22 Months at a Glance

I feel like an awful Mommy award should be handed over to me right now.  My intention behind this blog was to create a digital baby book for Riley to look back on ... and I feel as though I've missed documenting so much over the past few months.  Thank the Good Lord I have everything in my memory ... but I need to do a much better job of stopping in here and jotting down some updates on her little life.

She is 22-months old now and - just as I have said every single month prior to this one - this is my favorite age.  I love that it clearly just continues to get better and better.

Animal sounds, the alphabet, colors, and counting are big right now.  Riley will be happy to tell you that the bird says "Chuurp", a lion, tiger and bear all say "Wooar", a cat says "ME-ow", and a dog says "woof woof" (but in a whisper).  She has been loving the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD and I am amazed at how quickly she has begun reciting what sound certain letters say (her favorites are 'H' and 'F'), as well as recognizing certain letters.  She readily recognizes the colors pink and blue and just tonight asked Daddy to draw a "blue house" in the bathtub with her bathtub crayons.

We are trying our best to prepare her for the arrival of her baby sister, Sophie Noelle, who will be joining our family by December 20th at the latest.  Riley tends to think mommy's belly looks like it would be much more fun to bounce on than to, say, give it a gentle kiss and tell her sister she loves her.  We talk about the baby a lot to her, and show her where Sophie's room will be, etc ... but I assume she only 'gets it' as much as a 22-month old can.  It'll be interesting to see how she'll handle it once Sophie has arrived.  I must admit that there are days when I get very sad thinking that 100% of my love and attention will no longer go to just Riley.  That is how it has been for nearly two years and it is what I have grown accustomed to and what I love.  But I know - and trust - what others tell me and that your love is not divided ... that it multiplies. 

I am excited to get back to this blog.  I can't wait to add some pictures from our adventures we had this past summer.  Tomorrow we head out for our annual apple picking at a local orchard, followed by picking out pumpkins.  This is our 7th year doing this on the third weekend of October and I think it will be the first where Riley participates really well.  She proved this summer to be a stellar strawberry and blackberry picker, so I doubt she'll disappoint!!