First Year Blogiversary

I can't believe that I have actually been blogging for a year! I'm so not consistent about much but I guess when it comes to my kids, I don't joke around. Plus it's either this or scrapbooking!

So much has happened in a year! Some of it has been good, some not so good, but mostly just works in progress. I am so proud of how far Riley has come in a year and how much Kylie has grown up. Here's just a little snippet of the things that I have noticed in one year.

RILEY

• Riley has started repeating words. I can get him to say just about anything now. And not just one word, he will repeat a whole sentence sometimes. We are just so excited to hear his little voice! I can't wait until he runs down the hall calling, "mommy". I know that it is just around the corner
• He and Kylie have their own little games that they play. Sometimes he will even initiate them. He loves to chase her and just giggle the whole time. They have so much fun together during these special times and I don't care how loud it gets or where we are, I usually stop and soak every second in. The other day it was in a patio furniture store. I know other people thought we were crazy for letting our children run, giggle, and chase each other throughout the store, but who cares! We were loving every minute of it!
• He can now open the door to his room and get out in the mornings. This was a hard one to accomplish because the door pulls into the room and he could not figure it out! Any other door was a piece of cake so it really made him angry. No more frustrations on this one, now.
• He is now going to school everyday and loving it. He carries his backpack and says, "bye bye" without crying.
• He is in Behavioral Therapy with Mrs. B who is one tough cookie. She really makes him communicate by talking, making choices, matching, and putting puzzles together. I do therapy on the days she can't come and it's been difficult until just recently. Kylie was at the table with us and she said, "Hey, Riley doesn't scream anymore when we do therapy!" She was so right!
• He loves doing puzzles now. Especially his abc puzzle. He knows all the letters and their sounds.
• He has stopped taking off his poopy diaper and getting poop on the carpet, chair, etc. Now he will come and tell me in some way. I make him get his own pull up, put it on, then throw the dirty one in the trash. He loves to throw things away! Also, he will sit on the potty without crying or throwing a fit. I have not attempted to try potty training but I am thinking that he will be ready in the next year.
• He is starting to tolerate Daisy being in the house. It's definitely an opportunity to get him to say, "No, no, Daisy!" In time....
• I can get him to sit still and say, "cheese" for the camera. Example below.

KYLIE

• Kylie has given up her big, yellow silkie. It was supposed to only be used for nighttime but she started wanting to have it all day long and frankly, I was tired of seeing it in the floor.
• She loves learning sight words from Mrs. French and has recently started reading everything! We are on the second level of BOB books and I am so proud of her taking the initiative to learn. She amazes us sometimes.
• She has started wanting to help in the kitchen ALL THE TIME. She does pretty good getting cookies off of the spatula but when it comes to cracking an egg..........
• She can buckle her own car seat!!!! YES! I thought this day would never come. She finally gained the strength to pull that seatbelt to the other side without whining!
• She is totally off the sippy cups. Of course, she doesn't want milk now and her fluids have decreased leading to constipation, but you take the good you take the bad, etc.
• She has such a passion for drawing. That is her favorite activity right now. She is so good at it and she really loves to share her pictures with loved ones.
• She absolutely adores Daisy. She got to sleep with her last night and Kylie was over the moon. I'm not sure how much sleep Daisy got, though. She is used to sleeping soundly with Alan.
• She asks about Kindergarten all the time. She wants to know when she will be big enough to go and learn like a big girl. She also is longing to be at the same school with Riles. I was starting to really believe that she might be ready until the last couple of days of Sunshine School. Let's just say we have had some MAJOR meltdowns. But I am here to talk about the positives.....
• She LOVES trying to teach Riley new words. She so wants to be a part of therapy and I can hear her many times in the day echoing Mrs. B to him. I love how much she loves him without getting a lot in return.
• She has started soccer. She loves all the girls on her team and is mostly there for socialization. That's a big step. Although I wish sometimes that she would at least kick the ball when it comes to her instead of blocking it. She got a couple of big kicks in the last game so I am not complaining.
  
  
  

We had a great weekend this past weekend. Keith and Nancy came to visit the kids and shocked us with some weight loss! They both looked so great! It gave Alan and I a kick in the pants and we are hoping to do better and get back into shape. I say get back into shape loosely. I haven't been in great shape since '97!

Anyways, Kylie and I are going to see some sweet friends in Abilene this weekend and we are so excited about it! Look out, here we come! Hope everyone has a wonderful week!