smile this impish grin then say, "No, mama!" He has several phrases that he uses often "I not know" is a favorite but he also likes to say "all the time". For example- "I love ice cream all the time." "I like Mickey Mouse all the time." "Me and daddy are just alike all the time."

10. and you know what? I love Riley. all the time.