Riley is 15 mos!

I wanted to update everyone on Riley. 

She just turned 15 months old yesterday.  Her appointment is not until later this month, but I'm guessing she's around 22 lbs.  We'll see if I'm way off!  Ha ha.  She's growing like a weed.  She's so tall.  Everyone we see in public thinks she's older than she is.  I don't know if it's because she has a lot of hair, or is tall or what.  She looks like a full on toddler now.  No baby here! 

Her teeth are growing in so much.  She now has 16 teeth!  We're only waiting on her last 4 molars to come in.  She's still biting on things and curious about what stuff tastes like but in general puts less in her mouth.  She drools less too, ha ha.

Riley's becoming more picky about foods.  From 9 to 12 months old she'd put just about anything in her mouth that you gave her.  She's slowly getting pickier.  If I had to pick favorite foods right now - they'd all be fruit.  She loves blueberries, strawberries, watermelon and grapes.  She eats chicken and cheese well too.  Macaroni and cheese is always a favorite, gee go figure!  She loves avacado, sweet potato and winter squash.  Carrots, peas and green beans, only sometimes.  She loves beans...especially baked beans!  She loves hot dogs.  Ice cream.  Cheerios.  Puffs.  All those snacks, sweets and foods that are "treats" she loves.  Typical toddler.  She loves her milk too.

Books are a favorite.  She's loved books as long as I can remember.  She will sit down and "read" through a book herself.  Flipping pages, talking out loud, pointing, etc.  She now will pick out a book and come over to us and turn around to sit in our lap - basically telling us, "read this to me, now!"  It's really cute.  She loves animals in her books.

Speaking of animals, she loves saying all their sounds.  She knows what a horse, pig, dog, cat, cow, sheep, duck and lion say.  If she doesn't know what an animal says, she'll just "roar."  Dog is the newest one.

She's saying "mama" for a cat now.  It was "at" for awhile, then she started to meow like a cat but it sounded like "ma" instead.  Now she'll say "mama" to a cat.  Maybe she's meowing twice?  I don't know, but I don't like it.  Ha!  I'm trying to get her back to calling it a "at" or meow only once.  I'm mama, not a cat!

She still doesn't say "mama" to me.  Not really.  She can say the word.  I think she's said "mama" and "dada" to my mom when she's watched her and we're not around - but says it to my face rarely.  And now when she says it I get excited, only to notice her looking at a picture of a cat, or talking to Tater or something.  Weird.  Anyway, she's got "dada" down.

Riley likes singing, dancing, and talking more.  She's a little ball of energy and entertainment.  She loves moving.  Loves walking, running, twirling, jumping, swinging, etc.  Any movement.  She rarely sits still.  She cracks up when Aaron throws her in the air.  She loves getting so dizzy and then walking around stumbling.  Aaron calls her a "drunken sailor" when she does that.  It's funny. 

She loves giving kisses, and blowing kisses.  Waving "bye bye" or saying "hi" to people in the store.  Sometimes I'll just see her randomly wave to people.  It's really cute.  Other times she'll shy away, turning her head.  She's not always acting shy but still does at times.

She loves her "blankie."  We use several of the same kind of blanket, but she loves cuddling with it and dragging it around.  She sleeps holding on to it a lot now.  She went through a phase of throwing everything out of her crib, but now she keeps stuff in - not everything, but some things.  I give her books and toys to look at and play with - it gives me extra time when she wakes to sleep in or get things done during her nap time.

Riley has one long nap now, after lunch.  She transitioned to one nap somewhere between 13 and 14 months.  I continued offering her two naps for a good month before deciding she didn't need that second one anymore.  We played limbo for awhile.  One nap suits her now.  She sleeps 2-3 hours in the afternoon and still is down for about 11-12 hours at night.  Her bedtime is still early, 7-ish.

She had her first public tantrum last week, in Target.  I was in an aisle, still shopping, and going to give her some snacks - her Cheerios.  I thought of giving her the little container but changed my mind, I pulled it away from her (not even saying "no" or anything) and was going to hand her some instead - yeah, she didn't like that.  Started crying, screaming and was so mad!  I couldn't do anything during that tantrum.  I literally stood there in the aisle and watched her.  It felt like it lasted forever, but really it was maybe a minute or so.  Finally, she calmed down and I gave her the Cheerios.  I can't hold Riley or comfort her during a tantrum, she just has to have her mad episode and then calm down before we can move on from it.  It was very embarassing for me.  I think I heard someone in the next aisle complaining about her crying.  That typical "shut that baby up!" comment.  Let me tell you.  You can not shut a baby up when they are having a tantrum.  It cannot be done.  Be patient with people in the stores and know that most times the parents are doing the best they can!  I know this isn't always the case.  But I'm a good mother, and my daughter still acts terrible at times.

Riley is so much fun at this age (tantrums aside), but let me tell you she exhausts us too.  I still have to say "no" a lot, but it's getting better all the time.  At least in our house.  She's learning finally that some stuff is a no touch zone.  Aaron just installed more cabinet locks today actually.  She kept getting into too much and we were over using the word "no" for no reason.  It should be better now.

If I forgot anything or you are curious about what she may or may not be doing, by all means - ask me!  I think I hit the main points that I wanted.

Happy 15 months, Riley!